Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar (pictured), Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records, before signing with Sire Records and expanding to a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band's major label debut album Anodyne, Farrar announced his decision to leave the band due to a soured relationship with his co-songwriter Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo split on May 1, 1994, after completing a farewell tour. Following the breakup, Farrar formed Son Volt with Heidorn, while the remaining members continued as Wilco. Although Uncle Tupelo broke up before they achieved commercial success, the band is renowned for its impact on the alternative country music scene. The group's first album, No Depression, became a byword for the genre and was widely influential. Uncle Tupelo's sound was unlike popular country music of the time, drawing inspiration from styles as diverse as the hardcore punk of The Minutemen and the country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams. Farrar and Tweedy lyrics frequently referred to Middle America and the working class of Belleville.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tupelo

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1782:

Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail made its premiere, after which Emperor Joseph II anecdotally made the complaint that it had "too many notes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Entf%C3%BChrung_aus_dem_Serail

1790:

U.S. President George Washington signed the Residence Act, selecting a new permanent site along the Potomac River for the capital of the United States, which later became Washington, D.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.

1945:

Manhattan Project: "Trinity", the first nuclear test explosion, was carried out near Alamogordo, New Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(nuclear_test)

1951:

The Catcher in the Rye, an American coming-of-age novel by J. D. Salinger, was first published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye

1994:

Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 began hitting the planet Jupiter (impact site pictured), with the first one causing a fireball which reached a peak temperature of about 24,000 K. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker%E2%80%93Levy_9

2007:

A magnitude 6.6 MW earthquake struck Niigata Prefecture, Japan, causing a leak of radioactive gases from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Ch%C5%ABetsu_offshore_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

quisling: (pejorative) A traitor who collaborates with the enemy. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quisling

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The sooner we can separate salvageable skeptics from self-righteous absolutists, the sooner we can move along. --Sheri S. Tepper https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper