| 81 | years ago | 1945 | Bob Seger is born. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | John Flansburgh, singer for They Might Be Giants, is born. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | In their Clearwater, Florida hotel room, two members of the Rolling Stones begin work on a song which will become a rock & roll anthem. Keith Richards got a Gibson “Fuzz box” (distortion device) on this day and has been playing with it. He wakes up Mick Jagger by pounding on his hotel room in the middle of the night. Richards has come up with a fuzz tone guitar riff he can't get out of his head. He plays it for Jagger who likes it and the riff becomes the foundation for Satisfaction. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Keith Moon, in an interview in Melody Maker, offers advice to legions of drummer-admirers: “To get your playing more forceful, hit the drums harder.” |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Scott McKenzie's San Francisco enters the Hot 100 and the Grateful Dead's self-titled debut LP enters the album chart. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish is born. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Foo Fighters’ Chris Schiflett is born |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Ike and Tina Turner receive their only gold record for their version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary. The song climbs up to #4. |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Elton John's Rocket Man is released. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Paul Simon starts his first tour without Art Garfunkel, at Boston's Music Hall. It's this tour that's recorded for the 1974 album Live Rhymin'. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Attracting 76,229 fans to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, Led Zeppelin breaks its own world record for largest audience at a single-act concert. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | At a joint news conference at the United Nations in New York with TV talk show host David Frost, the Bee Gees announce the launching of a unique concept: Music for UNICEF benefit concerts by major rock and pop stars. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | A court in Edinburgh, Scotland sentences the former manager of the Bay City Rollers, Tam Paton, to three years in jail. He had pleaded guilty to charges of conducting himself “in a shamelessly indecent manner” with ten teenage boys. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | The famed Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster fight begins as the band files a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department charging that the company has a monopoly on the concert ticket business. |
| 26 | years ago | 2000 | John Mellencamp is awarded with an honorary doctorate of music as the commencement speaker for Indiana University's Class of 2000. As he approached the lectern in the high 80-degree heat, he shed his heavy academic gown. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Jay Black of Jay and the Americans says he may have to relinquish his name--and the band’s--to help pay off $500,000 in back taxes. He went bankrupt from a gambling habit he says he’s conquered, and seeks a settlement that will let him sell the band’s name “Jay and the Americans,” but keep touring as “Jay Black and the Americans.” Jay says, “I'm trying to dig myself out of this black hole. If they take my name away, it would be my total ruination. It would be like forcing Elvis to sell his name to someone else. How can an imposter perform as Elvis?” |
| 18 | years ago | 2008 | Cher at the Coliseum debuts at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. It’s the start of a planned three-year, 200-show engagement. It.s been nearly three years since her three-year “Farewell” concert tour, and she has essentially done nothing in between. She says she’s doing Vegas because she “just can’t go on the road” anymore. |