In the argument for most anticipated albums of all time, Guns N’ Roses released Use Your Illusion I and II today in 1991. The follow ups to 1987’s Appetite For Destruction had the music world on pins and needles to see what they would deliver as an encore to what many felt was one of the best rock ‘n roll albums ever made.

So did they deliver? Yes and no. The albums did become the first by any act to debut at #’s 1 and 2 on the charts. They spent 108 weeks on those charts and both ended up selling around 7 million copies, far short of Appetite’s 28 million, but a huge success nonetheless. As history goes, the albums end up being pretty unremarkable. “November Rain” became the only iconic song off the two albums, it set a little history itself, becoming the longest song to ever crack the top ten on the singles chart at 8:57.

One of the better songs off of the two records is “Civil War,” and this day was the bloodiest in U.S. history in 1862, when over 23,000 Americans were killed at the Battle of Antietam.

One of the better songs off of any record was recorded on September 17, 1973. Billy Joel, a New Yorker through and through, wrote Piano Man about his time playing local bars in Los Angeles. Released to moderate success later that year, the tune didn’t find any legs until 1977 when Joel finally found stardom with his album, “The Stranger.” “Piano Man” went on to become Joel’s signature song and he closes most of his shows with it.

The Doors performed on the Ed Sullivan show today in 1967. Jim Morrison had agreed not to sing the words, “girl we couldn’t get much higher,” but in true rock ‘n roll fashion, he sang them anyway at showtime and got himself banned from the Sullivan show. He probably cared about the ban about as much as Sullivan cared that the Doors were playing his show.

Something everyone cared about happened in 1983 when Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to be named Miss America. Williams would give up the crown after Penthouse magazine published nude pictures of her soon after she won. Suzette Charles, who is also black, took over the crown, but the controversy didn’t keep Williams from a hugely successful career as a singer/actress.

September 17 was a big day for Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, who hit his first career home run today in 1967 and then hit his 500th round-tripper today in 1984.

Continuing in the “baseball can throw some strange stuff at you” vein, Stan Musial was a 20-year old September call up and got two hits in his major league debut today in 1941. Musial would amass more hits in his career (3,630) than there were fans in attendance that night in St. Louis (3,585). It’s not strange that Musial would end up 4th on the all-time hits list, but what is strange is that “The Man” would end up with 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 hits on the road in his 22-year career.

Happy 67th birthday to Phil Jackson, he of 11 NBA championships. He doesn’t get our vote for best coach born on September 17th, though. That would go to this guy, who turns 47 today:

— Bill Hubbell