The number one single today in 1961 was made more popular by Elvis Presley, not its creator:
Also today in 1961, the Marvelettes released what would become their first number one song:
Today in 1964, the Beatles met Bob Dylan after a concert in Forest Hills, N.Y. Dylan reportedly introduced the Beatles to marijuana:
Today in 1965, the Rolling Stones released the song that would become their first number one hit, and yet Mick Jagger still claimed …
Today in 1967, the New York Times reported on a method of reducing the noise recording devices make during recording. The inventor, Ray Dolby, had pioneered the process for studio recordings, but the Times story mentioned its potential for home use.
Ray Dolby, by the way, is no known relation to the other Dolby …
Today in 1987, Lindsey Buckingham refused to go out on tour with Fleetwood Mac for its “Tango in the Night” album, perhaps thinking that the road would make him …
The band probably told him …
… but look who came back a few years later:
How much money would you have paid for tickets for this concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco today in 1964:
The number one song today in 1965:
Three years later, the singer of the number one song in Britain announced …
Today in 1976, Chicago released what would become its first number one single, to the regret of all true brass rock fans:
Today should be a national holiday. That is because this group first entered the music charts today in 1969:
That was the same day the number one single predicted life 556 years in the future:
Today in 1975, the Bee Gees hit number one, even though they were just just just …
The number one album today in 1973 …
… was the number one selling rock box set until 1986, and remains the best selling four-album set of all time.
Today in 1964, the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” hit number one and stayed there for 14 weeks:
Today in 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival and played with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The controversy was that Dylan played electric, not acoustic, guitar.
Contrary to myth, Dylan didn’t leave after three songs because he was upset at the crowd’s reaction. Dylan left after three songs because those were the only songs the band knew. He did return to play two acoustic songs at the behest of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Today in 1969, Crosby, Stills and Nash performed at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
The band asked Neil Young to join them at the end of the concert, and liked the result so much they asked him to join the band.
Young joined, then quit, then rejoined, then quit. (I am told by someone more conversant than me with CSNY that Young didn’t like merely being a member of the group.)
We begin with a song that was set on this date (listen to the first line):
The number one song today in 1955 was probably played around the clock by the first top 40 radio stations:
Anniversary greetings to David Bowie and Iman, married today in 1992:
One strange anniversary in rock music: Today in 1968, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher attended a concert of … Andy Williams:
Eleven years later, not McCartney, but Elton John became the first Western artist to perform in the Soviet Union.
Four years later, David Bowie’s suggestion reached number one:
Today in 1966, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who decided to replace for the evening the tardy drummer Keith Moon and bass player John Entwistle with the bass player and drummer of the band that played before them at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England.
When Moon and Entwistle arrived and found they had been substituted for, a fight broke out. Moon and Entwistle quit … for a week.
The number one single today in 1967:
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