1957 - The government of Iran officially banned rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "as harmful to health". The ban stayed in place until the 1990s.
1967 - While on tour with The Hollies, Graham Nash writes a song called "Marrakesh Express." Nash offered this song to the band, but his bandmates rejected it as being not commercial enough. It would become Crosby, Stills, and Nash's first single.
1969 - On this day in 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Denver Pop Festival at Mile High Stadium in what was to be their final gig together. The three-day event featured seventeen acts, among them the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Mothers of Invention, Tim Buckley and Poco.
In the late afternoon of the second day, the event changed from a musical episode to a panic. Tear gas intended for gate-crashers outside Mile High Stadium swept over the west stands, blinding and gagging many of the 21,000 fans seated inside listening to Zephyr (one of Tommy Bolin's bands). Violence erupted in the audience, and police moved in with clubs and more tear gas.
Admission for each day was $6, or concertgoers could buy a three-day ticket for $15. The festival ended up with an estimated total of 60,000 admissions.
1984 - After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a then unknown, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.
MTV puts the video in rotation as soon as they can, and Springsteen soon becomes a star on the network.
2007 - Apple's new device, the iPhone, is released, integrating music into a phone for the first time.
Birthdays:
Colin Hay, singer-songwriter and former Men at Work frontman, is 70. Hay was actually born in Kilwinning, Scotland. He moves to Australia with his family when he's 14.
R.I.P.:
1975 - Tim Buckley died of an overdose aged 28. One of the great rock vocalists of the 1960s, Tim Buckley drew from folk, psychedelic rock, and progressive jazz to create a considerable body of adventurous work in his brief lifetime. Buckley is the father of singer songwriter Jeff Buckley.
1979 - Lowell George, frontman for Little Feat, died of a heart attack at age 34. George joined Zappa's Mothers of Invention as rhythm guitarist in 1968, played guitar on John Cale's 1973 album Paris 1919, Harry Nilsson's Son of Schmilsson album and Jackson Browne's The Pretender.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Colo Music, Allmusic and Wikipedia.
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