| 85 | years ago | 1941 | Ritchie Valens is born. |
| 81 | years ago | 1945 | Magic Dick, harmonica player for the J. Geils Band, is born. |
| 80 | years ago | 1946 | Danny Klein, bassist for J. Geils Band, is born. |
| 76 | years ago | 1950 | Stevie Wonder is born. |
| 71 | years ago | 1955 | Elvis Presley's performance at Jacksonville, Florida, is the first Presley show at which a riot ensues. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Decca Records in the U.K. and London Records in the U.S. release the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black back with Long Long While. Paint It Black, one of the first rock records to use a sitar, will hit #1 in both countries. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | The Bee Gees enter the U.K. pop chart for the first time with New York Mining Disaster 1941. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | The New York Times' random survey of underground rock radio stations finds much of the underground radio audience uses it for background music to “get stoned by.” There's also a report Art Linkletter, whose daughter Diane jumped to her death allegedly while on LSD, is the most articulate foe of underground radio and the rock subculture in general. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | Jefferson Airplane recording sessions are halted after singer Grace Slick smashes her Mercedes into a concrete wall near San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | More than fifty people are hurt when youths start hurling bottles outside a Jackson 5 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. 43 are arrested. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | EMI in Britain and Capitol in the U.S. release The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. It's an album made from live recordings of The Beatles' American tours of 1964 and 1965. The record proves the group can perform on the road as well as in a studio. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Dolly Parton makes her New York City debut with a concert at the Bottom Line. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Linda Ronstadt denies reports she's been offered $1 million to be photographed nude for a Hustler centerfold. Hustler publisher Larry Flynt offered the amount to ten famous women, none of whom accepted. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Bruce Springsteen marries actress Juliann Phillips. |
| 18 | years ago | 2008 | News reports say a biologist has named a newly discovered species of spider indigenous to Alabama after rock star Neil Young: Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. Neil has no comment. |