| 86 | years ago | 1940 | Delbert McClinton is born. |
| 72 | years ago | 1954 | Squeeze singer/guitarist Chris Difford is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders, is born. He dies in 1982. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | The top six songs on the pop and R&B charts are identical: Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock, the Everly Brothers' Wake Up Little Susie, Sam Cooke's You Send Me, the Rays' Silhouettes, Ricky Nelson's Be-Bop Baby, and Jimmie Rodgers' Honeycomb. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | Bob Dylan makes his concert-hall debut at the Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City. Fifty people, most of the friends of the singer, pay two bucks to attend. Dylan earns twenty dollars for the night. |
| 63 | years ago | 1963 | The Beatles appear at the Royal Command Performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London before a glittering audience which includes the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and Lord Snowden. John Lennon says “Will people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelery.” |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | A New York Times article describes the new electric six-string sitar introduced by Danelectro Guitar Company, which is being used by many rock bands. |
| 59 | years ago | 1967 | Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' I Second That Emotion is released. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Bob Dylan, long under pressure to return to his political stance of the Sixties, records George Jackson, a panegyric to the black militant killed in a California prison shootout. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | A benefit concert is held for Robert Wyatt by his former band, Soft Machine and Pink Floyd at London's Rainbow Theater. Wyatt had been paralyzed in a fall earlier in the year. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Paul McCartney & Wings release Junior's Farm, which becomes their fourth Top Ten hit of the past year. The song goes to #3. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Elton John releases his Greatest Hits LP. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, finishing up a two-month tour with a six-night stand at New York City's Palladium Theater, backed up by Ronnie Spector and the Asbury Jukes' Miami Horns section, have their final show interrupted by a phoned-in bomb threat. After a quick check shows everything to be clear, Springsteen quips that the caller might have been Mike Appel, his former manager and then current litigant in an extensive lawsuit. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Daryl Hall and John Oates' fifth album, Bigger Than Both of Us, goes gold. It features their big hit to date, Rich Girl which hits #1 early next year. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | The Band's Martin Scorcese-directed concert film-documentary, The Last Waltz premieres in New York. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | Greg Reeves, former bass player for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, sues the group for $1 million in unpaid back royalties. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | Boston, the rock band from the city of the same name, plays its hometown for the first time since becoming a major act. The group opens a two-night, sold-out stand at the Boston Garden. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | The Talking Heads' Take Me To The River is released. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Daryl Hall and John Oates' Private Eyes is certified both gold and platinum. The album, now peaking at #5 on the pop LP chart, contains two #1 pop singles, Private Eyes (which will top the pop chart for two weeks starting in three days) and I Can't Go For That which hits #1 on both the pop and soul charts early next year. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Talking Heads members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth have a baby boy, Robert. The band is in the Bahamas at the time recording an album. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | Bobby “Blue” Bland, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, Sam & Dave, and The Yardbirds are elected to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. |
| 34 | years ago | 1992 | Elton John and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin sign a $39 million publishing contract with Warner-Chappell music -- the largest music publishing firm. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | Singer Melissa Etheridge and partner Julie Cypher appear on the cover of Newsweek promoting an article on gay parents. |
| 28 | years ago | 1998 | A number of artists, including Don Henley, John Mellencamp, James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Deana Carter, and Shawn Colvin, perform at a benefit at the Santa Monica Airport for City of Hope. Each artist performs his or her favorite one-hit-wonder song. |