1966 - Gene Clark of The Byrds announced he was leaving the group due to his fear of flying.
1967 - Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The song was inspired by a drawing his 3 year-old son Julian returned home from school with one day. The picture, which was of a little girl with lots of stars, was his classmate - Lucy O'Donnell. So it wasn't about LSD...
1973 - Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album The Dark Side Of The Moon in the US. It remained in the US charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in history.
Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one. (Photo credit should read JOHN D MCHUGH/AFP via Getty Images)
1973 - Tom Waits releases his debut album, Closing Time, on Asylum Records to lukewarm sales but warm critical reception.
It's is a minor-key masterpiece filled with songs of late-night loneliness. Within his chosen narrow range of the cocktail bar pianistics and muttered vocals, he delivers a surprisingly broad collection of styles, from jazz to up-tempo off-kilter funkiness and a folksiness that's an upside-down take on the Laurel Canyon sound.
1984 - Prince recorded "When Doves Cry" from the album Purple Rain. It was a worldwide hit, and his first American No. 1 single, topping the charts for five weeks. Besides writing and composing the track, Prince played all the instruments on the song.
There is no bass on this song. Prince took out the bass track at the last minute to get a different sound, though he hated to see it go.
"Sometimes your brain kind of splits in two - your ego tells you one thing, and the rest of you says something else. You have to go with what you know is right," he told Bass Player magazine.
1985 - Ford licenses The Beatles "Help!" for a commercial, marking the first time one of their songs is used in a TV ad.
1993 -Q magazine publishes an interview with Sting and Bob Geldof where Sting explains how his sex lasts for hours through the benefits of yoga.
Lubricated with Irish coffee and wine, Geldof and Sting engage in a freewheeling discussion with writer Adrian Deevoy. When Geldof asks Sting if "the yoga thing" works, he replies, "It can take you to higher levels, yeah. I've started to use it in sex now where you don't spill your seed." Sting is referring to Tantric Sex, "It involves this muscle a lot of men aren't trained to control," he later explains.
1994 - Nirvana played their final ever concert when they appeared at The Terminal Einz in Munich, Germany. The 3,000 capacity venue was a small Airport Hanger. The power went off during the show so they played an impromptu acoustic set including a version of The Cars 'My Best Friend's Girl.'
1994 - The Bodyguard soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with "I Will Always Love You" taking Record of the Year. Kevin Costner, the film's co-star, thought of the idea to have Whitney Houston, the other co-star, record "I Will Always Love You", originally released by Dolly Parton.
1995 - During a gig at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry collapsed on stage from a ruptured brain aneurysm. He recovered and later re-joined the band.
1997 - 'Bowie Bonds' were issued on the US Stock Exchange. Linked to David Bowie's back catalogue albums with money earned on the bonds via interest from royalties, investors could expect to make an 8% profit in about 10 years.
Birthdays:
Musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader Glenn Miller was born on this day in 1904. Miller's recordings include 'In the Mood', 'Moonlight Serenade', 'Pennsylvania 6-5000', and 'Chattanooga Choo Choo'. Glenn is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame
Harry Belafonte is 95.
Roger Daltrey of The Who is 78. Daltrey grew up in the same Shepherd's Bush neighborhood as future Who bandmates Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, performing with them as the Detours as early as his late teen years. Over time, Daltrey developed into one of rock's most powerful lead vocalists, a position to which he staked his claim on the Who's 1971 masterpiece Who's Next; his on-stage persona was one of macho swagger, accompanied by such antics as twirling his microphone like a lasso.
On this Day In Music History is sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.