1966: The torch is truly passed to a new generation as Frank Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy Sinatra, hits #1 on the pop charts with “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.”

Usually teaming with producer/songwriter Lee Hazelwood, the daughter of ol’ Blue Eyes will go on to score seven Top 20 hits, including another #1, “Something Stupid,” a duet with her famous father.

1963: Tiny label Vee Jay Records releases the first Beatles’ single in the U.S. “Please Please Me” backed with “Ask Me Why” goes absolutely nowhere in the American charts or on American radio. But the 45 does go on to become a highly coveted souvenir. Why? Vee Jay misspelled the group’s names as “The Beattles.”

1976: The Eagles’ Greatest Hits (1971-1975) becomes the first album ever certified “platinum,” indicating sales of one million copies. It is not the first album to sell over a million copies, but it is the first one whose sales are certified.

That album, by the way, eventually passed the sales of Michael Jackson’s Thriller to become the best-selling album of all time.

2002: The Bee Gees play their final concert as a trio. The brothers appear at the Miami Love and Hope Ball.

1986: To celebrate the cable channel’s acquisition of all 45 episodes of the classic 1960’s television series, The Monkees, MTV held a day-long “Monkees Marathon” on this day, showing every episode back-to-back.

While obviously appealing to nostalgic Baby Boomers, the marathon unexpectedly touches off a whole new wave of “Monkeemania” among younger viewers and the band will go on from here to perform and tour from time to time.

1976: The Four Seasons finally score their first #1 hit in the UK.

“December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” does what “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Rag Doll,” and many other of the group’s earlier U.S. hits couldn’t. Alas, it also proves to be the vocal groups last U.K. # 1.

1960: Jimi Hendrix performs in public for the first time, playing guitar in a band that was performing in the basement of the Seattle synagogue, Temple De Hirsch.

He doesn’t even make it through the entire gig, getting fired between sets for “showing off.”

1878: 75 years before the creation of rock ‘n’ roll, something happened that was extremely important in rock history. It was on this day that Thomas Edison and his assistants created the phonograph. It started out to be a telegraph repeater, but Edison’s assistant made some changes based on sketches supplied by Edison.

1968: With its founding leader, Syd Barrett, committed to a mental institution, Pink Floyd asks guitarist David Gilmour to be his replacement. As with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joining Fleetwood Mac, the move proves to be a resounding success.

1968: The San Francisco based band, Big Brother and the Holding Company with their lead singer, Janis Joplin, travels to New York for a gig at the Anderson Theater. Following their show, the band is signed by Columbia Records.