| 86 | years ago | 1940 | Singer Joe South is born. |
| 84 | years ago | 1942 | Brian Jones, guitar player for the Rolling Stones, is born. |
| 83 | years ago | 1943 | Guitarist Donnie Iris is born. |
| 64 | years ago | 1962 | New York City's top rock & roll radio station, WINS, switches formats from rock & roll to “pretty music” and changes its call letters back to its original ones, WHN. A station spokesman says top DJ Murray the K will program his shows according to the new format. After several months, the station goes back to rock & roll Top Forty programming. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | CBS Labs develops a metal disc that reproduces motion pictures through a television set. |
| 60 | years ago | 1966 | Liverpool's Cavern Club, where The Beatles rose to fame, closes. |
| 58 | years ago | 1968 | Frankie Lymon, who made it to #1 with Why Do Fools Fall in Love? when he was 13 years old and with the Teenagers, is found dead of a heroin overdose. He was 25 years old. |
| 56 | years ago | 1970 | Led Zeppelin performs in Copenhagen under the pseudonym Nobs, because of a threat of suit by Count Evan von Zeppelin, a relative of the airship designer Ferdinand, if the band plays under the name Zeppelin in Denmark. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Bobby Bloom, whose Montego Bay was in the pop Top Ten in 1970, shoots and kills himself in West Hollywood. He was 28 years old. |
| 47 | years ago | 1979 | Everybody's favorite talking horse, Mr. Ed, died. |
| 44 | years ago | 1982 | Prince plays the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. |
| 42 | years ago | 1984 | The 1983 Grammy Award winners are announced in ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium with host John Denver. Michael Jackson wins 8 awards, including Best Album for Thriller and Best Record for Beat It (remember Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo!). The Police's Every Breath You Take wins Best Song and Culture Club wins Best New Artist. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | The 1995 Grammy Award winners are announced. Alanis Morissette wins four Grammys including Best Album for Jagged Little Pill. Hootie and the Blowfish are named Best New Artist. |
| 21 | years ago | 2005 | Chris Curtis, drummer for The Searchers, dies in London at the age of 63. |
| 20 | years ago | 2006 | Kentwood, Louisiana native Britney Spears covers Mardi Gras live for ABC Television’s Good Morning America. |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | The Doors get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 68-year-old keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and 61-year-old guitarist Robbie Krieger, who are again playing together at the time, show up for the dedication of the Walk’s 2,325th star. Drummer John Densmore is a no-show, as is the long-dead Jim Morrison. |