1968, Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles continued with “Cry Baby Cry” adding new vocals, backing vocals, some harmonuim, tambourinnes, and sound effects. They recorded three takes of “Helter Skelter,” including one lasting 27:11, the longest of their career, before the song was redone two months later.
1968, The Grateful Dead release Anthem of the Sun. Their second album fails to chart.
1969, During sessions at Abbey Road studios, London, Ringo Starr recorded his vocal to “Octopus’s Garden.”
1969, Janis Joplin makes her first appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.
1969, Yes performed at Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1970, Pink Floyd play a free concert at London’s Hyde Park that attracts an audience of 20,000. Also on the bill are Third Ear Band, Kevin Ayers And The Whole World, and the Edgar Broughton Band. For their final song, “Atom Heart Mother,” the band augments the performance with the Phillip Jones Brass Ensemble and the John Aldiss Choir. It was one of the few times the song has been performed with choir and orchestra in an open air setting.
1971, Black Sabbath played at Borough Of York Stadium, Toronto, Canada.
1972, Members from Sly and the Family Stone were arrested after police found two pounds of marijuana in the group’s motor home.
1972, The Grateful Dead appear at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey.
1972, After Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are thrown in jail for rumbling with a photographer in Providence, Rhode Island. The mayor of Boston intervenes so they can play a concert that night at the Boston Garden.
1973, Jethro Tull sell out three nights at the Los Angeles Forum in one-and-a-half hours.
1973, Bruce Springsteen played the first of four nights at Max’s Kansas City in New York City, New York, supported by Bob Marley and The Wailers who were on their first ever North American tour.
1974, The US Justice Department ordered John Lennon out of the country by September 10th. The Immigration and Naturalization Service denied him an extension of his non-immigrant visa because of his guilty plea in England to a 1968 marijuana possession charge. The US Court of Appeals would overturn the deportation order in 1975 and Lennon was granted permanent resident status the following year.
1974, Aerosmith played Municipal Auditorium Music Hall, Kansas City, Missouri.
1975, At London’s Lyceum Theater, Bob Marley & the Wailers record the concert that is featured on their album Live!
1978, Def Leppard made their live debut at Westfield School, Sheffield, England in front of 150 students.
1988, Nico died after suffering a minor heart attack while riding a bicycle on vacation with her son in Ibiza Spain. The German born singer-songwriter and keyboard player with Velvet Underground, had also worked as a fashion model and actress.
1991, The first night of the Lollapalooza tour at The Compton Terrace, Phoenix, featuring, Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Henry Rollins Band and The Butthole Surfers.
2001, Kiss, added another product to their ever-growing merchandising universe, the “Kiss Kasket.” The coffin featured the faces of the four founding members of the band, the Kiss logo and the words “Kiss Forever.” Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one after he was shot and killed on-stage in Dec 2004.
2002, The Rolling Stones crew chief, 54 year old Royden Magee, who had worked with the band for 30 years, died during a rehearsal in Toronto. A spokesman for the band said Magee had said that he wasn’t feeling well and went to another room to take a nap. The Stones had just finished dinner and resumed rehearsing when they got word that Magee had collapsed and stopped breathing. He was taken by ambulance to nearby Sunnybrook Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival. The members of the band said they were devastated by his death.
Born on July 18: “Screaming” Jay Hawkins (1929); Hunter S. Thompson (1937); Ian Stewart, Rolling Stones (1938); Dion DiMucci, Dion and the Belmonts (1939); Brian Auger, English keyboard player, Brian Auger and the Trinity, CAB, The Steampacket (1939) Martha Reeves (1941); Ricky Skaggs (1954); Terry Chambers, drums, XTC (1955)
