This Month in Music History – July

July 1
•    1971: Jethro Tull’s single “Aqualung” goes gold
•    1970: Casey Kasem’s “The American Top-Forty” radio show debuts in eleven U.S. cities
•    1969: Sam Phillips sells Sun Records
July 2
•    1980: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and manager Joel Rifkin of the Grateful Dead are arrested in San Diego for interfering in the drug-related arrest of a concert-goer
July 3
•    1969: Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool
July 4
•    1982: Ozzy Osbourne marries manager Sharon Arden
July 5
•    1943: Robbie Robertson of The Band is born
July 6
•    1976: Rapper 50 Cent is born Curtis Jackson
•    1957: 15-year-old Paul McCartney and 16-year-old John Lennon meet at a church picnic near Liverpool
July 7
•    1984: Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax” becomes Britain’s all-time biggest selling single
•    1980: The original lineup of Led Zeppelin performs for the last time
•    1975: Hoards of teenage girls storm an Arkansas jail holding Keith Richards for reckless driving
•    1940: Ringo Starr is born
July 8
•    1970: Beck is born Beck David Campbell
•    1962: Joan Osborne is born
July 9
•    1995: Jerry Garcia plays with the Grateful Dead for the last time at Chicago’s Soldier Field; he will die of a heart attack in one month
•    1975: Jack White of The White Stripes is born
•    1971: Doors lead singer Jim Morrison is buried at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France
•    1964: Courtney Love is born Love Michelle Harrison
•    1946: Bon Scott, original lead singer of AC/DC, is born
July 10
•    1965: Wilson Pickett releases the single “In the Midnight Hour”
•    1947: Arlo Guthrie is born
July 11
•    1969: David Bowie releases “Space Oddity” as an ode to American space travel to the moon
•    1959: Ritchie Sambora of Bon Jovi is born
July 13
•    1985: Live Aid, a concert to benefit world hunger, takes place at Wembley Stadium in England and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia
•    1942: Roger McGuinn is born
July 16
•    1981: Harry Chapin dies in a car accident on the way to a benefit concert in New Jersey
•    1977: “Easy” by The Commodores goes to #1
July 17
•    1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience opens for The Monkees at N.Y.’s Forest Hills Tennis Stadium
July 20
•    1968: “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly enters the charts
•    1965: Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released by Columbia Records
July 21
•    1990: Roger Waters performs “The Wall” at  the former site of The Berlin Wall
•    1986: The album Appetite For Destruction is released by Guns N’ Roses
July 22
•    1996: Slayer is sued by the parents of a teenage girl who feel the band’s lyrics drove three boys to torture, rape and ultimately stab their daughter to death
•    1965: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman are ordered to pay five pounds each after being arrested for urinating on a London gas station
July 23
•    1980: Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux dies two days after a car accident
•    1980: Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and manager Peter Grant are arrested at The Oakland Coliseum for beating up three employees working for promoter Bill Graham
July 24
•    1971: T-Rex’s hit “Get It On” is #1 in the U.K.
July 25
•    1969: Neil Young makes his first appearance with Crosby, Stills & Nash at The Fillmore East
•    1965: Bob Dylan plugs in his guitar and is booed at the Newport Folk Festival
July 29
•    1974: Mama Cass Elliott dies in her London apartment from a heart attack at the age of 32
•    1968: The Byrds leave for a tour of South Africa without Gram Parsons, who claimed he refuses to enter a country that allows apartheid. It was later discovered that Parsons stayed in the U.K. in order to hang out with the Rolling Stones. The decision ended Parsons tenure with The Byrds
July 31
•    1976: (More cowbell!) “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is released by Blue Oyster Cult