If you wanna be happy, listen to the number one single today in 1963:

Another one-hit wonder had the number one single today in 1968:

The number one single today in 1974 might be the very definition of the term “novelty song”:

The number one British single today in 1975:

(Which more appropriately should have been called “Stand by Your Men,” since Tammy Wynette had had three husbands up to then, and two more thereafter.)

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First,  for those who believe the British are the height of sophistication and are so much more couth than us Americans: This was the number one song in the U.K. today in 1986:

The chicken is not having a birthday. Pervis Jackson of the Spinners is:

So is drummer Bill Bruford, who played for Yes, King Crimson and Genesis:

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Today in 1980, Brian May of Queen collapsed while onstage. This was due to hepatitis, not, one assumes, the fact that Paul McCartney released his “McCartney II” album the same day.

Today’s rock music birthdays start with someone who will never be associated with rock music: Liberace, born in West Allis today in 1919.

Actual rock birthdays start with Isaac “Redd” Holt of Young–Holt Unlimited:

Nicky Chinn wrote this 1970s classic: It’s it’s …

Roger Earl of Foghat …

… was born one year before Barbara Lee of the Chiffons …

… and drummer Darrell Sweet of Nazareth:

William “Sputnik” Spooner played guitar for both the Grateful Dead …

… and The Tubes:

Richard Page of Mr. Mister:

Krist Novoselic of Nirvana was born one year before …

… Miss Jackson if you’re nasty:

Finally, Patrick Waite, bassist and singer for Musical Youth, which did this ’80s classic, dude:

The number one British single today in 1959 was not number one due to grammar:

The number one album today in 1971 was Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s “4 Way Street”:

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The number one British album today in 1983 (with the clock ticking on my high school days) was Spandau Ballet’s “True”:

The number one British album today in 2000 was Tom Jones’ “Reload,” which proved that Jones could sing about anything, and loudly:

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The number one British single today in 1957 gave a name to a genre of music between country and rock (even though the song sounds as much like the genre as Kay Starr’s “Rock and Roll Waltz” sounds like rock and roll):

The number one single today in 1967:

The number one British album today in 1967 promised “More of the Monkees”:

(Interesting aside: “More of the Monkees” was one of only four albums to reach the British number one all year. The other three were the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the soundtrack to “The Sound of Music,” and “The Monkees.”)

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The number one single today in 1958:

Today in 1963, the producers of CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Shew told Bob Dylan he couldn’t perform his “Talking John Birch Society Blues” because it mocked the U.S. military.

So he didn’t. He walked out of rehearsals and didn’t appear on the show.

The number one album today in 1973 was Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy,” which probably didn’t make Zeppelin mad mad mad or sad sad sad:

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The number one British single today in 1958 was a cover of a song written in 1923:

The number one British album today in 1963 was the Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” which was number one for 30 weeks:

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You may remember a couple weeks ago I noted the first known meeting of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Today in 1963, upon the advice of George Harrison, Decca Records signed the Rolling Stones to a contract.

Four years to the day later, Stones Keith Richard, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones celebrated by … getting arrested for drug possession.

I noted the 62nd anniversary May 2 of WLS in Chicago going to Top 40. Today in 1982, WABC in New York (also owned by ABC, as one could conclude from their call letters) played its last record, which was …

Four years later, the number one song in America was, well, inspired by, though not based on, a popular movie of the day:

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The number one single today in 1964 was performed by the oldest number one artist to date:

The number one single today in 1970, sides A …

… and B:

The number one British single today in 1981:

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