A calendar of rock history including birthdays, deaths, milestones, chart toppers, concerts, record releases, and other important events in music history.
Our sources include: Wikipedia, This Day in Music, This Day in Rock, Led Zeppelin.com, Classic Rock Concerts, The Concert Database, Live Music Archive, The Allman Brothers Band, Janis Joplin.net, The Who This Month, Setlist.fm, All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release by Jean-Michel Guesdon & Phillipe Margotin (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers,) Echoes – The Complete History of Pink Floyd by Glen Povey (Mind Head Publishing)
RSS Feed
1965, Jefferson Airplane made their live debut at San Francisco’s Matrix Club.
1965, Mike Smith, lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, suffered two broken ribs when he was pulled off the stage by fans. The group were in Chicago at the beginning of a US tour.
1965, The performed at The Marine Ballroom at the Central Pier in Morecambe, Lancashire, England.
1965, The Beatles … (read more…)
1966, At a press conference held at The Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago, John Lennon apologized for his remarks that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.” Lennon told reporters “Look, I wasn’t saying The Beatles are better than God or Jesus, I said “Beatles” because … (read more…)
1968, The lineup for day two of the National Jazz & Blues Festival was Alan Haven, Deep Purple, Ginger Baker, Jeff Beck Group, Joe Cocker, Mike Westbrook, Ronnie Scott, T. Rex, Ten Years After, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet, and The Nice. The festival was held at Kempton Park Racecourse, Sunbury On Thames, England.
1968, Jimi Hendrix played at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. … (read more…)
1967, The Small Faces entered the singles chart with “Itchycoo Park.” The song, written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, was released on August 4th, and peaked at number three in the UK and at number 16 in the US the following year.
1967, The Who play Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
1967, Scott McKenzie was at number one on the Record Retailer UK singles chart with “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your … (read more…)
1969, The photo session for the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road album took place on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic. The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on “The End,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy,”) and … (read more…)
1965, Herman’s Hermits went to number one on the singles chart with “I’m Henry VIII I Am.” The single was only released in the US. Singer Peter Noone once interviewed Elvis Presley for UK music paper New Musical Express.
1965, Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five suffered two broken ribs when he was pulled off the stage by a fan in Chicago.
1965, The Turtles’ remake of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” was released. It … (read more…)
1965, The Beatles released their fifth album in the UK, the soundtrack to Help!, their second film. The US release took place on August 13. The album was produced by George Martin. It contains fourteen songs in its original British form. Seven of these, including the singles “Help!” and “Ticket to Ride”, appeared in the film and took up the first side of the vinyl album. The second side contained seven other releases including “Yesterday.” … (read more…)
1966, The Beatles Revolver was released in the UK. The US release took place on August 8th. The album had many diverse influences and unique sounds including the incorporation of tape loops on the experimental “Tomorrow Never Knows”, the use of a classical string octet on “Eleanor Rigby”, and the sitar based Indian-music of “Love You To”. “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine” became an international hit when issued as a double A-side single. … (read more…)
1967, Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn in the UK, on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett. When reviewed by the two main UK music papers, Record Mirror and NME both gave the album four stars out of five. The album was recorded at Abbey Road studios, London during the same time that The Beatles were recording Sgt Pepper’s. It … (read more…)
1966, The Rolling Stones spend nine days recording for their next album at Los Angeles, RCA Studios, Hollywood, USA. Tracks recorded included: “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?” “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” “My Obsession,” “Yesterday’s Papers,” and “Back Street Girl.”
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of five nights at the Salvation Club in New York City.
1967, To … (read more…)
1966, The Who go on vacation for two weeks. Keith, his wife Kim, John and his girlfriend Allison travel to Torremolinos in Spain. Newborn Mandy Moon is left behind with Keith’s parents. Pete travels to Israel. Roger stays in London, spending three days redecorating his apartment and the rest of the time fishing.
1968, During their second ever North American tour, Pink Floyd plays the first of three nights at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom. Supporting acts were … (read more…)
1964, “A Hard Day’s Night” went to the top of the charts giving The Beatles their fifth US number one single in seven months.
1964, Billboard Magazine reported that the harmonica was making a comeback in a big way thanks to its use by Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.
1965, During a UK tour, The Rolling Stones appeared at the London Palladium supported by The … (read more…)
