1969 - Against the other Beatles' wishes, John Lennon released the harrowing single about his heroin withdrawal, "Cold Turkey". Lennon wanted to record this with The Beatles for their Abbey Road album, but the other Beatles rejected it, so he recorded with a group of musicians under the name of the Plastic Ono Band. Eric Clapton played some of the guitar on this. Lennon asked Clapton to join The Plastic Ono Band, but Eric declined. It didn't crack the Top 20 in the U.S.
1973 - The Rolling Stones hit No. 1 hit in the U.S. with "Angie." Mostly written by Keith Richards. He wrote in his autobiography Life: "While I was in the Vevey drug clinic, Anita was down the road having our daughter, Angela. Once I came out of the usual trauma, I had a guitar with me and I wrote 'Angie' in an afternoon. Even though it was a popular legend, it wasn't written about David Bowie's wife
977 - Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines from Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with manager Dean Kilpatrick, were all killed when their rented plane ran out of fuel and crashed into a densely wooded thicket in the middle of a swamp in Gillsburg, Miss. The crash seriously injured the rest of the band and crew, who were due to play at Louisiana University that evening.
1977 - In town for a gig with The Police, Sting kills some time by walking through the red light district of Paris. Watching the ladies of the night ply their trade gives him the inspiration for what becomes the band's first hit: "Roxanne."
1978 - The Police made their U.S. debut at CBGB in New York.
1980 - U2 release their debut album, Boy. From the outset, U2 went for the big message -- every song sounds huge, with oceans of processed guitars cascading around Bono's impassioned wail. It was an inspired combination of large, stadium-rock beats and post-punk textures.
2003 - Amy Winehouse released her debut album Frank in the UK, (named after Frank Sinatra). Frank wasn't released in the US till 2007, after Back to Black had made her a global star.
2014 - John Holt, reggae singer and songwriter who first found fame as a member of the Paragons, died at age 67. Holt penned "The Tide Is High" made famous by Blondie.
Birthdays:
Jelly Roll Morton, considered the first great jazz composer, was born today in 1890.
1925 - Tom Dowd is born in New York City. After giving up a career in nuclear physics, he becomes a top producer, able to coax sounds out of many famous artists with his technical expertise and agreeable personality. his credits include Aretha franklin, Eric Clapton, Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, John Coltrane and many, many, more.
Tom Petty was born today in 1950. Tom Petty straddled the divide separating classic rock and new wave, revitalizing and reinvigorating the big jangle of the Byrds and the garage rock roar of the Rolling Stones with his earliest records with the Heartbreakers in the late 1970s. His songs had that universal appeal. It's the same way why John Prine was so beloved; both could effortlessly slip into our lives and put it to words what us mere mortals could not. The lead role in American Girl could have easily been from Iowa as Malibu or Gainesville. A loser could get lucky sometimes. Petty could crystalize the joy of seeing a girl walk down the street or the resignation of watching her walk out the door when you were too drunk to follow. With the Heartbreakers built up a substantial catalog, one that was rooted in rock tradition but flexible enough to accommodate detours into MTV stardom, concept albums, and slick experimentalism, not to mention their leader's occasional solo foray. Petty's solo albums -- the ornate Jeff Lynne-produced Full Moon Fever and the homey Wildflowers, recorded with Rick Rubin -- were two of his biggest records, but he remained a band guy at heart. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Firefly Music Festival)
Snoop Dogg, born Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr., is 51.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.