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The music of Athens, Georgia includes a wide variety of popular music, and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New Wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands such as R.E.M. and The B-52's, and several long-time indie rock groups. Athens hosts the Athens Symphony Orchestra and other music institutions, as well as prominent local music media, such as the college radio station WUOG. Much of the modern Athens music scene is based around students from the large University of Georgia campus in the city. The University sponsors Western classical performances and groups specializing in other styles. Athens became a center for music in the region during the American Civil War, and gained further fame in the early 20th century with the foundation of the Morton Theatre, which was a major touring destination for African American performers. The city's local rock music scene can be traced to the 1970s, with international attention coming in the following decade when R.E.M. and The B-52's released best-selling recordings. Athens-based rock bands have performed in a wide array of styles, and the city has never had a characteristic style of rock; most of the bands have been united only in their quirky and iconoclastic image. (more...)

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January 30:

• 1649 – English Civil War: King Charles I was beheaded for high treason in front of the Banqueting House in London, followed by the abolition of the monarchy and the declaration of the Commonwealth of England in the same year.
• 1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, connecting the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, one of the world's first modern suspension bridges, opened.
• 1948 – Nathuram Godse fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, at Birla House in Delhi.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnam People's Army launched the Tết Offensive to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.
• 1996 – Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake discovered Comet Hyakutake (pictured), which eventually became one of the closest cometary approaches to the Earth in the last 200 years.

• More events: January 29 – January 30 – January 31

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