1966 - Deeming its "butcher cover" in poor taste, Capitol Records recalls the new Beatles album, Yesterday and Today, which is scheduled for release the next day and has already been sent to stores.
The gory cover was shot in March by the Australian photographer Robert Whitaker, who is known for his artistry and sense of macabre.
The shot of the group wearing butcher uniforms amid dismembered doll parts, raw pork and sausage links is meant to show how they are being torn apart by their celebrity.
When it becomes clear that retailers won't put the album on shelves, Capitol begins the recall, claiming that the image was an attempt at "pop art satire" that didn't work.
Copies of the album with the original cover become a top-line collector's item and part of Beatles mythology. In 2016, a copy sells for $125,000.
1970 - The Grateful Dead release Workingman's Dead. 1970 was a heavy year for the band. They were massively in debt to the record company and many members were facing jail time due to a drug bust. But stressful times can produce good music. For the most part the Dead shed their improvisatory tendencies in favor of spare, thoughtful looks at folk, country, and American roots music with more subdued sounds than the band had managed up until then. The songs also focused more than ever before on singing and vocal harmonies.
Workingman's Dead reflects both the looming darkness of its time, and the endless hope and openness to possibility that would become emblematic of the Dead as their legacy grew. The enormous risk they took in changing their sound entirely resulted in a heartbreakingly beautiful, unquestionably pure statement and one of the more important documents of its time.
1979 - Little Feat announce their breakup; guitarist Lowell George dies of a heart attack just two weeks later.
2002 - Mick Jagger became a Sir when he was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honors. It was claimed that the Queen avoided personally giving Jagger his knighthood because she thought he was an inappropriate candidate for the honor.
2017 - The National Music Publishers Association gives Yoko Ono the Centennial Award for song of the century and adds her name to the credits of the award-winning song, "Imagine." John Lennon took the sole credit, but later admitted he got the idea from Yoko's book Grapefruit, where she wrote things like, "Imagine 1000 suns in the sky at the same time." (Photo by Sebastien St-Jean / AFP)
Birthdays:
Boy George is 62. DJ, fashion designer and photographer and singer of Culture Club.
Alan White was born on this day in 1949. Beat known as the drummer of Yes. He would also drum for John Lennon on Imagine and "Instant Karma!" and All Things Must Pass by George Harrison.
Steve Hunter is 75. Guitarist who has worked with Lou Reed, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper. He played the acoustic intro on Peter Gabriel's 1977 hit 'Solsbury Hill'.
Spooner Oldham is 80. Session organist, best known as part of the studio backing band known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section of Alabama. He played on many hits including, Percy Sledge (When a Man Loves a Woman), Aretha Franklin (Respect,, Wilson Pickett (Mustang Sally) and worked with Bob Dylan, Delaney Bramlett, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, the Everly Brothers, Dickey Betts, Cat Power, J. J. Cale and many others.
R.I.P.
Henry Mancini. Wrote the music to 'Moon River, which was originally sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn. Had the 1969 US No.1 single 'Love Theme from Romeo And Juliet.' Recorded over 90 albums, contributed music to over 100 movies, including 'Theme From The Pink Panther.'
1995 - Rory Gallagher. Irish bluesman who sold over 30m albums worldwide. Voted Melody Maker's Top Musician of the Year in 1972, auditioned for The Rolling Stones following the departure of Mick Taylor.
On This Day In Music History was sourced with This Day In Music. Allmusic, Songfacts, and Wikipedia.
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