| 85 | years ago | 1940 | Jorma Kaukonen, guitarist for Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, is born. |
| 85 | years ago | 1940 | The Chi-Lites' Eugene Record is born. |
| 82 | years ago | 1943 | Harry Shearer (aka Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap) is born. |
| 70 | years ago | 1955 | Keyboardist Bruce Hornsby is born. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | The Beach Boys make their first appearance on Shingdig! singing Little Saint Nick, Dance, Dance Dance, Johnny B. Goode, and Monster Mash. |
| 61 | years ago | 1964 | Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is born. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | Guns 'n' Roses guitarist Slash is born. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | BBC-TV broadcasts Ready, Steady Go! for the last time after more than three years during which the weekly show was the U.K.'s most popular pop-music television program. The special guests for the farewell show are The Who. |
| 59 | years ago | 1966 | Pink Floyd performs at the opening of a London club called the Night Tripper, which will soon change its name to the UFO Club and become the center of London's psychedelic underground. |
| 58 | years ago | 1967 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience's Foxy Lady is released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1969 | Elton John and Bernie Taupin begin writing songs together. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Joni Mitchell earns her first gold disc as a performer with her third album, Ladies of the Canyon. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | Former Grand Funk Railroad manager Terry Knight shows up at a benefit show staged by the group armed with two deputy sheriffs and a 20-foot moving van. Knight has a court order giving him the right to seize and hold $1 million in money or assets pending settlement of several lawsuits between him and the band. However, since the show can't go on without the equipment, Knight is told by lawmen not to touch the amps or drums until after the concert. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | John Lennon's film Imagine premiers on national TV. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | Just as John Lennon had done three years earlier, George Harrison releases a holiday single, Ding Dong, Ding Dong. The song only reaches #36. |
| 47 | years ago | 1978 | Rod Stewart's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy is released. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | Elton John and his partner David Furnish, plus Spice Girls Gerri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, and Melanie Chisholm are among the celebrities at a lavish party thrown by soccer start David Beckham following the christening of his two sons, Brooklyn, 5, and Romeo, 2. Elton will be their godfather. Their mother, Victoria, is a former Spice Girl herself. |