| 101 | years ago | 1925 | William “Benny” Benjamin (of The Funk Brothers) is born in Mobile, Alabama. |
| 85 | years ago | 1941 | Guitarist Manny Charlton of Nazareth is born in La Linea, Spain. |
| 84 | years ago | 1942 | Bruce Woodley of The Seekers is born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
| 83 | years ago | 1943 | Drummer Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds and Renaissance is born in Walton, Liverpool, England. |
| 82 | years ago | 1944 | Rock musician and composer Tom Dawes of The Cyrkle is born in Albany, New York. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Jose "Chepito" Areas of Santana is born in Leon, Nicaragua. |
| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Folk Singer/Songwriter Steve Goodman is born in Chicago, Illinois. He'll grow up to write Arlo Guthrie’s 1972 hit, The City of New Orleans. |
| 76 | years ago | 1950 | Bassist/vocalist Mark Clarke, briefly a member of Uriah Heep, is born in Liverpool, England. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Verdine White, bassist for Earth, Wind & Fire, is born in Chicago, Illinois. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire is born. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | The Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria collides with the Swedish liner Stockholm, the latter tearing a hole in the starboard hull of the former, killing 52 instantly and causing the Andrea Doria to sink by morning. On board is one Mike Stoller, who would go on to become one of the famous Lieber-Stoller songwriting team. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Guitarist and singer/songwriter Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth is born in Coral Gables, Florida. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Paul Geary, co-founder and drummer of Extreme, is born in Medford, Massachusetts. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | The Ventures’ Walk - Don't Run enters the charts. So does Elvis Presley’s It's Now Or Never. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Singer Cilla Black, discovered by Beatles manager Brian Epstein at a Gerry and the Pacemakers concert, makes her first recording test for EMI. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The Animals’ The House Of The Rising Sun enters the U.K. singles chart. And The Beatles’ A Hard Day's Night is the #1 album in the U.S. and the U.K. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | Billboard reports England has a hot new band. The Animals debut single House of the Rising Sun entered the U.K. chart at #16. The next week, it's at #3 and seven days later it's #1. To promote the group in the U.S., disc jockeys are sent boxes of animal crackers wrapped with special promotional material. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | Bob Dylan breaks out his electric guitar and “plugs in” for the very first time at the Newport Jazz Festival. His reception is, let's just say, less than enthusiastic. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | In San Francisco, the Rolling Stones perform their last U.S. concert with Brian Jones. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | The Beatles and other U.K. rock groups urge the British government to legalize marijuana. Their comments are made in a London Times advertisement signed by all four of The Beatles. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Neil Young makes his first appearance with Crosby, Stills, and Nash at New York's Fillmore East. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The bill at the Seattle Pops Festival includes The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and Vanilla Fudge. The Fudge stay at the Edgewater Inn, fishing in Seattle Sound with members of Led Zeppelin. This is the time of the infamous “Mud Shark Incident” to which Frank Zappa alludes in Don't Eat the Yellow Snow. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | The Carpenters’ (They Long to Be) Close to You hits #1. Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime makes its first appearance on the U.S. singles chart. And Chicago releases 25 or 6 to 4 from Chicago II. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The Beach Boys make a return with the release of their album Surf's Up. It hits #29, making it their highest charting LP in four years. |
| 51 | years ago | 1975 | A California federal judge rules that San Francisco had a right to arrest Miracles singer Smokey Robinson the previous year, even though his name only matched the alias of the criminal he was confused with. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | KISS introduces its new drummer, Eric Carr, at a concert at the Paladium in New York City. Carr, who wears fox make-up, replaces Peter Criss, who was made up as a cat. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | AC/DC releases Back In Black, their first album with Brian Johnson as lead singer. |
| 42 | years ago | 1984 | Original Hound Dog singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton dies at age 57 in Los Angeles, California after a long-time struggle with alcohol abuse. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Steve Rubell, one of the owners of the Studio 54 disco, dies of AIDS-related causes at age 45. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Beastie Boys release their second album, Paul’s Boutique, which is named after a store in Brooklyn. |
| 36 | years ago | 1990 | Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa become parents to son Evan James. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Bone Thugs-N-Harmony release their breakthrough album E. 1999 Eternal, which goes platinum six times and features one of their biggest hits of all time Tha Crossroads, which goes platinum twice and wins a 1996 Grammy for Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Legendary singer Nina Simone is arrested for firing a pellet gun at noisy teenagers playing near her home in the south of France, for which she is placed on an 18-month probation and ordered to seek counseling. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Country performer Charlie Rich, known for Behind Closed Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl, dies of a blood clot at age 62 at a motel in Hammond, Louisiana. |
| 27 | years ago | 1999 | On the third day of the Woodstock '99 festival on Griffiss Air Force Base, overpriced water, overflowing toilets, and a Limp Bizkit performance of Break Stuff leads to riots, groping, and injuries. Conditions deteriorated as the festival raged on, and by today, the final day, MTV is covering the event with the tagline “Apocalypse Woodstock.” |
| 25 | years ago | 2001 | The Doors' John Densmore, Bonnie Raitt, and others are arrested in Itasca, Illinois, for demonstrating against a company which they claim destroys the rainforest. |
| 23 | years ago | 2003 | Erik Braunn (Iron Butterfly guitarist) dies of a heart attack related to a birth defect in Los Angeles, California at age 52. |
| 16 | years ago | 2010 | New Orleans' “King of Swing” Louis Prima gets a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 32 years after his death in 1978. |
| 14 | years ago | 2012 | MGA Entertainment, the toy corporation behind the “Bratz” line of dolls, files a lawsuit against Lady Gaga, alleging that her and her managers delayed approval on marketing a Lady Gaga doll. MGA calls it “breach of contract” and is asking for $10 million - this, only eight months after the deal was struck. |
| 6 | years ago | 2020 | Peter Green, guitarist and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, dies peacefully in his sleep at age 73. |