1956 : Buddy Holly sees the John Wayne film, The Searchers, and the line, “That’ll be the day” in it inspires him to write a song with that title.

1956 : Elvis Presley is the featured guest on Roy Orbison and the Teen Kings’ weekly KOSA-TV show in Odessa, TX.

1957 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit, Pat Boone’s – “Love Letters in the Sand”

1961 : Jimi Hendrix enlists in the Army for 3 years and is stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as a member of the Screaming Eagles fighting squad. He is honorably discharged a little over a year later after breaking his ankle during a parachute jump.

1961 : Chuck Berry opens Berry Park in Wentzville, Missouri, with a public area featuring a petting zoo, picnic area, miniature golf, Ferris wheel, and swimming pool.

1962 : The Beatles played the last night of a 7-week run at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany. During their residency they would play for four-and-a-half hours on weekdays and six hours on Saturdays, with some songs lasting over 20 minutes to fill out the time.

1964 : The family-friendly Dave Clark Five go on the Ed Sullivan Show, for the first time, performing “Glad All Over”. They’re a hit with the host, who has them on 18 more times.

1966 : Filming began on The Monkees first TV series. The Monkees’ first single, ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the TV broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of the television show on September 12, 1966 on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands.

1966 : Lulu’s first movie, To Sir With Love, begins filming in London.

1967 : Big Brother & the Holding Company film a scene in the Richard Lester movie Petulia.

1968 : Working on what will become The White album, The Beatles added overdubs of bass and vocals on ‘Revolution’. After numerous overdubs have been added, the final six minutes of the song evolved into chaotic, jamming, with Lennon repeatedly shouting “alright” and Yoko Ono speaking random phrases. The jam becomes the basis for ‘Revolution 9’, and this session is the first that Yoko attends.

1969 : Jimi Hendrix was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 Cents.

1969 : The Supremes host the variety show Hollywood Palace, with guests The Jackson 5 and Sammy Davis Jr.

1971 : 36 Grateful Dead fans were medically treated after unknowingly drinking L.S.D. laced cider, at a gig in the US.

1972 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit, The Staple Singers’ – “I’ll Take You There”

1974 : Gordon Lightfoot’s LP Sundown is certified gold.

1974 : William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful For What You Got” is certified gold.

1975 : During a press conference held at the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York City to announce The Rolling Stones forthcoming American tour, the Stones themselves came down the street playing live from the back of a flat-bed truck. Stones drummer Charlie Watts came up with the idea, after the practice of New Orleans jazz musicians, who would play walking down the street.

1975 : Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” hits #1.

1976 : The Who gave themselves a place in the Guinness book of Records as the loudest performance of a rock band at 120 decibels, when they played at Charlton Athletic Football ground.

1977 : The BBC announced a ban on the new Sex Pistols single ‘God Save The Queen’ saying it’s, “in gross bad taste”. And the IBA issued a warning to all radio stations saying the playing the single would be in breach of Section 4:1:A of the Broadcasting act. The single reached No.2 on the UK chart.

1979 : Supertramp’s Breakfast In America is certified gold.

1980 : Lipps Inc went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Funkytown’. The disco hit was also a No.1 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and The Netherlands. It reached No. 2 in the UK.

1980 : The Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless), by Mash was at No.1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was first recorded after being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ Noel Edmonds. Mike Altman the son of the original film’s director, Robert Altman, was 14 years old when he composed the song’s lyrics.

1982 : The Rolling Stones played at the 100 Club, Oxford St, London, to a sold out crowd of 400 people.

1982 : R.E.M. signed a five-album deal with I.R.S. Records, an independent label based in California.

1985 : The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), sends its first letter to the RIAA requesting a ratings system for albums and concerts. The group is led by Tipper Gore, who is the wife of Senator Al Gore, so the record industry takes it seriously, and cuts back on their Metal budgets. The end result is warning stickers on albums containing offensive lyrics.

1986 : Peter Gabriel scored his second solo UK No.1 album with ‘So’ featuring the singles ‘Sledgehammer’ and a duet with Kate Bush ‘Don’t Give Up’.

1986 : The Notting Hillbillies made their live debut when they appeared at The Grove in Leeds. The group featured Mark Knopfler, Steve Phillips and Brendan Crocker who were each paid £22.

1987 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit, Kim Wilde’s – “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”

1989 : David Bowie’s Tin Machine made their live debut at the International Music Awards, New York.

1997 : Eternal started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Wanna Be The Only One’ the girl soul trio’s first – and only UK chart-topper.

1998 : Geri Halliwell announced she had quit The Spice Girls saying “This is because of differences between us. I am sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best.”

1998 : Simply Red went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Blue’, their fifth consecutive No.1 album.

1998 : The Tamperen went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Feel It’. The track featured US vocalist Maya and was based on the Jacksons 1981 hit ‘Can You Feel It’.

2000 : US soul singer Johnnie Taylor died of a heart attack in a Texas hospital shortly after his 62nd birthday. Taylor had been a member of The Highway QCs and The Five Echoes and in 1957 Taylor replaced Sam Cooke in The Soul Stirrers. He scored the 1976 US No.1 ‘Disco Lady’.

2003 : UK police announced that thousands of people at this year’s pop festivals would be subjected to a computerised drug test. Fans would be asked to provide swab samples from their hands, which would be inserted into a drug detection machine. It was to be a voluntary test but Anti-drug officers could search anyone refusing.

2004 : US guitarist Robert Quine was found dead of a heroin overdose in his New York City home. Worked with Richard Hell And The Voidoids, (1977 album ‘Blank Generation’ features the track ‘Love Comes In Spurts’) and Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Lloyd Cole, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits and They Might Be Giants.

2005 : Strawberry Field, the Liverpool orphanage which inspired The Beatles’ famous song, is closed by the Salvation Army after almost seventy years.

2005 : Former East 17 singer Brian Harvey was in a critical condition in a London hospital after he fell under the wheels of his Mercedes convertible. The accident happened outside his home in Walthamstow when Harvey was reversing from an access road into the street. The singer suffered a broken leg, pelvis and a crushed abdomen and ribs.

2007 : Rob Grill, lead singer of The Grass Roots, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription painkillers at his home in Mount Dora, FL.