Today in 1960, Roy Orbison had his first number one single:

Today in 1962, the number one single in the U.S. was a song banned by the BBC:

The number one single today in 1973 …

… which bumped off this classic …

… which made an eight-year-old TV viewer’s eyes nearly pop out of his head.

Today in 1977, four members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and two others were killed when their plane crashed near McComb, Miss.:

The number one single today in 1979:

The number one album today in 1979 was the Eagles’ “The Long Run”:

Birthdays begin with Ric Lee, who played drums for Ten Years After (though not necessarily 10 years after):

Anne Murray:

Alan Greenwood played keyboards for Foreigner:

Tom Petty:

Ricky Byrd, who played bass as one of Joan Jett’s Blackhearts …

… was born the same day as Mark King, who could be found at Level 42:

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