1956Elvis Presley received a Gold record for “Don’t Be Cruel,” which had topped Billboard’s pop, country, and R&B charts.
1964A Beatles concert at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium was stopped for 15 minutes when police intervened after fans breached the security barriers.
1968The Doors performed in Amsterdam as a trio after Jim Morrison collapsed during Jefferson Airplane’s performance. Ray Manzarek handled lead vocals.
1972John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Some Time in New York City was released in Britain after a publishing dispute. It reached No. 11 in the U.K. but only No. 48 in America.
1979Led Zeppelin’s In Through the Out Door reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, selling more than 1.7 million copies in its first weeks.
1983Huey Lewis and the News released Sports, which eventually produced five U.S. hit singles and earned seven-times-Platinum certification.
1990Bruce Hornsby made his debut as a touring member of the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden after Brent Mydland’s death.
2004Johnny Ramone, co-founder and guitarist of The Ramones, died at 55 after a five-year battle with prostate cancer.
2008Pink Floyd keyboardist and founding member Rick Wright died of cancer at 65, closely associated with “The Great Gig in the Sky.”
2019The Cars’ frontman Ric Ocasek was found dead at 75. The New Wave band had placed nine albums on the Billboard 200 and 32 singles on the Hot 100.
1931RCA-Victor demonstrated a 33⅓-rpm long-playing record at New York’s Savoy Plaza. Players costing about $95 during the Depression doomed the launch; Columbia successfully revived the format in 1948.
1955James Dean filmed a teen driving-safety message and improvised a warning that the life saved might be his. Thirteen days later, the twenty-four-year-old died in a California road crash.
1955After stations complained “Magic Melody” stopped before “two bits,” Capitol sent broadcasters Les Paul and Mary Ford’s one-second “Magic Melody Part II,” often called history’s shortest record.
1956The BBC banned Bill Haley’s Scottish-folk adaptation “Rockin’ Through the Rye” for offending traditional standards. Already No. 5, it rose to No. 3 after the prohibition.
1960Sam Phillips opened a modern studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis before about 200 guests. It replaced the original Sun facility until the catalogue and studio were sold to Shelby Singleton in 1969.
1962Arthur Alexander released self-written “Anna (Go to Him),” inspired by girlfriend Ann and later No. 68 pop and No. 10 R&B. They eventually married and divorced; his other compositions included “You Better Move On.”
1964Kansas City Athletics owner Charlie Finley paid the Beatles a record $150,000—six times their normal fee—to surrender a day off and play Municipal Stadium, but only 20,280 attended the half-empty venue.
1967Jim Morrison ignored Ed Sullivan’s requested lyric change and sang “couldn’t get much higher.” Sullivan barred the Doors from returning; Morrison replied that they had already done the show.
1968Diana Ross recorded “Love Child” without touring Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong; the Andantes supplied backgrounds. It topped Billboard, sold 500,000 its first week, and two million by year’s end.
1968The 5th Dimension received a second Gold record for Laura Nyro’s “Stoned Soul Picnic,” No. 3 pop and No. 2 R&B.
1969Drake University student editor Tim Harper published an early “Paul is dead” article claiming a 1966 crash and replacement double. Paul, actually vacationing in Kenya at the supposed time, later told Life he was fit.
1977Diana Ross and the Supremes’ 20 Golden Greats began seven weeks atop Britain’s album chart, despite including two songs never issued as UK hits.