1977: The king is dead. Elvis Presley died on this day at his Graceland home in Memphis. Although the initial autopsy lists the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia, it is later revealed that Elvis died from a massive overdose of at least ten prescription drugs with amounts of many more being found in his bloodstream. Within months, the sad reports of the singer’s descent into drug abuse and obesity would begin flooding the popular media.

1965: The Beatles become the first rock act to ever headline in a sports stadium when they perform a sold-out show for 56,000 fans at New York’s Shea Stadium.

The show remains one of the most famous rock concerts ever, although the lads were extremely disappointed by their distance from the audience and very poor acoustics.

1967: Britain’s new Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act goes into effect, effectively forcing a shutdown of all of the “pirate stations” that had been broadcasting from ships or platforms off the British coast. The pirates, patterned after American Top 40 stations, started because of the BBC’s reluctance to program rock & roll. The BBC did not take kindly to having their monopoly interfered with.

Radio Caroline manages to defy the order for another 6 months.

1973: After years of increasing tension between The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly storms off stage during the duo’s concert at Knott’s Berry Farm in California.

The two would not perform together again for ten years, finally reuniting in 1983 with a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

1967: A new British blues band, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac makes its concert debut at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, England, sharing the bill with Cream, Donovan, the Small Faces and Chicken Shack.

That last band is fronted by a female singer named Christine Perfect, who before long, would become Christine McVie and a member of Fleetwood Mac.

Back in 1962, this was a great day for classic rock & roll records to be released:

"Surfin' Safari" (The Beach Boys)
"Green Onions" (Booker T. and the M.G.s)
"Do You Love Me" (The Contours)
"Beechwood 4-5789" (The Marvelettes)
"Ahab the Arab" (Ray Stevens)
"You Beat Me to the Punch" (Mary Wells)

1970: The Doors’ front man, Jim Morrison, goes on trial in Miami on indecent exposure charges that stem from a March 1^st concert the previous year. Authorities claim he exposed himself on stage. Many who were at that concert still dispute those claims, although all admit that Morison was drunk and in a foul mood.

1963: Britain’s legendary rock program Ready! Steady! Go! Debuts on ITV. Dusty Springfield co-hosts the first show, which also features the Searchers, Pat Boone (!) and the Tremeloes.

1969: One of the most iconic photos in rock history was shot on this day. Photographer Iain MacMillan takes a series of pictures of the Beatles in front of the EMI recording studio where the lads are working on what would be their final studio recording. (While Let It Be was released later, it was actually recorded earlier and shelved.)

From the series of six photographs taken in a span of just ten minutes, Paul McCartney selects a shot of the band crossing the street that also gave the album its name, Abbey Road.