ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY:
1965 - The Who had their first hit when they released "I Can't Explain" in the UK, with Jimmy Page on guitar. It was the group's first single released under the name The Who. Their previous was released under the name The High Numbers. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Pete Townshend, the writer of the song, referred to "I Can't Explain" as "a song, written by some 18-year-old kid, about the fact that he can't tell his girlfriend he loves her because he's taken too many Dexedrine tablets."
1967 - The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend The Night Together" to "Let's Spend Some Time Together" when appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show after the producers objected to the content of the lyrics. Jagger ostentatiously rolled his eyes at the TV camera while singing the changed lyrics, resulting in host Ed Sullivan announcing that The Rolling Stones would be banned from performing on his show ever again.
1972 - Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' made its debut on the U.S. singles chart. The band worked up the song at Headley Grange, out in the country, surrounded by woods. A nameless black Labrador retriever would wander the grounds, and the band would feed it. When they needed a name for this track, which didn't have an obvious title, they thought of the canine and went with "Black Dog." The start-and-stop a cappella verses were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well." Robert Plant explained in an interview with Cameron Crowe: "Not all my stuff is meant to be scrutinized. Things like 'Black Dog' are blatant, let's-do-it-in-the-bath type things, but they make their point just the same."
1977 - The Eagles were at No.1 on the US album chart with Hotel California the group's third US No.1 album. In the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles, Don Henley said the song was about "a journey from innocence to experience...that's all".
1994 - Singer songwriter Harry Nilsson died in his sleep of heart failure after spending the previous day in the recording studio.
He had a multiple-octave vocal range which he displayed on "Without You", Everybody's Talkin'", "Coconut", "Jump Into The Fire" and more. He was close friends with John Lennon and Nathaniel Rateliff said Nilsson had a big influence on his album, 'And It's Still Alright'.
2015 - American record producer, singer and musician Kim Fowley died at the age of 75. He is best-known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways (featuring Joan Jett, Lita Ford, etc) in the 1970s. With Gary S. Paxton he recorded the novelty song 'Alley Oop', which reached No.1 on the charts in 1960 and was credited to the non-existent group the Hollywood Argyles.
2018 -Dolores O’Riordan from The Cranberries died unexpectedly while she was in London, England, for a recording session. Before Dolores joined the band, the had the song Linger, but lyrics written by the band's original singer, Niall Quinn. When O'Riordan auditioned for the band, she had some ideas for the song, and after she was hired, she wrote her own set of lyrics, turning it into a song of regret based on a soldier she once fell in love with. (Photo by Paul Jeffers/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
1941 - Captain Beefheart is born Don Vliet in Glendale, California. In an interview with John Letterman in 1982, Don explained the meaning behind his name: “A beef in my heart against society.” Met and became friends with Frank Zappa when they were teenagers. Over the span of 18 years making music as Captain Beefheart and with his Magic Band; he fused blues, free jazz, and the avant-garde with prolific effect.
Ronnie Van Zant, singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, was born today in 1948. An avid fisherman and stand out baseball player, dreamed of going pro one day. According to former bandmate Artimus Pyle and family members, Van Zant frequently discussed his mortality. Pyle recalls a moment when Lynyrd Skynyrd was in Japan: "Ronnie and I were in Tokyo, Japan, and Ronnie told me that he would never live to see thirty and that he would go out with his boots on".
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, Far Out Magazine, Personal Bio and Wikipedia.