1964 - The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. So many people complained (they hadn't washed their hair! Mick Jagger wore a sweatshirt!). A riot broke out in the studio, prompting Sullivan’s infamous quote, ‘I promise you they’ll never be back on our show again.’ The Rolling Stones went on to make a further five appearances on Sullivan’s show between 1965 and 1969.
1968 - The original release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience double album Electric Ladyland caused a bit of a stir. The cover featured Jimi surrounded by naked women. It is now a collectors item. Aside from the cover...Jimi Hendrix's third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit. The result was not only one of the best rock albums of the era, but also Hendrix's original musical vision at its absolute apex.
1970 - Speaking at a U.S. radio conference, President Nixon asked programmers to ban all songs containing drug references.
1970 - Led Zeppelin III hits #1. On their first two albums, Led Zeppelin unleashed a relentless barrage of heavy blues and rockabilly riffs, but Led Zeppelin III provided the band with the necessary room to grow musically. While there are still a handful of metallic rockers, III is built on a folky, acoustic foundation that gives the music extra depth.
1975 - Paul Simon released, Still Crazy After All These Years. Where Simon had taken an eclectic approach before, delving into a variety of musical styles and recording all over the world, Still Crazy found him working for the most part with a group of jazz-pop New York session players, though he did do a couple of tracks with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. The song, "My Little Town" also marked a return to working with Art Garfunkel. Still Crazy topped the charts, spawned four Top 40 hits, and won Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Vocal Performance.
1993 - Time magazine puts Eddie Vedder on the cover with the headline "All The Rage." Both Vedder and Kurt Cobain refused to speak with the magazine for the story, but they run it anyway in an attempt to explain why young people are listening to such angry music.
The cover story attempts to deconstruct the new kind of music emanating from Seattle. Time is a general-interest magazine with an older demographic, so they take an erudite tone.
"Their music is usually guitar-driven, with experimental touches. While pop songs are often about love, alternative lyrics are usually about tougher feelings: despair, lust, confusion." (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
1994 - Hootie & the Blowfish begin their first US tour in South Bend, Indiana. They're the opening act for Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
2014 - Jack Bruce, best known as one third of Cream died of liver disease aged 71. Bruce played bass, sang and was the principal songwriter in Cream,
Birthdays:
Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest is 74.
Richard Lloyd, Television, is 70.
Drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers (and doppelganger of Will Ferrell) is 60.
Katy Perry is 37.
Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies is 51.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.