1957 - The government of Iran officially banned rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "as harmful to health". The ban stayed in place until the 1990s.
1969 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at Mile High Stadium in Denver in what was to be their final gig together. Ticket prices were $6 per day, or $15 for all three days (Fri, Sat, Sun).
Frank Zappa is credited by some with inventing the audience wave during his set. He assigned sections of the stadium (audience) to each make different odd sounds and gestures, including standing with arms raised. He then "played" a "tune" on his "crowd instrument".
1979 - Lowell George, frontman for Little Feat, died of a heart attack at age 34. Before Little Feat, he was a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention and was an oboist and baritone saxophonist on several Frank Sinatra recording sessions.
1984 - After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.
1985 - David Bowie and Mick Jagger recorded a version of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 1964 hit 'Dancing In The Street' for the forthcoming Live Aid fundraising event. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.
1998 - George Harrison announced that he would be undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." He succumbed to the disease three years later.
2007 - Apple's new device, the iPhone, is released, integrating music into a phone for the first time.
Birthdays:
Celebrated American singer and actor Nelson Eddy was born today in 1901. He passed away in 1967.
Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice is 74.
Little Eva, known for the hit "The Loco-motion", was born today in 1943. She passed away in 2003.
Colin Hay, singer-songwriter and former Men at Work frontman, is 69.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.