Music History

The Beach Boys became the first rock group to appear on the cover of People magazine. The photograph showed the five original members with beards and was accompanied by the headline “Still Riding The Crest, 15 Hairy Years Later.” Solo artists had appeared on the magazine's cover before.

AC/DC performed at the Marquee Club in London.

The Australian band Little River Band released the song „It's a Long Way There“.

British composer, singer, organist and pianist Michael Head died at the age of 76.

Boston released their self-titled debut album on Epic Records. Much of the album was recorded in Tom Scholz's basement studio, and it became the fastest-selling debut album in history and one of the best-selling debut albums of all time. It included the singles “More Than a Feeling” (#5 USA, #22 UK), “Foreplay / Long Time” (#22 USA) and “Peace of Mind” (#38 USA), and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello premiered their four-week summer variety series “Easy Does It” on CBS. The programme drew on nostalgia for their iconic Beach Party film era of the 1960s and featured notable guests each week, including Andy Griffith, Liz Torres, Phyllis Diller and Anson Williams from Happy Days.

AC/DC performed at the Marquee Club in London.

Marvin Gaye faced two consecutive five-day jail sentences in the Los Angeles County Jail for contempt of court over unpaid alimony and child-support payments.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The photograph was taken by Annie Leibovitz, who found him tired and exhausted after only two hours of sleep. She arrived at his hotel at six in the morning to take the photograph.

Aerosmith performed at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, near San Francisco.

Elvis Presley performed at the Convention Center Arena in San Antonio, Texas, at the start of his sixth tour. Approximately 11,000 people attended the concert, and the program included “See See Rider”, “Love Me”, “All Shook Up”, “Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel”, “Fever”, “America”, “Polk Salad Annie”, “Hurt” and “Burning Love”, among others.

Peter Frampton spent his third week at No. 1 on the US chart with the album “Frampton Comes Alive!”. The album was later briefly replaced at the top by Fleetwood Mac’s album “Fleetwood Mac” before returning to No. 1 on September 11. The live version of “Baby, I Love Your Way” from the album reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, Frampton told US lawmakers that 55 million streams of the song had earned him only $1,700.

Elvis Presley performed at the Municipal Auditorium in Mobile, Alabama, before an audience of 10,720. He gave an afternoon concert at 2:30 p.m. as well as an evening performance at 8:30 p.m. During the afternoon concert, he wore a blue Bicentennial costume and performed, among others, "America", "Johnny B. Goode", "Hurt", "Mystery Train/Tiger Man", and "Can't Help Falling in Love". A recording of the concert exists under the title "Stuck In Mobile". For the evening performance, he wore a white Bicentennial costume.

The British music magazine Sounds published letters from readers reacting to Eric Clapton's racist statement during his concert in Birmingham earlier that month. One of the letters criticized Clapton for drawing much of his music from Black music and called him the biggest colonizer of rock music. The letter also called for support of the Rock Against Racism movement, which subsequently became a major movement and organized concerts and festivals in support of tolerance.

American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jimmy Reed died in San Francisco at the age of 50 following an epileptic seizure, shortly before his 51st birthday. He became known for the songs "Honest I Do", "Baby What You Want Me to Do", "Bright Lights, Big City", and "Big Boss Man". Between 1955 and 1965, he had a total of 19 Top 40 R&B hits and strongly influenced artists including The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Hank Williams Jr., Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jerry Garcia.

Led Zeppelin released the album "Presence" as part of its international release week.

At a concert in Santa Monica, California, Neil Young joined Firefall and Spirit on stage.

The Sex Pistols, supported by The Clash and The Buzzcocks, performed at a showcase at The Screen On The Green in London's Islington.

Aerosmith performed at the International Center Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.

During the carnival in the London district of Notting Hill, clashes broke out between Black youths and the police. Members of The Clash were present, and the event inspired them to write “White Riot” as a call for white people to protest with the same intensity.

Elton John released the album "Blue Moves" as an advance release in the United Kingdom.

Judge Richard Owen ruled at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that George Harrison was guilty of "subconscious plagiarism". The court found that the melody of Harrison's 1970 solo song "My Sweet Lord" was legally identical to "He's So Fine", written by Ronnie Mack and recorded by The Chiffons in 1963. The royalties from the song were awarded to Mack's estate, and Harrison eventually paid $587,000 in damages to copyright holder Bright Tunes. The Chiffons subsequently recorded their own version of "My Sweet Lord".