February 1 1963: A 17-year-old Neil Young plays his first-ever professional gig at a country club in Winnipeg with his band, The Squires, his band was paid a total of $5.00 for the night. After gas money, each member walked home with exactly one dollar.
1964: The Beatles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with "I Want to Hold Your Hand," officially launching Beatlemania in the US.
1967: Pink Floyd signs their first professional recording contract with EMI.
February 2: The Sid Vicious Tragedy
1979: Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious is found dead of a heroin overdose in New York City, just one day after being released from Rikers Island.
Graham Nash turns 84 today.
February 3 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J.P. Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
February 4 Alice Cooper turns 78 today. In 1964, the Governor of Indiana, Matthew Welsh, officially declared the song "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen to be pornographic. He requested that the Indiana Broadcasters Association ban the record. The irony? The lyrics were so unintelligible that nobody could actually prove they were dirty—the "obscenity" was entirely in the listener's imagination.
1977: Fleetwood Mac releases Rumours
February 5: Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses) turns 62.
February 6 Bob Marley would have been 81, and Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) turns 64. In 1975, during a show at the Montreal Forum, a police riot squad was stationed inside the venue purely because a previous 1972 Led Zeppelin show had ended in a massive riot. The band played under the watchful eye of dozens of armed officers.
1958 George Harrison joins Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen, after auditioning on the top deck of a Liverpool bus.
February 7 1964: Pan Am Flight 101 lands at JFK Airport in New York, carrying The Beatles for their first US visit.
February 8 1956: Buddy Holly signs his first recording contract with Decca Records. The contract famously misspells his name as "Holly" (dropping the 'e' from Holley), a change he decides to keep.
1972: The official Beatles Fan Club finally disbands
Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) turns 65.
