Twenty years ago tonight, Nirvana took the stage at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Wash., and played ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in concert for the first time — debuting a song that would, in just a few months time, alter the course of popular music and drag much of the ’80s indie underground into the mainstream.

To celebrate the birthday today of Black Francis, the songwriter whose lyrics gave name to this site, check out full video of the Pixies’ classic 15-song set opening for the Throwing Muses at London’s Town & Country Club on May 1, 1988

It’s SoCal punk icon Mike Ness’ birthday today — he’s 49 — so to mark the occasion, here’s some vintage Social Distortion footage that captures most of the band’s March 22, 1986, concert at The Ritz in New York City.

Peretz Bernstein, aka Perry Farrell, turns 52 today, and to celebrate, how about some heavily bootlegged video from a Jane’s Addiction performance at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the spring of 1989?

It’s Guy Chadwick’s 55th birthday today, so to celebrate, here’s The House of Love performing its third single, the classic ‘Christine,’ on the U.K.’s ‘The South Bank Show’ in 1988.

Twenty-five years ago today, Depeche Mode released its fifth album, the landmark ‘Black Celebration,’ which opened a dark trilogy — including 1987’s ‘Music for the Masses’ and 1990’s ‘Violator’ — that cemented the synthpop act’s evolution from underground cult faves to global chart-toppers.

Today is oddball troubadour Robyn Hitchcock’s birthday — he’s 58 — and to mark the occasion, we dug up a pair of rare clips on YouTube featuring The Egyptians performing on something called ‘2Hip4TV’ in 1988.