1965 - The Rolling Stones were each fined £5 ($8.50) for urinating in a public place, following an incident that had taken place at a petrol station after a gig. After being refused access to a petrol station lavatory in London, three of the Rolling Stones took it upon themselves to relieve their full bladders by urinating on the petrol station itself.
1972 - Neil Young started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Heart Of Gold". The song features backup vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Recorded at a session in Nashville set up the night before (the first for Young's Harvest album), the musicians are all locals, including a pedal steel guitar player named Ben Keith, who made his mark on the 1961 Patsy Cline classic "I Fall To Pieces." After recording "Old Man," they do two takes of "Heart of Gold," which is all they need.
1977 - The Clash released their first single, "White Riot". Joe Strummer maintained that young white people should be outraged over their oppressive government just as blacks were, and should demonstrate through direct action and protest. A call for action and unity.
1978 - Cal Jam II takes place at Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The largest festival of the late '70s, performers include Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Santana and Heart. An estimated 350,000 fans attend; the Los Angeles Times reports that 700 of them were treated for overdoses of Angel Dust.
1991 - U2 were fined about $750 after being convicted of selling condoms illegally at the Virgin Megastore in Dublin. It was actually Virgin head Richard Branson who was selling condoms at his store. Irish laws were strict about the sale of contraception and this was a breach. U2 stepped up and picked up the tab.
1994 - Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain had four guns and 25 boxes of ammo confiscated after his wife, Courtney Love, had notified police. She was afraid he would commit suicide, which, sadly, he did about three weeks later.
1994 - After a long search and many auditions, The Rolling Stones hired Darryl Jones to replace bassist Bill Wyman; Wyman had earlier announced that he was tired of the whole thing.
1996 - The Sex Pistols announced that they were reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour. Lead singer Johnny Rotten, who once vowed never to reunite the group, says, "We have found a common cause to bring us back together again, and it's your money."
2001 - John Phillips, singer, songwriter and leader of Southern California's The Mamas and The Papas, died at the age of 65.
2002 - The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, a close friend of the Ramones. "They were armed with two-minute songs that they rattled off like machine gun fire," Vedder said, "and it was enough to change the Earth's revolution."
2014 - American musician, percussionist, actor and voice actor Joe Lala died from complications of lung cancer at the age of 66. As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees' 1976 US chart-topper "You Should Be Dancing", which was included on the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
2017 - Chuck Berry died at age 90. The American guitarist, singer and songwriter was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none was more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He was its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him there would be no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor myriad others. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player Charley Pride was born on this day in 1934. Pride became the first Black country musician to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.
Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, producer, pianist, and co-creator of The Alan Parsons Project Eric Woolfson was born today in 1945.
Wilson Pickett, forefather in the American soul movement, was born today in 1941.
John Hartman, drummer for The Doobie Brothers, is 71.
Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart was born today in 1961.
Vanessa Williams is 58.
Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains is 55.
Adam Levine is 42.
Lykke Li is 35.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, Newstalk, and Wikipedia.