Calendar Search Results: this is it
February 12, 1967 Police raid Keith Richards' Redlands estate, where they discover "various substances of a suspicious nature" and arrest him along with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull. The whole thing is a setup.More
January 24, 1967 Aretha Franklin records her first Top 10 pop hit, "(I Never Loved A Man) The Way That I Love You," at a tumultuous session at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where her husband gets into an altercation with one of the musicians.More
November 9, 1966 According to the "Paul Is Dead" rumors, this was the day Paul McCartney "blew his mind out in a car," meeting his doom and being replaced with a lookalike.
August 29, 1966 The Beatles play their last paid concert, wrapping up their tour at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Jaded by poor sound systems and the rigors of the road, they turn their attention to studio work.More
January 23, 1966 Police arrest Jim Morrison for kissing a young woman, but the charges are really just a way for them to get to the bottom of a suspected murder that supposedly occurred weeks before.More
September 15, 1965 Ford offers factory-installed 8-track tape players in its Mustang, Thunderbird and Lincoln models. This marks the first time 8-track players are widely available, so you can only get the tapes in auto parts stores or Ford dealers. The players have a tendency to chew up the tapes, leading to 8-track roadkill as drivers throw the tangled tapes out their windows.More
August 15, 1965 The Beatles play Shea Stadium in New York - home of The Mets - marking the first time a rock band headlines a stadium in America. With Beatlemania in full force, the screaming girls drown out the band in a less-than-intimate, but very memorable performance in front of a sold-out crowd of 56,000.More
July 25, 1965 Dylan plugs in! At the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan plays an electric set for the first time, horrifying folkies everywhere.More
July 3, 1965 The Beach Boys Summer Spectacular tour stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. This date includes performances by The Byrds, Sonny & Cher, The Righteous Brothers, and of course, The Beach Boys. Also on the bill: The Kinks, who are having a miserable time in America and at war with their manager Larry Page, who flies back to England the next day.
May 21, 1965 Ten years into the Rock Era, it looks like it's here to stay. Time magazine reports on the rock revival with the cover story, "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties."More
May 8, 1965 D.A. Pennebaker films Bob Dylan in one of the earliest music videos ever shot, the famous "flashcard" clip for "Subterranean Homesick Blues."More
December 3, 1964 The animated TV special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer debuts on CBS, with Burl Ives as the voice of Sam the Snowman. The special is based on the 1949 song, which has become a perennial favorite.More
August 22, 1964 After three years without a big hit, The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" hits #1 in the US, the first of five consecutive chart-toppers.More
May 20, 1964 The Drifters' lead singer Rudy Lewis is found dead on the morning the group is scheduled to record "Under The Boardwalk." He is replaced by Johnny Moore, who was with a previous incarnation of the group, who sings lead on the song the next day. Lewis' death is widely reported as a drug overdose, although this is never confirmed by a medical authority.
February 7, 1964 Thanks to media coverage and a publicity campaign by Capitol Records, thousands of screaming fans greet The Beatles when their plane lands in New York at 1:20 p.m. The scenes become iconic images of Beatlemania.More
February 1, 1964 Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh bans the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie," calling it "pornographic" and making (literally) a federal case out of it.More
December 7, 1963 The Singing Nun's "Dominique" hits #1 for the first of four weeks.More
August 22, 1963 Myra Ellen Amos is born to a religious family in Newton, North Carolina. She changes her name to Tori and becomes an alt-rock icon of the '90s with empowering tunes about women, right-wing politics, and religious oppression.More
August 10, 1963 Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips (Part 2)" becomes the first live recording to hit #1 in the US. It holds the position for three weeks.More
June 4, 1963 Pop Goes The Beatles debuts on the BBC. the band is a big draw on the network, but this is the first time they get their own show, where they perform, take requests, and crack jokes. They record a rock version of "Pop Goes The Weasel" for the theme song. It lasts 16 episodes.
May 17, 1963 The very first Monterey Folk Festival begins at the Monterey Fairgrounds in California. Over the weekend, Bob Dylan makes his first West Coast performance, Jerry Garcia's band wins an amateur competition, and Janis Joplin draws a crowd on the second stage.More
October 24, 1962 In the thick of the Cuban Missile Crisis, James Brown records his electrifying stage show for the album Live at the Apollo.More
May 19, 1962 Mick Jagger is mentioned in print for the first time when the British music magazine Disc prints this item: "A 19-year-old Dartford rhythm-and-blues singer, Mick Jagger, has joined Alexis Korner's group, Blues Inc., and will sing with them regularly on their Saturday night dates at Ealing and Thursday session at the Marquee Jazz Club, London. Jagger, at present completing a course at the London School of Economics, also plays harmonica."
December 18, 1961 "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," with a chorus in poorly translated Zulu, tops the Hot 100 for The Tokens.More
January 29, 1961 Five days after arriving in New York from Minnesota, Bob Dylan meets his ailing folk hero, Woody Guthrie, tracking him down in East Orange, New Jersey. Dylan pays tribute with "Song To Woody," which appears on his first album the following year.More
May 9, 1960 The birth control pill is introduced in the US, inspiring Loretta Lynn to sing a song about it.More
November 29, 1959 At the second Annual Grammy Awards, Bobby Darin wins for Best New Artist and also takes the award for Record of the Year for "Mack The Knife," which is still at #1 on the Hot 100. This is the first time the event is televised, and also the only time the ceremony is held at the end of the year instead of early the following year, meaning nothing in December 1959 is Grammy eligible. This faux pas is rectified with awards for 1960 given out in early 1961.
November 9, 1959 Johnny Mathis goes to #1 in America with his album Heavenly.
October 5, 1959 Bobby Darin's swinging version of "Mack the Knife," a song about a killer from The Threepenny Opera, hits #1 on the Hot 100 and stays there for an astonishing nine weeks. Darin, who is known for lighter fare like "Splish Splash," gains a more adult following, putting him on par with Frank Sinatra.More
January 1, 1959 Johnny Cash plays one of his first jailhouse shows when he performs at San Quentin prison in San Rafael, California. Among those in the captive audience is Merle Haggard, who is serving time for burglary.More
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