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- Marie Lloyd collapsed on stage at the Empire Hall in Edmonton. She died three days later.
- American country singer and guitarist Leroy Van Dyke was born in Mora, Missouri. He became famous for the hits “The Auctioneer” in 1956 and “Walk On By” in 1961, which reached number one on the US country chart and number five on the pop chart. “Walk On By” spent a total of 19 weeks at the top of the country chart.
- American steel guitarist Lloyd Green, one of the prominent studio musicians of Nashville's A-Team, was born in Leaf, Mississippi. He played on more than 5,000 recording sessions and contributed to 116 country hits that reached number one. In 1988, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame.
- Perry Como recorded the song “That Old Gang of Mine” with the Ted Weems Orchestra in New York. The recording was made on October 4, 1939, and was released on the Decca label.
- “Piano Concerto in B Flat” by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra reached number one on the US chart on October 4, 1941. The recording was based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto.
- Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five recorded the song “Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?” on October 4, 1943. The recording was later released in 1944 as the B-side of the single “G.I. Jive” and became one of Jordan's best-known songs.
- Bassist Jim Fielder, a founding member of Blood, Sweat & Tears, was born in Denton, Texas. Before the formation of Blood, Sweat & Tears, he also worked with Tim Buckley, Buffalo Springfield, and Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention.
- American guitarist and singer Duke Robillard was born. He founded Roomful of Blues, was a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and also worked with Bob Dylan.
- American drummer and producer Jody Stephens, a member of Big Star with Alex Chilton, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He also worked as a producer and is the last surviving original member of Big Star. Three of the band's studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's lists of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
- Elvis performed at the Boys Club Gymnasium in Paris, Texas, as part of the Louisiana Hayride Jamboree. Also appearing were Jimmy & Johnny, Johnny Horton, Betty Amos, Willie Birdbrain, Daldon & Lulu, and Sonny Trammel; the show was sponsored by the Optimist Club. The show began at 8:00 p.m.
- Elvis Presley finished second to Pat Boone in a music poll conducted by NME magazine.
- The results of the annual NME readers' poll named Pat Boone the world's number-one male singer, while Elvis Presley finished second. Among the top British groups were The King Brothers and The Stargazers.
- American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Barbara Kooyman, also known as Barbara K. MacDonald and Barbara K, was born in Wausau, Wisconsin. She co-founded the duo Timbuk 3 with her then-husband Pat MacDonald; their best-known song was The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.
- During his military service in Germany, after arriving at the hotel in Bad Homburg, Elvis had dinner with Vernon, Minnie, Red West, and Lamar Fike. A crowd of fans gathered outside the hotel.
- Chris Lowe was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. He is an English musician, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who, together with Neil Tennant, forms the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. He began working with Tennant in 1981, and the pair later achieved worldwide success, including with the song “West End Girls.”
- Alvin & The Chipmunks got their own television show, The Alvin Show, on CBS. They had previously enjoyed successful hits including The Chipmunk Song, Alvin's Harmonica, and Ragtime Cowboy Joe. The show was canceled after one season in prime time, but later enjoyed a second life through Saturday morning reruns until 1965.
- Jon Secada, whose birth name is Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez, was born in Havana, Cuba. He grew up in Hialeah, Florida. He is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, actor, and producer; he worked with Gloria Estefan, among others, and his 1992 debut album Jon Secada became an international success.
- The instrumental song Telstar by The Tornados, named after the communications satellite, reached number one on the UK singles chart and began a five-week run at the top. The song was written and produced by Joe Meek and became the first major hit by a British group to also reach number one in the US. It sold at least five million copies worldwide.
- Eric Clapton, then eighteen years old, replaced sixteen-year-old Anthony “Top” Topham in The Yardbirds. Topham left because of his parents' concerns and uncertainty about leaving art school. Clapton subsequently became an important part of the band and, according to some sources, first performed with The Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. Topham later worked in design, painting, and music and rejoined The Yardbirds in 2013–2015.
- Billboard reported on the growing trend of hot-rod songs replacing surf songs. “Little Deuce Coupe” by The Beach Boys was at number 15 on the Billboard chart. Capitol Records supplied disc jockeys and retailers with a special glossary of terms used in hot-rod culture because of regional differences in automotive slang.
- The Beatles made their first appearance on the British television program Ready Steady Go!, where they were interviewed by Dusty Springfield. They performed “Twist and Shout,” “I’ll Get You,” and “She Loves You,” and appeared in grey collarless suits.
- Elvis and his entire team returned to Memphis in a Dodge Motor Home from the filming of Paradise Hawaiian Style. Along the way, they traditionally stopped at the Holiday Inn on Route 66 in Albuquerque.
- Johnny Cash was arrested at the airport in El Paso after returning from Mexico, when customs officials found hundreds of Dexedrine (amphetamine) and Equanil (sedative) tablets in his guitar case, which he had purchased in Ciudad Juárez. He spent the night in jail, later pleaded guilty, and received a $1,000 fine and a suspended 30-day jail sentence.
- Leo Barnes, saxophonist and manager of the Hothouse Flowers, was born in Dublin, Ireland. He grew up in an orphanage.
- Bobby Hebb received a gold record for the song “Sunny,” which reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 in the UK.
- The Byrds played the first of a series of thirteen concerts at The Village Gate club in New York City.
- The Vince Guaraldi Trio recorded music at Desilu's Gower Street Studio in Hollywood for the Halloween television special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The session included a new arrangement of “Linus and Lucy” featuring prominent flute parts by Ronald Lang.
- George Harrison and John Lennon appeared on David Frost's television program, where they expressed support for transcendental meditation. Author Juan Mascaró later sent Harrison a book containing a translation of Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching, whose text Harrison used as the basis for the song “The Inner Light.”
- A ten-day joint UK tour by Traffic, The Young Rascals, Vanilla Fudge, Art, and Keith West began at Finsbury Park in London.
- Cream began their farewell tour with a concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in California. The tour included 22 concerts at 19 venues and ended on November 26 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
- Elvis Presley released the album Singer Presents Elvis Singing Flaming Star And Others.
- Led Zeppelin, then still billed as The Yardbirds or The New Yardbirds, made their UK concert debut on October 4, 1968, at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle upon Tyne. The performance was part of an autumn UK tour; Terry Reid's Fantasia was listed as the support act, and the ticket cost 10 shillings and 6 pence. The group adopted the name Led Zeppelin later in October.
- The album Green River reached number one on the US Billboard 200 on October 4, 1969, beginning a four-week run at the top. It was Creedence Clearwater Revival's first album to reach number one on any Billboard chart. The album included Bad Moon Rising, Lodi, Green River, and Commotion, and reached number 2 in Canada. It was later ranked No. 95 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
- Crosby, Stills & Nash released the song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”
- Janis Joplin died on October 4, 1970, at the age of 27 after a heroin overdose at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood. Shortly before her death, she was working to complete the album Pearl and recorded the song “Me and Bobby McGee.” The album Pearl was released posthumously in 1971, and “Me and Bobby McGee” became her first US number-one single; the album Pearl also reached number one on the US albums chart. Joplin failed to show up for a scheduled recording session and was subsequently found dead in her hotel room.
- Led Zeppelin released their third studio album, Led Zeppelin III. The band significantly moved away from its previous hard-rock sound, also incorporating folk and Celtic influences; the album included the song Immigrant Song.
- Australian musician Darren Middleton, guitarist and songwriter for Powderfinger, was born. Their third album, Internationalist, reached number one on the Australian albums chart in 1998.
- Ten Years After performed at the Town Hall in Birmingham, West Midlands, England.
- American singer and songwriter M. Ward was born. He has released ten studio albums and is also a member of the duo She & Him and the folk-rock supergroup Monsters of Folk.
- The J. Geils Band performed at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
- BBC broadcast the 500th episode of Top of the Pops. Performers included Slade, Gary Glitter, and The Osmonds. The Who broke the show's rules against miming during their appearance, and Pete Townshend smashed a guitar on stage, which led to the group being banned from appearing on the program.
- John Lennon released the album Walls And Bridges in the UK. The album was created during his separation from Yoko Ono and became his US number-one album, reaching the top of the Billboard chart several weeks later.