1967: The Beatles beginning filming their first project that flops – the ill-fated Magical Mystery Tour. The specially chartered, psychedelic bus is two hours late. The band and the rest of the entourage spend most of the day gathering film footage that proves unusable.

Perhaps, they should have taken that as an omen.

1977: Bing Crosby issues a surprising invitation to British rock singer David Bowie to appear on what would prove to be Der Bingle’s last Christmas TV special. Bing proposes they sing a duet on the show.

1956: This is the day Elvis Presley made that famous appearance of The Ed Sullivan Show. Everyone remembers that Elvis was shot only from the waist up, lest his hip-swiveling action corrupt the youth of America and scandalize their elders. A then-record 54 million Americans were watching (83% of the country’s TV sets are tuned to the show).

The next day, advance orders for “Love Me Tender” (performed on the show) shot through the roof, causing RCA Victor to rush the single out two weeks ahead of schedule.

What no one remembers is that Ed Sullivan did NOT host that show. He was ill. Actor Charles Laughton was the emcee that night.

1956: One of the founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll, Eddie Cochran signs his only recording contract on this day – a one year deal with Liberty Records.

1978: On this day we lost the Who’s great drummer, Keith Moon. He died of an overdose of a sedative doctors had prescribed to ease his withdrawal from alcohol.

1970: Jimi Hendrix performs for an audience for the last time. He headlines the Open Air Love and Peace Festival in Fehmarn, Germany. Less than two weeks later, he will be gone.

1966: John Lennon departs England for Germany, where he will begin filming his only non-Beatle related movie role, as Pvt. Gripweed in How I Won the War.

While this Richard Lester-directed comedy about World War I has been largely forgotten now, Lennon loved the old fashioned glasses worn by his character. He continues to wear them and touches off a fashion craze for wire-framed glasses that has never really gone away.

1952: At a birthday party for her cousin, Bubba, eight-year old singing sensation Gladys Knight forms a back-up group consisting of Bubba and two other cousins. They name themselves The Pips after another cousin (and their manager), James “Pip” Woods.

1970: The very first of the phenomenon known as “bootleg” records, a set of outtakes from Bob Dylan, called The Great White Wonder, reaches a sales peak of 350,000 copies.

While most well-known bands from The Beatles to Led Zeppelin will have bootlegs of their material released through the years, it is the concert performances of The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen that will provide the highest number of bootlegs.

1970: A little known British band runs an ad in the UK’s Melody Maker seeking a drummer. The band calls itself Genesis. And the young 19-year old who shows up and passes the audition is a kid named Phil Collins.