1965 - The Grateful Dead perform their first concert in San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (and only their second overall). The long strange trip begins!
1965 - 18-year-old David Bowie recorded "Can't Help Thinking About Me" at Pye Studios, London, England, which was later released as a single under the name David Bowie with The Lower Third. It became the first David Bowie record to be released in the U.S. as well as the first time the name "Bowie" appeared under the songwriters' credit.
1966 - The Beach Boys went to No. 1 with "Good Vibrations." As a child, his Brian Wilson's mother told him that dogs could pick up "vibrations" from people. A dog would bark at "bad vibrations" Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.
1967 - Otis Redding and several members of his band died when their plane crashed into a lake near Madison, Wisconsin. His biggest hit, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," had been recorded just three days earlier. Redding was 26.
1971 - Playing the first of two nights at London's Rainbow Theatre, in England, Frank Zappa was pushed off stage by an audience member. Zappa fell onto the concrete-floored orchestra pit - the band thought Zappa had been killed. He suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing. This accident resulted in him using a wheelchair for an extended period, forcing him off the road for over half a year.
1973 - The CBGB Club (Country, BlueGrass, and Blues), opened in the lower East side of New York City. Founded by Hilly Kristal, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands such as Blondie, Television, Patti Smith and the Ramones.
1976 - Wings release Wings Over America. It was a massive set list, running over two hours and featuring 30 songs, and it was well received at the time, partially because he revived some Beatles tunes, partially because it wasn't the disaster some naysayers expected, and mostly because -- like the tour itself -- it was the first chance that millions of Beatles fans had to hear McCartney in concert properly.
2007 - The surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for their first full-length concert in nearly thirty years. Original band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegun at the O2 Arena in London, and more than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show with all proceeds going to Ahmet's charity. Zeppelin performed 16 songs including two encores. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
2008 - The Associated Press reported that the U.S. military used loud music to "create fear, disorient and prolong capture shock" for prisoners at military detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Among the songs blasted 24 hours a day were "Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen, "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC, "White America" by Eminem, "The Theme From Sesame Street" and "I Love You" from the Barney and Friends children's TV show.
2016 - Bob Dylan accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature. He doesn't attend the ceremony, but sends an insightful speech that is read by the US ambassador to Sweden.
"If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as standing on the moon," Dylan writes, dispelling any notion that he was snubbing the honor when he didn't respond in October, when he was announced as the winner. Explaining his slow reaction time, he writes, "I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it."
Birthdays:
Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones (best known for "The Things That I Used to Do") was born today in 1926.
Walter "Clyde" Orange, drummer and vocalist for The Commodores ("Three Times A Lady") is 75.
Susan Dey, actor and member of the Partridge Family. As a young boy I had a big crush on her...
Meg White of The White Stripes is 47.
Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.