1951 - On WJW in Cleveland, Alan Freed broadcasts his first "Moondog House Rock and Roll Party," marking the first radio show with the phrase "Rock and Roll" and giving Freed a claim on the origin of the term. More importantly, Freed plays R&B music, which introducing the sound to a new (and mostly white) audience.
1969 - In the UK, David Bowie's "Space Oddity" single is rush-released to beat the moon landing, which happens nine days later. It would not become a hit in the US until it was re-released in 1973.
1970 - The soundtrack to the film Woodstock hits #1 in America, helping recoup massive losses from the festival.
1975 - Fleetwood Mac released Fleetwood Mac, often referred to as The White Album, the first to feature Lindsey Buckingham as guitarist and Stevie Nicks as vocalist. There's no denying that 1975's Fleetwood Mac represents not just the rebirth of the band, but in effect a second debut for the group -- the introduction of a band that would dominate the sound of American and British mainstream pop for the next seven years. While Rumours had more hits and Tusk was an inspired work of mad genius, Fleetwood Mac wrote the blueprint for Californian soft rock of the late '70s and was the standard the rest were judged by. Featured "Monday Morning", "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," and "Over My Head". (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
1992 - A range of eight ties, designed by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead went on sale in the US. Garcia, who studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, had been dabbling in art for quite some time, often working on drawings and paintings when he wasn't making music. Neckties provide a unique canvas for his work, which isn't Dead-issue tie dye, but abstract designs. President Bill Clinton bought a set. The collection grossed millions in the US by the end of the year. A radio station I was working for at the time bought me two for my birthday. Still have them.
Birthdays:
Peter Murphy is 66. Despite having a successful solo career as a cult artist, vocalist Peter Murphy remains best known as the lead singer for Bauhaus, the pioneering post-punk goth rock band of the early '80s.
Suzanne Vega is 64. Suzanne Vega was among the first major figures in the bumper crop of female singer/songwriters who rose to prominence during the late '80s and '90s. Her hushed, restrained folk-pop and highly literate lyrics (inspired chiefly by Leonard Cohen, as well as Lou Reed and Bob Dylan) laid the initial musical groundwork for what later became the trademark sound of Lilith Fair, a tour on which she was a regular. Moreover, her left-field hit singles "Luka" and "Tom's Diner" helped convince record companies that folk-styled singer/songwriters were not a thing of the past, paving the way for breakthroughs by Tracy Chapman, Michelle Shocked, Shawn Colvin, Edie Brickell, the Indigo Girls, and a host of others.
Jeff Hanna, from Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, is 76. The rise of country-rock in the late 1960s introduced a down-home sound to a younger and hipper audience, and few if any groups hewed closer to country traditions -- and enjoyed a longer career -- than the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They first emerged as part of the jug band revival, but they matured into a sound informed by classic string bands and bluegrass when they scored their breakthrough hit with 1970's "Mr. Bojangles". The group also had a secret hit single, appearing on Steve Martin's novelty smash "King Tut" under the alias the Toot Uncommons.
They formed in southern California but relocated to Colorado in 1971. They are now members of the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
R.I.P.
Drummer Tommy Ramone passed on this day in 2014. Born Thomas Erdelyi, he was the last surviving original member of the Ramones before his death. Erdelyi was also an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.