1965 - History was made when the Smokey Robinson-written "My Girl" made The Temptations the first male Motown act to score a No. 1 single.
Robinson worked out the song backstage at the Apollo Theater on piano. He intended to sing it with his band The Miracles, but when the Temptations heard it, they convinced him to let them sing it.
1970 - Charles Manson released an album called Lie to help raise money for his defense in the Tate-LeBianca murder trial. The album jacket was made to look like a cover of Life magazine with the letter f removed from the word Life. In the mid sixties, Manson had been a wanna-be musician who befriended The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, eventually talking the group into recording one of his songs, 'Cease To Exist'. The title was changed to 'Never Learn Not To Love'
‘Lie’ contains a mixture of folk and psychedelia, but with most of the emphasis on the folk side. Many of the songs feature just Manson and his acoustic guitar, though occasionally other instruments such as sitar and flute appear, giving the album it’s psychedelic/acid folk feel.
1970 - The Beatles release the song "Let It Be". It was inspired by his mother, Mary, who died when he was 14. He told the story to James Corden when he appeared on his Carpool Karaoke segment. "She was reassuring me, saying, 'It's going to be OK, just let it be.' I felt so great. She gave me the positive words. I woke up and thought, 'What was that? She said 'Let It Be.' That's good.' So I wrote the song 'Let It Be' out of positivity."
1982 - Beauty and the Beat hits #1 in America, making The Go-Go's the first all-girl band with a #1 album.
The Supremes became the first girl group to top the chart when The Supremes A' Go-Go went to #1 in 1966, but The Go-Go's are the first to do it on an album where they play their own instruments and write their own songs.
2000 - Eric Clapton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, making him the first person inducted three times. He was also inducted as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream.
2009 - Thousands of Phish fans descend upon Hampton, Virginia, to see the band return to the stage for their first show since 2004. They open with "Fluffhead," a song they haven't played since 2000.
Birthdays:
Wes Montgomery was born today in 1923. One of the great jazz guitarists, a natural extension of Charlie Christian, whose appealing use of octaves became influential and his trademark.
David Gilmour, lead singer of Pink Floyd, is 78. Gained international fame for his incisive, atmospheric guitar work and vocals with Pink Floyd, and eventually became the leader of the group during their late period, as he pursued a successful solo career and worked with some of the most respected names in rock. (Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images)
Did you know:
In the mid-60s Gilmour spent time busking in Spain and France with Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, playing Beatles songs. They didn't do well, didn't have money to pay for food and were even arrested at one point. It got so bad that David had to spend time in a hospital for malnutrition.
David is an experienced pilot. He used to own a collection of historical aircraft but sold them off, except for an old biplane he flies.
The eight artist he says changed his life:
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Leadbelly
Eric Clapton
Hank Marvin (lead guitarist of Cliff Richard’s backing band, The Shadows)
Jimi Hendrix
B.B. King
Bob Dylan
Phil Alvin, leader of the Blasters, is 71. A singer, songwriter, and guitarist with a keen eye for the details of American life and a powerful and passionate performing style, Dave Alvin helped to kick-start the American roots rock scene in the early '80s with the band the Blasters, and has since gone on to a career as a solo performer, songwriter, producer, and sideman that's been as well respected as it is eclectic.
R.I.P.:
2013 - Guitarist/singer, Alvin Lee, Ten Years After, died at age 68. Lee's performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 was captured on film in the documentary of the event, and his 'lightning-fast' playing helped catapult him to stardom.
Raw blues-based music was their trademark, but they were also capable of moody pop and acoustic-based material, as heard on 1971's A Space in Time, whose single "I'd Like to Change the World" was their greatest American hit.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Far Out Magazine, Allmusic, Music This Day, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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