Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock" becomes the first Rock song to hit #1 on the Billboard Pop chart, where it stays for eight weeks. The song was originally released as a the B-side of "Thirteen Women," but became a massive hit after it appeared in the film Blackboard Jungle.
Read more2009 In an article published in The Guardian, "Hallelujah" writer Leonard Cohen admits the song is overplayed. "I think it's a good song, but I think too many people sing it," he says.
1995 At Soldier Field in Chicago, the Grateful Dead play their last show with Jerry Garcia, who dies a month later.
1988 Cheap Trick, hitless since the '70s, go to #1 in America with "The Flame," joining the power ballad party of the late '80s.More
1977 The Steve Miller Band hits #8 in the US with "Jet Airliner," a song written by the blind folk singer Paul Pena.
1975 Jack White (lead singer, guitarist for The White Stripes) is born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, Michigan. He takes the name "White" when he marries his bandmate, Meg White.
1968 David Ruffin is fired from The Temptations after missing a show. The lead singer on their hits "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," Ruffin clashes with his bandmates and with Motown head Berry Gordy before he is fired.
1956 In the broadcast equivalent of Lou Gehrig taking over for Wally Pipp at first base, Dick Clark replaces Bob Horn as host of the TV show Bandstand, which runs on the Philadelphia TV station WFIL. The show goes national the next year, with Clark hosting it until 1989.
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