1957 : Elvis Presley recorded the Leiber and Stoller song ‘Jailhouse Rock’ as featured in his third motion picture of the same name. In the movie, Mike Stoller had a small role as a piano player. ‘Jailhouse Rock’ later became the first song to debut at #1 in Great Britain.

1960 : Dick Clark testifies before a Congressional committee investigating payola (and is cleared).

1963 : The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘From Me To You’, the group’s first No.1 and the first of eleven consecutive No.1’s. The title of the song was inspired from a letters column called From You To Us that ran in the British music newspaper, The New Musical Express.

1964 : The Beatles Second Album sets a record by reaching #1 on the Billboard chart a week after its release; but for the first time in a year, The Beatles are bumped from the #1 spot on the UK chart, by The Rolling Stones’ debut album.

1964 : The Rolling Stones self-titled debut album started a 12-week run at No.1 on the UK charts. The album spent a total of 51 weeks on the UK chart. Also on his day The Stones made their first appearance on the US singles chart when ‘Not Fade Away’ entered the chart at No.98.

1965 : The Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show after having earlier been banned from the show.

1967 : The Beach Boys, Helen Shapiro, Simon Dupree And The Big Sound and Terry Reid with Peter Jay’s Jaywalkers all appeared at The Adelphi Theatre, Dublin.

1966 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit was ‘The Mamas & The Papas’ “Monday Monday”.

1969 : The Who gave a press preview of their new rock opera ‘Tommy’ at Ronnie Scott’s in London, England. The double album about a “deaf, dumb and blind boy” who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, was the first musical work to be billed overtly as a rock opera. In 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “historical, artistic and significant value” and has now sold over 20 million copies worldwide.

1969 : The Beatles recorded a re-make of the new George Harrison song ‘Something’ at Abbey Road Studios in London. They recorded 36 takes of the song, which included Billy Preston on piano.

1969 : Pink Floyd appeared at Manchester Chamber Of Commerce, England. The show was recorded for the forthcoming album ‘Ummagumma’.

1970 : One hit wonder Norman Greenbaum was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Spirit In The Sky.’ Also a No.1 hit for Doctor and the Medics in 1986 and Gareth Gates in 2003. More One Hit Wonders

1972 : Bruce Springsteen auditions for Columbia Records’ John Hammond, who is the guy that signed Bob Dylan. The planned 15-minute session runs 2 hours.Hammond was so impressed that he arranged a real audition that night at the Gaslight Club in New York for other Columbia executives. The next day, Bruce records a 14 song demo and signs with the label 5 weeks later

1974 : Stevie Wonder wins four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for “Innervisions”.

1978 : The Fall and Slaughter And The Dogs appeared at Band On The Wall in Manchester and at London’s Hackney, The Clash, The Tom Robinson Band and X-Ray Spec all appeared on the same night.

1978 : Kate Bush was on the UK charts with her debut album ‘The Kick Inside’. The album which featured the singers No.1 hit ‘Wuthering Heights’ peaked at No.3 spent a total of 70 weeks on the UK chart.

1979 : The Who performs its first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performs with new drummer Kenny Jones.

1980 : Joy Division played what would be their last gig with singer Ian Curtis when they appeared at Birmingham University, England. Curtis committed suicide two weeks later.

1989 : A security guard alerted the police after a man wearing a wig, fake mustache and false teeth walked into Zales Jewellers, California. Three squad cars arrived and police detained the man, who turned out to be Michael Jackson in disguise.

1991 : The video for the R.E.M. song ‘Losing My Religion’, was banned in Ireland because its religious imagery was seen as unfit for broadcast.

1991 : Nirvana booked into Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California for 16 days. On a budget of $65,000 and with Butch Vig producing the band started recording what would become the ‘Nevermind’ album.

1992 : Little known UK duo Nirvana filed a suit against the American band of the same name claiming that they had been using the name since 1968. The dispute was settled out of court in the British bands favor.

1992 : The Cure scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘Wish’, their 15th album release, featuring the top 10 single ‘Friday I’m In Love’.

1998 : Japanese rock star Hideto Matsumoto was found hanged in the bathroom at his Tokyo apartment and died in hospital a short time later at the age of 33. His funeral, held on May 7th, was attended by over 70,000 people and required 100 police officers, 170 security guards, police boats and helicopters. 21 people were hospitalised for injuries caused by the massive crowd at his funeral.

2004 : Total Guitar magazine’s readers voted Guns N’ Roses’ anthem ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ as the greatest guitar riff ever ahead of Nirvana’s grunge anthem ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ came third, followed by Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’. Total Guitar editor Scott Rowley said: “To a new generation of guitarist’s, Guns N’ Roses are more thrilling than the Sex Pistols.”

2005 : Eric Clapton joined former Cream members drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce for the first of four nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had split up. Tickets were changing hands for more than £500 on eBay and fans had flown over from the USA to witness the reunion, which Clapton aged 60, is said to have agreed to because of the failing health of the other former members of the band.

2006 : Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was released from hospital in New Zealand after the 62 year-old suffered “mild concussion” when he fell out of a coconut tree while on holiday in Fiji. He was airlifted to Auckland’s Ascot Hospital for observation, where he underwent a brain scan.

2008 : Chad Kroeger was banned from driving for a year after being convicted of drink-driving in the Canadian city of Vancouver. The 33-year-old Nickelback singer had almost twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he was stopped by police speeding in his Lamborghini.

2009 : A rare Motown seven-inch single sold for $38,378, setting a new world record. Kenny Burrell, from Fife in Scotland, put the unreleased 1965 single ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ by Frank Wilson up for auction; the single was one of only two in the world. Motown boss Berry Gordy had all other copies destroyed after Wilson moved into songwriting and producing. British Record dealer John Manship, who organized the sale, said the buyer wished to remain anonymous. Wilson went on to write hits for The Supremes and The Four Tops.

2009 : Bob Dylan mingled unnoticed with other Beatles tourists during a minibus tour to John Lennon’s childhood home. He was one of 14 tourists to examine photos and documents in the National Trust-owned home, where Lennon grew up with his aunt Mimi and uncle George. Dylan who was on a day off on a European tour paid £16 for the public trip to the 1940’s house in Woolton, Liverpool.