1975: Boston’s mayor Ken White cancels a Led Zeppelin concert scheduled for February 4^th when more than a thousand fans riot while waiting for advance tickets to go on sale. The fans cause $30,000 in damages.

1959: Coral Records releases the last Buddy Holly single before his untimely death. The A-side is Buddy’s recording of a song written by Paul Anka, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” The song will peak at #13 two months after Holly’s death.

1964: Bobby Vinton’s “There I’ve Said It Again” becomes the last #1 song on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 before the onslaught of “the British Invasion.”

Starting with Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” up until this day, only 5 non-American acts had ever topped Billboard’s chart. Next week, that all would change forever.

1957: Fats Domino enters the recording studio to record a song he wrote after his car broke down and a fan shouted, “Hey, look at Fats Domino!” He’s walking!” “I’m Walkin’” will hit the top of the charts in April. The song will also serve as the first hit for Ricky Nelson.

1979: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols goes on trial for the stabbing death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. The trial never reaches a verdict as Vicious will be dead of a heroin overdose within a month.

Happy New Year!

1950: 26-year old Sam Phillips opens his Memphis Recording Service at the corner of Union and Marshall.  His slogan: “We Record Anything – Anywhere – Anytime.”

Three years later, a young truck driver named Elvis Presley will pay $3.98 to make a demo he claims is for his mother (but really is for himself). The world will never be the same again.

1972: It began as a rebel alternative to the traditional and hopelessly square celebration with Guy Lombardo. The very first “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” makes its debut on ABC. Musical guests on that first show included Three Dog Night and Al Green.

Happy Birthday to a whole bunch of rock legends…

1928: Bo Diddley

1934: Del Shannon

1937: Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul & Mary)

1942: Michael Nesmith

1945: Davy Jones

1947: Jeff Lynne

1963: At ten minutes before 1 pm on a Sunday afternoon, WMCA in New York becomes the first American radio station to play a new release from an up and coming British band. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles is heard in the States for the first time.

Full-scale Beatlemania will erupt in just a few short days all across the country.

1983: The teenage heartthrob of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, passed away this day in California. He drowned while diving off the pier at Marina Del Ray while trying to retrieve mementos he had tossed overboard from his yacht three years earlier. He was 39.