1968 - George Harrison and John Lennon, fearing that their instructor, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, is a fraud and has been preying on women at his meditation camp in India, leave the retreat two weeks early and distance themselves from the Maharishi. Harrison though, remains dedicated to the concept of Transcendental Meditation.
Lennon got a couple of songs out of it. One was "Maharishi," but changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" to keep from getting sued. The opening lines make Lennon's sentiment perfectly clear:
"Sexy Sadie, what have you done
You made a fool of everyone"
Lennon dubbed the Maharishi "sexy" after hearing he hit on the actress Mia Farrow, who was also at the camp. Farrow's sister, Prudence, was there as well, and her experience led Lennon to write "Dear Prudence."
1969 - "Good Times, Bad Times," the first Led Zeppelin single, reaches its chart peak of #80 in America. In a reassessment of Led Zeppelin in 2016, Andy Greene of Rolling Stone praised "Good Times Bad Times", writing that the song begins the album with a bang: "Jimmy Page's guitar pounces from the speakers, fat with menace; John Bonham's kick drum swings with anvil force; Robert Plant rambles on about the perils of manhood. Hard rock would never be the same."
1978 - Arista Records released the Patti Smith single, "Because The Night." A track that Bruce Springsteen left off of Darkness At The Edge Of Town. Bruce Springsteen started writing this song in 1976, but he couldn't come up with verses.
The song lay dormant until his producer, Jimmy Iovine, convinced him to give a copy to Patti Smith, who eventually got around to filing in the verses and recording the song. Iovine was also producing Smith's Easter album and convinced her to record it for the set. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
1980 - R.E.M. played their first gig as R.E.M. at the 11:11 Koffee Club, Athens, Georgia to 150 people. The show ended at 2am when police closed it down due to the venue being unlicensed.
1982 - Simon & Garfunkel, who had made a big splash with their New York Central Park concert the year before, reunited for a European tour. The U.S. leg never materialized because of continued friction between the two.
2012 - Levon Helm died of throat cancer aged 71. A drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, Helm formed his own high school band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, at 17, and he later joined The Hawks (who became Bob Dylan's backing group) who then became known as The Band.
Birthdays:
Alexis Korner, the godfather of British blues, was born today in 1928.
South African producer and engineer Eddie Kramer is 79. He worked with many artists including The Beatles, (Magical Mystery Tour), David Bowie, (Young Americans), Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Carlos Santana. Kramer and his crew attended the 1969 Woodstock Festival where they recorded the entire festival.
Alan Price of The Animals is 79.
Bernie Worrell, keyboardist and founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, was born today in 1944. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic, and while Worrell wasn't an official member of Talking Heads, he performed with them throughout the '80s when Parliament-Funkadelic took a hiatus from touring.
Mark Volman of The Turtles is 74.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.