Music History

Helen McKay sang “Here's Looking At You” with music by Duke Ellington during a test transmission by the BBC television service. According to the source, it was the first song ever broadcast on television.

Connie Francis appeared as a celebrity “mystery guest” on the CBS television program “What's My Line”.

Granada TV filmed The Beatles' lunchtime performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, including the song “Some Other Guy”, which was the first time the group was filmed by television cameras. However, because of the grainy picture and poor sound quality, Granada did not broadcast the footage at the time and placed it in its archive. It was first broadcast on November 6, 1963, on the program “Scene at 6:30”. In the meantime, The Beatles' actual television debut took place live from a studio in Manchester on October 17, 1962, on the program “People and Places”.

The Kingston Trio appeared as celebrity and mystery guests on the CBS-TV program What's My Line?

The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the British television programme “Ready, Steady, Go!”, where they performed their debut single “Come On”. Between 1963 and 1966, they appeared on the programme a total of twenty times.

They filmed a performance for the CBS-TV program The Ed Sullivan Show at Studio 50 in New York. They performed “I Feel Fine”, “I’m Down”, “Act Naturally”, “Ticket to Ride”, “Yesterday” and “Help!”. The recording was broadcast on September 12, 1965, and was their fourth appearance on the show. Their fifth album Help! also began a nine-week run at number one on the UK chart.

Security staff at Granada Television's studio in Manchester used fire hoses against around two hundred screaming teenagers after they broke through security barriers while waiting for The Rolling Stones to arrive. Despite the chaotic atmosphere, the group successfully filmed its television segment, which included a performance of “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”.

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 Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on the British television program “Simon Dee” on the BBC. Other guests on the program included Kiki Dee and Cat Stevens.

The Doors appeared on the television program The Ed Sullivan Show following the success of the song "Light My Fire".

After 58 episodes, the final episode of the television series The Monkees was broadcast on NBC. Since its original run, the series was repeatedly shown by almost all major cable television networks, including a popular run on CBS from 1969 to 1972.

Elvis Presley's television special was rebroadcast on NBC-TV. The song “Blue Christmas” was cut and replaced with “Tiger Man”.

Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. The episode, now often referred to as “The Woodstock Show”, featured artists and audience members who had come directly from the Woodstock festival the previous weekend. Crosby, Stills and Nash gave first-hand accounts of the festival. Joni Mitchell, who had skipped Woodstock to secure her appearance on the show, performed her song “Woodstock”, which she had written about the festival.

Gladys Knight was a contestant on the television show The Dating Game.

NBC television first broadcast the music variety programme The Midnight Special, originally intended as a one-off special. The first host was John Denver, with DJ Wolfman Jack serving as the announcer. The first programme featured War performing their million-selling US song “Slippin’ Into Darkness”. The following year, the programme became a regular series.

The final episode of The Partridge Family was broadcast on ABC. A total of 96 episodes were produced.

Donna Summer performed her erotic disco song “Love To Love You Baby” on American Bandstand. Although the song reached No. 2 in the US, Donna later admitted that she was not entirely sure about some of the lyrics and improvised parts of the song during the recording.

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.

Johnny Cash performed the duet “Jackson” with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. He also “insulted” Rowlf the Dog with his song “Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog.”

Soft Cell performed their hit “Tainted Love” on the British television program Top Of The Pops. Marc Almond wore distinctive makeup and jewelry; the appearance created a striking visual style that influenced electronic music and helped pave the way for Culture Club.

Rick Nelson and Fats Domino filmed the PBS television special “Rockin' With Rick And Fats”, recorded live at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Nelson first performed with his longtime backing group The Jordanaires and sang several of his hits, while in the second part Fats Domino performed several of his classic songs. The finale was their joint duet “I'm Walkin'”, which both singers had taken to No. 4 on the U.S. chart in 1957. For Nelson, it was his final television appearance before his death in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, at the age of 45.

Michael Jackson's "Bad" music video was broadcast for the first time on CBS-TV.

MTV launched "Club MTV", its contemporary and considerably more provocative version of "American Bandstand".

The television documentary Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul was broadcast on PBS.

The television drama series “The Heights”, about a group of young people from a working-class background trying to form a rock band, premiered on FOX. The short-lived series gave rise to the song “How Do You Talk To An Angel”, which reached No. 1 on the chart.

At the premiere of The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, Billy Joel became the first musical guest. The show was broadcast from the newly renovated Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. Joel performed with Paul Shaffer and the newly named CBS Orchestra, playing “No Man's Land”.

MTV aired the premiere of the concert special The Dance, which captured the reunion of the five members onstage for the first time since 1982; the special was created from two previously filmed performances at the Warner Brothers lot.

BBC broadcast the documentary Oasis Right Here Right Now, in which the group discussed their troubled previous year and also introduced three new songs.

PBS aired a documentary about his Indigenous heritage titled “Robbie Robertson: Making A Noise – A Native American Musical Journey”.

HBO premiered the program "Cher: Live In Concert From Las Vegas", in which Cher performed at the MGM Grand Las Vegas complex.

HBO aired the special “Cher: Live In Concert From Las Vegas”.

Lisa Marie Presley presented the award for Best Female Video to singer Pink during the MTV Video Music Awards.

Lisa Marie Presley appeared on the television program Live with Regis and Kelly.

MTV premiered the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, following the recent marriage of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees. The show became a hit thanks to Jessica’s “dumb blonde” moments and ran for three seasons, after which the couple divorced.

Madame Tussauds in London opened an interactive Pop Idol exhibit featuring a talking wax figure of judge Simon Cowell. Among other things, the figure delivered ironic comments judging visitors' performances.

Feist appeared on Sesame Street, where she turned her song “1234” into a lesson in counting. The segment became very popular and surpassed the popularity of the original recording.

Michael McDonald joined The Doobie Brothers on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, where they performed a medley of “Long Train Runnin'” and “Takin' It to the Streets”. The group also performed a web-exclusive version of “What a Fool Believes”.

David Bowie appeared posthumously in the series Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch used archival footage of Bowie from the film Fire Walk with Me to incorporate his character, FBI agent Phillip Jeffries, into the new series.

The sports comedy-drama series premiered on Apple TV+ with a theme song by Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons. Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title character, is a longtime friend of the British folk musician and also appeared as Mumford in the band's 2013 music video for the single “Hopeless Wanderer”.