June 8, 1974 Paul McCartney & Wings' "Band On The Run" hits #1.
June 5, 1974 Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone marries Kathy Silva, the mother of his 11-month-old son, on stage before the band's sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Bishop Stewart, Sly's uncle, officiates before the crowd of 19,000; Silva files for divorce five months later.
June 4, 1974 Stefan Lessard (bassist for The Dave Matthews Band) is born in Anaheim, California. He's just 16 when he joins the band as a founding member in 1991.
April 25, 1974 "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is released as the first single from Steely Dan's third album, Pretzel Logic. The song becomes the band's highest-charting US single, reaching #3 on August 3, 1974. Featured on backing vocals on the track is Poco bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who later joins the Eagles.
April 18, 1974 Guitarist Mark Tremonti is born in Detroit, Michigan. As a student at Florida State University, he forms Creed with lead singer Scott Stapp. When Creed splits in 2004, Tremonti and the other original musicians in the band form Alter Bridge with frontman Myles Kennedy.
April 13, 1974 Paul McCartney & Wings' album Band On The Run hits #1.
April 1, 1974 Tom Petty, with his band Mudcrutch, leaves Gainesville for Los Angeles, and never looks back. The group breaks up in late 1975, but Petty and two Mudcrutch members - guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench - soon re-team to form Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with drummer Stan Lynch and bassist Ron Blair.
March 1, 1974 Rush release their eponymous debut album. With drummer and creative catalyst Neil Peart yet to join the band, the sound is very different from the one that will become Rush's trademark. Still, the album's "Working Man" becomes a breakout song in blue-collar Cleveland, Ohio, after winning WMMS disc jockey Donna Halper's endorsement. One year later the band release Fly by Night, their first album to include Peart.
February 16, 1974 Planet Waves becomes the first Bob Dylan album to reach #1 in the US.More
February 15, 1974 Deep Purple release Burn, their first album with the Mark III lineup of the band, featuring David Coverdale as lead singer.
February 13, 1974 Robbie Williams is born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. After a run of UK hits with the boy band Take That he becomes the breakout star of the group, starting with his 1997 solo album Life Thru A Lens, which includes his classic song "Angels."
February 9, 1974 At The Palace in Detroit, The Stooges play their last show until their 2003 reunion. An imploding Iggy Pop taunts the crowd, which responds with various projectiles. The opening act is a young band called Aerosmith.More
February 4, 1974 The Stooges play a bar in Wayne, Michigan, where a biker gang called The Scorpions is initiating a new member by having him hurl eggs at lead singer Iggy Pop, who responds by going into the crowd to fight him.More
February 2, 1974 Barbra Streisand scores her first #1 when "The Way We Were" hits the top spot.More
January 19, 1974 Two Miami shows featuring Bob Dylan and The Band prove so popular that they cause a nine-mile-long traffic jam. Many ticket holders only get to see half of the show(s).
January 17, 1974 Bob Dylan releases his 14th album, Planet Waves. Dylan is backed by The Band on the project, which includes two versions of his enduring song "Forever Young."
January 12, 1974 Steve Miller's "The Joker" hits #1 in the US, leaving many to wonder what exactly is the "pompatus of love."
January 3, 1974 Bob Dylan begins a 6-week tour in Chicago with The Band, who do double duty: backing Dylan and then playing their own set. In July, the double album Before The Flood is released, featuring highlights from the shows.
December 7, 1973 Fleetwood Mac's manager, Clifford Davis, gets fed up with the premature cancellation of a tour and sends out his own version of the group with unknown musicians. It doesn't go well: The new band lasts just a few weeks and the real band wins the rights to their name after years of litigation.
November 3, 1973 Daryl Hall and John Oates release Abandoned Luncheonette, their first album under their own names (a previous album was released as "Whole Oates"). The tracks "Laughing Boy," "She's Gone" and "Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)" become concert favorites for the duo.
September 29, 1973 Grand Funk Railroad hit #1 in America with "We're An American Band," a song about their adventures on tour, including encounters with "Sweet Connie" and "four young chiquitas in Omaha."
September 25, 1973 The Allman Brothers release "Ramblin' Man."
August 25, 1973 Butch Trucks, drummer for The Allman Brothers Band, crashes his car while driving in Macon, Georgia, breaking his leg in the process. This happens within sight of the spot where Duane Allman had died in a crash two years earlier.
August 13, 1973 Lynyrd Skynyrd release their debut album, Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd. It's an impressive set, containing the Skynyrd classics "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man" and "Free Bird."More
August 11, 1973 Rather than join Paul McCartney in traveling to Nigeria to record the band's latest album, Band On The Run, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell both quit Wings, forcing Paul, wife Linda, and Denny Laine to record the album as a trio.
July 28, 1973 The "Summer Jam" concert takes place at Watkins Glen racetrack in New York, outdrawing Woodstock with a crowd of over 600,000. The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Band play to the massive crowd that paid $10 a ticket - if they bought one.More
July 27, 1973 Thousands of people hit Watkins Glen, New York, for the "Summer Jam" one day before the music festival is scheduled to begin. The crowd is already so large and so raucous that The Band turn their sound-check into a mini-set. The Allman Brothers Band follows in similar character by rocking through "One Way Out" and "Ramblin' Man." The Grateful Dead come next with a two-set explosion. This impromptu jam tires them not at all, and the next day they still scramble psyches with two long sets.
June 29, 1973 Deep Purple "Mark II," the most famous incarnation of the band, comes to an end after a show in Osaka, Japan, with lead singer Ian Gillan abruptly quitting the group. Bassist Roger Glover leaves soon after; for "Mark III," they're replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.
June 21, 1973 The band Bread, already having decided to break up, play their last live gig ever in Salt Lake City after one of its tour trucks flips over and destroys most of its gear.
April 13, 1973 The Wailers, led by Bob Marley, release their fifth studio album, Catch a Fire. The first album on their new label, Island Records, it makes Marley and the Wailers international recording stars and brings reggae music to the forefront.More
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC