1964: On this night at 8 PM (Eastern), every Baby Boomer worthy of the name remembers where they were and what they were doing. We were tuned in to CBS to watch the Beatles make their American television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Performing 3 songs at the start of the show and 3 songs at the end, the Fab Four help Sullivan pull in 73 million viewers, a record at the time and still one of the highest rated shows of all time.

New York police report that not a single hubcap was stolen during the hour (also apparently a record).

Unnoticed at the time, a young Davy Jones (later to become part of the Monkees) appears on the same show as part of the Broadway cast of Oliver! where he leads the cast in singing “I’d Do Anything.”

1960: The House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight convenes hearings on what has come to be known as the Payola Scandal involving rock ‘n’ roll recording companies and disc jockeys.

During the hearings, Congressional Representatives will hear testimony from well-known celebs like Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Bobby Darin and Les Paul. It does turn out that many disc jockeys (including Clark) were accepting money or in some cases, publishing or songwriting credits in return for playing certain songs in a heavier rotation.

There were no laws against this behavior prior to the hearings, but many figures caught in the scandal, like Freed, are ruined. Dick Clark comes out relatively unscathed by being completely up front about exactly what payments he took and from whom.

The public turns its attention elsewhere and the practice of “payola” continues in different forms right up until today.

1964: The British invasion officially began on this day when the Beatles arrived at New York’s JFK airport to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. 3,000 screaming fans are there to greet them and the cheeky press conference they hold at the airport instantly wins over the American press.

1987: Sonny Bono announces he’s entering politics and will run for mayor of Palm Springs, California. As he spent several years as a national laughingstock on the old Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, becoming a politician is really not that much of a change.

1957: Rock ‘n’ roll invades Britain as Bill Haley and the Comets arrive in the UK for the first ever tour of the country by an American rock star. 5,000 fans greet Haley at the airport. Just seven years later, Britain would return the favor and send their rock stars to invade the colonies!

1977: American Bandstand celebrates its 25^th Anniversary with a primetime special. Host Dick Clark welcomes an all-star line-up that includes Chuck Berry, Greg Allman, Seals & Crofts, Johnny Rivers, Junior Walker, and more jamming to “Roll Over Beethoven.”

1959: This is “the day the music died.” In the first hours of morning a charter plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson went down in a cornfield near Clear Lake, Iowa. Holly had chartered the plane because of abysmal conditions on their tour bus. Waylon Jennings, who was part of Holly’s back-up band, was initially on the plane, but gave up his seat to the Big Bopper.

The event became a pivotal one in rock history, creating enormous interest in Holly’s music (particularly in England) and also inspiring mentions in many other rock songs, most notably Don McClean’s “American Pie.”

1973: NBC debuts its own late night concert show, The Midnight Special, to compete with ABC’s successful In Concert show. Proving that NBC was still clueless about rock & roll, Midnight Special’s first host is that hard rocker, Helen Reddy.

1968: Universal Studios signs a contract with The Doors that calls for the band to star in a feature film, a group “humor book,” and a book of lead singer Jim Morrison’s poetry. Only the book of poems will ever be released.

1959: Just days before their tragic deaths, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper play a concert date in Duluth, Minnesota. A young lad by the name of Robert Zimmerman is in the audience and is so impressed that he decides that night that he wants to pursue a career in music.

Of course, we know Mr. Zimmerman today as Bob Dylan.