| 100 years ago (1920) | Jazz legend Dave Brubeck is born. |
| 65 years ago (1955) | Rick Buckler of The Jam is born. |
| 64 years ago (1956) | Randy Rhoads, original guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, is born in Santa Monica, California. He dies in 1982. |
| 64 years ago (1956) | Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M., is born. |
| 63 years ago (1957) | Mercury Records releases the Diamonds' cover of the Chuck Willis dance tune The Stroll. It peaks at #8 on the pop chart and sparks a fad for the dance of the same name. |
| 58 years ago (1962) | Ben Watt of Everything But the Girl is born. |
| 55 years ago (1965) | Motown Records releases Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' Going to a Go-Go. The song is later covered by the Rolling Stones. The Miracles' version will reach #11 on the pop chart. |
| 55 years ago (1965) | The Rolling Stones enter RCA's Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles to record 19th Nervous Breakdown, Mother's Little Helper and other tracks. |
| 52 years ago (1968) | James Taylor's self-titled album is released in Britain on Apple. Most attention focuses on the contributions of Paul McCartney and George Harrison. |
| 52 years ago (1968) | Aides to President Richard Nixon send out 66,000 letters signed by Nixon, to potential administrative office holders. Among those receiving one is Elvis Presley. |
| 51 years ago (1969) | The Rolling Stones play a free “thank you” concert for 300,000 fans at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California. Among the performing guests are Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The hastily organized event rapidly falls into a disaster when four people die, including one who was stabbed by a Hell's Angel who was hired to act as a security guard. The murder is filmed and included in the film Gimme Shelter which premiers exactly one year later. |
| 50 years ago (1970) | Gimme Shelter, the documentary film about the Rolling Stones' 1969 tour of the U.S. debuts on the anniversary of the Altamont concert. |
| 50 years ago (1970) | Uld “Buddha” Ekberg of Ace of Base is born. |
| 47 years ago (1973) | Steve Miller, who'd been laying low for most of last year and this year, gets a gold record for The Joker, his most sucessful LP to date. The title track becomes Miller's first chart-topping hit and gives cameo roles to some of his previous in-song personas, like “Maurice” and “The Gangster of Love.” |
| 45 years ago (1975) | Fleetwood Mac rocks a sold-out Warehouse on Tchoupitoulas in New Orleans. |
| 45 years ago (1975) | Soul singer Tyrone Davis enters the R&B chart with Turning Point, which -- though it will never enter the pop chart -- will hit #1 early next year. |
| 42 years ago (1978) | Sid Vicious, out on bail from Riker's Island Detention Center in New York after being charged with the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, smashes glass in the face of Patti Smith's brother Todd during an altercation at New York rock club Hurrah. |
| 41 years ago (1979) | AC/DC's big breakthrough comes with his fifth U.S. album, Highway to Hell. It turns gold and happens to be the last album recorded with original vocalist Bon Scott, who dies two months later. |
| 32 years ago (1988) | Roy Orbison dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 52. His career was on an upswing in recent years with his burgeoning solo career and as a member of The Traveling Wilburys. |