1955 : Roger Williams’ “Autumn Leaves” hits #1

1958 : While still stationed in Germany with the US Army, Private First Class Elvis Presley takes in a Bill Haley show for the troops at Stuttgart.

1962 : The Beatles made their second appearance on the Granada TV program ‘People and Places.’ Filmed in Manchester, they performed two songs, ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘A Taste of Honey’.

1963 : The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Mickie Most, The Rolling Stones, Julie Grant and The Flintstones all appeared at The Goumont Theatre, St Albans, England.

1965 : The Who released the single ‘My Generation’ in the UK. The song was named the 11th greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and 13th on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Rock & Roll. It reached No. 2 in the UK, the Who’s highest charting single in their home country but only No. 74 in America.

1965 : The Rolling Stones kicked off their fourth 37-date North American tour at the Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1965 : Recorded on this day, The Beatles – “We Can Work It Out”

1966 : ? & the Mysterians went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ’96 Tears’. Although he closely guarded his true identity at the time, the man known as Question Mark turned out to be Rudy Martinez, from Saginaw Valley, Michigan. The song was later a UK hit in the UK for The Stranglers in 1990.

1967 : Cream played two shows at the Saville Theatre in London, England, billed as “Sundays At The Saville”, The Bee Gees were appearing the following week.

1969 : New York underground newspaper Rat becomes the first publication to compile the various rumored “clues” to the “Paul Is Dead” phenomenon.

1970 : Neil Diamomd’s Cracklin’ Rosie is certified gold

1971 : Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer. He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1973 : The Who’s LP Quadrophenia is certified gold.

1973 : Released on this day, John Lennon, “Mind Games” and the LP of the same name

1975 : Joan Baez joins Bob Dylan as a member of his Rolling Thunder Revue.

1977 : The Belgian travel service issued a summons against The Sex Pistols claiming the sleeve to the bands single ‘Holidays In The Sun’ infringed copyright of one of its brochures.

1979 : Legendary bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie appears on The Muppet Show and performs with The Electric Mayhem. It’s the only time that the otherwise all-muppet band features a bongo player.

1979 : Lena Martell was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘One Day At A Time,’ the singer’s only UK hit making the British MOR singer a One-hit Wonder.

1983 : ‘Islands In The Stream’, gave Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers a No.1 on the US singles chart. The song was written by The Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb.

1983 : Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ marked its 491st week on the Billboard album chart in the US, surpassing the previous record holder, ‘Johnny’s Greatest Hits’ by Johnny Mathis. When it finally fell off of list in October 1988, ‘Dark Side’ had set a record of 741 weeks on the chart.

1984 : American drummer Wells Kelly from Orleans and Meat Loaf died aged 45 after choking to death on his vomit. Had the 1976 US hit singles with Orleans, ‘Still The One’ and ‘Dance with Me.’

1987 : ‘Decades’ Rolling Stones Ron Wood’s first ever British art exhibition opened in London, featuring portraits of friends and rock stars from the past 20 years.

1987 : David Bowie played the first night of his 15 date Glass Spider Tour in Australia and New Zealand at the Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane.

1988 : Dire Straits scored their fourth UK No.1 album with ‘Money For Nothing’.

1988 : Enya started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Orinoco Flow.’ Originally with family act, Clannad, Enya went solo and specialized in Celtic and New Age recordings.

1990 : The inductees for the sixth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are announced, a list which includes Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, The Byrds, The Impressions, LaVern Baker, Jimmy Reed, and John Lee Hooker.

1991 : Three members of the group Pink Floyd are injured during an auto race in Mexico when their car rolls 230 feet down an embankment near San Luis Potosi. Guitarist Steve O’Rourke breaks his leg and guitarist Dave Gilmour receives minor blows to the head. Drummer Nick Mason continues the race.

1991 : Memphis City Council named interstate 55 through Jackson, The B.B. King Freeway.

1993 : Tim Burton’s animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas hits US theaters. The film features music composed by Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo; Elfman also sings the vocal parts of protagonist Jack Skellington.

1994 : UK reggae/rap performer Pato Banton (with Robin & Ali Campbell from UB40), started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the 1968 Eddy Grant song and Equals hit ‘Baby Come Back.’

1995 : Paul Anka guest stars on tonight’s “Treehouse of Horror VI” episode of Fox-TV’s The Simpsons.

1996 : Manchester band The Stone Roses split up. Singer Ian Brown said ‘having spent the last ten years in the filthiest business in the universe, it’s a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses.’

1998 : Singer/guitarist Brian Setzer files suit against Ken Kinnally, a former member of Setzer’s pre-Stray Cats group the Bloodless Pharaohs. Setzer alleges that, without his knowledge or consent, Kinnally licensed 1978 studio tracks and 1979 live recordings to Collectibles Records, which issued an album titled Brian Setzer & the Bloodless Pharaohs.

1998 : Three ex-members of the San Francisco punk band Dead Kennedys sue former lead singer Jello Biafra (Eric Reed Boucher), claiming he diverted money owed to his bandmates for his own use. The action is filed by East Bay Ray (Ray Pepperell), Klaus Flouride (Geoffrey Lyall), and D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley). The suit goes to trial in April 2000.

2000 : Limp Bizkit started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Chocolate Starfish’.

2001 : U2 performed for the first time on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ live from New York City.

2002 : Palm Springs, CA, dedicates a portion of its airport as the Sonny Bono Memorial Concourse, in honor of the famous singer who also served as the town’s mayor in the late Eighties.

2003 : A study by the Neilsen ratings people finds that a full third of the sales of Beatles 1 were to new fans between the ages of 19 and 24, skewing the fan base even younger than it had been previously.

2003 : Research in the US found that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a ‘brain itch’ that can only be scratched by repeating a tune over and over. Songs such as the Village People’s ‘YMCA’ and the Baha Men’s ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ owe their success to their ability to create a ‘cognitive itch’, according to Professor James Kellaris, of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration.

2005 : A set of waxwork heads of The Beatles from their Sgt Pepper’s album cover sold for £81,500. The “pepperheads” were auctioned off after recently being discovered in a back room at London’s Madame Tussauds. They were used in 1967 by artist Sir Peter Blake in the backdrop of the “Lonely Hearts Club Band” album with the actual Beatles posing at the front.

2007 : Kylie Minogue was honoured with the Music Industry Trust prize for her 20-year career and status as an “icon of pop and style” at a London ceremony. The first time in the event’s 16-year history that the award has gone to a woman, past winners included Sir Elton John and Peter Gabriel.

2007 : Walk the Line, the film about the life of singer Johnny Cash, was voted the greatest music biopic in a poll. The film starred Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Cash and his wife June Carter as the country stars and won the actress an Oscar in 2006. It was followed by rapper Eminem’s 8 Mile, with Mozart’s life story Amadeus next and Ray, starring Jamie Foxx as musician Ray Charles, at number four. The most recent film in the top 10 was Joy Division biopic Control.

2009 : To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a series of concerts take place at Madison Square Garden, featuring inductees like Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Mick Jagger and Aretha Franklin.

2009 : Forbes Magazine reported that Michael Jackson had earned about 72 million dollars since his death on June 25th. That was good enough for third place on their list of dead celebrities making the most money. Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent came in first at $350 million, songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were second with $235 million and Elvis Presley was fourth, earning $55 million.

2012 : While campaigning for the 2012 election, president Barack Obama takes time out to interview with radio station WIZF Cincinnati, to talk about his favorite music artists. Asked “what’s on the presidential iPod?”, Obama names Stevie Wonder, James Brown, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan as his “old school” choices, Jay-Z, Eminem, and Fugees for newer artists, and John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Gil Scott-Heron amongst his favorite jazz artists.