1961 - Jimi Hendrix enlists in the Army and is stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He signs up for three years, but is honorably discharged a little over a year later, ostensibly because he allegedly hurt his ankle in a parachute jump, but really as one of his commanding officers commented, " because his mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar."
1976 - Ten years after it appeared on The Beatles' Revolver album, Capitol Records issues "Got To Get You Into My Life" as a single in America. With the world was still holding out for a Beatles reunion, Capitol decided to repackage some of their music while there was still interest. The result was a double album released in June of 1976 called (simply enough) The Beatles Rock ’n’ Roll Music. To garner interest, Capital released "Got To Get You Into My Life" as a single.
And yes, it's about wed. "It's actually an ode to pot," McCartney explained, "like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret."
1976 - The Who entered the Guinness Book of World Records for performing the loudest concert in history. Their concert at England's Charlton Athletic Grounds had reached 76,000 watts at 120 decibels. This record would stand for nearly a decade.
1977 - The BBC announced a ban on the new Sex Pistols single "God Save The Queen," saying it was "in gross bad taste.”
1986 - Got Genesis? Past and current members are all on the charts. The title track from the latest Genesis album, "Invisible Touch, debuts at #45 while the Phil Collins solo single "Take Me Home" is at #18 and the Mike + the Mechanics song "All I Need Is A Miracle" is holding strong at #6.
Meanwhile, "Sledgehammer" by original Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel is at #39 and "When The Heart Rules The Mind" by GTR, the group led by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, is at #40.(Photo by Darryl James/Getty Images)
2019 - Roky Erickson died age 71. Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators. Like Syd Barrett, a common point of reference, Roky Erickson rose to cult-hero status as much for his music as for his tragic personal life; in light of his legendary bouts with madness and mythic drug abuse, the influence exerted by his garage-bred psychedelia was often lost in the shuffle.
His song "You're Gonna Miss Me" with the 13th Floor Elevators was a minor hit, but as their fame grew, so did their notoriety with local law enforcement officials, who took exception to the group's heavy experimentation with (and public support of) marijuana and LSD.
Erickson was arrested for the possession of one lone joint in 1969, he pleaded insanity to avoid a prison term. A three-and-a-half-year stint in Texas' Hospital for the Criminally Insane followed. Erickson was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and subjected to extensive electroshock therapy, Thorazine, and other psychoactive treatments.
Though released from the hospital in 1973, Erickson was never the same person and by the '90s, he was struggling to survive on a $200 monthly Social Security stipend; however, artists like R.E.M., ZZ Top, John Wesley Harding, and the Jesus and Mary Chain recorded his songs for the album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson, which brought his work to a wider audience than ever before.
The Roky Erickson documentary, "You're Gonna Miss Me" is highly recommended. Watch the trailer below.
Birthdays:
John Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, was born today in 1948. He was a natural drummer, sensitive to rhythm from an early age -- he beat pots and pans in his parents' kitchen, and built his first drum kit out of leftover containers and coffee cans when he was five years old. Often referred to by his nickname "Bonzo," was one of the most important and influential drummers of the 1960s and '70s -- as a member Led Zeppelin, he was also a bona fide superstar for the last decade of his life and, along with Ringo Starr of the Beatles, Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, Keith Moon of the Who, and Ginger Baker, one of the most well-known drummers in rock.
On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts, Military.com, and Wikipedia.