1965 - The Beatles release "Yesterday" in the US. An acoustic Paul McCartney composition with a melody that appeared to him in a dream, he started adding lyrics, starting with a working title of "Scrambled Eggs."
"Yesterday" is the most covered pop song of all time, with over 3,000 versions recorded according to The Guinness Book Of World Records.
1969 - At the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, host Kim Fowley starts a rock tradition when he asks the crowd to hold up lighters for Eric Clapton and John Lennon.
When Fowley returns a few minutes later to bring out the band, the crowd is awash in a sea of lights, a spectacular scene when viewed from the stage. The lighter trick goes viral, and becomes commonplace at rock concerts. It's cellphones now.
1976 - Bob Dylan releases Hard Rain. Hard Rain. From a concert at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, it was captured on tape, living on as the Hard Rain live album and an NBC TV concert special. It's a snapshot of Bob Dylan's fabled Rolling Thunder Revue, a traveling circus that was more notable for its excess and character than the music. Hard Rain bears this out, being neither as sacrilegious or as exciting as Blood on the Tracks, and never seeming necessary -- after all, it arrives just two years after the last live album. That's not to say there isn't good material tucked away here, as a few of the new versions hit home and Dylan is generally spirited throughout, but ultimately, this remains the province of the dedicated.
However, both the album and special received a universal shrug from critics.
1990 - Eddie Vedder does some surfing, writes some lyrics, and adds his vocals to three instrumental tracks recorded by the guys he would later join in Pearl Jam. The songs become "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps."
2000 - Almost Famous is released in theaters across the US. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of writer and director Cameron Crowe's time spent interviewing rock bands for Rolling Stone in the '70s, when he was just a teenager. The film centers around a fictional band called Stillwater, and rather than being based on one band in particular, Stillwater feels like every '70s arena band rolled into one.
The soundtrack to Almost Famous is a powerful reflection of the music of the times, featuring songs by such legendary artists as David Bowie, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who and Led Zeppelin.
2013 - Hozier releases "Take Me to Church," the lead single from his self-titled debut album. Written in the wake of a breakup with his first girlfriend, this is both a love song and a contemplation of sin, drawing influence from the late atheist writer Christopher Hitchens. Hozier described it to The Guardian as, "a bit of a losing your religion song." (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Fiona Apple is 46. She never quite belonged to a specific scene neither a folkie nor a punk rocker. Her roots lay in jazz, show tunes, and classic '70s singer/songwriters. Her reputation as a daring artist grew as she took aural risks without abandoning her strengths as a singer/songwriter, a combination that helped her maintain a devoted cult following.
R.I.P.:
Eddie Money died on this day in 2019. Eddie Money arrived in the late '70s at the height of album rock's popularity. While Money didn't have a remarkable voice, he had a knack for catchy, blue-collar rock & roll, which he delivered with a surprising amount of polished, radio-friendly finesse.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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