1940 – Members of Soviet politburo, including general secretary Joseph Stalin, sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.

1933 – Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party receives 43.9% at the Reichstag elections. This later allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act and establish a dictatorship.

1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.

1837 – The city of Chicago is incorporated.

1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records "Rocket 88", often cited as "the first rock and roll record", at Sam Phillips' recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.

1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
The only ones I had trouble with were the early ones from '84 and a few newer ones every now and then but not often. I guess out of 1400 or so CD's some are bound to be defective. But the early ones failing is more common so it was likely from manufacturing problems there were not quite worked out yet. All mine are ripped to hard drive in flac format now but I keep the CD's just in case.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
I can't remember any CD failures but I've had lots of problems with DVDs. We still have some CDs but rarely actually use them anymore; our music library now exists on our computers, USB drives and in the cloud.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Yes some commercial CD's especially early ones can do that. It was likely due to manufacturing problems that caused poor sealing so they could oxidize over time. The CD slogan "Perfect Sound Forever" rates right up there with "You can keep your old Doctor and insurance plan".

 DaveInVA wrote: 
I've not heard of that...

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Yes and I made the mistake of buying the very first model available in the US, the SONY CDP-101 that listed for about $1000.00 and got it on sale for close to $900.00. There were only 11 rock titles available and I bought them all. Quickly realized it sounded like sh*t next to my $3000 JA Mitchell Transcriptor Hydraulic Reference turntable with Dynavector Karat cartridge and sold the player as soon as I could and waited for them to get better. Nearly all of those 11 original CD's are now unplayable due to cd rot yet all my LP's still play. 

1983 – Compact Discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.

1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.

1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.

1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.

1941 – W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM radio station in the U.S..