1975 - Saturday Night - a title later changed to Saturday Night Live - made its debut on NBC. Music is a big part of the show, and the first episode features two musical guests performing two songs each: Janis Ian doing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter," and Billy Preston playing "Nothing from Nothing" and "Fancy Lady."
George Carlin was the first host. He "wanted to wear a T-shirt, but the network wanted him to wear a suit. As a compromise, Carlin wore a vest and jacket over his T-shirt, and hosted the show while reportedly stoned out of his mind."
1981 - Prince gets booed off the stage while opening a show for The Rolling Stones at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Stones have good intentions in bringing in a rising star, but his act isn't a good fit for this crowd, and when he opens his trench coat to reveal bikini briefs, it gets ugly. Prince never again performs as an opening act.
1990 - Drummer Dave Grohl played his first gig with Nirvana when they appeared at the North Shore Surf Club in Olympia.
Previous to that, he had been in the D.C. punk band Scream. When they broke up, Grohl relocated to Seattle and answered an ad to fill the drum vacancy in the then little known band Nirvana.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
2003 - Mojo magazine readers voted the 1954 Sun Studio session for Elvis Presley's debut single "That's All Right" as the most pivotal moment in Rock history. Bob Dylan's switch from acoustic to electric guitars in 1965 came second, ahead of the release of The Clash's debut single "White Riot" in 1977. The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was fourth and The Rolling Stones' release of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" placed fifth. Releases and performances by Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, John Lennon and Led Zeppelin were also included in the Top 10.
Birthdays:
Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates is 77. One of the great soul singers of his generation, Daryl Hall also was an inventive pop/rock songwriter, both on his own and in conjunction with his lifelong creative partner, John Oates. Hall & Oates took a long road to success, starting as a folk-rock duo at the dawn of the 1970s, then winding through soft AM pop and prog rock before striking pay dirt with the smooth soul of "Sara Smile." "Rich Girl" gave the duo their first number one in 1977, then they entered their wilderness years as they figured out how to thread modern rock into the soul. The new wave R&B of "Maneater," "Kiss on My List," "You Make My Dreams," and "Private Eyes" made Daryl Hall & John Oates superstars in the early '80s.
Hall began a monthly Web television series called Live from Daryl's House in late 2007. The program, recorded in an out building on Hall's estate in the Catskills, features the performer jamming and collaborating with musicians
Rappers have sampled the music of Hall and Oates, bands from Rascal Flatts to Everclear have covered their songs and Daryl sang with Elvis Costello on "The Only Flame In Town".
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Allmusic, Observer, and Wikipedia.
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