By Allison Leigh

We don’t want to become like a Wired where “this day in history” posts become an expected event (we feel that is a little lazy and boring).  But today, June 24, in 1993, the first ever live musical performance was broadcasted over the Internet.  We’re all so used to technologically advanced services such as Twitter and Qik, however sometimes it’s good to sit back and remember the good old days when we were all impressed very easily.  The Center for the Study of Technology and Society summarized it this way:

“In the midst of this exciting period of (Internet) growth, a musical group called “Severe Tire Damage” made the first online live musical performance on June 24, 1993, on the patio of Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center in California. The audio and video of their performance was transmitted on the Internet’s Multicast Backbone (MBONE).”

Most of us have never heard of “Severe Tire Damage” or even MBONE, which was replaced later by other music streaming solutions, however they were the first one’s to set the stage for one of the largest Internet components we have all come to know and love: multimedia.  In 1994, the Rolling Stones went on to become the first household name band to broadcast a concert live, however, since “Severe Tire Damage” felt like they were the forefathers of Internet music streaming, they decided to throw in a twist:

“Severe Tire Damage, without the Stones’ permission, used the MBONE to perform some songs preceding and following the Stones’ concert. Described in the press as a “renegade band” who “electronically crash[ed] the party,” Severe Tire Damage took credit for being the first musical group in history to perform a warm-up set in a different city than the headliner band. Somewhat peeved, the Rolling Stones soon described their computer-savvy competitors as ‘furry Palo Alto Geeks.’ ”

So even geeks were attacking the music business back in the 90’s, what a nice forshadowing that was of the future.