The Idiot is the debut studio album of American musician Iggy Pop, released on March 18, 1977, by RCA Records. In 1976 Pop accompanied his friend David Bowie to Europe to rid themselves of their drug addictions. There Bowie agreed to produce an album for Pop. Recording began in June 1976 and further sessions took place at Musicland Studios in Munich in August. Bowie composed most of the music and contributed a major portion of the instrumentation, while Pop wrote most of the lyrics. The album's title was taken from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel of the same name, while Erich Heckel's painting Roquairol inspired its artwork. When released the album received divided, albeit largely positive, reviews. It charted in the US, the UK, and Australia. Pop supported The Idiot with a tour in 1977, with Bowie as his keyboardist. The Idiot has continued to be received positively, with many noting Pop's artistic evolution. It has influenced post-punk, industrial, and gothic acts, including Joy Division. (Full article...).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idiot_%28album%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1868:

Red Cloud, a leader of the Oglala Lakota Native American tribe, signed the second Treaty of Fort Laramie, ending Red Cloud's War and establishing the Great Sioux Reservation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_Laramie_%281868%29

1939:

As part of their plan to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite, the Gestapo arrested 184 professors, students and employees of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderaktion_Krakau

1977:

The Kelly Barnes Dam in Stephens County, Georgia, collapsed; the resulting flood killed 39 people and caused US$2.8 million in damages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Barnes_Dam

2016:

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces launched the Raqqa campaign, a successful military operation with the goal of isolating and eventually capturing the Islamic State's capital city, Raqqa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqqa_campaign_%282016%E2%80%932017%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Hansard: 1. (historical, also attributively) A member of a Hanse (“merchant guild”), or a resident of a Hanse town. […] 2. (chiefly Britain, Commonwealth of Nations) The official report of debates and other proceedings in the British and some Commonwealth parliaments. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hansard

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.   --Cesare Lombroso https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cesare_Lombroso