1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV's The Milton Berle Show live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, Calif. Presley performed "Heartbreak Hotel", "Shake Rattle And Roll" and "Blue Suede Shoes." It was estimated that one out of every four Americans saw the show.
1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release their fourth studio album, Bookends. A layered song cycle observing the confusion of those seeking an elusive American Dream, wistfully reflecting on innocence lost forever to the cold winds of change. The stories are told through the eyes of people on the road, relationships falling apart or old men sitting on a park bench sharing memories and their fears of the changes surrounding them. It's the sound of America in search of itself. Highlights: Mrs. Robinson, America, A Hazy Shade Of Winter and At The Zoo.
1971 - The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'. The track is considered one of the Temptations' signature songs, and is notable for recalling the sound of the group's 1960s recordings. It is also the final Temptations single to feature founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams.
1988 -George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan record Harrison's song, "Handle With Care" in Bob Dylan's garage studio.
Harrison recalled that he had the opening line, "Been beat-up and battered around", but otherwise, the lyrics were the result of a group effort. Harrison asked Dylan, who had been tending a barbecue for the musicians to "Give us some lyrics, you famous lyricist." When Dylan asked for a title for the song, Harrison looked around the garage and said, "Handle with Care", after a label on a box.
It was supposed to be the B-side to the Harrison single, "This Is Love", from Cloud Nine, but instead became the song which lead to the formation of the Traveling Wilburys.
1998 - With the big "alternative" acts now squarely in the mainstream, the Lollapalooza festival is officially cancelled, with Green Day, Radiohead and Foo Fighters among the bands turning down offers to headline. The festival launched in 1991 with Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees at the top of the bill. Lollapalooza has since been resurrected as a annual four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago.
2007 - Keith Richards denied that he snorted the ashes of his late father during a drugs binge. Jane Rose, Richards' manager, told MTV News the remarks were made "in jest", and she could not believe they had been taken seriously.
Richards had said in an interview with the NME: ‘He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.’ But NME interviewer Mark Beaumont was convinced that Richards was not joking when speaking to him about the alleged incident. ‘He did seem to be quite honest about it. There were too many details for him to be making it up,’ he later told BBC news. (Photo by DAVID HANCOCK/AFP via Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Richard Manuel of the Band was born today in 1943. His emotional, soulful voice, his beautiful songwriting and piano plying was essential to the success of the original group.
"Richard Manuel was a whole show unto himself. He was hot. He was about the best singer I'd ever heard; most people said he reminded them of Ray Charles. He'd do those ballads, and the ladies would swoon. To me that became the highlight of our show."
--Levon Helm
Richard Thompson is 75. An iconic figure in British folk-rock, Richard Thompson is arguably the genre's greatest triple threat: a dazzling guitarist, an outstanding songwriter, and a strong and evocative vocalist. As one of the founding members of the group Fairport Convention, Thompson would have a seismic impact on both U.K. folk and rock, incorporating elements of traditional music in a way that sparked a new interest in authentic British folk. After leaving Fairport, Thompson recorded a series of albums with his spouse Linda Thompson that established him as an estimable guitarist and tunesmith. When he and Linda spit up, he would continue on a solo artist. Essential solo album, 1991's Rumor and Sigh
Eddie Murphy is 63. While best known as a comedian and actor, he did take a stab at music. In 1985 he teamed with Rick James to record How Could It Be, a straightforward R&B album which spawned the hit single "Party All the Time."
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, edited, pasted, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Music This Day, Classic Bands, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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