1965 - The Velvet Underground performed their first concert. They were the opening act at a high school dance in Summit, N.J.
1968 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono release the album Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins with a cover photo of the pair naked. Many record stores stock it in a brown paper wrapper. Lennon's first album away from The Beatles, Two Virgins is 30 minutes of sound effects and random noise, but he photos, showing the couple standing naked on both the front and back covers, make quite a statement. Lennon took the photos himself using a delayed-action shutter (early selfie!). It's set to be the first album released on the Beatles label Apple Records, but the controversial cover delays it, giving George Harrison's Wonderwall Music the honor of first Beatles solo album and first on the label.
1972 - The Allman Brothers Band bass player Berry Oakley was killed when his motorcycle hit a bus at the same intersection in Macon, Ga., where former band member Duane Allman had died a year earlier. Oakley was 24 years old.
1978 - The Cars released 'My Best Friend's Girl', the first picture-disc single commercially available, which went on to be a No.3 hit on the top 40 in the US.
1986 - David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright announce they are working on a new Pink Floyd album despite a lawsuit from original member Roger Waters trying to retire the group. The album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, is issued the following year; soon after, the lawsuit is settled. (Photo credit should read PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images)
1995 - The Smashing Pumpkins double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness went to No. 1. Ambitious and indulgent, lasting over two hours and featuring 28 songs. To Billy Corgan's credit, it's a rewarding and compelling one as well. Occasionally they fall flat on their face, but over the entire album, the Smashing Pumpkins prove that they are one of the more creative and consistent bands of the '90s.
Birthdays:
Influential blues artist Mose Allison was born today in 1927.
Andy Partridge, leader, primary vocalist and songwriter for XTC, is 68.
Marshall Crenshaw is 68.
On this day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.