Music History

John Duff Lowe and Colin Hanton of The Quarrymen unveiled a plaque at the site where the group that later became The Beatles made their first recordings. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recorded Buddy Holly's “That'll Be The Day” and the Lennon-Harrison song “In Spite Of All The Danger” there as The Quarrymen in 1958.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and caused extensive damage to the local music community.

American filmmaker Adam Muskiewicz launched the website elviswanted.com as part of a documentary investigating the myth that Elvis Presley is still alive, offering a $3 million reward to anyone who could find Elvis alive. The film was scheduled for release in August 2007 to mark the 30th anniversary of Presley's death.

A man surfing the internet in America helped catch three men who broke into a shop in Liverpool, England. He was watching a live internet feed from Mathew Street and the nearby Beatles festival when he saw men smashing the shop window and climbing inside. He called Merseyside Police, who arrested the offenders.

While singing his 1968 hit “Fire” on stage in Lewes, England, Arthur Brown caught fire after the characteristic foil cap he was wearing, with a small fire in the middle, ignited.

Roseanne Cash criticized the use of her late father Johnny Cash's name in connection with support for a U.S. presidential candidate. Country singer John Rich suggested that Cash would have supported Republican candidate John McCain. Roseanne Cash called such a claim presumptuous and said that even she would not presume to publicly state what her father actually felt or thought.

A thief in New Zealand reserved a copy of Pink Floyd's album The Wall at a record store in Christchurch, left his name and telephone number, and subsequently robbed the store.

Two months after Michael Jackson's death, on what would have been his 51st birthday, 13,597 people in Mexico City danced to "Thriller", setting a new Guinness World Record.

Worldwide media reported that a toilet once owned by John Lennon sold at auction for £9,500 ($14,740), approximately ten times its original estimated value. After a new toilet was installed, Lennon told builder John Hancock, who took away the original blue-and-white toilet: “Put some flowers in it or something.” The toilet had been stored for more than 40 years and was put up for sale after Hancock died.

The Go-Go's received the 2,444th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard, on the site of the former punk club The Masque, where the group frequently performed early in its career.

A version of the video game Angry Birds dedicated to Green Day was released, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool as green pigs. Players could unlock a new Green Day song from level 10 of the game.

The phrase “bro-country” first appeared in an article by Jody Rosen in New York magazine, where he used it to describe Florida Georgia Line’s song “Cruise”. Rosen called Luke Bryan the king of the genre, which he described as “music by and for the tattooed, muscular, party-minded young white American”.

Lady Gaga asked her fans to stop making online threats against her critics. She said she did not approve of hateful or abusive behavior toward others and that such a way of dealing with emotions was not healthy. Some of her fans had sent death threats on Twitter to dance music producer Deadmau5, who had criticized Gaga over her video collaboration with artist Marina Abramović.

After her appearance at the V Festival in Britain, Beyoncé was reportedly said to have spent nearly £1,500 at a Nando's branch in Essex. The bill posted on Twitter included 48 whole chickens, 24 portions of coleslaw, 58 portions of chicken wings and 48 portions of fries. The branch manager confirmed that a member of her entourage had placed the order by phone.

A signed copy of John Lennon’s 1964 humorous book “In His Own Write” sold for more than $5,600 on eBay after 47 bids. The book contained short stories, poems and drawings.

Sir Paul McCartney was ranked No. 1 on therichest.com's list of the world's richest bass players, with an estimated fortune of $1.2 billion. Sting and Gene Simmons were tied for second place, each with a fortune of $300 million, followed by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, U2's Adam Clayton and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The television show Catfish: The TV Show featured Spencer Morrill, who claimed to have been in an online relationship with Katy Perry for six years and had even made a ring from a family heirloom.

Alice Cooper announced to CNN that he had decided to run for President of the United States and had chosen actor Tom Hanks as his running mate. Jokingly, he gave his campaign slogan as “I can do nothing as well as they can do nothing” and declared that his platform was “non-existent”. It was part of a long-running joke in which Cooper has claimed to be running for president every four years since the release of his song “Elected” in 1972.

A copy of the first pressing of The Beatles’ “The White Album”, owned by Ringo Starr and bearing the catalog number 0000001, was officially confirmed as the most expensive LP ever sold at auction. In December 2015, it was sold for $790,000 at Julien's Auction House.

A blue plaque was unveiled marking the first house where Freddie Mercury lived after arriving in England. The Queen frontman moved into the semi-detached house in Feltham, West London, after his family left Zanzibar in 1964, when he was 17.

Collectors from around the world gathered at Graceland in Memphis to bid on items and memorabilia associated with him as part of the 40th anniversary of Elvis Week. The August 12 auction sold 315 items for more than $1.6 million. All came from private collectors rather than the Graceland archives owned by Lisa Marie Presley.

Pantone announced a new color, a shade of purple honoring Prince and named after his famous Love Symbol #2.

During Elvis Week 2017, a Candlelight Vigil was held at Elvis Presley's grave in Memphis. Lisa Marie Presley, her children and Priscilla Presley also attended to thank the fans.

Taylor Swift deleted her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and personal YouTube accounts. Three days later, she began posting videos featuring a snake as a teaser for her confrontational song “Look What You Made Me Do,” which was released on August 25.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville held a private memorial event for Glen Campbell. Jimmy Webb and the current lineup of The Beach Boys performed „I Get Around“.

On the 60th anniversary of Gladys Presley's death, her gravestone was added to the Meditation Garden at Graceland. She died on August 14, 1958, and was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. Her original gravestone had been stored in the Graceland archives since 1977.

At the age of 74, Rod Stewart attended his daughter Kimberly's 40th birthday celebration in Los Angeles. He was also accompanied by three of his former wives: Alana Stewart, Kimberly's mother, Kelly Emberg and Rachel Hunter. Rod Stewart has eight children with five different women.

NASA's Mars InSight mission named a small rock on Mars after The Rolling Stones. The golf-ball-sized rock rolled approximately three feet during the probe's landing in November 2018 as a result of the force of its thrusters. Mick Jagger was delighted and joked that he would like to bring it back and display it on the band's mantelpiece.

The stone wall in front of Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, was spray-painted with messages supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for defunding the police. The messages covered many handwritten notes and tributes that Elvis fans had left there since his death in August 1977.

David Bowie was named the most influential British artist of the previous 50 years in a Sky Arts poll, thanks to his ability to transcend music, film and fashion. Other musicians in the ranking included Spice Girls, Elton John, Stormzy and Boy George.

At the Democratic National Convention, a DJ played a different song for each state while the votes were being presented for Kamala Harris as the future nominee. Massachusetts was represented by “I'm Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys, Nevada by “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, and New Jersey by “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen. Lil Jon appeared in person and performed “Turn Down For What” for Georgia.

Reports emerged that former Beatles drummer Pete Best had converted his mother's former home at 8 Haymans Green in Liverpool into a short-term Airbnb rental. The basement of the house once housed the Casbah Coffee Club, where the early Beatles played almost forty times. Best, who was dismissed by the group's manager Brian Epstein on August 16, 1962, still maintained that he was neither angry nor bitter about his dismissal and that the event no longer bothered him.

The Hollies ended their career after more than six decades of existence when longtime guitarist Tony Hicks announced his departure for health reasons and drummer Bobby Elliott left with him. The group, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, had 30 UK and 12 U.S. singles in the Top 40, including “Bus Stop”, “Stop Stop Stop”, “Carrie Anne”, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” and “The Air That I Breathe”.