| 76 | years ago | 1950 | Tony Banks, keyboard player for Genesis, is born. |
| 67 | years ago | 1959 | INXS keyboardist and guitarist Andrew Farris is born. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The British Invasion makes it around the globe as The Beatles occupy the top six spots in the Australian pop chart. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Who's I Can't Explain is released. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | The British Music Industry awards John Lennon and Paul McCartney the prestigious Ivor Novello award for writing Michelle, the most performed song in Britain in 1966. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | A riot breaks out at a Rolling Stones concert in Halsinborg, Sweden. 5 days later, 154 fans are arrested in another riot at a Stones concert in Vienna, Austria. And then 3 weeks later, another riot breaks out at a Stones concert in Zurich, Switzerland. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Little Willie John dies of a heart attack in Walla Walla Penitentiary. He was a teenage R&B singer in the gospel-influenced mold of James Brown, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson before going to jail for killing a man in a street fight in 1961. He was 31 years old. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Brendan Hill of Blues Traveler is born, as is pop songstress Mariah Carey. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The New York Times reports New York radio station WNBC has banned the song One Toke Over the Line by Brewer & Shipley because of its alleged drug references. Other stations around the country follow suit. The composer of the tune, Tom Shipley, responds, “In this electronic age, pulling a record because of its lyrics is like the burning of books in the Thirties.” |
| 54 | years ago | 1972 | Elvis Presley records what will be his last major hit, Burning Love, which makes it to #2 in October. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, the ex-wife of George Harrison, in Tucson, Arizona. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Amid all the Sex Pistols imitators comes Dire Straits, whose captivating single Sultans of Swing quietly sneaks its way up the charts to #4. The band's debut album turns platinum. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Bruce Springsteen's first video, Rosalita, premiers on BBC-TV. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Sammy Hagar plays his first show as lead singer of Van Halen. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | U2 films their video Where the Streets Have No Name on a rooftop in L.A. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | New Kids on the Block singer Donnie Wahlberg is arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, for allegedly pouring vodka on a hotel carpet and setting it on fire. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Elton John and partner Tim Rice win the Oscar for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture for Can You Feel The Love from The Lion King. |