1958 - Fans of rock 'n' roll music were warned that listening to music on the car radio could cost them more money. Researchers from the Esso petroleum company said the rhythm of rock music could cause the driver to be foot-heavy on the pedal, making them waste fuel.
1973 - The self-titled debut by the New York Dolls is released and produced by Todd Rundgren. The New York Dolls created punk rock before there was a term for it. Building on the Rolling Stones' dirty rock & roll, a bastardization of Brill Building pop, the Stooges' anarchic noise, and the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, the New York Dolls created a new form of rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal.
1974 - John Denver started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Annie's Song." The song was a tribute to Denver's wife and was written in 10 minutes while he was on the Ajax chair on Aspen mountain.
1984 -"Purple Rain", starring Prince in his acting debut, was released. The movie, in which he plays as an upstart musician who clashes with his band, parallels his life story, but is not strictly autobiographical, and he didn't write or direct it.
The movie is far from a blockbuster, but it finds and audience and serves as a milepost in Prince's career. Far more popular is the soundtrack, which serves as his sixth album. Along with the title track, the album also includes "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry," as well as the song that leads to warning stickers on albums with explicit lyrics, "Darling Nikki." (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
2007 - The Simpsons Movie debuts. Early in the film, Green Day sink into Lake Springfield. They played a concert on a barge that sank. At their funerals, in Springfield, the organist plays a funeral version of American Idiot.
2021 - Dusty Hill of ZZ Top dies at 72, ending a 51-year run where the band's lineup was always Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard. He sang their hit, "Tush."
Birthdays:
Andy White was born today in 1930. Best known for replacing Ringo Starr on drums on The Beatles' first single, 'Love Me Do'. He passed away in 2015.
Bobbie Gentry is 80. Gentry rose to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative 'Ode to Billie Joe' in 1967.
Juliana Hatfield is 55.
Pete Yorn is 48.
On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Simpsonswiki, and Wikipedia.