1956 - Police in Cleveland shut down a Rock concert under an obscure law that prohibits people under 18 from dancing in public without a guardian.
1968 - Fleetwood Mac released their debut studio album (also known as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac), a mixture of blues covers and originals penned by guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. This and English Rose are the only albums by the band not to feature keyboardist, vocalist Christine McVie in any capacity.
1969 - Johnny Cash records Johnny Cash At San Quentin. Two songs are performed live on stage for the first time during the show: "San Quentin" and "A Boy Named Sue". According to biographer Robert Hilburn, Cash spontaneously decided to perform "A Boy Named Sue" during the show and neither the TV crew nor his band knew he planned to do it (though he gave them advance warning by announcing early in the show his intent to play it); he used a lyric sheet on stage while Perkins and the band improvised the backing. The famous image of an angry-looking Cash giving the middle finger gesture to a camera originates from the performance; in his liner notes for the 2000 reissue, Cash explains that he was frustrated at having a film crew blocking his view of the audience. When the crew ignored his request to "clear the stage", he made the gesture.
1975 - Led Zeppelin released their sixth album, Physical Graffiti. The band wrote and recorded eight new songs for the album in early 1974. The total playing time covered just under three sides of an LP, so they decided to expand it into a double by including previously unreleased tracks from the sessions for the earlier albums Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy. The album covered a range of styles including hard rock, progressive rock, rock 'n' roll and folk. During recording, bassist John Paul Jones nearly quit to join a choir. He had become disillusioned and seriously considered becoming choirmaster at Winchester Cathedral before Zep's manager Peter Grant talked him out of it. Physical Graffiti's artwork features a photograph of 96 and 98 St Mark's Place in Manhattan. The video for the Rolling Stones Waiting On A Friend was also shot on the doorsteps of 96 and 98 St Mark's Place. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
1987 - Graceland won Paul Simon a Grammy for Album Of The Year. In 1984, after a period of depression, divorce and commercial disappointment from his previous album, Simon became fascinated with a bootleg cassette of South African township music. He then planned a trip to Johannesburg, where he spent two weeks recording with South African musicians.
1992 - Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love in Waikiki, Hawaii.
1998 - Elton John is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. "They don't come much bigger than this," Elton says after receiving his award.
2004 - After EMI refuses to let DJ Danger Mouse release his Grey Album, a mash-up of Jay-Z's Black Album with samples from The Beatles' White Album, the DJ makes the album available as a download, for free, on his website for one day.
Birthdays:
Paul Jones of Manfred Mann is 79.
Rupert Holmes, a singer-songwriter best known for his hit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" is 74.
Nicky Hopkins, a session piano player who worked with The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, The Beatles, John Lennon, The Who and The Small Faces was born on this day in 1944.
Lonnie Turner, bassist for the Steve Miller Band, was born today in 1947.
Michelle Shocked is 59.
Chad Hugo — who, with Pharrell Williams, forms the production duo The Neptunes — is 47.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, Music Radar, and Wikipedia.