1957: Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney appeared onstage for the first time with the Quarrymen at the New Clubmoor Hall in Norris Green, Liverpool as part of a skiffle and rock event put on by promoter Charlie ‘Mac’ McBain. McCartney played lead guitar, but first-night nerves caused him to flub his solo during the group’s performance of Arthur Smith’s 1946 instrumental hit “Guitar Boogie.” George Harrison was soon after recruited to be lead guitarist and McCartney henceforth played bass.

1963: Seventeen-year-old Eric Clapton joined the Yardbirds, replacing lead guitarist Anthony “Top” Topham, and performed with the band at a gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, England.

1964: During a nine-hour session at EMI’s London studios, the Beatles worked on the A-side of their next single, “Eight Days a Week,” as well “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!,” “Mr Moonlight,” “I Feel Fine,” “I’ll Follow The Sun,” “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby,” “Rock And Roll Music,” and “Words Of Love” for their fourth studio album, Beatles For Sale.

1964: The Animals made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show performing “I’m Crying” followed by their #1 hit “House of the Rising Sun.” The audience got so out of control that Sullivan had to shush them several times.

1964: The Animals’ first tour of the UK opened in Manchester, England with supporting acts that included Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Tommy Tucker, and the Nashville Teens.

1967: The debut album by Arlo Guthrie, Alice’s Restaurant, entered the Billboard pop chart. The entire A-side of the record comprises the eighteen-and-a-half minute opening track, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” which later reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Guthrie’s best-known work.

1967: The Richard Lester film How I Won the War, based on the Patrick Ryan novel of the same name and starring John Lennon, was released in the UK. The film opened in the US less than a week later.

1967: The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine rolled off the press at about 5:30 pm, with a cover dated November 9 and featuring a photo of John Lennon from the film How I Won the War. The original inspiration for the new publication had been California-based magazine Bomp!.

1969: Folk singer Arlo Guthrie’s debut album, Alice’s Restaurant, released two years earlier by Reprise Records, entered the Billboard pop chart, where it peaked at #63 by the end of the year. The entire A-side of the record comprises the eighteen-and-a-half minute opening track, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” which later reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Guthrie’s best known work.

1969: “I Can’t Get Next To You” by the Temptations reached #1 on Billboard Hot 100. It was the group’s tenth song to top the R&B chart and their first #1 on the pop chart since “My Girl” in 1964.

1969: Blood, Sweat & Tears’ rendition of Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” entered the Billboard Hot 100 on its way to peaking at #2 at the end of November.

1969: “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by the then-fictitious band “Steam” entered the Billboard Hot 100. Written by studio musicians Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and producer and writer Paul Leka at Mercury Records, the song made it all the way to #1 in December, and was their only top 40 hit.

1969: After lead singer Steve Marriott left Small Faces to form Humble Pie, the remaining three members were joined by vocalist Rod Stewart and guitarist Ronnie Wood—both formerly of the Jeff Beck Group—and the new line-up was renamed Faces.

1974: The Rolling Stones released their twelfth British and fourteenth American studio album and last album to include guitarist Mick Taylor, It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. The album’s title track was originally recorded with guitarist Ronnie Wood, who went on to join the Stones after Taylor’s departure.

1974: Supertramp began a tour to promote their recently released third studio album, Crime of the Century, at Swansea University in Wales.

1975: The Spinners had their fifth and penultimate #1 hit on the Billboard R&B chart with “Games People Play.” The record also reached #5 on the Hot 100 pop chart.

1975: Paul Simon hosted the second episode of Saturday Night Live and was joined onstage by Art Garfunkel to perform “The Boxer,” “Scarborough Fair,” and their new single “My Little Town.” It was the first television appearance of the duo since their breakup in 1970 and the first time they’d shared the stage in three years.

1982: “The Girl Is Mine” by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney was released as the lead single from Jackson’s sixth studio album, Thriller.

1988: The Bangles released Everything, their third studio album and last before the band began a nine-year hiatus.

1994: After a fourteen-year breakup, the Eagles released “Get Over It,” the first single from their second live album, Hell Freezes Over. It was also the first song written by bandmates Don Henley and Glenn Frey when the band reunited and became the group’s last top 40 hit in the US.

1999: Counting Crows released “Hanginaround,” the lead single from their third studio album, This Desert Life.

2004: Simple Minds released their long-delayed twelfth studio album, Our Secrets Are the Same, as part of a 5-CD box set titled Silver Box.

2005: Stevie Wonder’s twenty-third studio album, A Time to Love, was released physically after its initial digital-only release in late September.

2011: Chris Isaak released his eleventh studio album, Beyond the Sun. The album consists of covers of songs recorded by Sun Records artists Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis that Isaak recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis.

Birthdays Today

Chuck Berry, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and rock and roll pioneer, was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry in St. Louis, MO in 1926.

Ronnie Bright, bass singer with The Coasters as well as other R&B and doo wop groups such as the Valentines, the Cadillacs, and the Deep River Boys, was born in New York City in 1938.

Cynthia Weil, songwriter with husband Barry Mann who became one of the Brill Building songwriters of the 1960s and one of the most important writers during the emergence of rock and roll, was born in New York City in 1940.

Russ Giguere, guitarist, vocalist, and percussionist for the Association, was born in Porstmouth, NH in 1943.

Joe Egan, singer-songwriter and founding member of Stealers Wheel, was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1946.

Laura Nyro, singer, songwriter, and pianist, was born in the Bronx, New York City in 1947.

Wynston Marsalis, jazz trumpeter and composer, was born in New Orleans, LA in 1961.

Tony Furtado, singer-songwriter, banjoist, and guitarist who has played with artists that include Béla Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Alison Krauss, and Jerry Douglass, was born in Pleasanton, CA in 1967.