1894 : Billboard Advertising, a trade publication dealing with all manner of billboard advertising and selling for a dime, begins publication. Within a few years, it will begin focusing on the entertainment shows advertised by billboards, and by the 1930s Billboard, as it has come to be known, is covering radio and sales of the new medium, juke box records.

1955 : R&B group The Famous Flames, lead by singer James Brown, cut their first demo of ‘Please, Please, Please’ at a radio station in Macon Georgia. It would lead to their signing with King Records.

1956 : Elvis Presley bought a new Harley Davidson motorbike, Presley spent the day riding round Memphis on his new bike with actress Natalie Wood.

1959 : Elvis Presley’s current stint in the Army means that for the first time in nearly five years, no Elvis single resides on the Billboard charts.

1963 : The Beatles kicked off a UK tour performing two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Their repertoire for the tour was ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘You Really Got a Hold On Me’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Boys’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Money’, and ‘Twist and Shout’. Supporting The Beatles were The Rhythm & Blues Quartet, The Vernons Girls, Frank Berry, The Brook Brothers, Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers, and The Kestrels.

1964 : The Beach Boys begin their first UK tour in London.

1964 : British Invasion band The Dave Clark Five makes its US television debut on CBS’ Ed Sullivan Show. The clean-cut image of the group members visibly relieves the host, who is still suffering from the Stones riot of a few days’ earlier. After the band plays Glad All Over, Ed goes out of his way to tag them as “nice, neat boys.”

1965 : The Rolling Stones’ concert in Rochester, NY, ends abruptly when 3,000 rabid fans storm the stage after just seven minutes. After three more attempts to resume the show, it’s canceled by police, with only six songs having been played.

1966 : The Doors played the first night of a month long residency at the Ondine Discotheque, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

1966 : Elvis Presley’s LPs Elvis Presley, Elvis’ Golden Records, Vol. 2, and Elvis’ Golden Records, Vol. 3 is certified gold.

1968 : George Harrison released his first solo album, ‘Wonderwall Music’ on the Apple label becoming the first member of The Beatles to release a solo album.. The songs which were mostly Harrison instrumentals, featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees.

1969 : Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Suspicious Minds’, his 18th US No.1 single. A No.2 hit in the UK.

1969 : The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 album with ‘Abbey Road’. The final studio recordings from the group featured two George Harrison songs; ‘Something’ & ‘Here Comes The Sun’. The cover supposedly contained clues adding to the ‘Paul Is Dead’ phenomenon: Paul is barefoot and the car number plate ‘LMW 281F’ supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 if he was still alive. ‘LMW’ was said to stand for ‘Linda McCartney Weeps.’ And the four Beatles, represent; the priest (John, dressed in white), the Undertaker (Ringo, black suit), the Corpse (Paul, barefoot), and the Gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim shirt).

1970 : Matthews Southern Comfort were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Joni Mitchell song ‘Woodstock.’ The group’s only UK No.1 hit.

1974 : No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: You Haven’t Done Nothin’ by Stevie Wonder

1975 : Elton John started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Island Girl’, his 5th US No.1, a No.14 hit in the UK.

1975 : Due to lead singer Karen Carpenter’s struggle with anorexia, The Carpenters are forced to cancel their upcoming European tour.

1975 : Touring Australia for the first time Wings kicked an 11-date tour at The Entertainment Centre in Perth.

1979 : Bob Dylan debuts the songs from his new album, a Christian polemic called Slow Train Coming, on the first night of his new tour in San Francisco, CA. A shocked audience boos the new material throughout the set.

1980 : Bruce Springsteen scored his first No.1 US album with ‘The River’, featuring the US No.5 & UK No.44 single ‘Hungry Heart.’

1985 : The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agrees to some demands made by another initialed organization, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). As a result, any album deemed to contain offensive lyrics must be issued with a warning label, or the lyrics must be printed on the sleeve. Most record companies go with the labels, which don’t seem to hurt sales.

1998 : Madonna presents director Alan Parker with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Director’s Guild of Great Britain. The ceremony takes place aboard a boat on the river Thames in London.

1996 : U2 set up a video link to an internet site from their recording studio in Dublin so fans could watch them record their new album.

1997 : Scandinavian dance-pop act Aqua started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Barbie Girl.’ A massive world-wide hit the single has sold more than 8 million copies.

1999 : Celine Dion is inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame during the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Gold Ribbon Awards gala in Montreal. Dion joins Bryan Adams and Anne Murray for the accolade.

2000 : All Saints came top of a poll to find the sexiest female act. 12,000 UK television viewers voted for the group, The Spice Girls came second and Atomic Kitten third. The 50’s group The Beverley Sisters were voted into 11th place beating TLC.

2003 : Organizers of the MTV Europe Awards 2003 recruited 500 ‘screamers’ to attend this year’s event. The music lovers were selected at an audition held in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens. About 1,500 pop-mad teenagers and adults screamed themselves hoarse in a bid to get their hands on a ticket to the exclusive event.

2004 : 61-year old Terry Knight, the former manager of Grand Funk Railroad, was murdered at his home in Killeen, Texas. Knight was defending his daughter during a domestic disturbance, when he was stabbed by her boyfriend, 26 year old Donald Alan Fair. Knight began his music career by leading a Michigan band called Terry Knight and the Pack, who scored a Billboard top 50 hit with ‘I, Who Have Nothing’.

2004 : EMI pays tribute to Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who celebrates 50 years recording for the company. In a rare appearance at a private party at EMI’s London headquarters, Rostropovich is presented with a golden Neumann microphone and a plaque commemorating the 100 recordings he has made with the company since 1954.

2004 : A man who allegedly stalked Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia, was deemed too mentally ill to be interviewed by police. The 44-year-old fan was arrested after turning up on the doorstep of the singer’s £2m home in Berkshire after flying to London from Australia.

2005 : Black Sabbath is inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Brian May of Queen. The band played “Paranoid” at the ceremony and Ozzy mooned the crowd, feeling that they weren’t rocking hard enough.

2007 : Winners at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards held in Munich, Germany included Avril Lavigne who was named best solo artist, and her song Girlfriend was voted most addictive track. Muse won two awards for best UK and Ireland act and best headline act, Linkin Park won the award for best band of 2007, and German band Tokio Hotel took the prize for best international act. Amy Winehouse won the Artist Choice prize, an award chosen by her fellow musicians and The ultimate urban prize went to R&B star Rihanna.

2008 : US drummer and singer Jimmy Carl Black died. Was a member of The Keys, The Soul Giants, The Mothers Of Invention and Jimmy Carl Black And The Mannish Boys. Also worked with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Joe Cocker, Grateful Dead and The Turtles.

2012 : Metal Hammer magazine published a list of the “Top ten rock and heavy metal moustaches…Ever”. The list which included mustaches worn by the likes of Frank Zappa, all the members of Black Sabbath, (except Ozzy Osbourne), James Hetfield, and Lemmy placed Freddie Mercury at the top of the list.