This Date In Music History- October 18

Birthdays:

Charles ("Chuck") Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1926.

Songwriter Cynthia Weil (wrote "Kicks", "On Broadway", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and many others, usually with then-husband Barry Mann) is 71.

Happy birthday to Russ Gugiere- guitarist/vocalist with the Association ("Along Comes Mary").

REO Speedwagon guitarist Gary Richrath was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1949.

Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was born in New Orleans in 1961.

History:

Paul McCartney made his debut with the Quarrymen in 1957, a skiffle group founded by John Lennon. He blows the solo on “Guitar Boogie.” The Quarrymen eventually became The Beatles and Paul switched to bass.

'The Graduate', starring Dustin Hoffman and featuring a soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel, was released in 1967.

Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" was released in 1968. "Before I came to England, I was digging a lot of the things Bob Dylan was doing," Jimi said. "He is giving me inspiration."

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were busted for possession of marijuana in 1968. The bust, while not a major deal in England, was used in the 1970s as the reason the U.S. government didn’t want Lennon to immigrate. Actually, the government felt Lennon was a political radical/troublemaker.

'Easy Rider', starring Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, was released in 1969.

The Band’s masterful self-titled second album - which contains such classics as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” – entered Billboard’s album chart in 1969. It reached #9 and eventually went platinum (1 million copies sold).

The late songwriter Laura Nyro ("And When I Die", "Eli's Coming", "Wedding Bell Blues" and many others) was born in 1947.

Today in 1969, the song "I Can't Get Next to You" by the Temptations topped the charts and stayed there for 2 weeks.

In 1956, 21 year old Elvis Presley pulled into a Memphis gas station where he started to attract a crowd of autograph seekers. After repeatedly asking Elvis to move on so he could resume normal business, station manager Edd Hopper slapped Presley on the head and finds himself on the receiving end of a punch in the eye from Elvis. Station employee Aubrey Brown tries to help his boss, but is no match for Presley. After police are called, Hopper and Brown are charged with assault and are eventually fined $25 and $15 respectively.

The Jackson 5 made their US network TV debut on Hollywood Palace in 1968. The group included Jackie (18), Tito (15), Jermaine (14), Marlon (12) and Michael (10).

Dickie Goodman had the best selling single in the US in 1975, with the novelty tune, "Mr. Jaws", which mixed his rapid-fire mock interviews with answers that were snipped from contemporary hit singles. Goodman first entered the US charts in 1956 when he and his partner Bill Buchanan used a similar format on a record called "The Flying Saucer".

At a Rock 'n' Roll revival concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1968, Bill Haley was given an eight minute standing ovation.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience played its first major show backing Billy Hallyday at the Paris Olympia Theatre in 1966.

Richard Lester’s "How I Won The War” premiered in London in 1968. The anti-war film featured John Lennon as Corporal Gripweed. Lester directed the first two Beatle films (A Hard Day’s Night and Help!).

The Animals first UK tour as headliners opened in Manchester, England, in 1964 with Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Tommy Tucker and the Nashville Teens as supporting acts.