1956 - Elvis Presley was proclaimed "the new singing rage" by RCA Victor Records in a half-page spread in Billboard magazine.
1964 - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded the acoustic version of "The Sound of Silence." Later, the record company would add electric guitar, bass and drums, without the knowledge of either performer, and release the song as a single. The single reached number one on New Year's Day 1966 and was included in the 1966 album Sounds of Silence. The song was also used by Mike Nichols in the 1967 film, The Graduate, alongside "Mrs. Robinson."
1973 - Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album, The Dark Side Of The Moon, in the United States.
The Dark Side of the Moon confronts only One-Word Subjects—Time, Madness, War, Religion (“softly spoken magic spells”)—while redefining British psychedelia, space rock, and the concept album concept itself. A great and terrible rainbow of blackness behind the curtain of prog, Dark Side of the Moon blots out the Big Lamp, but puts everything under the sun into tune.
With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. (Photo credit should read PAUL BARKER/AFP via Getty Images)
1975 - The Rocky Horror Show, which started in London in 1973, opens on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre with Meat Loaf playing both Eddie and Dr. Scott. It's later made into a movie with Meat Loaf reprising his role as the motorcycle-riding Eddie.
1977 - The Sex Pistols inked a contract with A&M Records on a little table that was set up in London near Buckingham Palace. An after party was held at the offices of A&M records following the signing where the group set about reeking unforeseen havoc on the posh building, with Sid Vicious smashing a toilet and cutting his foot, trailing blood everywhere he went, while Rotten cursed and threatened every upscale executive in sight and guitarist Steve Jones getting it on with an unnamed fan in the restrooms. The contract lasted for six days.
1991 - Mookie Blaylock (the band) go on a Seattle radio station and announce they are changing their name to Pearl Jam, inspired by the jamming they saw at a Neil Young concert a few weeks earlier.
2015 - A jury awards Marvin Gaye's estate (his children Marvin III, Frankie and Nona) $7.3 million, finding that the Robin Thicke song "Blurred Lines" is too similar to Gaye's 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up."
Birthdays:
Tom Scholz is 75. He is the sole original member of the band Boston, and has been its principal songwriter and guitarist over its nearly 50-year history. Scholz began writing songs while working on his master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. It reportedly took him five years to create the band’s biggest hit, “More Than a Feeling.”
Edie Arlisa Brickell is 56 today. Best-known for her band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Brickell married singer-songwriter Paul Simon in 1992. They first met on the set of Saturday Night Live when Brickell was performing in 1988. During the performance, she noticed Simon standing in front of the cameraman. "Even though I'd performed the song "What I Am" hundreds of times in clubs, he made me forget how the song went when I looked at him. We can show the kids the tape and say, 'Look, that's when we first laid eyes on each other.'"
Gary Louris, Jayhawks, is 67.
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament is 59.
Producer Rick Rubin is 59.
Neneh Cherry is 58.
Producer Timbaland (Timothy Z. Mosley) is 50.
Carrie Underwood is 39.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from Pitchfork, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.