1964, Jan & Dean start recording “Little Old Lady (From Pasadena).”
1965, The Who appeared at Civic Hall in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England.
1965, San Francisco radio station KYA hosts the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, Beau Brummels, Paul Revere & the Raiders, and the Vejtables at the Civic Auditorium.
1966, The Who played at Palais in Bury, Manchester, England.
1967, around the UK – Jimi Hendrix played at the Elizabethan Ballroom in Manchester, The Bee Gees appeared at The Beachcomber in Nottingham, and Alan Price played at the Coatham Hotel in Redcar.
1967, Pink Floyd played “Pow R Toc H” and “Astronomy Domine” live on the arts program The Look of the Week broadcast by BBC2 television. Syd Barrett and Roger Waters were interviewed by classic music critic Hans Keller. (see video below)
1967, Cream performed at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.
1968, Paul McCartney and John Lennon make a guest appearance on The Tonight Show to announce the creation of Apple Corps.
1969, During a UK tour, Fairport Convention’s van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig in Birmingham, killing the group’s 19 year-old drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn.
1969, King Crimson performed at the Revolution Club, London, while Yes appeared at the Marquee Club.
1970, The Grateful Dead played at Merramac Community College in Kirkwood, Missouri.
1971, The Allman Brothers Band played The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1973, Led Zeppelin performed at the Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans.
1974, Another Grateful Dead show at a college venue. This time at Adams Field House at the University of Montana in Missoula.
1975, Yes appeared at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, England.
1976, The Rolling Stones played at Granby Halls, Leicester, England.
1976, 33 year old Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted while tuning a guitar which was not properly grounded. The accident happened in his West London home where he was found by his eight year old son, still holding the plugged-in electric guitar.
1977, The Eagles’ Hotel California enters it’s last week at number one on the US album charts. It held the top spot for five weeks in the spring of 1977, and on two occasions earlier in the year.
1977, Talking Heads played a gig at The Rock Garden in London where Brian Eno, who was in the audience, sees them and goes on to produce the band.
1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland.
1983, Spandau Ballet scored their first and only UK number one album with “True.” The title track from the album spent four weeks at the top of the UK singles charts and reached the second spot in the US. Other singles from the album included “Gold” (a number two UK hit and a Top 30 hit in the US), “Lifeline,” and “Communication.”
1988, Led Zeppelin reunited for the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden, New York, appearing with Jason Bonham the son of John Bonham on drums. Other acts performing included Foreigner, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Wilson Pickett and Ben E. King.
1998, singer and actor Frank Sinatra died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles aged 82, after suffering a heart attack. Sinatra had his first hit in 1940, working in the Swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. He went on to score over 25 Top 40 singles including the 1966 chart topper “Strangers In The Night.” His 1969 single “My Way,” re-entered the UK charts eight times and spent a total of 165 weeks on the UK chart.
2006, Red Hot Chili Peppers started a two-week run at number one on the UK album chart with Stadium Arcadium, the bands’ ninth studio album, also a US chart topper.
Born on this day: Bobby Darin (1936); Jack Bruce (1943); Gene Cornish, The Young Rascals (1946); Al Ciner, The American Breed (1947); and David Byrne (1952)
Get more Today in Rock History
Black Sabbath, Cream, Fairport Convention, jan & Dean, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Spandau Ballet, Talking Heads, The Byrds, The Eagles, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Yardbirds, Yes.
