Donovan made his U.S. television debut tonight in 1965, when he appeared on ABC's Shindig! with The Hollies, The Turtles, and The Dave Clark 5. Donovan had just started his long collaboration with producer Micky Most, with whom he would release some of the most (heh-heh) psychedelic music of the 60's, and was just starting to move away from his folkie image as "The English Bob Dylan".
The British Broadcasting Corporation finally got it today in 1967, and launched a radio channel dedicated to popular music: BBC Radio 1. The BBC had intentionally ignored rock and roll, allowing a large number of "Pirate" stations that broadcast from boats in the English Channel to flourish, but with the launch of Radio 1, the British government shut down the pirates, though a number of former pirate disc jockeys and presenters would be hired, notably John Peel, and Radio Caroline's Tony Blackburn, who was the first on the new channel with his first selection, Flowers In The Rain by Jeff Lynne's pre-ELO band The Move.
Yes played their first show with new keyboardist Rick Wakeman in Leicester, England tonight in 1971.
David Cassidy of The Partridge Family had his first #1 hit in England today in 1972 with a cover of a song originally performed by The Young Rascals in 1967, How Can I Be Sure?
Lynyrd Skynyrd were opening for Blue Öyster Cult tonight in 1974, when police were called to break up a fight between the band's respective sound engineers after a BOC crew member turned off the sound during Skynyrd's set.
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and actor Steve Earle skipped out on jury duty in Nashville and was arrested for it today in 1992, which should be a lesson to you if you're thinking of ignoring that jury summons that shows up in the mail.
B-52's singer Kate Pierson was one of several animal rights activists arrested and charged with trespassing and criminal malicious mischief during an anti-fur protest at the offices of Vogue magazine in New York today in 1993.
Guitarists trying out for the "band" on tonight's 1998 episode of The Drew Carey Show included Joe Walsh, Slash, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, ZZ Top's Dusty Hill, Matthew Sweet, Roy Clark, and Joey Ramone. The Drew Carey Show ended in 2004, it's theme song Cleveland Rocks was originally performed by Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, as performed by Seattle band The Presidents of the United States of America, and while Drew himself is still a minority owner of The Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer franchise, he's also a season ticket holder for the hated L.A. Galaxy..
Sir Elton Hercules John had tired of the way his London house was decorated, and held a "garage sale" today in 2003, raising some £1.4 million to buy new stuff. Included in the sale were works of art, some dating back to the 19th century.
Rock and Roll Birthdays
Drummer Dewey Martin would be 80. Originally from Ontario, Martin came to the Pacific Northwest at the suggestion of The Ventures drummer Mel Taylor, where he played with bands like Lucky Lee and the Blue Diamonds and Sir Raleigh and the Coupons before moving to Los Angeles and playing with The Standells and Buffalo Springfield, with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died of "natural causes" at 68.
T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan would be 73. He was killed in a London car crash a little over a week from his 30th birthday.