1964 - A British company shipped a half-ton of Beatle wigs to the United States. An American reporter later asked John Lennon, "How do you feel about teenagers imitating you with Beatle wigs?" John replied, "They're not imitating us, because we don't wear Beatle wigs."
1977 - Manfred Mann's Earth Band scored a No. 1 single in the U.S. with their cover of the Bruce Springsteen song, "Blinded By The Light." The track was the first single from Bruce Springsteen's 1973 debut album Greetings from Asbury Park N.J. Manfred Mann's version features several changed lyrics; most notably, Springsteen's "cut loose like a deuce" is replaced by "revved up like a deuce." The original Springsteen Lyric is "Cut Loose like a deuce". Theories on the line: original phrase describes dumping your girlfriend or boyfriend or anything you want to get rid of, as in "Thrown away like a low card in draw poker". The changed lyric, "revved up like a deuce", is said to be referring to a Deuce Coupe, as in the Beach Boys "Little Deuce Coupe." The original could have been a car reference too. Springsteen aficionados feel free to weigh in. I had always read Bruce was not fond on the cover until he started getting the royalty checks.
1980 - AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott dies after a night of heavy drinking. The coroner's report lists "acute alcohol poisoning" as the cause of death, classified under "death by misadventure."
2004 - Johnny Cash's family blocked an attempt by advertisers to use his hit song "Ring of Fire" to promote a hemorrhoid medication. Cash's daughter Rosanne said the family "would never allow the song to be demeaned like that."(Photo by Paramount Pictures/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Bobby Rogers, one of Smokey Robinson's fellow Miracles, was born today in 1940.
Falco ('Rock Me Amadeus') was born on this day in 1957.
Smokey Robinson is 81.
Tony Iommi, guitarist for Black Sabbath, is 73.
Dave Wakeling of The English Beat (aka The Beat) is 65.
Steve Nieve of Elvis Costello and the Attractions is 63.
Henry Samuel — better known as Seal — is 58.
Kate Radley of Spiritualized is 54.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, Quora, and Wikipedia.