| 100 | years ago | 1925 | Guitar legend B.B. King is born. |
| 77 | years ago | 1948 | Kenney Jones, drummer for Faces and Keith Moon's replacement in The Who, is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1950 | The Bellamy Brothers' David Bellamy is born. |
| 62 | years ago | 1963 | She Loves You backed by I'll Get You by The Beatles is released by Swan Records in the U.S. Though its tops in the U.K., She Loves You doesn't do anything until 1964 when it runs up to #1. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Shindig! premieres on ABC-TV. It was inspired by the success of British Invasion groups on The Ed Sullivan Show. The show features both British and American performers plus a cast of go-go dancers and a house band. Within a few months NBC has an imitation, Hullabaloo. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles perform live in City Park Stadium in New Orleans before a sell-out crowd of 27,000-plus. Tickets are $5 each. A proclamation issued by Mayor Vic Schiro declares “Beatles Day in New Orleans” and is autographed by all four Beatles, who called him, “Lord Mayor.” Herb Holiday is the concert promoter, and contrary to rumors, makes plenty of money on the show, especially when he passes on the $8,000 of rainout insurance and the rain holds off until after the show. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Rolling Stones open the second season of Shindig! by performing Satisfaction. Also on the show are the Kinks, Byrds and Everly Brothers. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | Bassist Pete Quafe leaves the Kinks and is replaced by John Dalton. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | Member of Parliament, Tom Drilberg asks Britain's House of Commons to officially “deplore” the action of a magistrate who'd earlier called the Rolling Stones “complete morons…who wear filthy clothes.” |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | Jimi Hendrix' debut LP, Are You Experienced? enters the album charts. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | A Melody Maker poll finds that Led Zeppelin has replaced The Beatles as the U.K.'s most popular group-the first time The Beatles haven't been #1 in eight years. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Jimi Hendrix makes his final public appearance, jamming with Eric Burdon and War at Ronnie Scott's club in London. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | The Who's Who's Next goes gold. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | The Allman Brothers Band is back at The Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans. They played the same venue six months earlier. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Rod Stewart's Never A Dull Moment hits #2 on the LP charts. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | The Temptations' All Directions enters the LP charts. The album features the #1 single, Papa Was A Rollin' Stone. |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | The Rolling Stones release their third live album, Love You, Live. The two album set was recorded in Paris last year and in Toronto in March of this year. The package shoots to #5 U.S. album chart. |
| 48 | years ago | 1977 | Marc Bolan of T. Rex dies at the age of 29. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | The Grateful Dead play a concert before the pyramids of Egypt. The concert is recorded, but has yet to be released on record. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | The Cars' Just What I Needed peaks at #27 on the singles chart. |
| 46 | years ago | 1979 | Rap, the New York City ghetto music in which the performers chant rhymed and rhythmical verses over prerecorded instrumental dance tracks, makes it onto vinyl with the release of the Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight. Sylvia Robinson (formerly of Mickey & Sylvia) formed the company to produce rap records despite industry warnings that rap has no commercial appeal. Rappers Delight is recorded over the instrumental break from Chic's Good Times. The single becomes a disco smash, reportedly sellling five million copies. |
| 33 | years ago | 1992 | Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers is born. |
| 29 | years ago | 1996 | R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi enters the album charts at #2. |
| 16 | years ago | 2009 | Folk-music trio Peter, Paul and Mary loses Mary Travers to side effects of chemotherapy for leukemia. |
| 15 | years ago | 2010 | Heart singer-guitarist Nancy Wilson files for divorce from writer-director Cameron Crowe after a 20-year marriage that produced twin sons. They had separated two years earlier. |
| 9 | years ago | 2016 | Jerry Corbetta of Sugarloaf, best known for their 1970 smash, Green-Eyed Lady, dies in Denver. He was 68. |