1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono get caught "standing in the dock at Southampton, trying to get to Holland or France" as passport problems stall their wedding. They get married five days later in Gibraltar, and use their adventure in the lyrics to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko." (Photo credit should read FILES/AFP via Getty Images)
1982 - The Songwriters Hall Of Fame, formed in 1969, finally lets Bob Dylan in.
1988 - Talking Heads their last album, Naked. Alternately serious and playful, it once again allows David Byrne to worry about the government, the environment, and the plight of the working man as it frees up the rest of the band to trade instruments and work with guest musicians, Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl.
1999 - Bruce Springsteen was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by U2's Bono.
"Yeah, man. Bruce is a very unusual rock star, isn't he, really? I mean, he hasn't done the things most rock stars do. He got rich and famous, but he never embarrassed himself with all that success, did he? No drug busts, no blood changes in Switzerland - even more remarkable, no golfing".
2004 - Tom Petty inducts George Harrison into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.
“He often said he wasn’t pursuing a solo career at all. “He never hired a manager or had an agent. And he loved to stay up all night long and play the ukulele ‘til dawn.”
And of course there was that Prince guitar solo, see below.
Birthdays:
Phil Lesh, bassist for Grateful Dead, is 83. Rooted in jazz and classical performance, he initially explored the violin and trumpet and, while attending college, studied avant-garde composition and electronic music. In 1965, Lesh joined his friend Jerry Garcia's band the Warlocks, soon rechristened the Grateful Dead.
Mike Love of the Beach Boys is 82. While Brian Wilson is often cited as the great mind behind the Beach Boys -- Mike Love is clearly the body, the man who has kept the band on the road and profitable through thick and thin. Love was the group's frontman on-stage from the beginning in 1961, as well as the lead singer on many of their hits, and after the Beach Boys stopped charting on a regular basis, he helped them evolve into a successful oldies act
Sly Stone was born on this day in 1943. James Brown may have invented funk, but Sly Stone perfected it; his alchemical fusion of soul, rock, gospel, and psychedelia rejected stylistic boundaries as much as his explosive backing band the Family Stone ignored racial and gender restrictions, creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds.
On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Song Facts, Allmusic and Wikipedia.