January 26 1965
Petula Clark’s "Downtown" hit #1 in the US. The obscure part? A session guitarist named Jimmy Page played on the track. It was the first time his guitar work hit #1 in America.
In 1968 Pink Floyd played their first gig without Syd Barrett at Southampton University. The band famously decided not to pick him up on the way to the show, effectively ending his time with the group
1955 Eddie Van Halen was born in Amsterdam
January 27 1973
John Entwistle released a solo single called "Made in Japan” and held a launch party at a Japanese steakhouse in Soho. The single completely failed to chart.
January 28 1988 Doc McGhee, the legendary manager for Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, pleaded guilty to helping import 40,000 lbs of marijuana into the US via a shrimp boat. His sentence? He was ordered to organize the "Moscow Music Peace Festival," a massive anti-drug rock concert in Russia.
January 29 1977
Former Fleetwood Mac genius Peter Green was committed to a psychiatric hospital after he allegedly **threatened his accountant with an air rifle** because the accountant tried to deliver a £30,000 royalty check. Green had become a recluse and wanted nothing to do with the money.
Despite being the faces of the "anti-corporate" punk movement, The Clash signed a massive £100,000 contract with CBS Records—an astronomical sum for a punk band at the time.
In 1971 George Harrison’s "My Sweet Lord" topped the UK charts, making him the first solo Beatle to have a #1 single.
January 30th 1969
Led Zeppelin was playing at the Grand Ballroom in Detroit. The show is famous among collectors because the promoter misspelled "Zeppelin on the posters, and the supporting act was a local band called "Wind."
The Beatles performed for the final time together on the roof of Apple Corps in London. The 42-minute set was eventually shut down by the police.
January 31 1980
To promote The Wall, a massive blank billboard was erected on the Sunset Strip. Each day, a worker would go up and manually remove one brick to slowly reveal the album art.
