This Week in Music History: November 22-28

This week is Thanksgiving, and we’re thankful for music! In this edition, we’re looking back across a cornucopia of genres, from R&B to country to rock.

November 22, 2003: Kelis Wants a Milkshake

Photo by Frank Micelotta / Getty Images

A dozen years ago, the music world was in need of something fresh, something to quench its thirst for a fun and funky new track. Enter Kelis, and her single “Milkshake.” It was in this week back in 2003 that the track, from the album Tasty, first debuted on the Mediabase Top 40 chart. “Milkshake” went on to see a decent amount of chart success — eventually landing at No. 7 on the Top 40 and going No. 1 on the Rhythmic chart, No. 5 on Urban — as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, but it lives on more memorably as a track of several films and TV shows, including Mean Girls. Fun fact: Kelis doesn’t just sing about food and beverages. The artist is actually a trained chef, and just released her cookbook, My Life on a Plate: Recipes From Around the World, in September of this year.

November 27, 2004: Green Day is Walking Along the Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Photo by Matthew Simmons / Getty Images

While Kelis was bringing the boys to the yard with her milkshakes, Green Day walked alone…down the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” One year after “Milkshake” hit the airwaves, Green Day hit No. 1 on the Mediabase Alternative chart with a slightly darker number. The second single off of the band’s seventh studio album, American Idiot, the track went on to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and hit No. 1 across the Top 40, Hot AC, Active Rock, Mainstream Rock, Triple A and Adult Hits formats, becoming one of the best-selling singles of the entire decade. Written by Billie Joe Armstrong and inspired by his time in New York, the song puts a rather different spin on the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

November 22, 2008: Zac Brown Band Enjoys All Things Chicken Fried

Photo by Rick Diamond / Getty Images

Returning to the subject of food, exactly five years after Kelis’ ode to milkshakes took over the charts, Zac Brown Band’s debut single “Chicken Fried” went to No. 1 on the Mediabase Country chart. Interestingly, this was not the first time the track — which also touts the virtues of a cold beer, in addition to items which are fried in the style of chicken — hit the airwaves. The song was originally recorded in 2003 and included on ZBB’s self-released Home Grown album, and even did a brief stint on Country radio in 2006 sung by The Lost Trailers, but was withdrawn after the Zac Brown Band decided they wanted to release it as their own single. Lucky they did, too: with “Chicken Fried,” they went on to become the first country band to reach No. 1 with a debut single since Heartland did so in 2006 with “I Loved Her First,” and the success of the track earned them wins at the ACM Awards, CMT Music Awards, and a Best New Artist Grammy Award.

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