As tough as they wanted to appear, the gritty punch of the Rolling Stones was no match for the power of Ed Sullivan. On Jan. 15, 1967, The Stones were all set to grace the Sullivan stage for their fourth appearance when they ran into a snag.
Most stints in rehab take place secretly, or at the very least privately. Then there was Eric Clapton’s famed Rainbow Concert, which served as an all-too-public, one-night cold turkey of sorts proclaiming the legendary guitarist's resurgence from the dire depths of heroin addiction – goosed along by some well-intentioned celebrity friends.
When the Doors entered a Hollywood recording studio to make their debut album at the end of August 1966, they knew what they wanted. Months of serving as house band at the Whisky a Go Go had sharpened their playing and performing skills to the point where one member of the quartet could abruptly swerve toward a new direction and the others would follow without missing a beat.
The history of the Who is littered with tragic events. From Pete Townshend's abuse when he was a child to the 1979 deaths of 11 fans in Cincinnati to John Entwistle's overdose in 2000. One of the lesser known stories occurred on Jan. 4, 1970, when Neil Boland, who was Keith Moon's driver and bodyguard, was accidentally run over by Moon's Bentley.
Following the massive success of 1980's double album 'The River,' many expected Bruce Springsteen to follow up his first No. 1 album with another set of radio-friendly rock songs. Instead, the songwriter released 'Nebraska,' a stark acoustic record that was mostly recorded in one session, on Jan. 3, 1982.
It's arguably the most controversial album cover in rock history, and, if authorities in New Jersey had their way 44 years ago, every last one of them would be destroyed.
On Jan. 2, 1969, 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's ‘Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins’ were seized by police at Newark Airport on the grounds that its cover photograph was deemed pornographic.
As 1973 drew to a close, Pink Floyd abandoned their plans for a highly experimental follow-up to 'The Dark Side Of The Moon,' their smash hit album from earlier in that year. The new project was to be called 'Household Objects,' and true to that title, the group's plans were to record it without any musical instruments. (We'll explain below.)
“They used us as an excuse to go mad, the world did," George Harrison said in the Beatles' 1995 'Anthology' documentary. "And then blamed it on us.” But even he could never suspect that, four years later, those words would ring true again when, on Dec. 30, 1999, a mad man attacked Harrison in his own house, nearly killing him.
Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history:
1879: Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time (more info)
1907: The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square -- then known as Longacre Square -- in New York City (more info)
You can't take it with you. Isn't that the expression people always use when they want your stuff after you drop dead? Mr. Allen Swift knew he couldn't take his 1928 Rolls-Royce Piccadilly P1 Roadster with him to the afterlife, but he made sure it was well taken care of after they tossed him into the ground.
