1957 - Elvis Presley recorded the Leiber and Stoller song "Jailhouse Rock" as featured in his motion picture of the same name. "Jailhouse Rock" has one of the most memorable intros in rock history: two guitar chords with snare drum hits. The intro last just six seconds, but the pattern repeats throughout the verses, establishing a firm musical hook that remains the envy of songwriters.
1976 - The Who's drummer Keith Moon paid nine cab drivers to block off both ends of a New York street so he could throw the contents of his hotel room out of the window.
1977 - Led Zeppelin play to 76,229 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, breaking their own record (56,800 at a 1973 show in Tampa) for largest attendance for a single-act concert. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
1983 - One of the most influential of all Chicago bluesmen, Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), died while asleep at home in Westmont, Ill., at age 68. Muddy Waters was the single most important artist to emerge in post-war American blues. A peerless singer, a gifted songwriter, and able guitarist. Waters absorbed the influences of rural blues from the Deep South and moved them uptown, injecting his music with a fierce, electric energy and helping pioneer the Chicago Blues style that would come to dominate the music through the 1950s, ‘60s, and '70s. The Rolling Stones named themselves after Waters' 1950 song 'Rollin' Stone.'
2015 - Ben E. King, songwriter and singer of "Stand By Me," died at age 76. From the groundbreaking orchestrated productions of the Drifters to his own solo hits, Ben E. King was the definition of R&B elegance. King's plaintive baritone had all the passion of gospel, but the settings in which it was displayed were tailored more for his honey smooth phrasing and crisp enunciation, proving for perhaps the first time that R&B could be sophisticated and accessible to straight pop audiences. King's approach influenced countless soul singers in his wake, and his records were key forerunners of the Motown sound.
Birthdays:
Country music and rockabilly singer Johnny Horton ("The Battle Of New Orleans") was born today in 1929.
Wayne Kramer of MC5 is 73.
1947, Col. Bruce Hampton, leader of the Hampton Grease Band and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, is born Gustav Valentine Berglund III in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Wonder Mike (Michael Anthony Wright), rapper from The Sugarhill Gang, is 64.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.