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)
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1966, The Who perform at the Tower Ballroom in Great Yarmouth, England. The band’s road manager, Neville Chesters, joins The Who onstage to sing “You Were On My Mind.”
1967, Pink Floyd performed at Clifton Hall at the Rotherham College of Technical Dance, South Yorkshire, England.
1967, At a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling … (read more…)
1965, Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan’s fifth studio album was released. The album reached number six on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart, the first of Dylan’s albums to break into the US top 10, and it also topped the UK charts later that Spring. The lead-off track, “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” became Dylan’s first single to chart in the US, peaking at number 39. The album’s iconic cover, photographed by Daniel Kramer, features Sally … (read more…)
1965, The Who appeared at the Trade Union Hall, Watford, England.
1965, After “I Want To Hold Your Hand” had held the number one position on the US singles chart for seven weeks, The Beatles started a two-week run at the top of the charts with “She Loves You.” 
1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at Speakeasy in London.
1970, … (read more…)
1969, John Lennon married Yoko Ono at the British Consulate Office in Gibraltar. They spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning for an international “Bed-In” for peace. They planned another “Bed-in” in the United States, but were denied entry. The couple then went to Montréal, and during a “Bed-in” at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel recorded ‘Give Peace a Chance’. Lennon also detailed this period in The Beatles’ ‘The … (read more…)
1962, Bob Dylan’s debut album Bob Dylan was released in the Untied States. Initially poor sales led the record to be known around Columbia Records as “Hammond’s Folly.” John Hammond was producer of Dylan’s early recordings and the man responsible for signing Dylan. The album was praised by the New York City weekly newspaper Village Voice as an “explosive country blues debut,” but featured only two Dylan original compositions, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song To Woody,” with the rest being old folk standards. … (read more…)
1965, Excerpts from six numbers performed by The Who at The Marquee Club in February appear on a French Television programme called Seize Millions de Jeunes on ORTF TV 2. It is part of documentary about Mods shot by two French acquaintances of the band’s co-manager Chris Stamp. A scheduled appearance that day at the Civic Hall in Crawley is postponed until April 18th.
1966, that morning, The Who are filmed miming to “I Can’t Explain,” “Bald Headed Woman,” and “Substitute” at Tower Pier, London for Dick Clark’s … (read more…)
Otis Redding
1967, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave and Booker T and The MG’s appeared at London’s Finsbury Park Astoria on the first night of a 17-date UK tour.
1967, Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles finished the recoding of “She’s … (read more…)
1964, The Beatles set a new record for advance sales in the US with 2,100,000 copies of their latest single”Can’t Buy Me Love.”
1964, DJ Alan Freed is charged with tax evasion, the latest plague on the payola-plagued pioneer’s career
1965, The Rolling Stones were at number one on the singles chart with “The Last Time,” the band’s third hart topper and first number one for songwriters Mick Jagger and … (read more…)
Cream: Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton
1969, Cream started a two-week run at No.1 on the chart with their album ‘Goodbye.’
1969, Tommy Roe started a four week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Dizzy’,
1969, Janis Joplin was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 Cents,
1969, Tyrannosaurus Rex singer Marc Bolan’s first book … (read more…)
1964, For the first time in British recording history, all Top Ten singles in the UK were by British acts. Number one was “Anyone Who Had A Heart” by Cilla Black. Number two – “Bits and Pieces” by The Dave Clark Five. At number three, “Little Children “Diane” by The Bachelors. Number five, “Not Fade Away” by The Rolling Stones. Number six- “Just One Look” by The Hollies, while “Needles and Pins” by The Searchers was at number seven. Number eight … (read more…)
The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck
1965, Eric Clapton quit The Yardbirds due to musical differences with the other band members. Clapton wanted to continue in a blues type vein, while the rest of the band preferred the more commercial style of their first hit, ‘For Your Love’. … (read more…)
1965, The Beatles wrap up their location shooting of Help! in the Bahamas. Ringo Starr recalled, “A hell of a lot of pot was being smoked while we were making the film. It was great. That helped make it a lot of fun.”
1966, The first album by Love is released in the US.
1966, Sgt Barry Sadler started a five-week run at No.1 on the album chart with “The Ballad Of The Green Berets.”
1966, … (read more…)
