1967 - In a battle of egos, The Byrds's Roger McGuinn boots David Crosby from the group. Crosby is replaced by Gene Clark and goes on to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
1966 - John Lennon visits London's Indica Gallery to see the exhibit Unfinished Paintings and Objects and meets the artist behind the showing, Yoko Ono. She presents him with a card that simply says, "Breathe," and he responds by panting.
1967 - The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published in San Francisco. It featured a photo of John Lennon on the cover, and it came with a free roach clip to hold a marijuana joint. The name of the magazine was inspired by three sources: the Muddy Waters song, the first rock 'n' roll record by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
Waters and Dylan seem to have accepted the upstart publication's title as a tribute (although Dylan passed on Wenner's invitation to write a story for the magazine), but the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger was not amused. As Wenner's biographer Joe Hagan writes, Jagger regarded Wenner as "the San Francisco kid with the chutzpah to name a magazine after his band and then trash his latest record."
Jagger considered suing. But in the end, Wenner talked Jagger down, in part by suggesting that the Stones had more to gain from the continued existence of Rolling Stone than they did from a lawsuit.
1970 - Badfinger release the album No Dice in the US. The song "No Matter What" becomes a hit for the group, but another song on the album, "Without You," becomes a much bigger hit when Harry Nilsson covers it.
1976 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their debut album. At the time it was released in 1976, they were fresh enough to almost be considered (for a very brief moment) punk. They weren't as reckless or visionary as the Ramones, but they shared a similar love for pure '60s rock and, for the Heartbreakers, that meant embracing the Byrds as much as the Stones. And that's pretty much what this album is -- tuneful jangle balanced by a tough garage swagger. (Photo by Karl Walter/Getty Images)
1990 - The IRS comes after Willie Nelson, who owes $16 million in back taxes. His assets, including master tapes, clothing and gold records, are seized. Nelson saves his favorite guitar, Trigger, by having it sent to Maui before the feds arrive.
1998 - Rick James suffers a stroke after a blood vessel ruptures in his neck while he is head banging during a performance here in Denver. A spokesman later comments, "The doctor called it a result of rock'n'roll neck, the repeated rhythmic whiplash motion of the head and neck."
It happened at Mammoth Gardens (now The Fillmore), right before his first encore, the self-described king of “punk funk” became ill backstage, barely able to move. He regained his strength to perform “Super Freak” .
A recuperation period at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was necessary before James could walk again, and the stroke effectively ended his musical career.
1999 - Fiona Apple released her second album. The title was 90 words long, so it is usually listed as When The Pawn.... It's a poem Apple wrote after seeing her 1997 Spin magazine interview, where the writer couldn't grasp that her personality was genuine.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, The Current, Colorado Music Experience, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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