1967 - The Beatles recorded "All You Need Is Love" live on the Our World program, the first live-via-satellite global television broadcast in history. The program featured contributions from multiple countries, and the BBC commissioned a song from The Beatles as the U.K.'s contribution. John Lennon wrote the song ‘All You Need Is Love’ especially for the occasion, to the brief given by the BBC: it had to be simple so that viewers around the world would understand it. The band were surrounded by friends and acquaintances seated on the floor, who sang along with the refrain during the fade-out. These guests included Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Pattie Boyd (Harrison's wife), and Mike McGear and Jane Asher (McCartney's brother and girlfriend, respectively). While the band sang live to a pre-recorded backing track on the broadcast, some of the vocals were re-recorded in the studio prior to the single's release.
1975 - Frank Zappa's last album with The Mothers of Invention, One Size Fits All, is released. This one is more song-oriented, alternating goofy rock songs with more challenging numbers in an attempt to find a juste milieu between Over-Nite Sensation and Roxy & Elsewhere. An essential third-period Zappa album.
1984 - Prince and The Revolution released the Purple Rain album five weeks before the premiere of the film. The album is the first of Prince's that features the billing of his band the Revolution, and it was his first album to reach No. 1. Simultaneously more focused and ambitious than any of his previous records, Purple Rain finds Prince consolidating his funk and R&B roots while moving boldly into pop, rock, and heavy metal with nine superbly crafted songs. Taken together, all of the stylistic experiments add up to a stunning statement of purpose that remains one of the most exciting rock & roll albums ever recorded. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images for NPG Records 2015)
1988 - Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist and founding member Hillel Slovak died due to a heroin overdose. He recorded two albums with the band and is considered to have been a major influence on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' early sound.
1993 - Bruce Springsteen was a surprise guest on David Letterman's final show as host of NBC's Late Night.
2009 - Michael Jackson died at the age of 50, after suffering heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964. Jackson is credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool, four of his solo albums are among the world's best-selling records.
Birthdays:
Carly Simon is 76.
George Michael was born today in 1963.
Tim Finn of Split Enz is 69.
John McCrea of Cake is 57.
Mario Calire from The Wallflowers is 47.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Beatles Bible, Song Facts and Wikipedia.