1958 - 15-year-old George Harrison joined a local Liverpool band called The Quarrymen, which featured Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
1966 - The Beatles played their last concert before a paying audience, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Beatles have not played a single song from their latest album, Revolver. They finished the show with a version of Little Richard's 'Long Tall Sally'. Jaded by poor sound systems and the rigors of the road, they turn their attention to studio work.
1970 - The gender-bending single "Lola" by The Kinks was released. The song details a romantic encounter between a young man and a person he meets in a club in Soho, London, with the narrator describing his confusion towards a person named Lola who "walked like a woman and talked like a man".
1977 - Elvis Presley's body was removed from a Memphis cemetery and re-entombed at Graceland after three people were arrested while attempting to steal his corpse.
1991 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers kicked off their world tour in support of Into the Great Wide Open at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre in Denver. Chris Whitley opened.
The audience view wasn't of your typical rock show. An elaborate set design featured a large, storybook-styled tree with a staircase leading down to the stage, along with dangling chandeliers.
"It's been maybe two years since we played in front of people," Petty told MTV at the time, "so I'm kinda jazzed up right now."
But on the tour's first night, Petty was so ill that his manager had to coax him into performing. "That's all part of life on the road," guitarist Mike Campbell said. "The show must go on and all that." ("I was just up all night and didn't sleep," Petty assured, "I think I'm okay now.")
1994 - Oasis release their debut album, Definitely Maybe. The record goes on to sell over a million copies in the US, spearheading a second British Invasion, but for now the band remain unknown outside of the UK.
Oasis offer an alternative to the current rock zeitgeist. Unlike many in the grunge movement, they want to be stars – and unlike most other British bands at the time, they are proud of their heritage and shamelessly borrow ideas (and sometimes whole melodies) from bands like The Beatles, The Kinks and T-Rex. Oasis aren't looking to redefine rock & roll here; they'd rather inhabit it. (Photo credit should read JOERG KOCH/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Charlie "Bird" Parker was born on this day in 1920. One of a handful of musicians who can be said to have permanently changed jazz, Charlie Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time. Along with his contemporaries Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, is considered a founder of bebop.
Dina Washington, one of the most popular recording artists of the 1950s, was born in 1924.
Sterling Morrison, guitarist for The Velvet Underground, was born today in 1942.
Michael Jackson was born today in 1958. Michael Jackson wasn't merely the biggest pop star of his era, shaping the sound and style of the 1970s and '80s; he was one of the defining stars of the 20th century, a musician who changed the contours of American culture. A preternaturally gifted singer and dancer, Jackson first rose to stardom in 1969 as the 11-year-old frontman for his family's band, the Jackson 5. As remarkable a run as the Jackson 5 had -- at the dawn of the '70s, each of their first four singles went to number one and they stayed near the top of the charts for the next five years -- it all served as a preamble to Jackson's solo career, which included Thriller. It remains (as of this writing) the 2nd best selling album of all time.
Singer Meshell Ndegeocello is 54.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Ultimate Classic Rock, Statista, Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.