1965 - The Rolling Stones release their third American studio album, The Rolling Stones, Now!. Patched together (in the usual British Invasion tradition) from a variety of sources, it's their best early R&B-oriented effort. As songwriters, Jagger and Richards are still struggling, but they come up with one of their first winners (and an American Top 20 hit) with the yearning, soulful "Heart of Stone."
1967 - The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane.
The "Penny Lane" referenced in the song is really to the Penny Lane Bus Station (now gone) next to "the shelter in the middle of the roundabout." Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army home in Liverpool where John Lennon used to go. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
1969 - Bob Dylan recorded versions of "Lay, Lady, Lay" at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The song was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to be included in the finished film.
1972 - Led Zeppelin is forced to cancel a concert in Singapore when officials won't let them off the plane because of their long hair.
As youth-led, anti-authoritarian cultural revolutions swept the world, Singapore had hoped to immune itself with a campaign against outward signs of rebellion and Western “drug culture,” like long hair on men.
1981 - Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of Moon became the longest-running rock record on the Billboard album chart, concluding its 402nd week.
1983 - Marvin Gaye performs a very memorable national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles, doing a sultry version with a beat. Gaye's rendition is an early example of an artist putting his own spin on the song, which becomes commonplace in the following years.
He isn't the first to vary the melody. Jose Feliciano did it before Game 5 of that 1968 World Series and after his performance, the crowd goes crazy and his career gets a boost with little backlash.
1996 - Gin Blossoms release album, Congratulations I'm Sorry. Most observers wondered if they'd be able to deliver a consistent second album after the departure (and subsequent suicide) of Doug Hopkins, their former guitarist who wrote "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," the two big hits from the band's debut. Congratulations...I'm Sorry proves that they can. It's filled with chiming guitars and simple, catchy hooks. Includes Follow You Down.
Birthdays:
Peter Tork of The Monkees was born today in 1942. On his friendship with Stephen Stills: "Steve, as you may have heard, was the guy who looked like me on the Greenwich Village streets who later turned me on to the Monkees, because they liked him, but they thought his hair and teeth were not telegenic and, ‘Did he know anybody more telegenic with a 10th of his talent?’
Peter Gabriel is 73. As the leader of Genesis in the early '70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his methods as he explored dark, cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music.
Peter Hook is 67. Bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. He is currently the lead singer and one of the bassists for the band Peter Hook and the Light. With Joy Division and New Order, Hook is currently a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Henry Rollins is 62. Founding member of LA hardcore punk band, Black Flag. Following Black Flag's breakup in 1986, Rollins was been relentlessly busy, recording albums, writing books and poetry, performing spoken word tours, and acting in several movies,
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Rolling Stone, This Day in Music, Mental Floss, Allmusic Song Facts and Wikipedia.