15 years ago today was a beautiful day for U2 fans: On October 30, 2000, their album “All That You Can”t Leave Behind” hit record store shelves.
It was the U2″s 10th studio album and was largely considered a glorious return to form for the Irish band, following the mixed reception of their 1997 album, “Pop.” Among the successful singles on U2″s first album of the 2000s were “Elevation,” “Walk On” and “Beautiful Day.”
Guitarist the Edge said of the album in the book “U2 by U2,” “‘All That You Can”t Leave Behind” was an album that acknowledged our own past, which we had never really done before…. I was playing the Gibson Explorer. This was really the sound of U2, the sound we had made our own and then abandoned as far back as ‘War.”” He also points out plenty that was fresh and new for the band with the album, including the song “Stuck in a Moment You Can”t Get Out Of,” which the Edge says is “a new thing from U2, in terms of structure, tempo and even chords.”
U2 collected seven Grammy awards for the album and its songs.
Other notable October 30 happenings in pop culture history:
• 1811: Jane Austen”s “Sense and Sensibility,” her first released novel, was published anonymously.
• 1938: In a broadcast that notoriously misled viewers and caused widespread panic with its news-bulletin format, the radio adaptation of H.G. Wells” “The War of the Worlds” aired. Directed and narrated by Orson Wells, the broadcast was an episode of American radio drama anthology series “The Mercury Theatre on the Air.”
• 1944: Aaron Copland”s “Appalachian Spring” premiered at the Library of Congress. Originally written for only 13 instrumentalists – as dictated by the size of the orchestral pit at the famed research library – the Pulitzer Prize-winning composition was later adapted into an orchestral suite.
• 1972: Elton John became the first rock star since The Beatles to perform for Queen Elizabeth II at her annual Royal Command Variety Performance in London.
• 1981: “Halloween II” premiered.
• 1988: Kurt Cobain smashed a guitar for the first time.
• 2001: Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) made his first appearance on “Gilmore Girls” in the season 2 episode “Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy.”
Birthdays: “Happy Days” actor Henry Winkler (turns 70 today), “L.A. Law” actor Harry Hamlin (64), “Behind the Candelabra” screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (56), “Big Momma”s House” actress Nia Long (45), “Glee” actor Matthew Morrison (38), “Falling Skies” actress Sarah Sanguin Carter (35), “Bend It Like Beckham” actress Juliet Stevenson (59), soul singer Otis Williams (74)