1965 - It was another first for The Beatles as the band won a Grammy for Best Group and one for Best Album for A Hard Day's Night. Meanwhile, their single, "Yesterday" (b/w "Act Naturally") was released in the US.
"Yesterday" is the most covered pop song of all time, with over 3,000 versions recorded according to The Guinness Book Of World Records. It started with a working title of "Scrambled Eggs." (Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)
1969 - At the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, host Kim Fowley starts a rock tradition when he asks the crowd to hold up lighters for Eric Clapton and John Lennon. Now it's cell phones...
1976 - Bob Dylan released Hard Rain. The album was partly recorded on May 23, 1976, during a concert at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins; the penultimate show of the tour, the concert was also filmed and broadcast by NBC as a one-hour television special in September.
Neither the album nor the television special was well received.
"Although the band has been playing together longer, the charm has gone out of their exchanges," writes music critic Tim Riley. In his mixed review for Hard Rain, Robert Christgau criticized the Rolling Thunder Revue as "folkies whose idea of rock and roll is rock and roll clichés."
1990 - Eddie Vedder does some surfing, writes some lyrics, and adds his vocals to three instrumental tracks recorded by the guys he would later join in Pearl Jam. The songs become "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps."
1996 - Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot six days earlier when he was driving through Las Vegas. The incident was blamed on East and West Coast Gang wars.
2000 - Almost Famous is released in theaters across the US. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of writer and director Cameron Crowe's time spent interviewing rock bands for Rolling Stone in the '70s, when he was just a teenager. The film centers around a fictional band called Stillwater, and rather than being based on one band in particular, Stillwater feels like every '70s arena band rolled into one.
2013 - Hozier releases "Take Me to Church," the lead single from his self-titled debut album. Lyrically the song is one large metaphor comparing a lover to religion. Hozier added that the song is not an attack on faith. "The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love."
Birthdays:
American Bluegrass pioneer and legend Bill Monroe was born today in 1911.
Jazz singer Mel Torme, aka The Velvet Fog, was born today in 1925. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.
Don Was, bass player and Grammy award winning Record Producer (Bonnie Raitt, Rolling Stones, Paul Westerberg), is 70.
Steven John Kilbey of The Church (Under The Milky Way) is 68.
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and Metallica is 61.
Drummer (and son of Ringo Starr) Zak Starkey is 57.
Stephen Perkins drummer for Jane's Addiction is 55.
Fiona Apple is 45.
Alice Merton is 29.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.