1965, Bob Dylan releases “Like a Rolling Stone.” The single becomes his first major hit, reaching number two on the US charts. The song remained on the charts for twelve weeks. It was recorded on June 15th and 16th at Columbia Studio A, on Seventh Avenue in New York. Then session musician Al Kooper improvised the organ riff for which the track is known.
1967, Jerry Lee Lewis kicks off his first English tour since he was hounded out of the country for being married to his 13-year-old cousin in May 1958.
1968, Cream started a four-week run at number one on the US album chart with Wheels On Fire. It reached the third spot in the UK.
1968, The Who and The Troggs played at the Virginia Beach Dome in Virginia Beach, Virginia
1968, Paul McCartney’s girlfriend Jane Asher announces on British TV that her engagement had been broken off. McCartney met future spouse Linda Eastman on a business trip earlier in June.
1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Blue Cheer performed at Patio Gardens in Farmington, Utah.The
1968, Hugh Masekela started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Grazing In The Grass.”
1968, Iron Butterfly’s second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, entered the album chart for the first time. The album contained the 17-minute title track that filled the second side of the LP which went on sell over four million copies in the US alone.
1968, Jane Asher announced on the national British TV show, Dee Time, that her engagement to Paul McCartney was off. Paul reportedly was watching at a friend’s home and was surprised by the news. She was said to have inspired many of McCartney’s songs, such as “All My Loving,” “And I Love Her,” and “We Can Work It Out.” Jane went on to have a career in films and television as well as becoming a successful author and business woman.
1969, Led Zeppelin performed in front of 2500 fans at Musicarnival in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.
1969, King Crimson played at the Marquee Club, London.
1971, The Allman Brothers Band appear at Century’s Huntington Theater, Huntington, New York.
1971, The Carpenters show Make Your Own Kind Of Music started a six week run on NBC-TV.
1972, The Rolling Stones performed at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1973, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Boston Garden, Boston. Tickets were $4.50 – $6.50.
1974, David Bowie appeared live at Madison Square Garden, New York City.
1974, The Ramones decide to make their drummer Joey Ramone the lead vocalist.
1974, Tim Buckley, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, The Doobie Brothers and The Allman Brothers all appeared at Knebworth Park, England.
1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at The Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island. This also saw the live debut of “Miami” Steven Van Zandt as a member of The E Street Band.
1975, The Summerfest concert lineup at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York was The Eagles as headliners, with Judy Collins, Dan Fogelberg, and Seals & Crofts in support.
1975, Yes played at Rynearson Stadium, Ypsilanti, Michigan.
1976, Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In the audience was, Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook (soon to form Joy Division) and Mark E Smith, (The Fall) and Mick Hucknall. Tickets cost £1.
1977, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Arizona State University Activities Center, Tempe, Arizona.
1979, Van Halen played at the Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1980, Blue Oyster Cult performed at the Salem Fairgrounds, Salem, Oregon.
1983, ZZ Top played at Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, Ohio.
1986, Carlos Santana celebrated his 39th birthday, and 20th anniversary in the music business, with a concert in San Francisco. Previous group members were assembled for the event, as 17 of them performed together on stage.
1990, Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at Wembley Stadium, London, England, on her 57-date Blond Ambition World Tour.
1994, The Grateful Dead’s only performance on this date in history took place at Deer Creek Music Center, just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.
1999, The Rolling Stones reported a gross income of $337 million, (£168m), from almost two years of touring from their Bridges to Babylon and No Security tours. The Stones had played to over 5.6 million people, selling out all but 20 shows.
2000, The Evergreen Ballroom in Lacey, Washington was destroyed by a fire. During the ballroom’s heyday in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, many of music’s greats played there: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and Fats Domino. Glen Campbell had lived in the kitchen at the venue for a while before he became famous.
2009, Jackson Browne settled his lawsuit against US Senator John McCain and the Republican Party after his 1977 hit “Running On Empty” was used without permission in a 2008 McCain presidential campaign ad that aired on TV and the Internet. McCain and the Republican Party apologized for using the song in the ad, and said that McCain himself “had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the creation or distribution of the video.”
2011, Pictures of The Beatles’ first US concert in Washington DC on February 11th, 1964, taken by a then 18-year-old Mike Mitchell, sold at Christie’s auction house for $361,938. Security in those days was very casual and Mitchell was just feet from the band as he snapped the black and white photos which he stored for years in a box in his basement.
2015, American country musician, songwriter and record producer Wayne Carson died at the age of 72 after suffering congestive heart failure. He co-wrote “Always on My Mind,” a hit for Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and others. He also penned “The Letter,” recorded by The Box Tops, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell, and “Soul Deep.”
Born on July 20: Buddy Knox, singer, songwriter (1933); Kim Carnes, singer; and John Lodge, The Moody Blues (1945); Carlos Santana (1947); Jay Jay French, guitar, Twisted Sister (1952); Paul Cook, drums, Sex Pistols (1956); Michael McNeil, keyboards, Simple Minds (1958); Chris Cornell, vocals, guitar, Soundgarden (1962); and Stone Gossard, guitar, Pearl Jam (1966)
Get more Today in Rock History
Big Brother & the Holding Company, Blue Oyster Cult, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Carlos Santana, Cream, David Bowie, Hugh Masekela, Iron Butterfly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Santana, The Allman Brothers Band, The Buzzcocks, The Carpenters, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, The Grateful Dead, The Ramones, Van Halen, Van Morrison, Yes, ZZ Top
