| 84 | years ago | 1942 | Merald “Bubba” Knight of Gladys Knight & The Pips is born. |
| 75 | years ago | 1951 | Martin Chambers, drummer for the Pretenders is born. |
| 69 | years ago | 1957 | WJZ-TV in Baltimore debuts The Buddy Deane Bandstand. It's a rock and roll show running three to five, Monday through Saturday. Viewers go crazy for the show and when there's a chance to call in and talk to one of the celebrities, the phone lines are swamped. The phone company are forced to ask Deane to desist. |
| 67 | years ago | 1959 | In the wake of the stabbing deaths of two teenagers by a 17 year old and other similar incidents of violence in New York City, WCBS radio in the Big Apple bans all versions of of Mack the Knife. The tune is currently a chart climber for Bobby Darin. |
| 65 | years ago | 1961 | The Marvelettes first hit, Please Mr. Postman, enters the Hot 100 at # 95. It will be #1 on both the pop and R&B charts and be covered by The Beatles and the Carpenters. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr begin recording together for the first time at EMI's St. John Studio. They record six songs including Love Me Do and P.S., I Love You. George Martin had the boys redo Love Me Do 16 times. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The Animals make their U.S. performing debut at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre, which re-opened for the group's ten-night stand after being closed for several years. Other acts appearing with the Animals include Jan & Dean, Bobby Rydell, Del Shannon, the Dixie Cups, Dee Dee Sharp, and Chuck Berry. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Who have their equipment van stolen outside the Battersea Dog's Home in England while they are inside the Home purchasing a guard dog. |
| 61 | years ago | 1965 | The Beatles' Help! hits #1 on the pop singles chart, while Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone peaks at #2; In addition, Wilson Pickett's In The Midnight Hour peaks at #21, James Brown's Papa's Got A Brand New Bag, Part 1 peaks at #8 and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' The Tracks Of My Tears peaks at #16. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | The Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love hits #1 on the pop singles chart. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | The Rolling Stones latest single, Street Fighting Man is banned in Chicago and other American cities where authorities fear it might “incite riots and other forms of public disorder.” |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Currently riding the charts with People Got to be Free, the Rascals add two LP's to their collection of gold records: their two-year-old debut, The Young Rascals, and their greatest hits collection, Time Peace. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | The Youngbloods do not appear on The Tonight Show as scheduled. As Johnny Carson puts it in his monologue, “They complained about the set, the lighting, the sound, the show-everything. So we wiped their noses, told them they'd been in show business a day and a half, and sent them home.” Youngblood Banana retorts, “We weren't treated like guests so much as niggers.” |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | George Harrison releases My Sweet Lord. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | The Rolling Stones release their live album, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | A story in the New York Times says that Sylvester Stewart's West Hollywood landlord is suing the rock star for $3 million. The landlord says that because of Sly, his building is inundated with “loud, noisy, boisterous persons,” and wants Stewart out. |
| 55 | years ago | 1971 | The Doors' Riders On The Storm peaks at #14 on the pop singles chart while Paul McCartney's Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey hits #1. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | Aerosmith is awarded a gold record for Rocks. |
| 50 | years ago | 1976 | KISS' Beth is released. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | Paul Simonson of the Clash says in an interview with New Musical Express that the Clash shouldn't be labeled a political band, saying, “I didn't even know who the Prime Minister was until a few weeks ago!” |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | About 66,000 Dead Heads attend the Grateful Dead's Labor Day concert at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | A new version of Yes, with Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, and Trevor Horn sell out a three night stand at New York's 19,000 seat Madison Square Garden. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Beyonce Knowles is born. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | The Stray Cats album, Built For Speed enters the LP charts. The album contains the hits Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | The Steve Miller Band's Abracadabra hits #1 on the pop chart. |
| 40 | years ago | 1986 | Gregg Allman is arrested for drunk driving in Florida. He had just gotten his license back after a five-year suspension. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | Yusaf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, emerges from seclusion in London to sign copies of his first album in 18 years -- which is 80% talk. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | The Smashing Pumpkins win 7 MTV Video Awards, including Best Video for Tonight Tonight. |
| 29 | years ago | 1997 | Bruce Springsteen joins the Wallflowers on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall. Bruce trades vocals and guitar licks with Jakob Dylan on One Headlight. Sting also makes an appearance, joining Puff Daddy for I'll Be Missing You. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Two men accused of stealing guitars once used by Faith Hill and Nickelback are sentenced to probation. One took at least a dozen instruments from his employer, Paul Reed Smith Guitars. The other passed them along to another man who attempted to sell them on eBay. |
| 11 | years ago | 2015 | Mötley Crüe loudly brings their Final Tour to the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Not quite a sell-out, but the crowd is enthusiastic. Alice Cooper takes care of the opening chores. |