| 69 years ago (1945) | Doug Clifford, drummer for Creedence Clearwater Revival, is born. |
| 57 years ago (1957) | David J of Bauhaus is born. |
| 57 years ago (1957) | Verve Records releases Ricky Nelson's first record, Teenager's Romance, with his cover of Fats Domino's I'm Walkin' on the flip side. The 16-year-old Nelson is well known to millions of Americans from his appearances on television's popular Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, which stars his parents. His record will sell almost 60,000 copies within three days. |
| 56 years ago (1958) | Dion and the Belmonts' first single, I Wonder Why b/w Teen Angel is released. |
| 55 years ago (1959) | Your Hit Parade, the Saturday night pop music show which has been on the air since April 23, 1935, and just recently on television, airs for the last time. |
| 53 years ago (1961) | Bob Dylan earns a $50 session fee for playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's song Midnight Special. |
| 46 years ago (1968) | The Spin Doctors’ Aaron Comess is born. |
| 44 years ago (1970) | Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane is invited to a party at the White House by Tricia Nixon, daughter of the President. Slick shows up with “escort” Abbie Hoffman. He is on trial for conspiring to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and is turned away at the gate. Slick leaves as well without having met Ms. Nixon or introducing her to tea laced with LSD, as Slick suggested she would. |
| 43 years ago (1971) | Bill Wyman describes the Rolling Stones' 16th LP, Sticky Fingers, as a move “back with the blues that made us.” |
| 42 years ago (1972) | As half-dozen teenage girls faint and several other youths sustain cuts in a stampede which occurs prior to a Jethro Tull concert. An estimated 2,500 young persons press into the lobby of Long Island's Nassau Coliseum to purchase tickets, resulting in the summoning of 100 police, as well as a box-office window being smashed. |
| 42 years ago (1972) | One of John Lennon's most controversial singles, Woman Is the Nigger of the World, is released. The song goes to #57 despite virtually every radio station in the country refusing to play it. |
| 40 years ago (1974) | Ray Stevens enjoys his biggest hit with The Streak, a well-timed funny look at the current craze among teenagers. The record hits #1 next month. |
| 40 years ago (1974) | Grand Funk Railroad receives a gold record for their update of Little Eva's The Loco-motion, the biggest hit of their career as it makes it to #1. |
| 37 years ago (1977) | Joan Baez, Santana, and others perform a free concert for inmates of California's Soledad Prison. |
| 32 years ago (1982) | American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson is born. |
| 32 years ago (1982) | John Cougar, who has had little success as performer, but has seen his composition I Need a Lover become a smash for Pat Benatar, kicks his career into high gear with Hurts So Good. It enters the pop charts at #83 and will make it to #2. The song Jack and Diane, and the album from which the tunes come, American Fool, both go to #1. |
| 24 years ago (1990) | The road crew for Roger Waters discovers an unexploded World War II era bomb while constructing the set for The Wall concert in Potsdamer Platz, Germany. |
| 22 years ago (1992) | David Bowie and fashion model Iman are married in a secret ceremony in Switzerland. The wedding is not announced until more than a week later. |
| 21 years ago (1993) | About 40,000 people show up for Farm Aid 6. Willie Nelson, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Neil Young are among 40 artists who play at the concert in Ames, Iowa. |