1964 - Meet The Beatles was released. Meet the Beatles! wasn't the first Beatles album released in the U.S. (that would've been Introducing the Beatles, on Vee Jay), but as the first Beatles album released by Capitol Records, it was indeed the LP where many millions of Americans were introduced to the Fab Four. As an introduction, there could hardly have been one better. Included "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
1975- Bob Dylan releases Blood On The Tracks. The songs that constitute Blood on the Tracks have been described by many Dylan critics as stemming from his personal turmoil at the time, particularly his estrangement from his then-wife Sara Dylan. Jakob Dylan has said, "When I'm listening to Blood On The Tracks, that's about my parents." In his 2004 memoir, Chronicles, Vol. 1, Dylan stated that the songs have nothing to do with his personal life, and that they were inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov. Regardless of where the inspiration came from, this is an album alternately bitter, sorrowful, regretful, and peaceful, easily the closest he ever came to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. (Photo credit should read HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty Images)
1982 - During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the light, the bat lay motionless, and thinking it was a rubber fake, the singer picked it up and attempted to bite its head off. As he did this, the bat started to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realized it wasn't fake but in fact a living thing. After the show Ozzy was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots.
1997 - Ben and Jerry's introduced 'Phish food', a new flavor of ice cream named after the group Phish. The ingredients were chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge. The band members all agreed to funnel their royalties from Phish Food towards environmental causes. For the band it was the first and only time they’ve licensed their name to a product.
2012 - Etta James dies at age 73 of leukemia complications. She found her sound at Chess Records, where an 18-year stint (starting in 1960) yielded a string of modern blues and R&B hits that combined her raw vocals with unbridled passion, whether in the soaring ballad "At Last" or the grit-edged soul of "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind." She gained even more notoriety from younger audiences when Beyoncé portrayed her in the 2008 film Cadillac Records, in part a semi-autobiographical look at James' tenure at Chess Records.
Birthdays:
Leadbelly (Huddi William Ledbetter), blues musician, who wrote "Goodnight Irene", "The Rock Island Line", and '"The Midnight Special" was born today in 1889.
Slim Whitman was born of this day in 1923. Known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth, high, three-octave-range falsetto in a style christened as "countrypolitan".
Ron Townson of The 5th Dimension was born today in 1933.
Billy Powell, singer from The O'Jays, ("Love Train") was born today in 1942.
Paul Stanley of Kiss is 69.
Nathan Connolly of Snow Patrol is 40.
On This Day In Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, Allmusic, Ben & Jerry's and Wikipedia.