| 68 | years ago | 1957 | CBS-TV premieres The Big Record, a record hop style show. Patti Page is the host and her guests include Sal Mineo, Billy Ward & the Dominos, and Tony Bennett. |
| 60 | years ago | 1965 | The Turtles' remake of Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe peaks at #8 on the singles chart. |
| 55 | years ago | 1970 | Jimi Hendrix dies in his London apartment. The death certificate lists the cause as “inhalation of vomit due to barbituate intoxication.” Later, insufficient evidence leads to an open verdict on his demise. Nonetheless, some contend that if Hendrix had been put into an upright position rather than left lying on his back, he might not have suffocated. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again peaks at #15 on the singles chart, while the album from which it came, Who's Next peaks at #4. |
| 54 | years ago | 1971 | Pink Floyd, who had toyed with classical music elements throughout their career, become the first rock group to appear at the Classical Music Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland. The quartet performs its symphonic work Atom Heart Mother. |
| 53 | years ago | 1972 | The Who headlines the day long Rock At The Oval festival in London. Also on the bill are The Faces and Mott The Hoople. |
| 51 | years ago | 1974 | John Lennon appears as a guest D.J. on New York radio station WNEW-FM. |
| 50 | years ago | 1975 | Veteran Detroit soul group the Spinners earn another of their many gold albums. This one is for the album, Pick of the Litter, which contains the song Games People Play which will eventually play itself up to #5 on the pop chart. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | The second annual Don Kirshner-produced Rock Music Awards runs on CBS. Winners include Fleetwood Mac for Best Group and Best Album, and Peter Frampton as Rock Personality of the Year. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | Boston's More Than A Feeling is released. |
| 49 | years ago | 1976 | Fleetwood Mac's Say You Love Me peaks at #11 on the singles chart, while James Taylor's Shower The People peaks at #22. |
| 45 | years ago | 1980 | The two-day festival for Jimi Hendrix starts at the Paradise Club in Amsterdam. Over 1,100 fans show up each night to see Hendrix films and performances by the Noel Redding Band, with whom fellow Experience member Mitch Mitchell makes a guest appearance. The memorial show is sponsored by Amsterdam's Hendrix Information Center. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | More than a decade after Jim Morrison's death, Doors-mania is greater than ever as The Doors' Greatest Hits goes platinum on this date. |
| 44 | years ago | 1981 | The Who's Face Dances LP goes platinum. |
| 43 | years ago | 1982 | The Clash's Should I Stay Or Should I Go? peaks at #45 on the singles chart, while Asia's Only Time Will Tell peaks at #17 and Eddie Money's I Think I'm In Love peaks at #16. |
| 43 | years ago | 1982 | Joe Jackson's Night And Day LP enters the chart. It features the hit, Steppin' Out. |
| 42 | years ago | 1983 | The members of KISS appear on MTV without their makeup. |
| 28 | years ago | 1997 | Five days before they are to begin their Bridges To Babylon tour, The Rolling Stones play a club show at Chicago's Double Door club. 400 people, including The Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan, pay seven bucks to see the Stones play a 12-song, hour-and-a-half set. The set consists of mainly Stones classics with two new songs and an old blues number mixed in. |
| 21 | years ago | 2004 | Kentwoord, Lousiana native Britney Spears marries dancer Kevin Federline at a private home in Studio City, California with about 20-30 people attending. It's her second marriage in nine months, having married childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas back in January. That marriage was annulled 55 hours later. Her marriage to Federline lats until she files for divorce in November, 2006. |