1967 - Enjoying a wild birthday party, Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, drove a Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool.
Or did he?
The legend of Keith Moon driving a Rolls-Royce into a pool has been around forever, but according to guitarist Pete Townshend, it's pretty much a myth:
Keith Moon driving a Rolls-Royce into a swimming pool is an erroneous conflation of two incidents. In one, he left the handbrake off, and the car rolled into a pool, which was under construction and waterless. In the other, he charged a new car to the band, who refused to foot the bill, so Moon drove into a muddy pond in his garden and called the dealer to pick it up.
1970 - Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at the New York Club 'Max's Kansas City'.
His father brings him home to Long Island and puts him to work in his accounting firm, where he stays for two years before signing a solo deal.
They reunited in 1990.
1980 - David Bowie released Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). Reworking glam rock themes with avant-garde synth flourishes, Bowie creates dense but accessible music throughout Scary Monsters. While the music isn't far removed from the post-punk of the early '80s, it does sound fresh, hip, and contemporary.
Featured "Ashes To Ashes." The song referenced Bowie's Major Tom character from his 1969 song, "Space Oddity." Bowie described the song as a "nursery rhyme" and also as his way of "wrapping up the 70s" for himself.
1996 - The movie She's The One, with a soundtrack by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, opens in theaters.
It stands up quite well without the movie itself. She's the One is one of Petty's most relaxed efforts -- several of the songs feel like they were written and performed quickly, almost as if they were throwaways, but that ramshackle feeling actually works in the album's favor.
2007 - Brian May of Queen earns a PhD in astrophysics from London's Imperial College. It's not one of those honorary degrees either - he earned it. He would have gotten it sooner, but he was busy being a rock star.
2014 - The Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack, an awesome mix of '70s hits, goes to #1 in America, where it stays for two weeks.
In the film, Chris Pratt's character carries around a Walkman he uses to play a cassette tape his mother gave him: the Awesome Mix Vol. 1. These songs form the basis for the soundtrack, which goes over extremely will with the audience, most of which wasn't born when the songs were released.
Soundtrack albums are often very successful, but this is the first to hit #1 without any original songs.
The track list:
"Hooked On A Feeling" by Blue Swede
"Go All The Way" by The Raspberries
"Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Fooled Around And Fell In Love" by Elvin Bishop
"I'm Not In Love" by 10cc
"I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5
"Come And Get Your Love" by Redbone
"Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways
"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
"O-o-h Child" by The Five Stairsteps
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Birthdays:
Keith Moon was born today in 1946. Moon, with his manic, lunatic side, and his life of excessive drinking, partying, and other indulgences, probably represented the youthful, zany side of rock & roll, as well as its self-destructive side, better than anyone else on the planet. In that sense, he was the soul of the Who, as much as Pete Townshend was its brain and Roger Daltrey was its heart; and, along with John Entwistle, Moon was at the core of its sound, and not just for his drumming per se. He played the skins with the kind of wild abandon that most trained musicians before him, not knowing any better, would have described as lunatic, in the worst sense of the word, and he lived his life with just about that same degree of intensity.
Rick Springfield is 74. Before becoming a pop star, he plays Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera General Hospital.
Julian Casablancas is 45. His parents are business mogul John Casablancas, founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model who was crowned Miss Denmark of 1965. (Photo by Scott Harrison/Getty Images)
Edwin Collins who had the hit single, 'A Girl Like You' is 64.
On This Day in Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts Far Out Magazine, Allmusic, and Wikipedia.
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