Music History

Darrell Abbott, known as Dimebag Darrell, co-founder and guitarist of the heavy metal band Pantera, was born in Ennis, Texas. Pantera had the No. 19 UK hit “I'm Broken” in 1994. Dimebag Darrell was shot dead on December 8, 2004, during a performance by Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, Ohio.

14,000 fans filled the Forest Hills Music Festival in Queens, New York, where The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations performed. It was a major showcase of Detroit soul at a venue best known for tennis championships and major folk and rock events.

During their final U.S. tour, The Beatles had to cancel and postpone their appearance at the open-air Crosley Field stadium in Cincinnati. Heavy rain and the lack of a roof meant that performing would have posed an almost certain risk of electric shock.

Cleveland group The Outsiders returned to the Billboard Top 40 following the success of their million-selling hit “Time Won't Let Me” with a cover of “Respectable” by The Isley Brothers. The song climbed to No. 15. The band had a total of four songs on the main Billboard chart and another four in the Bubbling Under category, but none of their recordings made a significant impact in Britain.

“You Can't Hurry Love” by The Supremes climbed from No. 66 to No. 28 on the chart.

“Ain't Too Proud To Beg” by The Temptations spent its eighth week at No. 1 on the R&B chart.

During their final US tour, The Beatles performed in two cities after a concert the previous day had been cancelled because of rain. They first performed at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio. They then flew to St. Louis, Missouri, where they played at Busch Stadium under a tarpaulin because of heavy rain. The conditions were extremely unpleasant, and this concert convinced Paul McCartney that The Beatles should stop touring and concentrate on studio work.

Jim Morrison failed to appear for The Doors' performance at the Whisky a Go Go club in Los Angeles. The band played the first set without him and then picked him up from his apartment, where he was under the influence of LSD. After returning to the club, The Doors played “The End” and Morrison improvised Oedipal verses. This led to them being fired from the club, but it also produced the final lyrics that later appeared in the recording of the song on their debut album.

Two New York teenagers, Carol Hopkins and Susan Richmond, climbed onto a second-floor hotel ledge and threatened to jump unless they were allowed to meet The Beatles. Police eventually persuaded them to climb down.

Founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, Gary Earl Grice, professionally known as GZA and also as The Genius, was born in New York.

Jerry Lee Lewis was cast as Iago in the film “Catch My Soul”, a rock version of Shakespeare's “Othello”.

The Beatles' album “Revolver” received gold certification.

The Beatles played a concert at Shea Stadium in New York, which became their final performance as part of their American concert tour.

The Beatles performed for the second time at Shea Stadium in New York during their final US tour. Unlike the previous year, the concert was not sold out, with 11,000 tickets remaining unsold out of the total capacity of 55,600. The opening acts were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes. The Beatles performed eleven songs and received $189,000 for the appearance, more than for their previous performance at the stadium. The concert also marked the end of their live performing career in the US.

The Beatles were at number one on the UK singles chart with the double A-side “Yellow Submarine – Eleanor Rigby”, their eleventh number-one single. Paul McCartney said that he took the name Eleanor from actress Eleanor Bron, who appeared with The Beatles in the film “Help!”, while Rigby came from the name of a shop in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers.

The Doors began recording their self-titled debut album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios on West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. They had already been developing the material through live performances, particularly at the Whisky a Go Go. The album was released in January 1967, contained the full version of their breakthrough single „Light My Fire“ and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.

The Youngbloods recorded „Get Together“ at RCA Studios in New York. The single originally stalled at No. 62, but its 1969 reissue reached No. 5; The Dave Clark Five later took their cover version into the U.K. Top 10.

American DJ Norman Lee Rogers, known by his stage name Terminator X, was born in New York City. He became known as a member of hip-hop group Public Enemy, which was formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985. In the late 1990s he joined the family business and began raising African black ostriches on a farm in North Carolina.

During their final US tour, The Beatles played two concerts at the Coliseum in Seattle, Washington. The 3:00 p.m. afternoon concert attracted only 8,000 fans in the 15,000-capacity arena, while the evening concert was sold out.

American musician Daniel “Dan” Vickrey was born in Walnut Creek, California. He became known as the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Counting Crows. The group had the UK hit “Mr Jones” in 1994 and the US No. 1 album “Recovering The Satellites” in 1996. In 2004, they received an Academy Award nomination for the song “Accidentally in Love” from the film “Shrek 2”.

Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shirley Manson was born in Edinburgh. She later founded the group Angelfish, whose video for “Suffocate Me” attracted the attention of Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker, who persuaded her to join their new group Garbage. Garbage's 1995 debut album sold more than four million copies.

The song “Sunny”, written by Bobby Hebb, reached No. 1 on the Cash Box chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling single in the USA. Its success led Hebb to tour the United States and Canada with The Beatles.

“Summer In The City” by Lovin' Spoonful remained at No. 1 on the US chart for a third week. Bobby Hebb was at No. 2 with “Sunny” and “See You In September” by The Happenings was at No. 3.

Petula Clark reached No. 1 on the US Easy Listening chart with “I Couldn't Live Without Your Love”.

Stevie Wonder's version of “Blowin' In The Wind” reached No. 1 on the US R&B chart.

“Cherish” by The Association entered the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 1 a month later. Although the song was actually longer, the record label listed its length as three minutes so that radio programmers would not reject it as too long. The recording later received a gold record for sales of more than one million copies and, according to BMI, was the 22nd most-played song of the 20th century.

“God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys reached No. 2 on the UK singles chart. The song was among the first commercial recordings to feature the word “God” in the title and was groundbreaking in many ways. Capitol Records feared a reaction from US radio programmers, so in the USA it placed the song on the B-side of the single “Wouldn't It Be Nice”, while in the UK it was accepted as the A-side. Brian Wilson used a range of unusual instruments during the recording, including French horns.

The Beatles performed a concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on August 28, 1966, before 45,000 spectators, as part of their final US tour. After the concert, they attempted to leave the stadium in an armored vehicle, but the main gate was locked, forcing them to wait inside the vehicle for two hours before they could leave. On the same day, they performed their final official live concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The television variety show "Hullabaloo" aired its final episode on NBC. The program was hosted by Paul Anka, with Peter & Gordon, Lesley Gore, and The Cyrkle among the guests.

The Beatles played their final paid public concert in front of 25,000 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. They performed 11 songs in just over half an hour, opening with "Rock & Roll Music" and closing with "Long Tall Sally". John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who knew it would be their final concert, took photographs during the performance. Although the album "Revolver" had been released only a few weeks earlier, not a single song from it was performed.

The Beatles released the single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out", which was among the songs commemorated as part of the musical anniversaries for August 29.

Peter Cunnah of the Northern Irish pop and dance group D:Ream was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. In 1994, the group had the UK No. 1 single “Things Can Only Get Better”.

The Mamas and the Papas’ second album was their self-titled album, released by Dunhill Records. It contained the singles “I Saw Her Again”, which reached No. 5 in the US and No. 11 in the UK, and “Words of Love”, which reached No. 5 in the US and No. 47 in the UK. The album reached No. 4 in the US and No. 24 in the UK.

The Who began two days of recording at IBC Studios and Pye No. 2 Studio in London. During these sessions, the group recorded “Barbara Ann” by The Regents, “Man with Money” by The Everly Brothers, “Heatwave” by Martha and the Vandellas and the theme tune from the then-popular television series Batman. The recordings were intended for a new album with the working title “Jigsaw Puzzle”. The producer was Kit Lambert and the sound engineer was Paul Clay.

The Byrds played the first of eleven consecutive concerts at the Whisky-a-Go-Go in Hollywood, California.