1969: After catching their act at the New York club, Max’s Kansas City, Columbia Records exec Clive Davis signs Aerosmith to a recording contract. The band receives a $125,000 advance.

1958: Billboard Magazine finally combines their confusing system of multiple popularity charts, including sales, jukebox plays, and DJ charts into a single “Billboard Hot 100” chart for all of pop music.

The first #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 is Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool.”

1963: After almost 300 shows, the Beatles play their last live show at Liverpool’s Cavern Club.

1962: A young folk singer from Minnesota, Robert Zimmerman legally changes his name to Bob Dylan.

1971: The Concert for Bangladesh, a huge benefit concert is held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Organized by George Harrison, the event also features Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr.

The concert, a subsequent movie and album release of the live show wind up raising more than $11 million to help combat starvation in the country, which had recently been liberated from Pakistan.

1968: London’s Apple Boutique closes its doors for good.

Founded as part of the Beatles’ Apple Corps business efforts, the store was in trouble from the start with bad management and rampant theft. On its final day, employees were instructed to let anyone have anything they wanted of the store’s remaining inventory without charge.

1954: Rock history is made this day when Elvis Presley makes his first live performance as a solo artist. He’s third and incorrectly billed as “Ellis Presley.”

Presley is so nervous, he unconsciously starts to shake his leg as he sings. The girls in the audience go crazy, although at the time, Elvis has no clue why.

He would eventually catch on.

1966: Bob Dylan has a bad motorcycle accident while riding his Triumph 500 near Woodstock, New York. His recovery keeps him out of the public spotlight for nine months and fuels all kinds of rumors.

Dylan uses the time to record a series of songs in a makeshift recording studio in a big pink house in Woodstock. He is accompanied by a band known as the Hawks. The songs eventually see a release as The Basement Tapes, while the Hawks change their name to the Band and release their first album (with a picture of the Woodstock house), Music from Big Pink.

1973: One of the last gigantic rock festivals was held on this day at Watkins Glen racetrack in New York. 600,000 people attend, making it the largest gathering of human beings in history to that point.

Headlining the event: the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band and the Band.

1968: A riot erupts in Chicago’s Grant Park when Sly & the Family Stone fail to show up for a free concert. This is only one of many late or cancelled appearances for the band.

The group tries to capitalize of the event by releasing an album titled There’s a Riot Goin’ On. The album yields the hit single “Family Affair” and goes on to million-seller status, but the damage to the band’s reputation and popularity never goes away. By January of 1975, the group breaks up following dismal attendance at a concert at Radio City Music Hall.