The Beach Boys made their American TV debut on the Ed Sullivan Show tonight in 1964. They're very nice and clean, and unlike The Rolling Stones or The Doors, Ed didn't have to ask them to change the lyrics to any of their songs.
The Beatles were at Abbey Road today in 1967, recording parts for John Lennon's new song I Am The Walrus, and Paul McCartney's tune The Fool On The Hill.
Pink Floyd played a show at the Queen's Hall in Dunoon, Scotland tonight in 1968. Dunoon is separated from the Glasgow area by a "Firth", similar to what we call a "Sound", separated by a ferry crossing, but bad weather forced the cancellation of all scheduled crossings. So Pink Floyd hired their own boat out of Gourock on the other side, and ended up playing to over 400 people.
The leader of the band The Beatles stole Ringo Starr from, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, oddly enough named Rory Storm, died today in 1972 of an overdose of sleeping pills in an apparent suicide pact with his Mom.
Scottish guitarist Jimmy McCullough died of a heroin overdose in London today in 1979. He'd been the lead guitarist of Paul McCartney's Wings, and before that a friend of The Who, who played with Thunderclap-Newman at age 16, making him the youngest person ever to appear on a #1 single when Something In The Air hit that mark in 1969. Jimmy died almost a full year short of being able to join the "27 club".
Metallica had finished a show in Stockholm, and were on a late night bus ride to Copenhagen early this morning in 1986. The band members drew cards to see who got the most comfortable bunk on the tour bus, and bass player Cliff Burton had won with the Ace of Spades, which turned out to be very unlucky when the bus hit a patch of black ice and skidded off the road, throwing Burton through a window. The bus landed on top of him, killing him instantly.
U2 thought it might be fun to recreate The Beatles rooftop performance today in 2000, and played a show on top of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, which they own, to some 4000 fans gathered in the street below.
Record producer Phil Spector was formally charged with murder today in 2004 in the shooting death of his girlfriend, actress Lana Clarkson. The legal wranglings would take another 5 years, but he was eventually sentenced to life in prison in California, where he later complained, "I used to have The Beatles wanting me to record them, now it's Charles Manson".
Rock and Roll Birthdays
Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive is 77.
Singer Marvin Lee Aday is 73, better known by his stage name Meat Loaf. His rock stardom is largely an east-coast phenomenon in the U.S., and he is much less popular on the Left Coast.
Men At Work multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham would be 67. He mysteriously died at home in Australia in 2012, with no reason for death was ever given.
Jamaican bass player Robbie Shakespeare is 67. Together with partner drummer Sly Dunbar, they are highly sought after session players with the likes of Peter Tosh, Robert Palmer, Keith Richards, Joe Cocker, and Jimmy Cliff.