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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1965, The Byrds record “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The only actual member of the band who performs on the record is lead guitarist/singer Jim McGuinn. Musicians from the fabled “Wrecking Crew,” including Larry Knetchel on bass, Leon Russell on piano, Hal Blaine on drums, Jerry Cole and Bill Pittman on guitar, replace the rest of the band. These musicians provided the backing track over which McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark sang. By the time the … (read more…)
1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at Haverstock Hill Country Club in London.
1967, The Monkees TV show was shown for the first time in the UK.
1968, Fleetwood Mac, The Move, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Fairport Convention all appeared at the Roundhouse Chalk Farm in London.
1968, The Who play at Festival Hall in Brisbane, Queensland. The … (read more…)
1963, The Beatles made their first national TV appearance in the UK on Thank Your Lucky Stars performing “Please Please Me.”
1965, The perform at the Marquee Club in London.
1967, Pink Floyd and Marmalade played at The Marquee Club, London.
1967, The Monkees were at number one on the singles chart with “I’m A Believer.” The group’s only UK chart topper. … (read more…)
1964, The Beatles made their US chart debut when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” entered the chart at number 45 just ten days after its release, making it the fastest-breaking and the fastest selling single in Capitol Records history. It went on to spend seven weeks at the number one position.
1965, The Rolling Stones recorded “The Last Time” and “Play With Fire” at the RCA studios in Hollywood, California. … (read more…)
1964, The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, “You Better Move On,” “Poison Ivy,” “Bye Bye Johnny,” and “Money.” It peaked at number 15 on the UK chart.
1966, NBC-TV bought The Monkees series, placing it on their 1966 autumn schedule.
1967, The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon’s famous … (read more…)
1964, The Dave Clark Five were at number one on the singles chart with “Glad All Over,” the group’s only chart topper.
1964, The Beatles played two shows at the Olympia Theatre, Paris, France, the first of an 18-night engagement. The first show was attended mostly by Paris’ top society members, all dressed in formal evening attire. The French press had little good to say about The Beatles in the next day’s … (read more…)
1965, The Who released their first single “I Can’t Explain,” with Jimmy Page on guitar and The Ivy League on backing vocals. It went on to reach number eight on the singles chart.
1966, The Who play at The Two Puddings Club in Stratford and the In Crowd Club in Hackney, London, England.
1967, The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics of “Lets Spend The Night Together” to “Lets Spend Some Time … (read more…)
1965, Bob Dylan starts recording Bringing It All Back Home.
1966, The Who play Municipal Hall in Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom.
1966, David Bowie release his first single, “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” on Parlophone Records.
1967, Pink Floyd played at the Coming-Up Hop, held at The Great Hall, University of Reading, Whiteknights, … (read more…)
1965, The first day of recording sessions for Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home album were held at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Dylan recorded “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”
1966, George Harrison and his girlfriend Patti Boyd met up with Mick Jagger and Chrissie Shrimpton at Dolly’s nightclub on Jermyn Street in London’s west End.
1966, Ringo Starr … (read more…)
1964, The Beatles appeared on the ATV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium performing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” “This Boy,” “All My Loving,” “Money,” and “Twist And Shout.” The compare for the evening was Bruce Forsyth. When The Beatles appeared on this show on October 13, 1963, their fee had been £250 ($400.) Three months later, their fee was £1,000 ($1600.)
1965, NBC premieres a new pop TV show called Hullabaloo, … (read more…)
1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded “Purple Haze.” Jimi also signed to the new record label Track Records on this day.
1968: Jimi Hendrix moves into a London townhouse formerly owned by the Messiah’s composer George Frederick Handel. The guitarist tells the Daily Mirror that he will “not let the tradition down.”
1969: The Rolling Stones go to number five in the American album charts with their new … (read more…)
1964, The first US Beatles album, Introducing The Beatles, was released on Vee-Jay records. The album cover showed John, Paul and George with their now famous “mop top” haircuts, but Ringo had yet to convert. Vee-Jay would be forced to stop selling the disc by the end of the year because of legal complications, but by then, over 1.3 million copies had been sold.
1964, The Rolling Stones recorded “Not Fade Away” at Regent Sound Studios … (read more…)