‘Tennessee’ Ernie Ford’s "Sixteen Tons" enters the Billboard Country chart, where it would enjoy a ten week stay at #1. The song would cross over to the Pop chart and lead that list for eight weeks. The record would become one of the biggest selling singles of the 1950s and was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry on March 25, 2015.

Police use tear gas to break up a riot that broke out during a Fats Domino concert in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In a frantic bid to escape the melee and the gas, Domino and two of his bandmates jumped through a window, escaping the venue with only minor cuts and bruises.

Elvis Presley had eight hits in the UK Top 30, an all-time record up to that point. The songs were: "Party" (#3, )"Teddy Bear" (#11), "All Shook Up" (#17), "Got a Lot of Livin’ To Do" (#19), "Trying to Get to You" (#21), "Loving You" (#24), "Paralyzed" (#26) and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (#30).

Wink Martindale’s rendition of a 1948 Country scored called "The Deck Of Cards" peaks at #7 on the Billboard chart, on its way to selling over a million copies. After becoming a disc jockey, Martindale would move on to TV where he would host his first game show, What’s This Song? in 1964.

London’s Daily Mirror ran a headline reviewing a frenzied concert in Cheltenham, bringing the term "Beatlemania" into the public lexicon. Though rival papers had printed the word weeks earlier, this specific feature brought the expression into popular use.

The album "In the Wind" by Peter, Paul And Mary led the Billboard Top LPs chart for the first of five consecutive weeks. The lead single from the LP, "Blowin’ In The Wind" would reach #2 on the Hot 100, selling a million copies in the process. A second release, "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right" peaked at #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #9 on the Pop Singles chart. Both of those songs were Bob Dylan compositions.

Jerry And The Pacemakers version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "You’ll Never Walk Alone" tops the UK chart, giving them the distinction of having their first three singles all rise to number one. This feat would not be duplicated for twenty-one years when Frankie Goes To Hollywood also took each of their first three singles to the top.

Dion angrily walks off the set of the British TV television program Ready Steady Go! after trying to rehearse his scored "Donna The Prima Donna", claiming he was distracted by the dancers surrounding him during the song.

Paul Revere And The Raiders appear on an episode of ABC-TV’s Batman , where they portray a local Rock group hired by the Penguin (played by Burgess Meredith). They played an instrumental track for a belly dancer named "Little Egypt" and backed up the villain for his campaign song set to the tune of "Yankee Doodle".

The British label Reaction issues Cream’s second album, "Disraeli Gears". It would rise to #4 in America and #5 in Britain, and included the singles "Strange Brew" (UK #17) and "Sunshine of Your Love" (US #5, UK #25). Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, Rolling Stone still had it ranked at #170 on their 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Stevie Wonder ‘s rendition of "For Once In My Life" enters the Billboard Top 40, where it would reach #2. The song had previously been cut by Barbara McNair, Jack Soo, Tony Bennett and The Temptations.

Appearing at Madison Square Garden on their farewell tour of the US, Atco Records presents Cream with a Platinum disc for $2 million worth of sales of the double album "Wheels of Fire".

Apple Records releases Ringo Starr’s third album, "Ringo". Featuring the singles, "Photograph", (US #1, UK #8), "You’re Sixteen" (US #1, UK #4) and "Oh My My" (US #5)), the LP would reach #1 in Canada, #7 in the UK, and #2 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. It would go on to be certified Gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 copies, and Platinum in the US for moving over 1,000,000 units.

"You Haven’t Done Nothin" becomes Stevie Wonder ‘s fourth US number one single. The record, on which Stevie was joined by The Jackson 5 , rose to the top of both the Billboard and Cash Box charts. The lyrics are clearly aimed at US President Richard Nixon, who resigned eighteen days after the record’s July 22nd release.

Three Dog Night ‘s next to last charting record, "Play Something Sweet" enters the Billboard Top 40 where it would peak at number 33. August of 1975 would see the end of their eight years as scored makers when "Til The World Ends" would reach number 32.

Bad Company ‘s first Billboard chart entry, "Can’t Get Enough" tops out at #5. The British quartet would go on to place eight more songs in the US Top 40, including "Feel Like Makin’ Love" (#10) and "If You Needed Somebody" (#4).

Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young have the number one album in America when "So Far" reaches the top of the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for a one week stay. The band’s third straight chart topper, the effort would prove to be the second best selling LP of the quartet’s career. It has since been certified 6X Platinum.

George Harrison turned into the first ex-Beatle to launch a solo tour, debuting in Vancouver, Canada, alongside Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar. Although grueling rehearsal sessions left Harrison with a badly strained, raspy voice, the tour was a massive commercial success that played to moved-out arenas.

Four years after The Partridge Family was canceled, David Cassidy debuts in a new show called David Cassidy: Man Undercover on NBC. Spun off of the crime drama Police Story , the series failed to find a steady viewing audience and would be canceled by the network after just ten episodes.

After a judge rules that he shot in self defense, The Reverend Marvin Gay Sr. is given only five years probation for killing his son, Marvin Gaye . (Marvin added an "e" to his stage name) Ironically, it was Marvin Jr. who had given his father the .38 revolver used in the killing.

Stevie Wonder ‘s "Part-Time Lover" rose to the top of the Billboard Pop chart, becoming his ninth single to do so. The song also led the R&B, Dance and Adult Contemporary charts, making Stevie the first artist to score a number one scored on four different Billboard charts. In the UK, it climbed to #3.

George Harrison releases his ninth studio album, "Cloud Nine" on his own Dark Horse label. Featuring his rendition of "Got My Mind Set on You" (US #1, UK #2), the LP would peak at #8 in the US and #10 in the UK. It would prove to be the last solo, studio album that George ever issued during his lifetime, as he would pass away on November 29th, 2001 at the age of 58.

The iconic music television program Soul Train commemorated twenty-five years on the air with a star-studded anniversary special taped at the Shrine Auditorium. The program featured performances by Al Green, Bill Withers, Diana Ross, and Patti LaBelle.

Virgin Records releases The Rolling Stones ‘ live album, "No Security" ahead of a thirty-four date tour of the same name. Not one of the band’s better selling LPs, it could only manage to climb to #34 in America and #67 in Great Britain.

Following a dedicated two-year period of research and development, the music history website www.classicbands.com officially launched online. Designed to preserve and celebrate classic Pop and Rock trivia, the platform established its identity with the unique, tongue-in-cheek tagline declaring that it publishes in both official languages: Rock and Roll. The entire history calendar underwent an extensive update using modern search methods in 2026, a project that took several months to complete.

Beach Boys singer Mike Love launched a lawsuit against former band mate Brian Wilson for using Love’s likeness and the band trademark to promote Wilson’s album "Smile", allegedly costing the other band members millions in unpaid revenue. The case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge in May, 2007, who ruled that Love’s claims were completely without merit.

Jim Clench, bassist for April Wine on their Billboard #32 scored "You Could Have Been A Lady" in 1972, passed away of lung cancer at the age of 61. The band also charted with "Roller" (#34 in 1979) and "Just Between You And Me" (#21 in 1981), after Clench left the band in 1975. He eventually rejoined for a second tenure from 1992 until his final retirement from the lineup in 2006.

A U.S. Federal Appeals Court ruled that the television network CBS should not be penalized for broadcasting Janet Jackson’s infamous 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction". The high-profile legal dispute was triggered after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a record-setting $550,000 fine following a brief glimpse of the pop icon’s exposed breast during the live halftime show.

Mr. Acker Bilk (born Bernard Stanley Bilk), the clarinet player who rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with the instrumental "Stranger on the Shore" in 1961, passed away at the age of 85. He was the first UK act to lead an American music chart in the 1960s. In his home country, he enjoyed eleven Top 40 hits and six Top 40 albums.

80-year-old Johnny Mathis returns home from an Ohio concert to find his Hollywood Hills mansion engulfed in flames. The house, built by billionaire Howard Hughes in 1946, sustained heavy damage, but Johnny remained upbeat when he told reporters, "I’m a very lucky man, I could’ve been here, I could’ve been in bed. I’m very lucky, a little sad of course, but very lucky."

The Beatles issued what they called "one last song", a Soft Rock ballad written by John Lennon titled "Now and Then". The single was backed with a new mix of the band’s first single, 1962’s "Love Me Do", with the two serving as bookends to the band’s history. "Now And Then" was rescued from a cassette tape that John Lennon cut in 1977 as a solo, piano, home demo, but left unfinished. The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison attempted to complete it in 1995, but the trio abandoned their efforts because Harrison thought it was "fucking rubbish." In the summer of 2023, the track was completed using modern machine learning to isolate John Lennon’s vocals before layering them with archival guitar tracks from Harrison and fresh rhythm contributions from Paul and Ringo.

Vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux, who sang with The Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979, passed away in a hospice facility in Nashville following a long battle with cancer. She was 78. Before joining The Dead she sang background vocals on two Billboard number one hits, "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge, and "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley. — Home Page — Next Day –>