Today in 1968, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the first time when they rehearsed at a London studio. You know them as Led Zeppelin.

Today in 1972, this was the number one song in Britain, which is odd since school was indeed out at the time:

(That, by the way, is a song that will be played as long as school exists.)

These are not rock music birthdays, but since country music is one of the fathers of rock, I’ll note that Buck Owens and Porter Wagoner are celebrating birthdays today.

Today’s first birthday is the writer of “Hit the Road Jack,” Percy Mayfield:

Cliff Fish of one-hit-wonder Paperlace:

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits:

Jerry Speiser of Men at Work:

Roy Hay of Culture Club:

Today in 1985, Kyu Sakamoto died in a plane crash in Japan. He was the first Japanese artist to have a U.S.-number-one song, in 1963:

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