1963: Patsy Cline died when her private plane crashed in Tennessee. While not rock & roll, Patsy had many hits that crossed over to the pop charts and got airplay on Top 40 stations. These included “Crazy” (written by a young Willie Nelson), “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and “I Fall to Pieces.” Her Greatest Hits LP remains among the all-time top sellers for a female country artist.

1966: A London newspaper The Evening Standard publishes an interview with John Lennon in which he infamously says about the Beatles: “We're more popular than Jesus.”

The remark goes unnoticed until it is reprinted in the American teen magazine Datebook four months later. Massive anti-Beatle protests would break out, mainly across the Bible Belt, including bonfires of Beatles records.

Lennon later apologizes and the Beatles survive the controversy.

1957: Catholic Cardinal Stritch of Chicago bans rock & roll from all Catholic high schools, thereby guaranteeing the wild popularity of rock music among Catholic students.

1975: L.A. police pull over a Lincoln Continental for allegedly running a red light. When the window is rolled down, the cops smell marijuana. The passenger, a Linda McCartney is charged with possession. The driver, a Paul McCartney is not charged.

1969: The Doors hold an infamous concert at the Coconut Grove Auditorium in Miami, Florida. Lead singer and resident bad boy, Jim Morrison is arrested on stage after he allegedly exposes himself to the crowd. He’s is not formally arraigned with a mug shot until September of the next year.

Although obviously drunk and verbally abusive to the crowd, Morrison is posthumously cleared of the indecent exposure charge during an appeals process that dragged on past the singer’s death in 1971.

2012: Former teen-age heart throb, Davy Jones of the Monkees passed away at the age of 66.

1966: The Cavern Club closes its doors due to mounting debt. Police have to be called out to clear the club when 100 teenagers barricade themselves inside the club. Not to worry. Eventually, the club will re-open as a popular tourist attraction.

1991: After serving a little over two years of a six-year sentence for drug possession and resisting arrest, James Brown is released from prison.

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.

1957: Buddy Holly makes a second attempt at recording his tune, “That’ll Be the Day.” He recorded a version in Nashville one year earlier that his record label rejected. This new session, led by Norman Petty at his studio in Clovis, New Mexico, results in the rock classic we all know and love today.