Category: Music

Today in 1964, the president of Britain’s National Federation of Hairdressers offered free haircuts to members of the next number one act in the British charts, adding, “The Rolling Stones are the worst; one of them looks as if he’s got a feather duster on his head.”

One assumes he was referring to Keith Richards, who is still working (and, to some surprise, still alive) 57 years later.

The number one British single today in 1965:

The number one British album today in 1972 was Deep Purple’s “Machine Head”:

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The number one British single today in 1958:

The number one single today in 1962:

The number one album today in 1973 was Alice Cooper’s “Billion Dollar Babies”:

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The number one single today in 1957:

Today in 1959, Goldband Records released a single that had been recorded two years earlier by an 11-year-old girl named Dolly Parton.

“Puppy Love” didn’t chart for Parton, but it did for other acts, including Paul Anka and Donny Osmond. And Parton had a pretty good career anyway.

The number one single today in 1974:

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The Beatles had the number one single on both sides of the Atlantic today in 1964:

The number one British single today in 1972 wasn’t exactly a one-hit wonder, but it wasn’t a traditional hit either:

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The number one British album today in 1965 was “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”:

Today in 1970, Johnny Cash performed at the White House, getting a request from its resident:

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The number one British single today in 1969:

In a week, the Beatles would tell the Aces to …

Today in 1969, MC5 demonstrated how not to protest a department store’s failure to sell your albums: Take out an Ann Arbor newspaper ad that says “F— Hudsons” (without the dashes).

Not only did Hudsons not change its mind, Elektra Records dropped MC5.

Detective Kenneth Hutchinson of a California police department had the number one single today in 1977:

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The song of the day:

The number one single today in 1972:

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A former boss of mine was a huge fan of the Rolling Stones. His wife was a huge fan of the Beatles. The two bands crossed paths today in 1963 at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England.

The number one British single today in 1966:

Today in 1971, the Illinois Crime Commission released its list of “drug-oriented records” …

You’d think given the culture of corruption in Illinois that the commission would have better and more local priorities. On the other hand, the commission probably was made up of third and fourth cousins twice removed of Richard Daley and other Flatland politicians, so, whatever, man.

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You might think the number one British single today in 1967 is …

The number one single today in 1974:

Today in 1980, Grease was no longer the word: The musical closed in New York, after 3,883 performances.

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Today in 1966, Jan Berry of Jan and Dean crashed his Corvette into a parked truck in Los Angeles, suffering permanent injuries.

The number one single today in 1969:

Today in 1975, David Bowie announced, “I’ve rocked my roll. It’s a boring dead end, there will be no more rock ‘n’ roll records from me.”

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