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, 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 … (read more…)
1965, The Who were recorded for broadcast on Radio Luxembourg’s Ready Steady Radio!
1967, Elvis Presley was working on his latest movie Speedway, co-starring Nancy Sinatra at the MGM Soundstage, Hollywood, California. It was Presley’s twenty-seventh film.
1967, The Who played at Patio Gardens in Farmington, Utah.
1967, The Beatles were at number … (read more…)
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. … (read more…)
1967, American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, New York, aged 40. Worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie. Released the 1964 album ‘A Love Supreme’.
1967, The Who performed at the Agrodome, Vancouver, Canada.
1967, The Beatles single “All You Need Is Love” / “Baby You’re A Rich Man, ” originally called “One Of The Beautiful People,” was … (read more…)
1965, The Who play the Cheltenham Festival in Gloucestersire, England, along with The Yardbirds, Shades of Blue and The Hellions. It is one of the oldest music festivals in Britain, held annually in Cheltenham in June/July since 1945.
1966, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton formed the group Cream. The band is widely regarded as being the world’s first successful supergroup. In their career, they sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. Their music included … (read more…)
1967, The Doors and The Jefferson Airplane both played an afternoon and evening show to over 8,000 fans at Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California.
1967, Pink Floyd performed at the Stowmarket Carnival, held at The Cricket Meadow, in Stowmarket, England. Feel for Soul, The Ketas, and other bands were also on the bill.
1967, This week’s Top 5 UK albums – number 5, Fiddler On The Roof, … (read more…)
1964, The Rolling Stones were at number one on the UK singles chart with “It’s All Over Now,” the group’s first of eight UK chart toppers. The original Valentinos version of the song was played to the Rolling Stones during their first North American tour in June 1964 by New York radio DJ Murray the K. It was originally written by Bobby Womack and Shirley Womack. The Stones recorded their version nine days later at Chess Studios in … (read more…)
1964, The Animals continued to top the UK singles charts with “The House Of The Rising Sun.” Recorded in one take, this was the first number one to have a playing time of more than four minutes.
1964, The Supremes record “Come See About Me,” which later goes to number one.
1965, Paul McCartney was presented with five Ivor Novello Awards at a lunch party at The Savoy, London. John Lennon refused to attend. Paul was 40 minutes late … (read more…)
courtesy: rollingstones.com
1962, The Rolling Stones made their live debut at the Marquee Jazz Club, London, with Dick Taylor on bass (later of The Pretty Things) and Mick Avory on drums, (later of The Kinks). They were a last minute fill-in for Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, who had been plucked to appear on BBC radio’s Jazz Club program. Billed as The Rollin’ Stones, … (read more…)
The First Edition
1964, The Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program Lucky Stars (Summer Spin,) performing “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Things We Said Today,” and “You Can’t Do That.” To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames. … (read more…)
1965, The Rolling Stones started a four week run at number one on the US singles chart with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” the group’s first chart-topper there. In the UK, the song was initially played only on pirate radio stations because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive.
1966, Johnny Tilotson, The Jive Five, The Tymes, The Shangra-Las and local band The Castiles (with Bruce Springsteen … (read more…)
1967, On a tour supporting The Monkees, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appear at the Convention Hall, Miami, Florida. After it becomes plainly apparent that the group is not suited to teenybopper audiences, the tour’s promoter Dick Clark and Hendrix’s manager Chas Chandler concoct a story saying that the conservative Daughters of the American Revolution group had complained at Jimi’s act and so the Experience left … (read more…)
