1969 - Peter Paul and Mary went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Leavin' On A Jet Plane". John Denver wrote the song with the original title of "Oh Babe I Hate to Go". Denver wrote this in 1967 during a layover at Washington airport. John, of course, is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
1969 - One of the great Rolling Stones albums, Let It Bleed, highlighted by "Midnight Rambler," "Gimme Shelter" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want," hit No. 1 on the album charts. It was the last studio album by the band to feature Brian Jones (who had died on July 3rd of this year after drowning in his swimming pool), as well as the first to feature guitarist Mick Taylor.
1971 - The live album from the Concert For Bangladesh, held six months earlier in Madison Square Garden, is released in America. It was the crowning event of George Harrison's public life, a gesture of great goodwill that captured the moment in history and, not incidentally, produced some rousing music as a permanent legacy.
The large, almost unwieldy band was loaded with rock luminaries -- including Beatles alumnus Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Leon Russell and Billy Preston.
The high point of the concert is the surprise appearance of Bob Dylan -- at this reclusive time in his life, every Dylan sighting made headlines -- and he read the tea leaves perfectly by performing five of his most powerful, meaningful songs from the '60s.
It was a time and a moment, when rock musicians truly thought they could help save the world. (Photo by Getty Images)
1974 - Former James Gang and Barnstorm (they're in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame) guitarist Joe Walsh officially replaced Bernie Leadon in the Eagles after producer Bill Szymczyk had recommended Walsh to The Eagles. When Joe Walsh joined, they were already a well-established band. But then again, he was also a well-established solo star.
Something clicked. Walsh helped restructure the Eagles, bringing a gritty rock edge to a group best known for laid-back, country-rock music. His first album with the Eagles, 1976's Hotel California, became one of the best-selling in history.
Birthdays:
Alan Parsons, British studio audio engineer, musician, and record producer, is 74. He was involved with the production of The Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor. Parsons' own group, The Alan Parsons Project released several albums.
Anita Ward (singer of “Ring my Bell”) is 66.
Billy Bragg is 65.
Mike Watt, best-known for being a founding member of Minutemen, Dos, and fIREHOSE is 65. I loved The Minutemen's "Double Nickels On The Dime".
Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes is 56. By going back to a classic sound in the mold of Humble Pie and the Faces, the Black Crowes were one of the few truly popular bands to continue making rock music that wasn't rooted in a particular decade during the era of hair metal and (later) grunge.
Jackie Fox is born Jacqueline Fuchs in California, is 63.. She gives up a promising career in mathematics when she joins The Runaways (the first all girl hard rock band) as bass player at the age of 15, rather than taking early entry into UCLA. After leaving the band, she returns to her studies, graduating from UCLA and then Harvard - where she is a classmate of Barack Obama - and goes on to work as an entertainment lawyer.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Ultimate Classic Rock, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.