August 15–18, 1969
The most famous music festival in history kicked off on Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York. Over 400,000 people showed up for "3 Days of Peace & Music,.
August 12–17, 1968
In mid-August 1968, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham held their very first rehearsal together in a small basement in London (playing "Train Kept A-Rollin'"),
August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll," passed away at his Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42. I was in Scarborough at the time.
August 16, 1969: Expecting to go on stage hours later at Woodstock, Santana took mescaline early in the afternoon. Due to schedule changes, the band was shoved onto stage while he was peaking. He later admitted he spent the legendary performance hallucinating that his guitar neck was an electric snake he had to keep under control.
August 17, 1991: Nirvana shot the iconic music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Culver City Studios in California with a crowd of actual local high school kids acting as the audience.
August 17, 1964. At the peak of Beatlemania, the Glasgow City Council issued a bizarre official order: all boys and men with "Beatle-style" mop-top haircuts were required to wear rubber swimming caps in public municipal pools. The city's baths manager submitted an urgent report warning that the teens' long hair was shedding heavily and clogging up the city’s pool filtration systems.
August 17, 1965 The Byrds were forced to cancel a UK tour date at Portsmouth’s Guildhall after pulling only 250 fans in a 4,000-seat venue. Part of the promotional nightmare was a fierce legal injunction filed by a local British R&B band also named The Birds—which featured an 18-year-old Ronnie Wood on guitar long before he
August 18, 1987: Def Leppard released Hysteria in the US. Driven by massive hits like "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Love Bites," it went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide.
August 18, 1969. While filming the movie Ned Kelly on location in Australia, Mick Jagger suffered a life-threatening scare when a prop pistol loaded with black powder backfired. The blast fired brass shrapnel directly into Jagger's hand, forcing shooting to halt while he received emergency medical treatment.
August 18, 1977: Two days after Elvis Presley passed away, The Police made their US debut performance at the famous punk venue CBGB in New York City. They flew over from London carrying their own instruments in overhead luggage to save money.
August 21, 1972: Jefferson Airplane played a chaotic show in Akron, Ohio, that turned into a literal riot. After their equipment manager yelled at local police officers, a brawl broke out on stage. Singer Grace Slick was maced by police, and several band members were arrested and dragged off stage mid-set
