“American Bandstand” launched nationally on the ABC network with 27-year-old Dick Clark hosting. The show had actually started as a local Philadelphia program on WFIL back in 1952, with Clark taking over hosting duties from Bob Horn in July 1956. For the national premiere, Clark welcomed The Chordettes as his first guests and spun Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” as the first record. Clark would remain the face of the show until 1989, but his eventual successor, David Hirsch, saw the program cancelled just five months into the job.

The Beach Boys began tracking “When I Grow Up To Be A Man” at United Western Studios in Hollywood, a song that would go on to reach #9 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart. The session lineup included Al Jardine on bass and vocals, Mike Love on lead and background vocals, Brian Wilson on piano, electric harpsichord, and vocals, Carl Wilson on lead and rhythm guitars plus vocals, Dennis Wilson on drums and vocals, and Carrol Lewis contributing double-reed harmonica.

Jan Berry of Jan and Dean broke his leg after being knocked off a flatcar on the very first day of filming for “Easy Come, Easy Go.” Seventeen other people were also injured in the incident, prompting Paramount to scrap the film entirely. The studio would later recycle that same title for an unrelated 1967 movie starring Elvis Presley.

The Beatles put out their seventh studio album, “Revolver,” in the United Kingdom, three days ahead of its American release. The record spent seven weeks atop the UK’s Record Retailer chart and six weeks leading Billboard’s Top LPs list, driven by standout tracks “Eleanor Rigby” (US #11, UK #1), “Yellow Submarine” (US #2, UK #1), and “Got to Get You into My Life” (US #7).

Luther Perkins, the 40-year-old guitarist behind Johnny Cash’s signature “boom-chicka-boom” sound, died two days after being trapped in a house fire in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Reports suggested he had fallen asleep in his living room while holding a lit cigarette, despite his family insisting he hadn’t smoked in years.

Wayne Newton scored the biggest hit of his career as the million-selling “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” topped the Cashbox chart. On Billboard’s Hot 100, it peaked at #4 — the only time Newton ever cracked the Top Ten, with earlier singles “Danke Schoen” (#13 in 1963) and “Red Roses For A Blue Lady” (#23 in 1965) falling short.

A Rock and Roll revival concert took place at Wembley Stadium near London, featuring Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Billy Fury, Bill Haley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The crowd, largely made up of greasers, Teddy Boys, and troublemakers, disrupted the show throughout and at one point booed Little Richard off the stage entirely.

Following a show at Max’s Kansas City in New York, Aerosmith inked a $125,000 recording deal with Clive Davis at Columbia Records.

Stevie Wonder signed a seven-year, seven-album deal with Motown worth $37 million — the largest recording contract in the industry at the time — which also granted him complete artistic control over his music, an almost unprecedented level of independence for an artist of that era. The following year, he’d release the double album “Songs in the Key of Life,” which won the 1977 Grammy for Album of the Year.

The Rolling Stones’ lone foray into disco, “Miss You,” became their eighth #1 single in the US, though it only climbed to #3 in the UK. It’s been widely reported that the song’s lyrics drew from Mick Jagger’s crumbling marriage to Bianca Jagger.

Steve Martin’s novelty single “King Tut” reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, nearly three months after debuting in a Saturday Night Live sketch. Some of the musicians backing the track, credited as “the Toot Uncommons,” were actually members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The Egyptian-pharaoh-themed tune went on to sell more than a million copies.

Chrysalis Records put out Pat Benatar’s second studio album, “Crimes Of Passion,” which climbed to #2 on Billboard’s Top LPs & Tape chart and held that spot for five weeks in January 1981, trailing only John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Double Fantasy.” The album’s lead single, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Cashbox Best Sellers list, while a follow-up, “Treat Me Right,” peaked at #18 on Billboard and #10 on Cashbox.

David Crosby, who reportedly slept through most of his own trial, was sentenced to five years in prison on drug and firearms possession charges. After exhausting his appeals, he began serving the sentence in March 1986 at Huntsville State Prison in Texas, ultimately being released on parole after just five months.

Session drummer Jeff Porcaro, among the most in-demand musicians of the 1970s, died of cardiac arrest at age 38. Before co-founding Toto, Porcaro had played on Boz Scaggs’ “Silk Degrees,” and over the years his drumming appeared on albums like “The Wall,” “Gaucho,” “The End of the Innocence,” and “Luck of the Draw,” among many others.

Randy Hobbs, the 45-year-old bassist who played on The McCoys’ 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” was found dead of heart failure in a Dayton, Ohio hotel room. After The McCoys broke up in 1969, Hobbs went on to play with Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Steely Dan, and Cyndi Lauper.

Wilson Pickett, then 55, entered a drug rehabilitation program after a New Jersey judge offered him the choice between treatment and jail time over a cocaine addiction. He’d stage a notable comeback in 1999 when his album “It’s Harder Now” earned a Grammy nomination and was named Comeback Blues Album of the Year and Soul/Blues Album of the Year, with Pickett himself honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.

Diana Ross called off the remaining dates on her Summer concert tour. No explanation was given for scrapping the 14-date, 10-city North American run.

A survey of 560 UK undertakers found that grieving families increasingly favored pop songs over traditional hymns at funerals. Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” topped the list of most-requested songs, alongside Robbie Williams’ “Angels,” Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” and Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind.” Among the more unexpected choices was Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust.”

Original Woodstock promoter Michael Lang cancelled plans for a free concert marking the festival’s 40th anniversary. Lang told Rolling Stone the decision came down to simple economics: “Money. No sponsors.”

Major news outlets reported that The Turtles’ Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman had filed a $100 million class action lawsuit against SiriusXM, alleging the satellite radio company had infringed on millions of older recordings from a wide range of artists. The case was settled in November 2016, with SiriusXM agreeing to pay $99 million.

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards made headlines after sharing his blunt opinion of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” with Esquire magazine, saying: “Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties. Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we.”

Guitarist Kimberley Rew sold the rights to “Walking On Sunshine,” along with the rest of his song catalog, to music company BMG for $16 million. The track had been a #9 hit for Katrina And The Waves back in 1985.

RCA/Legacy released “Way Down in the Jungle Room,” an Elvis Presley anthology spread across two discs, compiling material he recorded at his home studio during the final eighteen months of his life. The collection reached #16 on the UK Official Album Chart and #79 on the Billboard 200.

Gregg Allman scrapped most of his upcoming tour dates, citing what were described as “serious health issues” while under care at the Mayo Clinic. In a statement, he thanked fans for their support while he focused on recovery, hoping to return to the road soon. He would never make it back, passing away from complications of liver cancer on May 27, 2017, at age 69.

Judith Durham, lead singer of The Seekers, died from complications of lung disease at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, at age 79. Her band landed three Billboard Top 40 hits: “I’ll Never Find Another You” (#4 in 1965), “A World Of Our Own” (#19 in 1965), and “Georgy Girl” (#2 in 1967).

Maurice Williams, lead singer of Maurice Williams And The Zodiacs, passed away at age 86 from unspecified causes. His group topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 with “Stay,” which at just 1 minute and 36 seconds remains the shortest song ever to reach #1.