An unusually sad day for rock fans. On this day, we lost:

1960: Eddie Cochran

1983: Felix Pappalardi (Mountain)

1998: Linda McCartney

2008: Danny Federici (E Street Band)

1970: Jefferson Airplane front man Marty Balin is busted in a hotel room in Bloomington , Minnesota, after the police find him smoking marijuana and engaging in sexual activity with teenage girls. In other words, living the rock & roll dream.

1964: Taking a break from filming their first movie, given the working title Beatlemania!, the Beatles are relaxing when Ringo remarks that it really has been “a hard day’s night.” John Lennon immediately begins scribbling some lyrics on the back of a greeting card and by the next morning has a new song and the film has a new title: “A Hard Day’s Night.”

1960: Inspired by the actual induction of Elvis Presley into the army, the musical Bye Bye Birdie opens on Broadway. It would go on to run 607 performances and win a Tony award as Best Musical.

When Hollywood transfers it to the screen in 1963, they bring along Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynde from the Broadway cast, but the material is reshaped to be more of a vehicle for young starlet Ann-Margaret.

1955: Ray Charles scores his first hit, landing on Billboard’s R&B charts with his song “I Got a Woman.”

The song is a revamped gospel tune, originally titled “It Might Be Jesus.”

1971: Following the Beatles’ example, the Rolling Stones launch their own record label on this day. The Stones’ famous “lips and tongue” logo is first used as a symbol for the label, later it simply becomes the band’s logo.

BTW – the logo was designed by London pop artist John Pasche.

1967: An organized protest of teenage girls takes place in London.

The reason? Davy Jones of the Monkees is scheduled to be inducted into the army.

The girls had nothing to fear. Jones eventually earns an exemption because he was the sole support of his family.

1964: The Beatles establish a pop music record when they hold down the top 5 positions on Billboard’s Hot 100. #1 – “Can’t Buy Me Love” #2 – “Twist and Shout” #3 – “She Loves You” #4 – “I Want to Hold Your Hand” #5 – “Please, Please Me.”

Beyond that, Beatles songs hold down an addition 9 positions throughout the remaining Hot 100.

1964: “The Times They are a-Changin’” indeed. It was on this day that Bob Dylan made his first appearance on the pop charts when his song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” entered the UK charts.

Just one day later, Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” would enter the U.S. Top 40.

1967: Having recently left the Spencer Davis Group, keyboard player/singer/composer Stevie Winwood joins Dave Mason, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi to form a new band they call Traffic.