Choice Classic Rock

Choice Classic Rock Classic Rock radio like you've never heard it before! Tune in to hear commercial-free hits & more! You'll also hear new tracks from classic rock artists.

Streaming commercial-free on the internet at www.choiceclassicrock.com, this online-only radio station features an extremely diverse mix of music from the Classic Rock decades. Expect a lot of music you know – and some you will never have heard. You will hear hits, near hits, and lots of deep tracks originally released in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Choice Classic Rock - classic rock radio like you've never heard it before!

07/30/2024

ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY:

1965 - The Rolling Stones release Out Of Our Heads. The Stones finally proved themselves capable of writing classic rock singles that mined their R&B/blues roots, but updated them into a more guitar-based, thoroughly contemporary context. The first enduring Jagger-Richards classics are here -- "The Last Time," its menacing, folky B-side "Play With Fire," and the riff-driven "Satisfaction," which made them superstars in the States and defined their sound and rebellious attitude better than any other single song.

1968 - The Beatles' Apple Boutique, a psychedelic clothing store located at 94 Baker Street in London, closes after seven months of bad business practices and rampant theft. With the group and its intimates having had the pick of the remaining inventory the night before, Apple Boutique employees are instructed to simply let people in off the street to take whatever merchandise they like. The store was closed that evening for good.

1969 - The Beatles, producer George Martin, and the Abbey Road engineers assemble the first rough cut of the proposed Abbey Road medley. Paul McCartney, feeling that the song "Her Majesty" distracts from the flow of the medley, has it removed and orders it erased. Second engineer John Kurlander, not wanting to destroy a Beatles song, instead appends it to the end of the medley tape, adding 15 seconds of leader to make sure it's kept separate. When he finds out, Paul likes the effect so much that he leaves the ending of the album just that way.

1979 - Chic release Risqué. Chic was very much in its prime when it recorded its third album, Risqué, which contained hits that ranged from "My Feet Keep Dancing" and "My Forbidden Lover" to the influential "Good Times." That feel-good manifesto is one of the first songs that comes to mind when one thinks of the disco era and the Jimmy Carter years, but Chic's popularity certainly wasn't limited to the disco crowd. The fact that "Good Times" became the foundation for both the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" tells you a lot -- it underscores the fact that Chic was influencing everyone from early rappers to art rockers.

In a review for BBC, Daryl Easlea called the album "one of the greatest exhibits in the case for disco's defence," and saying that it was "Chic's most sustained artistic statement, a celebration of a 70s that was collapsing under its own excess and hedonism."

1986 - Variety magazine reported that RCA had dropped John Denver from its roster after the release of his single, "What Are We Making Weapons For." Variety said the song upset the record company's new owner, General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the U.S.

1996 - Sublime release their self titled album. Sublime's eponymous major-label debut arrived a few months after the band's leader, Brad Nowell, died tragically of a he**in overdose. The trio shows a surprising grace in its unabashedly traditionalist fusion of Californian hardcore punk, light hip-hop, and reggae. By and large, the album is quite engaging. Of course, Nowell's death gives the record a certain pathos, but that doesn't make the album any stronger.

2001 - The Strokes release Is This It. Granted, their faultless influences -- especially the Stooges, Lou Reed, and the Velvet Underground -- have "critics' darlings" written all over them. However, the Strokes don't rehash the sounds that inspire them; they remake them in their own image. The band's pop-inflected, second-generation take on late-'70s New York punk comes complete with raw, world-weary vocals, spiky guitars, and an insistently chugging backbeat that all sound familiar, but the songs on their debut album also reflect their own early-twenties lust for life.

2002 - Bruce Springsteen releases The Rising. The many voices that come out of the ether on Bruce Springsteen's The Rising all seem to have two things in common: the first is that they are writing from the other side, from the day after September 11, 2001, the day when life began anew, more uncertain than ever before. The other commonality that these voices share is the determination that life, however fraught with tragedy and confusion, is precious and should be lived as such.

The band is in fine form, they play with an urgency and rawness they've seldom shown. This may not have been the ideal occasion for a reunion after 15 years, but it's one they got, and they go for broke.

There are tales of great suffering in The Rising to be sure, but there is joy, hope, and possibility, too. Above all, there is a celebration and reverence for everyday life. And if we need anything from rock & roll, it's that. It would be unfair to lay on Bruce Springsteen the responsibility of guiding people through the aftermath of a tragedy and getting on with the business of living, but rock & roll as impure, messy, and edifying as this helps.

Birthdays:

George “Buddy” Guy is 88. Buddy Guy is one of the most celebrated blues guitarists of his generation (arguably the most celebrated), possessing a sound and style that embody the traditions of classic Chicago blues while also embracing the fire and flash of rock & roll.

As artists like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Keith Richards became aware of Guy’s gifts as a guitarist and vocalist, his legend grew. Clapton later inducted Guy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying “He stood out in the mix, simply by virtue of the originality and vitality of his playing." (Photo by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images)

Saxophonist David Sanborn was born today in 1945. Multi-Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and arranger David Sanborn was among the most commercially successful saxophonists to emerge from the 1970s, carving out a career that saw him playing all types of jazz as well as rock, soul, and R&B with a biting, instantly recognizable tone that was always passionate and completely committed. A pioneer of smooth and contemporary jazz, he was also a prolific session player whose horn has graced recordings by more than 100 artists including Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Esther Phillips, James Brown, and Ween.


Blues musician Otis Taylor is 76. Taylor never skirted tough subject matter in a career that took him from the Folklore Center in Denver to a brief stay in London, England, to his retirement from music in 1977, to being a successful antiques broker and, in 1995, back again to the blues.

Rat Scabies of The Damned is 69. Possessing one of the most memorable stage names to come from the first wave of British punk, Rat Scabies was one of the founding members of the Damned, and richly earned his reputation as one of the best, strongest, and fastest drummers on the scene. Scabies could bash hard and fast with the best of them, and as the group's approach became more ambitious and eclectic, he was more than capable of keeping up. After he left the Damned, he worked with a wide variety of acts, running the gamut from recording with U.K. goth rockers Nosferatu to serving as touring drummer for psych-folk legend Donovan.

Kate Bush is 66. Throughout the entirety of a one-of-a-kind creative journey, Kate Bush has achieved the rare feat of making innovative, fearlessly experimental work that's also wildly successful. From the start, Bush's music was ambitious and strange, and her mélange of art rock, pop hooks, theatrical twists, fantastical vocal performances, and complex musicianship resulted in hits.

It was Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, who arranged for the 15-year-old Bush to record her first demo. With Gilmour's help, Bush was signed to EMI Records at age 16.

Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers is 44.

R.I.P.:

2003 - Sun Records founder Sam Phillips died of respiratory failure in Memphis, Tenn., at age 80.

Sam Phillips was not just one of the most important producers in rock history. There's a good argument to be made that he was also one of the most important figures in 20th century American culture. As owner of Sun Records and frequent producer of discs at his Sun Studios he was vital to launching the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Rufus Thomas, and numerous other significant artists. Although he first made his mark (and a very deep one) with electric blues by Black performers, he will be most remembered for his rockabilly stars, particularly Elvis Presley. With singers such as Elvis, he was fusing the best of White and Black, and of R&B and C&W -- the main ingredients in the recipe that gave birth to rock & roll. In the mid-'50s in Memphis, when much of America and most of the South was racially segregated, this took not just artistic vision but personal courage.

2014 - Guitarist, and songwriter Dick Wagner, who worked with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed died from a lung infection aged 71. One of the best-known songs written by Wagner is 'Only Women Bleed', which was one of Alice Coppers biggest hits.

On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Music this Day, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.

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07/27/2024

ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 7.26

1973 - ZZ Top release Tres Hombre. It's the record that brought ZZ Top their first Top Ten record, making them stars in the process. It couldn't have happened to a better record. It has a filthy groove and an infectious feel, thanks to Billy Gibbons' growling guitars and the steady propulsion of Dusty Hill and Frank Beard's rhythm section. They get the blend of bluesy shuffles, gut-bucket rocking, and off-beat humor just right. ZZ Top's very identity comes from this earthy sound and songs as utterly infectious as "Waitin' for the Bus," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," and the John Lee Ho**er boogie "La Grange."

1974 - The Rolling Stones release It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It). Faces guitarist Ron Wood, who had not yet joined The Rolling Stones, had a big part in it. Wood lived in a London estate called The Wick. It was there that Wood put the song together at a session with Mick Jagger on vocals, David Bowie singing background, the session player Willie Weeks on bass, and Wood's Faces bandmate, Kenney Jones, on drums.

According to Mick, “The idea of the song has to do with our public persona at the time. I was getting a bit tired of people having a go, all that, ‘oh, it’s not as good as their last one’ business.

Richards wrote in his 2010 memoir, Life, “It’s Mick’s song, and he’d cut it with [David] Bowie as a dub. Mick had gotten this idea, and they started to rock on it. It was damn good. S–t, Mick, what are you doing it with Bowie for? Come on, we’ve got to steal that motherf–ker back. And we did, without too much difficulty. Just the title by itself was so beautifully simple, even if it hadn’t been a great song in its own right. I mean, come on. ‘It’s only rock and roll, but I like it.'”

1977 - Elvis Costello was arrested as he performed outside a CBS Records sales conference at The London Hilton Hotel. Costello wants an audition for a U.S. deal. He's taken away and fined. But CBS invites him back for a proper audition which he nails.

1977 - Tragedy struck Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant when his five-year-old son, Karac, died suddenly of a stomach virus. The remaining seven dates on Led Zeppelin's US tour were canceled and the band headed for home. Plant was later quoted as saying that 1977 was "the year it all stopped for me. Nothing could make it all right again and nothing ever will."

1979 - The Clash release their self titled debut. Never Mind the Bo****ks may have appeared revolutionary, but the Clash's eponymous debut album was pure, unadulterated rage and fury, fueled by passion for both rock & roll and revolution.

Joe Strummer's slurred wails perfectly compliment the edgy rock, while Mick Jones' clearer singing and charged guitar breaks make his numbers righteously anthemic. Even at this early stage, the Clash were experimenting with reggae, most notably on the Junior Murvin cover "Police & Thieves" and the extraordinary "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais," which was one of five tracks added to the American edition. Rock & roll is rarely as edgy, invigorating, and sonically revolutionary as this debut.

2011 - Ford became the first major auto manufacturer to announce plans to ditch the CD player in favor of a USB port. A company spokesperson said "The in-car CD player, much like pay telephones, is destined to fade away in the face of exciting new technology." GM and Chrysler would follow in 2015, although the devices were still available on some models. CD players have been estimated to cost auto makers about $30 to install.

Birthdays:

Singer Dobie Gray was born today in 1940. Best known for his 1973 smash "Drift Away," Dobie Gray was a versatile vocalist who could handle soul, country, and pop, not to mention musical theater.

Darlene Love is 83. Love sang lead vocals on "He's a Rebel," which was credited to the Crystals, and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," which was issued under the name Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans.

Love became busy as an actress, she appeared in all four Lethal Weapon films, and was also in the Royal Shakespeare Company's co-production of Stephen King's Carrie. She appeared briefly on the soap opera Another World in 1993 and later went on to appear as Motormouth Maybelle in the Broadway production of Hairspray.

Brenton Wood is 83. Brenton Wood's charmingly unpredictable phrasing and his infectious sense of good times made the smooth uptown soul of "The Oogum Boogum Song" and "Gimme Little Sign" into hits in 1967. Despite his skill as a pop-soul vocalist, Wood was never able to match such heights again, yet those two songs became genuine R&B classics of their era.

Mick Jagger is 81. As the lead singer for the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger virtually invented the concept of the rock & roll frontman. Taking his cues from soul singers, bluesmen, and Elvis Presley, Jagger crafted a magnetic, carnal persona that retained its charisma even after it was mimicked and expanded by countless singers who followed in his footsteps.

Interesting facts:

He Could Have Been an Accountant. Even when he had already begun informally playing in clubs with the core that would become the Stones, he was taking classes at the London School of Economics.

He turned down a role in A Clockwork Orange and came up short to Tim Curry in his efforts to be cast in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

One night in Amsterdam, a tipsy Mick calls Charlie’s hotel room in the wee hours to ask, “Where’s my drummer?” The mild-mannered Charlie just hangs up the phone, gets dressed up in his finest suit and tie, shines his shoes, even puts on cologne, heads to Mick’s room, knocks on the door — and punches him in the face. Charlie warns him, “Don’t ever call me your drummer again. You’re my fu***ng singer.” Mick never pulls that again.

He's a great grandfather.

(Photo by Stones Archive/Getty Images)

Betty Davis was born on this day in 1944. Funk vocalist, songwriter, and producer Betty Davis was artistic and s*xual liberation personified. Uncompromising, unfiltered, and ahead of its time, her small body of work consequently made little commercial impact but gradually found a wider audience.

Well before her death in 2022, Davis became an enduring influence heard in the output of artists ranging from Millie Jackson to Prince, from Macy Gray to Beyoncé, and from R&B balladeers to hardcore rappers.

Sam Beam, is 50. Singer/songwriter Sam Beam became one of the leading voices of the indie folk scene in the 2000s with his work under the name Iron & Wine. His deeply burnished vocals, keen melodic sensibility, and introspective, free-flowing lyrical point of view combine to give him a singular artistic vision.

R.I.P.:

1990 - Brent Mydland from The Grateful Dead was found dead on the floor of his home aged 38. After a stint with one of Bob Weir's side projects, Mydland went on to join the Dead in 1979, taking over for Keith Godchaux. By the mid-'80s, he was trading verses on many songs and singing lead on others, along with co-writing credits. After arriving home from summer tour in 1990, Mydland was found dead in his home in Lafayette, CA, of a drug overdose.

1992 - Mary Wells died at 49. Wells helped define the sound of Motown in the early 1960s along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, and the Four Tops. She was known for her singles, "The One Who Really Loves You", "Two Lovers", the Grammy-nominated "You Beat Me to the Punch" and her signature hit, "My Guy".

2013 - Oklahoma guitarist J.J. Cale died at age 74. With his laid-back rootsy style, J.J. Cale was best-known for writing "After Midnight" and "Co***ne," songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. Also "Call Me The Breeze" covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting -- his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others.

2023 - Sinéad O'Connor died at the age of 56 in London, England.With her wide-ranging art and steadfast beliefs, Sinéad O'Connor embodied courage. In a soprano that ranged from piercing to caressing, she used the pain of her childhood to speak out against others' suffering. She fused rock, hip-hop, and electronic pop with subjects -- s*x, religion, oppression -- many other artists wouldn't touch. By the time of her death, O'Connor was an heir to the protest singers she admired and a major influence on the confessional, outspoken singer/songwriters that followed in her wake.

2023 - Founding member of the Eagles Randy Meisner died at the age of 77. He was also member of Poco and Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band.

Meisner's high harmony singing and bass (along with some guitar) were at the core of the Eagles sound, and his songwriting figured on all of their albums. "Take It to the Limit" was his biggest hit with the band.

On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, American Songwriter, Song Facts, Allmusic, Rolling Stone, and Wikipedia.

07/25/2024

ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 7.25

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1959 - Introduced by Johnny Cash, 13-year-old Dolly Parton makes her Grand Ole Opry debut singing George Jones' "You Gotta Be My Baby." She receives three encores.

1965 - At the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan played an electric set for the first time, horrifying folk purists everywhere.

Dylan fans are expecting to hear him sing and strum his acoustic guitar to hits such as "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Blowin' In The Wind." They may sense they are in for something different when Dylan strolls onto the stage in black jeans, black boots, and black leather jacket. Their suspicions are confirmed when he plugs in a 3-tone Sunburst Fender Stratocaster.

Backed by members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Dylan declares, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more," and launches into 16 minutes of hard-rocking electric blues. "Maggie's Farm" is followed by "Like a Rolling Stone," "Phantom Engineer," and "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." Dylan has gone electric.

1968 - The Beatles recorded their first take of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Harrison had been reading the Chinese philosophical text the I Ching, which stipulates that there are no coincidences in the universe (i.e. that everything is connected and thus meant to be), and decided to use the book as inspiration to write a song. So, he opened another book and told himself he would compose a song based on the very first words his eyes landed on. The words turned out to be "gently weeps".

1969 - Neil Young appeared with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the first time at The Fillmore East in New York. Young was initially asked to help out with live material only, but ended up joining the group on and off for the next 30 years.

1969 - Yes released their self-titled debut album, one of the first in the progressive rock genre. n an era when psychedelic meanderings were the order of the day, Yes delivered a surprisingly focused and exciting record that covered lots of bases (perhaps too many) in presenting their sound. The album opens boldly, with the fervor of a metal band of the era playing full tilt on "Beyond and Before," but it is with the second number, a cover of the Byrds' "I See You," that they show some of their real range. And then there is "Every Little Thing," the most daring Beatles cover ever to appear on an English record, with an apocalyptic introduction and extraordinary shifts in tempo and dynamics, guitar and drums so animated that they seem to be playing several songs at once.

1970 - CCR releases Lookin' Out My Back Door. The song's lyrics, filled with colorful, dream-like imagery, lead some to believe that it is about drugs. Fogerty, however, has stated in interviews that the song was actually written for his then three-year-old son, Josh. Fogerty has also said that the allusion to a parade passing by was inspired by the Dr. Seuss book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

1989 - The Beastie Boys release Paul's Boutique. To put it mildly, it's a considerable change from the hard rock of Licensed to Ill, shifting to layers of samples and beats so intertwined they move beyond psychedelic; it's a painting with sound. Paul's Boutique is a record that only could have been made in a specific time and place.

Snatches of familiar music are scattered throughout the record -- anything from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Sly Stone's "Loose B***y" to Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" and the Ramones' "Suzy Is a Headbanger" -- but never once are they presented in lazy, predictable ways.

Producers, The Dust Brothers and the Beasties weave a crazy-quilt of samples, beats, loops, and tricks, which creates a hyper-surreal alternate reality -- a romanticized, funhouse reflection of New York where all pop music and culture exist on the same strata, feeding off each other, mocking each other, evolving into a wholly unique record, unlike anything that came before or after.

1999 - This years Woodstock Festival ended with riots resulting in 120 people being arrested. Three people died during the 3-day festival in separate incidents and many were hospitalized after drinking polluted water.

2006 - Tom Petty releases Highway Companion. Tom Petty's concept for his third solo album is laid bare in its very title: it's called Highway Companion, which is a tip-off that this record was made with the road in mind.

Highway Companion has as much in common with the rustic, handmade overtones of 1994's Wildflowers as it does with the pop sheen of Full Moon Fever -- it is precise and polished, yet it's on a small scale, lacking the layers of overdubs that distinguish Lynne's production, and the end result is quite appealing, since it's at once modest but not insular. Highlights: Saving Grace and Square One.

Birthdays:

William 'Benny' Benjamin, primary drummer for Motown house band, The Funk Brothers, was born on this day in 1925. Playing in Big Bands and heavily influenced by jazz and afro-cuban drummers, he had a very unique and identifiable style of playing and flawless time. Benny was basically a jazz drummer who became a pop musician in the 60s. He was the first-call of three drummers for The Funk Brothers, Motown's impeccable studio band. Benny played on huge hits for The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, The Supremes, The Miracles, and Gladys Knight & The Pips.



Tom Dawes (lead vocalist of The Cyrkle) was born in Albany, New York in 1944. Cyrkle had a 1966 hit with Red Rubber Ball (co-written by Paul Simon). He is also remembered for writing the music for some of advertising's best-known commercial jingles, including "Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz" for Alka-Seltzer and "7Up, the Uncola."

Rita Marley is 78. Best known as Bob Marley's wife, Rita Marley was also a solo artist in her own right both before and after her marriage, and served as the caretaker of her husband's legacy following his premature death in 1981.

When Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the Wailers in 1974, Rita helped organize the I-Threes, a female vocal trio consisting of herself, Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt. The I-Threes backed Bob Marley in the studio and on tour for the remainder of his career, up until his death from melanoma in 1981.

Folk singer-songwriter Steve Goodman was born today in 1948. A celebrated singer and songwriter whose critical acclaim and reputation among his peers far outstripped his popularity with mainstream listeners, Steve Goodman was a Chicago-based tunesmith with a gift for clever but unpretentious wit, compassionate character studies, and a sharp eye for the details of Midwestern life.

Thurston Moore is 66. Thurston Moore's work with Sonic Youth rearranged the parameters of indie rock to an almost incalculable degree, merging experimental art rock tendencies with unconventional guitar tunings for a sound that would influence generations to come. Moore's abstract poetic lyrics and perpetually mysterious aura were core ingredients of Sonic Youth's 30-plus-year run He ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

R.I.P.:

1984 - Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton died at the age of 58 died in Los Angeles of heart and liver complications. Big Mama Thornton was a vibrant rhythm & blues shouter whose trademark growl and equally powerful clean shout were a major influence on generations of R&B and rock artists to come. While she never crossed over to the pop charts, two of her signature songs would become well known to rock fans: She was the first to record "Hound Dog," written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, four years before Elvis Presley had a hit with the tune, and she wrote "Ball & Chain," which Janis Joplin performed with gusto on Big Brother & the Holding Company's epochal 1968 album Cheap Thrills.

2020 - Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green died in his sleep at age 73. Green's early musical influences were Hank Marvin of the Shadows, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Freddie King. He was a member of John Mayall's Bluebreakers before founding Fleetwood Mac. His songs, such as 'Albatross,' 'Black Magic Woman,' 'Oh Well,' 'The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown),' and 'Man of the World' became worldwide hits. Green left the band in 1970 as he struggled with his mental health.

On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, A Gibson Music, Music this Day, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.

07/24/2024

ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 7.24

1964 - The Zombies release She's Not There. The Zombies got a big break when the recording engineer for the session passed out on the floor. That's because the assistant, who took over, was Gus Dudgeon, who went on to produce Elton John's seminal albums. Before he passed out, the original engineer was surly to the group and keen to get it over with. He had been to a wedding early and arrived at the session drunk.

The opening line, "Well, no one told me about her
The way she lied" was inspired by John Lee Ho**er's "No One Told Me". Rod Argent explained: "If you play that John Lee Ho**er song you'll hear 'no one told me, it was just a feeling I had inside' but there's nothing in the melody or the chords that's the same. It was just the way that little phrase just tripped off the tongue."

1965 - Bob Dylan charts for the first time as an artist in the US when "Like A Rolling Stone" enters at #91. A handful of his songs have already been hits as covered by other artists, most notably the 1963 Peter, Paul and Mary version of "Blowin' In The Wind."

1967 - The Beach Boys releases Heroes And Villains. A song written and produced by Brian Wilson with words by Van D**e Parks. Envisioned as a three-minute music comedy, it was the follow-up single to the group's "Good Vibrations" and intended as the centerpiece to the unfinished album Smile. After the album was shelved, the song was rearranged and issued as a single in July 1967 and was placed as the opening track to the studio album Smiley Smile.

1967 - The Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi after his lecture on Transcendental Meditation in London. The Maharishi invited The Beatles to travel with him to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend more lectures. They accepted his invitation. The same day, all four Beatles signed a petition in favor of the legalization of ma*****na in Britain.

1969 - Paul McCartney recorded a demo of his new song ‘Come and Get It’ at Abbey Road. McCartney gave the song to The Iveys, (soon to become known as Badfinger). The song was later used as the theme for the movie The Magic Christian.

1977 - The original Led Zeppelin lineup played their last-ever show in the United States. Two days after the concert, which was held at the Oakland Coliseum, Robert Plant learned that his five-year-old son, Karac, had died of a stomach infection and canceled the rest of their tour. The song All My Love from In Through The Out Door, was written as a tribute to Karac.

1978 - The film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens in America, and it tanks hard. Savaged by critics, it becomes a legendary Hollywood flop despite appearances by Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Aerosmith and The Bee Gees.

It tells the tale of Billy Shears (played by Peter Frampton) and his efforts to save his hometown of Heartland from exploitative record company executive D.B.

The Beatles themselves were also distinctly unimpressed with the movie: Despite attending the premiere Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr refuse to associate themselves with the film after seeing it; George Harrison and John Lennon won't even watch it.

The soundtrack fares much better, going on to sell over a million copies.

1982 - Survivor started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Eye Of The Tiger," taken from the film Rocky III. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik, and was recorded at the request of Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust".

1987 - The movie "La Bamba", a somewhat fictionalized biography of Latin rock star Ritchie Valens, opened in the U.S. It was generally well received, especially the soundtrack by Los Lobos. Lou Diamond Phillips starred as Valens, who died in the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper; Marshall Crenshaw appeared as Buddy Holly and Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochran.

2001 - Jimmy Eat World release their fourth album, Bleed American, featuring the tracks "The Middle" and "Sweetness." Recorded entirely on the band's dime before they had a new record deal, the features compelling lyrics, driving guitar work, and insanely catchy melodies. features the hit, The Middle.

The album is re-titled Jimmy Eat World after September 11.

2014 - Chubby Checker settled his lawsuit with Hewlett-Packard over their app "The Chubby Checker." The app, which sold for 99 cents, purported to estimate a man's "member size" based on his shoe size.

2022 - Joni Mitchell makes a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, performing a full set for the first time since 2000. Performing from a chair (Mitchell had a brain aneurism in 2015), she's joined by Brandi Carlile for most of the set. Her set included some of her most recognizable songs like "Both Sides Now", "Circle Game" and "Big Yellow Taxi". (Photo credit should read MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)

R.I.P.:

Dan Peek, a founding member of America died in his sleep at the age of 60. The group notched eight Top 40 hits in the US between 1971 and 1975, including "A Horse With No Name", "Sister Golden Hair", "Ventura Highway", "Tin Man", and Peek's own composition "Lonely People".

On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, and occasionally woven together by my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Classic Bands, Music this Day, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.

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