1967 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience released their second album Axis: Bold as Love. A solid collection of great tunes and great interactive playing, harnessing Curtis Mayfield soul guitar to Dylanesque lyrical imagery and Fuzz Face hyperactivity to produce yet another side to his grand psychedelic musical vision. (Photo credit should read NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)
1976 - The Sex Pistols appear on the Today program on London regional TV as a last-minute substitute for Queen. After being goaded by host Bill Grundy, they swear repeatedly, including the dreaded "F" word, shocking sensitive viewers. It establishes the Sex Pistols as authentic punk rock reprobates, something their label, EMI, decides isn't for them, and they drop the group in January.
1987 - A Kentucky teacher lost her appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court over getting fired for showing Pink Floyd's film "The Wall" to her class. The court decided that the film was not suitable for minors with its bad language and sexual content. The teacher, Jacqueline Fowler, rented a videotape of the movie and showed it to her students ages 14 to 17 before actually viewing it herself first. The film described the life of a rock star including his childhood, failed marriage, drug abuse and ruined career. Though some might call her the coolest teacher ever, in the end her firing was deemed lawful.
1983 - Neil Young was sued by Geffen Records because his new music for the label was "not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums." When Neil signed with the label, they promised him artistic freedom and he took it to the limit. "Trans" was an electronic leaning record with young's voice filtered through a vocoder. He followed that with "Everybody's Rockin'", a rockabilly album. That's when Geffen brought the suit. In response, Young countersued, claiming his contract gave him complete artistic freedom. After a messy war of words, the suit eventually settled, with Geffen apologizing to Young.
Birthdays:
Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult is 77.
John Densmore, drummer from The Doors, is 77.
Singer/actress Bette Midler is 76.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from Allmusic, Ultimate Classic Rock, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.