| 78 | years ago | 1948 | Singer Eddy Grant is born. |
| 74 | years ago | 1952 | Alan Clark of Dire Straits is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | In the wake of the continual controversy on offensive R&B records, BMI, the largest organization of music publishers, releases plans to tighten controls on objectionable lyrics. BMI never gives clearance to nearly a dozen singles. Some, like Big Joe Turner's Shake Rattle & Roll, became major hits. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Elvis Presley makes his television debut on the regionally telecast The Louisiana Hayride. |
| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Pop singer Teena Marie is born. |
| 68 | years ago | 1958 | Singer Andy Gibb is born. |
| 66 | years ago | 1960 | Elvis Presley is released from the Army. Two days earlier, he left Germany and arrived at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Earlier in the year, Presley was promoted to sergeant. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers is born in Edinburgh, Scotland. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | Patsy Cline, the country singer who won crossover popularity with pop Top 20 hits like Crazy and I Fall to Pieces, is killed in a small plane crash near Camden, Tennessee. The flight was enroute to Nashville from St. Louis. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Yardbirds' For Your Love is released in the U.K. Over time, it will be a Top Ten hit in both the U.K. and the U.S. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Rolling Stones embark on another British tour. Also on board are the Hollies, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the Checkmates, and the Konrads. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Sales of Simon Says by the 1910 Fruitgum Company pass the million mark, trumpeting the arrival of the short-lived but immensely successful “bubblegum” craze. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Smooth R&B singer Rome is born Jerome Woods in Benton Harbor, MI. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante is born. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The FCC instructs FM radio stations not to play songs perceived as encouraging drug use (e.g. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, White Rabbit. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Jimi Hendrix's personal manager, Michael Jeffrey, dies in a plane crash. He was on an Iberia flight from Majorca to England, where he owned a nightclub. All passengers on board were killed. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Gregg Allman's first solo album, Laid Back attains gold status and at the same time starts rumors that the Allmans are splitting. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | A little over a month after buying it for a reported $20 million, MCA Records dissolves ABC Records. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Comedian and Blues Brother John Belushi dies of a drug overdose in the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles. Belushi's vulgar, dangerous, and physical sense of humor brought comedy closer to rock and roll than perhaps any other comedian ever had. John Belushi was 33 years old. |
| 32 | years ago | 1994 | Jefferson Starship's Grace Slick points a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, California home. In June, she is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three month's worth of Alcoholic's Anonymous meetings. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Former Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch is baptised in the Jordan River in Israel, just weeks after quitting the band, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. He says the ritual baptism washed away his anger. He now has “Jesus” tattooed across his knuckles and “Matthew 11:28” across his neck. |