1967 - John Lennon recorded his backing vocals for "Good Morning Good Morning" at Abbey Road Studios in London, and Paul McCartney added a lead guitar solo to the Sgt. Pepper’s track. Lennon had decided he wanted to end the song with animal sound effects, and asked that they be sequenced in such a way that each successive animal was capable of scaring or eating the preceding one.
1973- Led Zeppelin released Houses of the Holy. It follows the same basic pattern as Led Zeppelin IV, but the approach is looser and more relaxed. Jimmy Page's riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere.
There's pseudo-reggae, a James Brown send up, even a bit of doo-wop. Throughout the record, the band's playing is excellent, making the eclecticism of Page and Robert Plant's songwriting sound coherent and natural.
BTW, the album title was a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed 'Houses of the Holy'.
1975 - At an Elvis Presley concert at the Hilton in Las Vegas, Barbra Streisand goes backstage and offers Elvis the lead role in her upcoming film A Star Is Born. Elvis is interested, but on the advice of his manager Colonel Parker, he demands too much money and top billing, so Kris Kristofferson is chosen for the role instead.
1981 - Blondie's "Rapture" hits #1, becoming the first chart-topper with a rap.
That a white act is the first to top the chart in a distinctly black genre could be troublesome, but by paying homage to the forebears of hip-hop (they name check Grandmaster Flash and Fab 5 Freddie), Blondie pulls it off. "We didn't mean it as any sort of rip-off," the group's guitarist/songwriter Chris Stein says. "We meant it to support this movement and be positive about the form."
1995 - Wilco’s debut studio album, A.M. is released. The recording began shortly after the break up of Jeff Tweedy's old band (formed with Jay Farrar), Uncle Tupelo, so it sounds more like UT than any other Wilco album. Former members of Uncle tupelo appear on A.M. as well.
But, A.M. sounds like a band having a blast in a way they never had before. It's all but impossible to imagine Uncle Tupelo kicking up their heels with numbers like "I Must Be High," "Casino Queen," or "Box Full of Letters." However, viewed in the context of Wilco's catalog more than 20 years on, A.M. sounds like the point where Jeff Tweedy and his collaborators let go of Uncle Tupelo and took a bold, smart step into their future. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.