1965 - 56,000 people packed Shea Stadium in New York to see, and maybe even hear, the Beatles. At the time it was the largest single audience on record to attend a pop concert. The Beatles were paid $160,000 for the show.
Two of the Rolling Stones were among the audience, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and later that evening; Bob Dylan visited The Beatles at their hotel.
1969 - "Three Days Of Peace & Music," also known as The Woodstock Music & Arts Festival, began at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. More than 400,000 people attended and thirty-two acts performed including Joan Baez, Santana, Grateful Dead, CCR, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, The Band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Jimi Hendrix.
During the three days there were three deaths, two births (not confirmed) and one pet monkey was in attendance...
1979 - Led Zeppelin released their eighth and final studio album, In Through The Out Door. It's the last album released by the band while drummer John Bonham was still alive.
Led Zeppelin decided to push into new sonic territory. A good deal of this aural adventurism derived from internal tensions within the band. Jimmy Page and John Bonham were in the throes of their own addictions, leaving Plant and John Paul Jones alone in the studio to play with the bassist's new keyboard during the day. That's not to suggest the Page and Bohnam didn't contribute in a meaningful way. The monster groove of Fool In The Rain was propelled by some Bonzo drumming and Page colors with shades and light quite effectively. It's an album that suggests a future that never materialized for the band.
1980 - George Harrison published a semi-autobiographical book, "I, Me, Mine". Drawn from conversations Harrison had with Beatles biographer Derek Taylor, the book took its title from Harrison's song of the same name that appeared on the Beatles' Let It Be - the last song the Beatles recorded before their breakup.
1991 - Nirvana play a concert at The Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, where they invite fans to attend the shoot for their first video, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Hundreds of fans show up at the shoot, which takes place two days later; many are turned away.
1995 - Garbage release their self-titled debut album, adding a much-needed female voice (Shirley Manson) to the alternative rock scene. Included "Only Happy When It Rains."
Birthdays:
1896 - Leon Theremin - inventor of the theremin, one of the first electronic instruments - is born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. You can hear it in Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love", Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations", and the Pixes' "Velouria".
Jimmy Webb is 77. Wrote the 1968 hit for Richard Harris 'MacArthur Park', plus 'Galveston', for Glen Campbell (and other hits for Campbell), and 'Up Up and Away', a hit for 5th Dimension. According to BMI, his song 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' was the third most performed song in the fifty years between 1940 and 1990. Webb is the only artist ever to have received Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration.
Ted Dwane, bassist of Mumford & Sons is 39.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Far Out Magazine, Allmusic, Song Facts, Radio X, and Wikipedia.
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