1968 - A group called Pogo, which includes Randy Meisner, Jim Messina and Richie Furay, debuts at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. They change their name to Poco to avoid legal action over the comic strip Pogo. Poco is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
1972 - Cat Stevens started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Catch Bull At Four. The title was taken from one of the Ten Bulls of Zen a series of short poems and accompanying pictures that are intended to illustrate the stages of a Buddhist practitioner's progression towards enlightenment. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
1972 - Singer, songwriter Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose aged 29. He was a member of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and writer of 'I Don't Wanna Talk About It', covered by Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge and Everything But The Girl. The Neil Young song ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose).
1974 - Genesis released the double concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, their sixth studio album and the last album by the group to feature the involvement of lead singer Peter Gabriel.
1976 - Richard Hell and the Voidoids made their debut at CBGB in New York. Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion and was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins. Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, has credited Hell as a source of inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude.
1987 - At a Los Angeles concert, U2 opened for themselves, pretending to be a country-rock band called The Dalton Brothers. The band name is a reference to the gang of bandits who appear in the Lucky Luke comic books.
1993 - Nirvana recorded their MTV Unplugged special at Sony Studios in New York. Nirvana played a setlist composed largely of lesser-known material and cover versions of songs by The Vaselines, David Bowie, Meat Puppets and Lead Belly. The interior of the Sony studio was decorated “like a funeral”. That was all Cobain. “He did specify that he wanted star lilies, which are these big, white flowers,” MTV producer Alex Coletti said in 1995, as well as the candles and heavy drapes. When Coletti asked if he really wanted it to look like a funeral, Cobain answered, “Yeah.” The resulting album would go on to win the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 1996.
1994 - The Rolling Stones became the first major band to stream a live concert on the Web when they transmitted the first five songs from a concert in Dallas over the Internet: "Not Fade Away," "Tumbling Dice," "You Got Me Rocking," "Shattered" and "Rocks Off." The show was part of the Stones' Voodoo Lounge tour. Although the Stones were the first major band to webcast a show, the very first band to use the technology was Palo Alto, Calif., rock band Severe Tire Damage, who performed via Internet multicast on June 24, 1993 (all band members worked for Silicon Valley firms). As a hat-tip to their predecessors' innovation, the Rolling Stones invited Severe Tire Damage to open for their 1994 Web concert.
2001 - R.E.M. made a guest appearance on The Simpsons performing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" in Homer Simpson's garage.
2005 - The movie Walk The Line, based on the life of Johnny Cash and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the singer, opens in US theaters. The film was nominated for five Oscars.
2016 - Sharon Jones, who spearheaded a soul revival movement with her band the Dap-Kings, died in a New York hospital after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 60. Her life and career embodied heart and soul and determination and her artistry, strength, and spirit were inspirational. After a lifetime of singing, in 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want.
Birthdays:
Songwriter Hank Ballard, who had a No. 1 for Chubby Checker with "The Twist," was born today in 1927.
Don Cherry, jazz musician, father of Neneh and Eagle Eye Cherry, was born on this day in 1936.
Graham Parker (lead singer of Graham Parker & the Rumour) is 70.
Kim Wilde is 60.
Kirk Hammett of Metallica is 58.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.