| 78 years ago (1946) | Rick Nielsen, guitarist of Cheap Trick, is born. |
| 75 years ago (1949) | Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees are born. |
| 68 years ago (1956) | Elvis Presley had the most charting records this year with 17. Billboard reports Pat Boone was next with five, followed by Fats Domino, Little Richard, and the Platters with three each. |
| 62 years ago (1962) | The Rebels' instrumental Wild Weekend is released on Swan Records. It makes it to #8 on the pop chart. |
| 62 years ago (1962) | The Tornadoes' Telstar becomes the first record by a British group to top the American pop chart. The song was inspired by the launching of the Telstar satellite in July. |
| 56 years ago (1968) | In an article in the New York Times, New York Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein expresses his enthusiasm for the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, a group whose repertoire includes both rock and classical music. |
| 55 years ago (1969) | John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet for one hour with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa. Earlier in the day, they saw the Minister of Health, John Munro and discussed drug abuse. |
| 49 years ago (1975) | Ike and Tina Turner are robbed of $86,000 when a suitcase containing concert receipts is robbed. |
| 48 years ago (1976) | Bob Seger begins his breakthrough to stardom as his album, Live Bullet, goes gold. The album features in-concert versions of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, Beautiful Loser, Get Out of Denver, Travelin' Man and Katmandu. |
| 46 years ago (1978) | Faces drummer Kenney Jones becomes The Who's drummer, replacing the late Keith Moon who died two months earlier. |
| 45 years ago (1979) | The first of three concerts for the people of Kampuchea are held at London's Hammersmith Odeon. On the bill are Paul McCartney, the Clash, Elvis Costello, The Who, Rockpile, and many other rock stars. |
| 43 years ago (1981) | Sotheby's in London holds a rock & roll auction. Though the majority of the stuff is sold for far more than was expected -- an enameled Abbey Road street sign went for $600, an autographed program from The Beatles Royal Command Performance sold for $2,000 -- other items were disapointing. For example, a jacket once worn by Tom Jones only bought in $12. |
| 33 years ago (1991) | Gregg Allman makes his acting debut as a drug kingpin in the flick, Rush. |
| 20 years ago (2004) | Eight gold and silver discs won by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath are recovered by police. They were stolen in a burglary of the home of Patrick Meehan, Ozzy's former manager. Two other discs stolen at the same time had been returned earlier after being offered for sale on the Internet's eBay auction site. |
| 10 years ago (2014) | Joe Cocker dies of lung cancer in Colorado. |
| 2 years ago (2022) | Walter “Wolfman” Washington, a staple of New Orleans’ musical nightlife, dies at age 79. |