| 70 | years ago | 1956 | Little Richard enters the pop chart at #26 with Tutti Frutti. His original beats out covers by Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. Also the Top Fifty pop album chart which is dominated by records like Jackie Gleason Plays Music for Lovers Only and Jackie Gleason Plays Romantic Jazz, lists its first rock and roll entry. |
| 62 | years ago | 1964 | The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand enters the Hot 100 at #45, just ten days after its release, making it the fastest-breaking and the fastest selling single in Capitol Records history. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Albums released this week include The Beatles' Yellow Submarine on Apple Records; Tommy James & the Shondells' Crimson and Clover on Roulette; Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bayou Country on Fantasy and the self-titled LP by Blood, Sweat and Tears on Columbia. |
| 57 | years ago | 1969 | Pete Best wins his defamation suit against The Beatles. He had sought 8 million dollars, but won considerably less. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | Pink Floyd begin recording Dark Side Of The Moon. |
| 53 | years ago | 1973 | The Rolling Stones benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims is a success. The group raises over $400,000. |
| 52 | years ago | 1974 | Bad Company is formed by ex-members of several groups -- Free, Mott the Hoople, and King Crimson. |
| 49 | years ago | 1977 | On the eve of President-elect Jimmy Carter's inauguration, a televised Inaugural Concert took place...Among the performers --- Linda Ronstadt and Aretha Franklin, while in the audience were people like John Lennon and Paul Simon. |
| 48 | years ago | 1978 | Ending the last show of the Sex Pistols' U.S. tour, Johnny Rotten sneers at his San Francisco audience, “How does it feel to be swindled?” The next morning he announces the group is history, blaming manager Malcolm McLaren for “sensationalizing” everything about the band. That afternoon Sid Vicious is taken unconscious off their London bound plane in New York and rushed to a hospital. He is treated for an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. |
| 46 | years ago | 1980 | Capricorn Records, the home of such Southern rock acts as the Allman Brothers Band, files for Chapter 11. |
| 45 | years ago | 1981 | Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics is arrested on stage in Milwaukee and charged with simulating sex with a sledgehammer and resisting arrest. A Milwaukee jury would find Williams not guilty of assaulting a police officer and the other charges are dropped. Williams later files a multimillion dollar civil suit against the Milwaukee Police, charging they sexually assaulted and beat her during the arrest, but a jury rejects her claims. |
| 41 | years ago | 1985 | Newspaper USA Today took a poll of its readers as to where the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame should be built. The winner was Cleveland. |
| 39 | years ago | 1987 | Steve Winwood marries Eugenia Grafton. |
| 37 | years ago | 1989 | Dion, The Ink Spots, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, Bessie Smith, The Soul Stirrers, Phil Spector, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame during ceremonies at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Highlights of the ceremony included a tribute to Roy Orbison, who had passed away the previous month. Bruce Springsteen sang the Orbison classic, Crying. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | Three people were crushed to death at an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City. The victims had been crushed by people who rushed the stage. |
| 35 | years ago | 1991 | The 10 day Rock In Rio Two festival opens in Brazil. Among the performers are Joe Cocker, Prince, and Guns N' Roses. |
| 31 | years ago | 1995 | Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. He didn't receive a scratch. |
| 30 | years ago | 1996 | Lisa Marie Presley files for divorce from Michael Jackson. |
| 26 | years ago | 2000 | Spencer Goodman, the man who kidnapped and killed the wife of ZZ Top manager Bill Ham in Houston in 1991, is executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. Ham is present for the execution. |
| 19 | years ago | 2007 | Ted Nugent causes a stir at the inaugural ball of Texas Governor Rick Perry when he carries a fake machine gun onto the stage wearing a T-shirt adorned with the Confederate flag, and then embarks on an angry monologue about people who don't speak English. |
| 17 | years ago | 2009 | “The Boss”, Bruce Springsteen, along with U2, Beyonce, James Taylor, Garth Brooks, and Usher headline a massive pre-inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial, two days before Barack Obama becomes the nation's boss. |
| 16 | years ago | 2010 | For $8.7 million, Cher auctions off a six-bedroom, 8,800-square-foot Hawaiian house she designed. It's in the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island, and features an infinity pool with spa overlooking the resort's golf course. The buyer is from Arizona. |
| 11 | years ago | 2015 | Denver native Dallas Taylor, drummer for Clear Light, as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and others, dies in Los Angeles at age 66. |
| 10 | years ago | 2016 | The Eagles' Glenn Frey dies of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia. He was 67. |