1985: Over 45 recording artists and their massive egos crowd into a Los Angeles recording studio to create “We Are the World,” a record designed to raise money to combat hunger in Africa. Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Stevie Wonder and many more take part. The actual song was co-written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie.

1984: While filming a Pepsi-Cola commercial involving pyrotechnics, Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire, resulting in burns severe enough to hospitalize the pop star for several days.

1977: One of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac was committed to a mental institution on this day.

Peter Green, who had left the band a few years before, was taken into custody after he fired a gun at a delivery boy. The lad was simply trying to deliver a royalty check to Green. It seemed those checks had been arriving with greater frequency once Fleetwood Mac became a super group starting in 1976 and Green wanted no part of them.

1967: On this day, a child was born to Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane. They name the girl “God,” but later think twice about that idea and rename her “China.”

1960: Bob Dylan plays his very first gig in New York at the Café Wha? At the end of his performance, he asks if anyone in the audience is willing to give him a place to sleep that night.

1956: After being turned down by several labels, the small independent, King Records decides to take a chance on the unknown R&B act, James Brown and His Famous Flames and releases their first record, “Please, Please, Please.”

1959: Sitting all alone in his New York apartment, Buddy Holly turns on a tape recorder, picks up his acoustic guitar and makes what will be his final recordings.After his death, the recordings are discovered, taken into a studio and overdubbed with other musicians. Today, we know them as the Buddy Holly songs: “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,”“That’s What They Say,”“What to Do, That Makes It Tough’ and “Peggy Sue Got Married.”

1966: The Beatles’ George Harrison marries his girlfriend, British actress/model Patti Boyd, who he met on the set of the movie A Hard Day’s Night. Paul McCartney and Brian Epstein are in attendance. After they are married, Boyd will begin a notorious affair with Eric Clapton who writes about the affair in several songs including his classic “Layla.”

1973: After a string of country & western hits, Jerry Lee Lewis finally makes his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He’s told to stick to country music and keep it clean. Lewis takes the stage and performs both country and his rock & roll hits, telling the crowd he’s “the rock and rollin', country and western, rhythm and blues singin' motherf----r.“

1959: As a sign that rock ‘n’ roll might have more staying power than its detractors had predicted, ABC-TV’s American Bandstand hosted by the perpetually youthful Dick Clark became the most watched daytime TV show in America on this day. Were you one of the millions who rushed home after school to catch it?