| 94 | years ago | 1931 | Ramblin' Jack Elliott, called by some “the first cowboy-folk-rap artist,” and called by Mama Cass “the sexiest man alive,” is born in Brooklyn. |
| 91 | years ago | 1934 | Leadbelly is released from prison. |
| 83 | years ago | 1942 | In response to what it sees as a threat from the new fad, phonograph records, the American Federation of Musicians goes on strike (but only for recording, not live, gigs). |
| 83 | years ago | 1942 | Jerry Garcia, vocalist and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, is born. |
| 79 | years ago | 1946 | Boz Burrell, bass player for Bad Company, is born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England. |
| 78 | years ago | 1947 | Rick Coonce of The Grass Roots is born. So is bassist Rick Anderson of The Tubes in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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| 74 | years ago | 1951 | Guitarist Tommy Bolin, of Deep Purple and the James Gang, is born in Sioux City, Iowa. So is Tim Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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| 72 | years ago | 1953 | Blues singer and guitarist Robert Cray is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | Songwriter/composer Michael Penn, brother of actor Sean Penn, is born in Greenwich Village, New York. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | His contract up at Sun Records, Johnny Cash leaves Memphis, moves to Los Angeles, and signs with Columbia Records. |
| 66 | years ago | 1959 | Joe Elliot (lead vocalist for Def Leppard) is born is Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Suzi Gardner of L7 is born, as is rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Billboard reports the findings of a Seventeen magazine survey...the average teenage girl listens to the radio two hours and thirteen minutes a day and plays records two hours and twelve minutes a day. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Chubby Checker's The Twist is released. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Elvis Presley is named Public Enemy #1 by the East German newspaper, Young World. |
| 65 | years ago | 1960 | Aretha Franklin begins her first non-gospel recording session, an abortive attempt at jazz-pop with the Columbia label. |
| 62 | years ago | 1963 | Beatles Monthly magazine debuts. It will continue for six years. |
| 62 | years ago | 1963 | Rapper Coolio is born. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Adam Duritz of Counting Crows is born. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | A brand new group called The Steampacket, featuring lead vocals by Rod Stewart, opens for the Rolling Stones at the London Palladium. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Johnny Burnette dies. His nephew, Billy Burnette, carries on to do a stint with Fleetwood Mac between 1985 and 1987. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Billboard reports the harmonica is making a comeback in a big way thanks to its use by the likes of Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Bob Dylan. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Jan & Dean's Little Old Lady From Pasadena peaks at #3 on the pop chart. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles' A Hard Days Night hits #1 on the chart. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Rod Stewart's group Steam Packet opens 2 shows for the Rolling Stones at the London Palladium. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Marianne Faithfull collapses during a performance in Lancashire, England, and is taken to a hospital, canceling the remainder of her tour. |
| 57 | years ago | 1968 | Mick Jagger's movie Performance is released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | The three day Atlantic City Pop Festival opens in New Jersey. It's the first such festival in the Philadelphia-New York area. Over 110,00 come out to hear such artists as Iron Butterfly, CCR, Jefferson Airplane, Little Richard, Janis Joplin, Santana, Procol Harem and Joe Cocker perform. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys is indicted in Los Angeles for failing to perform his required community service hours, which were imposed upon him after he refused to be drafted as a conscientious objector. Rather than the janitorial duty he was sentenced to at LA County Hospital, Wilson taught music classes there instead. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | After two years of sitting on the shelf (mainly due to shocking sex and violence scenes), the gangster movie Performance, featuring the acting debut of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, premieres in London. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Christine McVie plays her first gig with Fleetwood Mac at a show at A Warehouse in New Orleans. The band's first female member, she played on some of their albums before she was asked to join full-time. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour premieres on CBS Television. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | The concerts for Bangladesh are held at Madison Square Garden. The two shows are put together by George Harrison out of concern for the starving people of the Bangladesh nation. Highlights include Ringo Starr flubbing the lyrics in his hit It Don't Come Easy and an unannounced appearance by Bob Dylan. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | Keyboardist Tony Kaye quits Yes to form Badger. He is replaced by Rick Wakeman. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Chicago's Chicago V LP is certified gold, and Elvis Presley releases Burning Love. |
| 52 | years ago | 1973 | The flick American Graffiti opens. It stars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford among others, and features a soundtrack of 50's rock and roll hits. |
| 52 | years ago | 1973 | Jerry Garcia celebrates his 31st birthday by playing a concert at Roosevelt Stadium with the Grateful Dead. The rocker was surprised with a cake wheeled on stage containing a naked girl. He was, in his words, “embarrassed.” |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | Pete Townshend and Keith Moon join Eric Clapton at Atlanta's Omni. Townshend jammed on Layla and he later performed a modified Who finish by smashing a plastic ukulele over Clapton's head. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | Gladys Knight gives birth to her third child, Shanga-Ali. |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | Elvis: What Happened? is a book about Elvis Presley and his alleged drug problem. It's published by Ballatine and written by ex-bodyguards Red & Sonny West and Dave Hebler. The book presents the king of rock and roll as an overweight recluse obsessed with religion and the supernatural. The authors will call a press conference saying their reason for writing the book was not money, but to save Presley from himself. The book sells over three million copies. |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | Chrissie Hynde almost marries Sid Vicious. She offers him 2 quid to do it, so that she wouldn't be deported. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | George Harrison and his bride-to-be Olivia Trinidad Arias announce the birth of their first child, Dhani. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | Def Leppard perform their first U.S. live gig, opening for AC/DC in New York City. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | George Harrison forms a production company called Hand Made Films Productions. It will produce films such as Monty Python's Life of Brian, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, and Shanghai Surprise. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | A new era begins: MTV is launched in an estimated 2.1 million homes. The first video shown is The Buggles tune Video Killed the Radio Star. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | The Moody Blues' Gemini Dream peaks at #12 on the singles chart, while Rush's Tom Sawyer peaks at #44. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | Ashley Angel of O-Town is born in Redding, California. |
| 41 | years ago | 1984 | Jermaine Jackson appears on an episode of CBS' long-running soap opera, As The World Turns. |
| 40 | years ago | 1985 | Tom Waits releases Rain Dogs, widely considered one of Waits's most important and innovative works. Synthesizers and samples--very common in the 1980's--are deliberately absent as Waits develops the unique approach he began on Swordfishtrombones. |
| 38 | years ago | 1987 | MTV Europe makes its debut. The first video shown is Dire Straits' Money for Nothing, with the tongue-in-cheek repetition of the line “I want my MTV” sung by Sting. |
| 38 | years ago | 1987 | Guns N' Roses head to Park Plaza and 450 South La Brea in Hollywood to shoot their first video, for Welcome To The Jungle. |
| 38 | years ago | 1987 | Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart marries Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey in Paris. |
| 38 | years ago | 1987 | The Grateful Dead's LP In The Dark enters the chart. The LP contains the groups biggest single ever, Touch Of Grey. Also, Bob Seger's Shakedown hits #1 on the pop singles chart. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ opens. David Bowie appears as Pontius Pilate while the film is scored by Peter Gabriel. |
| 37 | years ago | 1988 | Cincinnati AM radio station WCVG changes its format, becoming the first US all-Elvis radio station. The concept dies out within the year. |
| 36 | years ago | 1989 | The Rolling Stones release the album Steel Wheels. |
| 36 | years ago | 1989 | Eric Clapton plays a free concert in Mozambique, Africa for more than 100,000 people. Proceeds of the show go to charities in the war torn nation. |
| 31 | years ago | 1994 | The Rolling Stones begin their 43 city Voodoo Lounge world tour at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. They politely refuse an invitation to play at the Clinton White House, though they would go on to play Clinton’s 60th birthday party in 2006. |
| 31 | years ago | 1994 | Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley announce their marriage in the Dominican Republic 11 weeks earlier. |
| 29 | years ago | 1996 | MTV launches another channel, M2. |
| 29 | years ago | 1996 | Bill Buchanan of novelty recording artists Buchanan and Goodman dies. But flying saucers are still around. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | A toilet in Lenny Kravitz's New York apartment overflows, causing $333,849.77 damage to the condominium below. The insurance company which had to pay the condo owner's damage claim files suit against Kravitz two months later. |
| 19 | years ago | 2006 | Grand Canyon University and the Solid Rock Foundation, the Christian non-profit organization created by rock star Alice Cooper, announce an agreement to build a 20,000-square-foot teen activity center on university grounds in Phoenix. The approximately $3 million project -- nicknamed "The Rock" -- will
offer a wide variety of after-school programs and special events for area youth. The facility is designed to provide a safe and fun place for area teens to gather and participate in program activities that will make a
difference in their lives. |
| 19 | years ago | 2006 | 30-year-old Andy Richardson dies after he is beaten in the mosh pit during The Deftones' set at the Family Values tour in Atlanta. |