1958 : The first teenage all-music TV show Oh Boy!, was broadcast for the first time in the UK. Each week Oh Boy! featured resident artists plus a selection of special guests. The residents included Cuddly Dudley, who sang on 21 shows, Cliff Richard (20 shows), The Drifters (Later to become The Shadows) (17 shows) and Marty Wilde (17 shows). Guests included Billy Fury, Tony Sheridan, Shirley Bassey and Lonnie Donegan; with occasional US stars, such as The Inkspots, Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee.
1961 : On this weeks UK singles chart: No.5, Clarence Frogman Henry, ‘But I Do’, No.4, Ricky Nelson, ‘Hello Marylou’, No.3, The Shadows, ‘The Frightened City’, No.2, Del Shannon, ‘Runaway’, No.1, Elvis Presley, ‘Surrender.’
1963 : Kyu Sakamoto started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sukiyaki’, the first-ever Japanese song to do so. It made No.6 on the UK chart in 1963 and was also a No.10 UK single for Kenny Ball in the same year.
1965 : Recorded on this day, Bob Dylan – “Like A Rolling Stone”
1965 : The Rolling Stones kicked off an 8-date mini-European tour at The Odeon Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, supported by The Hollies.
1967 : Peter Green leaves John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac. He hires Mick Fleetwood, but it takes John McVie 4 months to leave The Bluesbreakers and join the band he has been named after.
1969 : During a short 5 date UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at The Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England supported by Blodwyn Pig and The Liverpool Scene. The flyer for the tour stated: ‘Come & take off, levitate with the Led Zeppelin album’.
1969 : The Doors appeared at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1971 : The Best Of The Guess Who is certified gold.
1974 : ABBA’s second album (but first UK release), ‘Waterloo’ entered the UK chart for the first time peaking at No.28. The album’s title track won ABBA the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.
1974 : Elvis Presley played the first night of an 18 date US tour by playing four shows at the Tarrant County Center, Forth Worth, Texas.
1976 : The Sex Pistols recorded their first demos in Clapham’s Majestic studios followed by a gig that night at The 100 club, London.
1977 : The Sex Pistols held a party on a boat as it sailed down The River Thames in London. The Pistols performed ‘Anarchy In The UK’ outside The Houses Of Parliament resulting in members from the party being arrested when the boat docked later that day.
1978 : During a European tour Bob Dylan played the first of six sold out nights at London’s Earl Court.
1985 : Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, ‘Brothers In Arms’. The album is the seventh best-selling album in UK chart history and won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards.
1986 : U2 and Sting headlined a concert in New Jersey celebrating 25 years of Amnesty International.
1986 : At Giants Stadium in New Jersey, The Police headline the last concert on the Conspiracy of Hope tour, which benefits Amnesty International. They have plans to record an album, but scrap them after drummer Stewart Copeland is injured in a polo match. The trio does not tour again until 2007.
1988 : During Bruce Springsteen’s stay in Rome during a world tour a photographer took a shot of Bruce in his underpants sharing an intimate moment with his backing singer Patti Scialfa. The picture confirmed the rumours that Bruce and Patti were having an affair.
1989 : Nirvana’s debut album ‘Bleach’ was released in the US. The title for the album came from a poster ‘Bleach Your Works’ urging drug users to bleach their needles. Kurt Cobain claimed that most of the lyrics on the album were written the night before recording while he was feeling “pissed off”, and that he did not regard them highly.
1991 : Paula Abdul started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Rush Rush’, her 5th US No.1, a No.6 hit in the UK.
1994 : Disney releases The Lion King, an animated musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Elton John. The soundtrack was the first animated film soundtrack to ever be certified Diamond. However, the use of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in the film resulted in a lawsuit from the family of composer Solomon Linda seeking $1.6 million for the song’s use.
1996 : The Beastie Boys host the first Tibetan Freedom Concert, with performers that include Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins and John Lee Hooker. About 100,000 attend the 2 shows, raising money for the Milarepa Fund.
1996 : US jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 79. Already blinded by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 ‘Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook’ was the first of eight “Songbook” sets. Appeared in the TV commercial for Memorex, where she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking “Is it live, or is it Memorex”
1997 : Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson appear on VH1’s Storytellers.
2002 : A rare autographed copy of The Beatles’ album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at auction for $57,800, more than five times the estimated price.
2003 : Radiohead scored their fourth UK No.1 with their sixth studio album ‘Hail To The Thief’. The title Hail to the Thief – a phrase used by anti-George W. Bush activists during the controversy surrounding the 2000 US presidential election was a play on ‘Hail to the Chief’, a march played to announce the arrival of the President of the United States.
2003 : Metallica were at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘St Anger’, the bands fourth US No.1, a No.3 hit in the UK.
2005 : Coldplay went straight to No.1 on US album chart with their third album ‘X&Y’, having already entered at number one in the UK. The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with ‘1’, a compilation of hits by The Beatles. The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ in October 2000. ‘X&Y’ went on to top over 30 global charts.
2008 : Liverpool was voted England’s most musical city in a national campaign set up by the Arts Council. The home of The Beatles, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, OMD and The Zutons took 49% of the vote in an online poll set up by the funding body. Sheffield – which brought the world the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp – came second, while Manchester with Oasis, Stone Roses and The Smiths came third.
2008 : Coldplay went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their fourth studio album ‘Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends’.
2010 : A case against a man accused of threatening Elton John’s life was withdrawn just hours before his trial was due to begin. Neal Horsley had responded to Elton’s suggestion that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview by writing an angry online response entitled “Why Elton John Must Die”. After being held in an Atlanta, Georgia jail since last March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams dismissed the case against Horsley because his actions did not warrant criminal charges.
2011 : Two men from Manchester were held on suspicion of conspiracy to rob and murder after being arrested close to the Devon home of the singer Joss Stone. The men, aged 33 and 30, were arrested after residents reported a suspicious looking vehicle in the Cullompton area. A UK police source said they were found with swords, and a body bag, as well as detailed maps and aerial photos of Stone’s property.