16-year-old Brian Hyland’s novelty hit “Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Best Sellers list, reaching #8 in the UK. Songwriter Paul Vance said the idea struck him after seeing his two-year-old daughter at the beach in a tiny swimsuit.

England’s Decca Records destroyed 25,000 copies of Ray Peterson’s “Tell Laura I Love Her,” deeming the song — which describes the final thoughts of a teenager dying in a car crash — “too tasteless and vulgar.” A rival label disagreed and released a cover by Ricky Valance, which shot to #1 on the British chart. In the US, Peterson’s original reached #7 on the Billboard Pop chart.

Decca Records released “Ringo For President” by The Young World Singers, timed for the 1964 US presidential race. The lyrics praised the Beatles drummer as an ideal candidate because he “doesn’t talk about war” and offered a platform that’s “fair.” The novelty single bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 at #132. Asked to respond, Ringo Starr said, “Thanks just the same, but I don’t think I’ll have the time.”

“House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #60. It became the band’s only US #1, despite fourteen songs eventually landing in the Top 40. Long reported to have been recorded in a single take, the track was later ranked #122 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.

Earl-Jean (Reavis) of The Cookies entered the Billboard Top 40 at its peak position of #38 with “I’m Into Something Good.” Three months later, Herman’s Hermits would take the same song to #13, marking the first of their eighteen Billboard Top 40 hits.

In response to John Lennon’s remark that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ, the South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles records from the airwaves — though fans could still buy them in stores. The ban lasted nearly five years, finally lifting on March 3, 1971, well after the band had already split up.

With a policeman holding up traffic, photographer Iain MacMillan captured the cover shot for The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album, showing the band striding across the zebra crossing outside the studio in London. MacMillan took just six frames, finishing the whole session in under ten minutes using a Hasselblad camera set to a 50mm lens, f/22 aperture, and a 1/500-second shutter speed.

Canadian immigration officials turned away thousands of American fans heading to the Strawberry Fields Rock Festival in Mosport, Ontario, citing insufficient funds to support themselves; roughly 8,000 Americans still made it through. The lineup included Alice Cooper, Ten Years After, Grand Funk Railroad, Sly and the Family Stone, and The J. Geils Band.

Janis Joplin and Juanita Green paid for a headstone to mark the previously unmarked grave of blues legend Bessie Smith at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. Joplin called Smith her greatest influence; Green had worked as Smith’s housekeeper as a child. Smith had died in 1937 after being turned away from a whites-only hospital.

“Blood, Sweat And Tears 3” began the first of two weeks atop the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. Two singles came from the album — “Hi-De-Ho” (#14) and “Lucretia MacEvil” (#29) — marking the group’s second consecutive #1 album, following their Grammy-winning, self-titled second record, which had spent seven weeks at the top in 1969.

Gilbert O’Sullivan performed his third UK hit, “We Will,” on the British variety show It’s Lulu; the song would eventually peak at #16 on the UK chart. He’d crack the US market the following year when “Alone Again (Naturally)” topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Eric Clapton received a Gold record for his chart-topping album “461 Ocean Boulevard,” home to his #1 hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” The LP has since gone Platinum in the US for surpassing a million copies sold.

Cannonball Adderley, whose recording of “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” reached #11 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart in 1967, died following a stroke at age 46. The jazz alto saxophonist released nearly sixty albums as a bandleader and appeared on dozens more as a sideman between 1955 and 1975.

Joey Scarbury topped the Cashbox Best Sellers chart with “Theme From The Greatest American Hero.” While he never landed another hit of his own, he found songwriting success in 1990, co-writing The Oak Ridge Boys’ #1 Country hit “No Matter How High.”

Billy Joel released his ninth studio album, “An Innocent Man,” which climbed to #4 in America and produced three Billboard Top 10 singles: “Tell Her About It” (#1), “Uptown Girl” (#3), and “An Innocent Man” (#10). The album has since been certified 8x Platinum.

David Crosby of Crosby, Stills And Nash and The Byrds was paroled after serving eight months of a five-year sentence for drug and weapons possession. A Texas appeals court would overturn his conviction in November 1987.

Two jurors who had voted to acquit Michael Jackson of child molestation charges said on NBC’s Today show that they now regretted the decision. One said the others “ought to be ashamed” for letting a “pedophile” go free, while another admitted he believed they’d allowed a guilty man to escape justice.

Janet Jackson appeared on the cover of Vibe magazine wearing only a small bikini bottom and a necklace made of large shells. The 40-year-old singer had recently lost around sixty pounds.

The US National Musical Publishers’ Association joined Viacom, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, and Comedy Central in pursuing legal action against YouTube, arguing songwriters weren’t being properly compensated for performances of their work on the platform. The dispute was eventually settled, giving publishers the option to license their music to YouTube for a share of ad revenue or continue opting for takedowns.

John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, had his parole hearing pushed back to early September so officials could gather more information. The 55-year-old had become eligible for parole in 2000 after serving twenty years but had already been denied release five times.

Ted Kowalski, a member of the Canadian vocal group The Diamonds, died of heart disease at age 79. The quartet racked up fifteen Billboard Top 40 hits in the late 1950s, including “Little Darlin’” (#2), “Silhouettes” (#10), and “The Stroll” (#4).

Elton John filed a lawsuit against UK newspaper The Times, alleging he’d been defamed by an article implicating him in a tax avoidance scheme. The June 21, 2012 piece, headlined “Screen Play: how movie millions are moved offshore,” named his former accountant Patrick McKenna as one of two main providers of film investment schemes in the UK. The case was settled that October when Britain’s High Court ruled in favor of The Times.

Members of Mötley Crüe and KISS announced a $100,000 donation to support victims of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, which had killed twelve people and injured fifty-eight, hoping the gesture would inspire others to give as well.

Judge R. Gary Klausner denied Led Zeppelin’s request to recover roughly $800,000 in legal fees from the trial over whether the band had plagiarized a chord progression in “Stairway to Heaven,” ruling that the plaintiffs hadn’t acted with “nefarious motives” and therefore shouldn’t be liable for Zeppelin’s costs.

Country-pop superstar Glen Campbell died at age 81. Over his career he notched twenty-one Billboard Top 40 hits and seventy-five more on the Country chart, hosted his own TV show, appeared in numerous films, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

A guitar Jimi Hendrix played in the early 1960s sold at auction for $216,000. He’d bought the Japanese electric guitar after his discharge from the US Army in 1962 and used it while working as a sideman for Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike And Tina Turner, Jackie Wilson, and The Isley Brothers. When Hendrix later moved to the UK, the guitar stayed behind in New York with his friend Mike Quashie, who provided a notarized letter confirming the instrument’s history before his own death.

Lamont Dozier, the Motown songwriter and producer behind hits for The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Isley Brothers, died at age 81. Alongside Brian and Eddie Holland, the trio wrote “Heat Wave” and “Quicksand” for Martha And The Vandellas, “Mickey’s Monkey” for The Miracles, and “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” and “Come See About Me” for The Supremes, along with other Motown staples like Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and The Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There.”

Olivia Newton-John, the British-born singer and actress behind fifteen Billboard Top Ten hits, died of breast cancer at her Southern California ranch at age 73. With over 100 million records sold and four Grammy wins, she was also famous for starring alongside John Travolta in the 1978 film “Grease,” whose soundtrack sold more than 28 million copies worldwide.

Country singer Jason Aldean’s controversial “Try That in a Small Town” dropped from #1 to #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the latest chart update, after conservatives and Aldean’s fanbase had pushed it to the top the week before. Critics had blasted the song for allegedly promoting white nationalism and casting protests against racial injustice as lawless and violent.