| 80 years ago (1939) | Phil Everly is born. |
| 76 years ago (1943) | Janis Joplin of Big Brother and the Holding Company is born. |
| 70 years ago (1949) | Singer Robert Palmer is born. |
| 67 years ago (1952) | Dewey Bunnell of America is born. |
| 66 years ago (1953) | Desi Arnaz, Jr. of Dino, Desi, and Billy is born. |
| 62 years ago (1957) | Mickey Virtue of UB40 is born. |
| 60 years ago (1959) | The ARB TV ratings for December 1958 (last month) list Dick Clark's American Bandstand as the country's most popular daytime show. |
| 53 years ago (1966) | Ugly Kid Joe's Whitfield Crane is born. |
| 48 years ago (1971) | John Wozniak of Marcy Playground is born. |
| 48 years ago (1971) | At the Charles Manson murder trial, The Beatles' Helter Skelter is played. At the scene of one of his gruesome murders, Manson had written the words “helter skelter” on a mirror. |
| 45 years ago (1974) | Two Bob Dylan/The Band shows, cause a nine-mile-long traffic jam in Miami that keeps many ticket holders from entering the Sportsatorium until the show is half over. |
| 43 years ago (1976) | Promoter Bill Sargent makes his first offer to The Beatles to reunite, offering $30 million if the group would come together. |
| 42 years ago (1977) | Aretha Franklin sings God Bless America at a special inaugural concert for President-elect Jimmy Carter. |
| 26 years ago (1993) | Singer Tom Waits is allowed to keep the $2.5 million that a judge awarded him after he sued Frito-Lay for using a sound alike in a commercial. The Supreme Court refused to change the amount. |
| 26 years ago (1993) | Fleetwood Mac reunites to perform at Bill Clinton's inauguration. Clinton had used Don't Stop as the theme for his campaign. |
| 25 years ago (1994) | The Animals, The Band, Duane Eddy, The Grateful Dead, Elton John, John Lennon, Bob Marley and Rod Stewart are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. |
| 21 years ago (1998) | Legendary rockabilly pioneer, Carl Perkins, dies in Nashville from complications following a recent series of strokes. Perkins songwriting and guitar work influenced Elvis Presley and The Beatles, to name two. He wrote and recorded Blue Suede Shoes in 1956 and his version sold 2 million copies before Elvis' version became a hit. In 1987, Perkins was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. |
| 13 years ago (2006) | Wilson Pickett suffers a fatal heart attack. He put16 hits on Billboard's Pop chart, including Land Of 1000 Dances (#6) and Funky Broadway (#8). |
| 12 years ago (2007) | Denny Doherty of the The Mamas and the Papas dies at his home near Toronto after a short illness. The main voice of the 60's group, as well as the Harbormaster and voice of all the characters on the children's TV Series Theodore Tugboat, Doherty was 66. |