1968 - The Mothers of Invention release their third studio album, We're Only it It for the Money. From the beginning, Frank Zappa cultivated a role as voice of the freaks -- imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group. We're Only in It for the Money is the ultimate expression of that sensibility, a satirical masterpiece that simultaneously skewered the hippies and the straights as prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness.
The album cover was supposed to be a parody of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Zappa phoned Paul McCartney, seeking permission for the parody. McCartney told him that it was an issue for business managers, but Zappa responded that the artists themselves were supposed to tell their business managers what to do. The cover (already shot and paid for) was scrapped and delayed the release of the album for 5 months. In recent years, the album has been reissued with the intended front cover. (Photo credit should read JOEL ROBINE/AFP via Getty Images)
1966 - John Lennon made his infamous remarks that led to an uproar — and even led to the banning and burning of Beatles records for a brief period in some communities. In an interview with The Evening Standard, Lennon commented, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary." Lennon later apologized.
1967 - The Rolling Stones went to No. 1 with "Ruby Tuesday". Keith Richards said he wrote the song in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966 about a groupie he knew.
Keith Richards said of "Ruby Tuesday": "That's one of those things - some chick you've broken up with. And all you've got left is the piano and the guitar and a pair of panties. And for a songwriter, hey break his heart and he'll come up with a good song."
1971 - The Rolling Stones announced they were moving to France, mostly for tax purposes. It was there they would start work on "Exile On Main Street."
1977 - CBS Records released The Clash's self-titled debut album in the U.K. CBS in the U.S. refused to release it until 1979. Until that time, Americans bought more than 100,000 imported copies of the record, making it one of the biggest-selling import records of all time.
1994 - Kurt Cobain was rushed to hospital after overdosing on alcohol and drugs in a Rome hotel during a Nirvana European tour. Cobain had taken 50 to 60 pills of Rohypnol mixed with champagne; rumors circulated that Kurt was dead.
2015 - Daryl Hall and John Oates were suing cereal maker Early Bird Foods & Co. over the company's use of the name Haulin' Oates for their maple syrup granola bars. The two musicians accused the Brooklyn-based firm of infringing on their trademark with the packet of cereal deliberately creating a phonetic play on the band's well-known name.
Birthdays:
Bobby Womack was born on this day in 1944.
Yes bassist Chris Squire was born today in 1948.
Evan Griffith Dando of the Lemonheads is 55.
The Cranberries' drummer Fergal Lawlor is 51.
On this Day In Music Music History is sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.