| 90 years ago (1934) | Don Kirshner is born. |
| 76 years ago (1948) | Jan Hammer is born. |
| 69 years ago (1955) | Fats Domino's Ain't That a Shame, which Billboard erroneously lists for months as Ain't It a Shame, is released on Commodore Records. |
| 69 years ago (1955) | Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks is born. |
| 64 years ago (1960) | Eddie Cochran dies in a hospital in Bath, England, from severe brain injuries sustained in a car crash near Chippenham, Wiltshire. Also injured in the crash are Cochran's girlfriend Sharon Sheeley and rocker Gene Vincent. |
| 60 years ago (1964) | Tool’s singer Maynard James Keenan is born. |
| 60 years ago (1964) | The Rolling Stones' debut album, The Rolling Stones is released in the U. K. on Decca Records. It will be released in the U.S. on London Records as England's newest hit maker. |
| 59 years ago (1965) | The Beach Boys' Help Me Rhonda is released. |
| 54 years ago (1970) | Johnny Cash performs at the White House at the invitation of President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon asked Cash to perform Okie From Muskogee but Cash refused since it wasn't his song. Instead, Cash sang his #1 hit, A Boy Named Sue. |
| 54 years ago (1970) | Paul McCartney releases his first solo album, McCartney. The self-interview enclosed with the album basically confirms that The Beatles had broken up. |
| 53 years ago (1971) | The Doors' Love Her Madly is released. |
| 53 years ago (1971) | Carly Simon's That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be is released. |
| 51 years ago (1973) | Pink Floyd receives a gold album for The Dark Side of the Moon, one of rock's landmark albums. The LP will remain on the charts for more than ten years and become the longest charting rock record of all time. |
| 48 years ago (1976) | Jailbreak, Irish rockers Thin Lizzy's most successful U.S. release, enters the chart. It will peak at #18 thanks to their #12 gold single, The Boys are Back in Town. |
| 48 years ago (1976) | Veteran jazz guitarist George Benson's album Breezin' enters the album chart. It will go on to become one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. The albums goes gold on June 4 and platinum on August 10. |
| 44 years ago (1980) | Bob Marley and the Wailers are performers and official guests of State at Zimbabwe's Independence festival. Marley calls the event the “greatest honor of my life.” |
| 42 years ago (1982) | Iron Maiden's third album, The Number of the Beast, enters the U.K. LP chart at #1. The British heavy-metal group says the making of the album, which contains references to Satanism, was haunted by mysterious things like amplifiers blowing out for no apparent reason and tapes losing recorded tracks and picking up strange voices. However, the best story is about a car accident their producer was involved in soon after the LP's title song was recorded. His auto repair bill came to 666 pounds, the Number of the Beast. |
| 42 years ago (1982) | Toto, a group of veteran L.A. studio session men, enter the pop chart again with Roseanna at #81. It will later climb to #1 and be named Record of the Year at the 1983 Grammy Awards. |
| 31 years ago (1993) | Former Bangles leader Susanna Hoffs marries screenwriter M. Jay Roach in Los Angeles. |
| 26 years ago (1998) | Linda Eastman McCartney, wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, dies in Tucson, AZ while vacationing with her family. She had been suffering from cancer since 1995. |
| 21 years ago (2003) | R & B legend Earl King dies in New Orleans. Born Earl Silas Johnson IV, the prolific songwriter and guitarist wrote Come On (Let the Good Times Roll) recorded by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, among others. Other well-known compositions include the Mardi Gras standards Big Chief and Street Parade. |
| 15 years ago (2009) | Paul McCartney headlines the opening day of the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. He dedicates Long and Winding Road and My Love to his wife Linda, who died 11 years earlier to the day. |
| 11 years ago (2013) | Thye Times-Picayune reports Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails will headline the 15th Voodoo Fest at its new permanent festival grounds in New Orleans' City Park in the coming November. |