1968 - A Rolling Stone review of Electric Flag's album A Long Time Comin' incorporates the first documented use of the phrase "heavy metal": "This is the new soul music, the synthesis of white blues and heavy metal rock."
1970 - A triple album of concert highlights from the Woodstock festival was released on Cotillion Records. The record went gold within a couple of weeks. It sold so well that Cotillion issued a sequel double album of more music from the festival that never appeared in the film. The LPs took the music out of the historical sequence of the festival and re-ordered (and edited) it for a sense of flow.
1972 - John Lennon goes on the Dick Cavett Show and mentions that the FBI is monitoring him. He turns out to be right. They kept a file on Lennon due to his connection with anti-war and related groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
1974 - Led Zeppelin attended an Elvis Presley show in Los Angeles. All four members of the band met with Elvis after the show, where Elvis asked for each of the band members' autographs for his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
At some point, Elvis must have been alerted to the presence of the rock group in the audience because during the show - which was taped and later released on record as 'Live in L.A'. - he can be heard saying to his band, 'Wait a minute. ... If we can start together, fellas, because we've got Led Zeppelin out there. ... Let's try to look like we know what we're doing, whether we do or not'.
Plant also revealed a funny turn near the end of the evening. 'At that meeting, Jimmy Page joked with Elvis that we never sound-checked - but if we did, all I wanted to do was sing Elvis songs', Plant said. 'Elvis thought that was funny and asked me, 'Which songs do you sing?' I told him I liked the ones with all the moods, like that great country song 'Love Me' -- 'Treat me like a fool / Treat me mean and cruel / But love me'. So when we were leaving, after a most illuminating and funny 90 minutes with the guy, I was walking down the corridor. He swung 'round the door frame, looking quite pleased with himself, and started singing that song: 'Treat me like a fool ... ' I turned around and did Elvis right back at him. We stood there, singing to each other'.
1981 - Bob Marley died due to malignant melanoma. He was only 36. Regarded as a hero and near-deity in his native Jamaica and abroad, Marley was given a state funeral and buried near his birthplace in St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica.
He remains reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Irving Berlin was born today in 1888. He was the composer of “White Christmas,” “There's No Business Like Show Business” and “Let's Face The Music and Dance,” and he died in 1989 at the age of 101.
Eric Burdon, lead singer of the Animals, is 81.
Butch Trucks, drummer for The Allman Brothers Band, was born today in 1947.
Greg Dulli, Afghan Whigs, is 57. Dulli was the voice of John Lennon in the 1994 film Backbeat.
On this Day In Music History is sourced from Elvis.com, This Day in Music, Allmusic, FBI, Song Facts and Wikipedia.