| 81 | years ago | 1944 | Jesse Colin Young, vocalist for the Youngbloods, is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1944 | Chris Dreja, guitarist for the Yardbirds, is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1945 | Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge is born. |
| 73 | years ago | 1952 | Paul Cowsill of The Cowsills is born. |
| 72 | years ago | 1953 | Andy Partridge of XTC is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1954 | Marshall Crenshaw is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1956 | Ian Marsh of Human League and Heaven 17 is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1957 | Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue is released. |
| 67 | years ago | 1958 | Hank Ballard and the Midnighters record the original The Twist in King Studio, Cincinnati, Ohio. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | The Supremes' In And Out Of Love is released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | Jim Morrison of the Doors is jailed for “interfering with the flight of an intercontinental aircraft and public drunkenness.” Morrison and friend Tom Baker were en route from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona to see the Rolling Stones, when Morrison pestered a flight attendant, drawing a charge which carries a $10,000 fine and a possible ten year jail sentence. Eventually the attendant withdraws her accusation and all charges were dropped. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Two very different albums entitled Plastic Ono Band, one by John Lennon and the other by Yoko Ono, are released at the same time on Apple in the U.S. and U.K. Also today, Bob Dylan's book Tarantula is published by Bantam Books. The book is warmly received. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Allman Brothers bass player Berry Oakley is killed in a mortorcycle accident just three blocks from the site where Duane Allman was killed. He was thrown twenty yards from the crash. At first, he seemed all right, but died, apparently of a brain tumor, twenty minutes after being brought to the hospital. He was 24 years old. |
| 52 | years ago | 1973 | Thirty stations across the land broadcast what it billed as a “live” Mott the Hoople show. The reality is that it's nothing more than Hoople's studio tracks with dubbed-in applause. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | KISS, the heavy-metal/glitter rock band the critics love to hate, earns another gold record for their album, Rock and Roll Over. It contains the hit Calling Dr. Love. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | On the same day that ex-Rufus lead singer Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman hits #1 on the soul chart, the album from which it came, Chaka, enters the soul LP chart where it peaks at #2. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | Rod Stewart kicks off his first North American tour in three years in Greensboro, North Carolina. Billed Le Grand Tour of America and Canada -- Worth Leaving Home For, the tour promotes his latest album, Tonight I'm Yours. |
| 36 | years ago | 1989 | Melissa Etheridge and Joe Cocker entertain Germans celebrating the newly tumbled Berlin Wall. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson, Queen, The Rolling Stones, and Cliff Richard are inducted into Britain’s first Music Hall of Fame, chosen by Britain’s Channel 4 television viewers as the best music acts of the past five decades. Madonna, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, U2, and The Beatles are also inducted as honorary members. Madonna, U2’s Bono, The Stones’ Ron Wood, and Robbie Williams are among the stars who attend the ceremony to receive their award. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | According to its poll, readers of Rolling Stone magazine would most like to see Bill Clinton be President (24.8%). Their second choice is John Kerry (19.2%), and third is Hillary Clinton (12.9%). John McCain (10.4%), then George W. Bush (10.1%) round out the top 5. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger finishes tenth at 1.7%. Like Bill Clinton, Arnold can't run according to the Constitution. |
| 19 | years ago | 2006 | The London Observer newspaper’s Music Monthly Magazine publishes an interview with Elton John in which he says, “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays…From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.” |