1 OCTOBER
In Music History
1971 John Lennon's album Imagine is certified Gold.
1971 Cat Stevens releases his fifth album, Teaser And The Firecat, with the hits "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken."
1970 Rolling Stone reports that Curtis Mayfield is leaving The Impressions, the group he formed with Jerry Butler in 1958. In his time with the group, Mayfield wrote and produced songs for The Impressions that defined the sound of Chicago soul in the '60s, including "It's All Right" and "Keep On Pushing."
1970 Jimi Hendrix is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Seattle. His headstone reads: "Forever In Our Hearts, James 'Jimi' Hendrix 1942 - 1970."
1969 The Beatles release Abbey Road in the US.
1968 Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
1967 The first edition of the program Top Gear, featuring host DJ John Peel, airs on BBC Radio 1.
1967 Mick Jagger's apartment in London is burglarized, with girlfriend Marianne Faithfull's furs and jewelry being among the items listed as stolen.
1967 Traffic make their stage debut at London's Saville Theatre.
1966 Jimi Hendrix makes his UK stage debut when he jumps onstage to jam with Cream at London Polytechnic.
1964 The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, becomes the first movie to debut behind the "Iron Curtain" of Communist countries when it is shown in Prague.
1962 Barbra Streisand signs with Columbia Records.
1959 Youssou N'Dour is born in Dakar, Senegal.
1958 Little Anthony and the Imperials record a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield called "The Diary." Sedaka and his publisher are so disappointed with the recording that they have Sedaka try it himself, resulting in his first hit as an artist.
1957 Andy Walton (drummer for Kenny) is born in Enfield, Middlesex, England.
Megadeth Become The First Artist With An Official Website
1994Megadeth become the first artist to launch an official website, staking a claim on the newly public World Wide Web. The site includes a chat room, photo gallery and song snippets.
Read more1 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2017 During Jason Aldean's headlining set at the Route 91 Harvest festival on the Las Vegas strip, a gunman opens fire from his suite at the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, killing 58 and injuring over 500 in the deadliest mass shooting in US history.More
2000 Australian rock band Midnight Oil play their hit "Beds Are Burning" at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Sydney. Their black outfits are emblazoned with the word "sorry," a symbolic olive branch towards the Aboriginals who were forced from their lands by a government that refuses to apologize.More
1977 #1 on the Hot 100 is "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco. It's a 15-minute song made up of Star Wars music set to a disco beat. There's even an R2-D2 bleeping solo.More
1970 Janis Joplin makes her last recordings, singing "Mercedes Benz," which is included on her posthumous Pearl album a capella. She also records a goofy version of "Happy Trails" as a birthday present for John Lennon. Joplin dies three days later.
1965 At a concert at Carnegie Hall, Bob Dylan introduces his new band. Formerly Ronnie Hawkins' backup band, they were known as the Hawks, but soon became The Band.
1962 Johnny Carson's Tonight Show makes its debut. The theme song ("Johnny's Theme") is written by Paul Anka, but as part of the deal, Carson writes some lyrics for the song that are published, but never used, earning him half of the royalties from the song, which are substantial, as the song runs throughout Carson's 30-year tenure on the show.
1962 The Beach Boys release their first album, Surfin' Safari, which includes their debut single, "Surfin'." The album climbs to #32 in the US.More
1947 Bing Crosby broadcasts the first ever pre-recorded radio show when he airs his Philco Radio Time show on the ABC network using a magnetophon, a Nazi recording technology discovered and brought to America by US Army Corps Officer John Thomas "Jack" Mullin. The magnetophon leads to the evolution of multi-track recording technology, which revolutionizes the music industry. Crosby becomes an investor in the technology, which he uses so he doesn't have to always do his shows live.
1935 Julie Andrews is born Julia Elizabeth Wells in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.More
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC