History Highlight:

Today in 1970, Janis Joplin bought a headstone for the grave of her greatest influence Bessie Smith at the Mont Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia. The blues singer's grave was unmarked until that time. Smith was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and 30s, but sadly died in a car crash in 1937.

Also, Today In:

1960 - 16-year old Brian Hyland went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".

1964 - The single by The Young World Singers called "Ringo For President" was released in the U.S. The Beatles drummer had so much appeal that fans launched a "Ringo for President" campaign in the midst of the Johnson/Goldwater race. A well-organized contingent - most of whose members were below the voting age of 21 - banded together to enter the drummer as a third-party write-in candidate for President.

1966 - In response to John Lennon's remark about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus, The South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles records. Also on this day The Beatles LP Revolver was released in the U.S., the band's seventh album featured: 'Taxman', 'Eleanor Rigby', 'I'm Only Sleeping', 'Here, There and Everywhere', 'She Said She Said', 'And Your Bird Can Sing' and 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. It spent 77 weeks on the Billboard chart peaking at No. 1.

1967 - The Killer, aka Jerry Lee Lewis, worked the crowd into such a frenzy at the Sunberry Blues & Jazz Festival in Britain that he was asked to leave the stage.

1969 - Photographer Iain MacMillan shot the cover for The Beatles' Abbey Road just outside the studios of the same name where the band recorded most of its classic songs.

1975 - Hank Williams, Jr. nearly met his doom when he fell 500 feet down Ajax Mountain in Montana. He survived, but with facial scars that he would often cover with a hat, beard, and sunglasses.

1980 - The Greater London Council banned The Plasmatics from blowing a car up on stage during their UK live debut at London's Hammersmith Odeon.

1981 - MTV broadcast its first stereo concert with REO Speedwagon who performed in Denver, Colorado, having just released the album Hi Infidelity and the hit singles, 'Keep On Loving You,' 'Take It On the Run' and 'Don't Let Him Go.'

1986 - David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash was released from prison after serving three years for drug and weapons possession. His conviction would be overturned by a Texas appeals court in November 1987.

1987 - U2 scored their second U.S. No. 1 single from their Joshua Tree album with 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'. The song received two nominations for the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988, for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

1988 - N.W.A's debut album Straight Outta Compton was released.

1991 - On A Friday, (later to become known as Radiohead), appeared at The Jericho Tavern, Oxford, England. The band had met while attending Abingdon School, a boys-only public school. "On a Friday", referred to the band's usual rehearsal day in the school's music room.

1992 - Madonna went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with 'This Used To Be My Playground'. A No. 3 hit in the U.K., the track was taken from the film 'A League Of Their Own.'

1994 - The Notorious B.I.G. releases his debut solo single, "Juicy."

2004 - There was a big stink (hey-o!) when The Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped its sewage into an Illinois river. The band was not on the bus, and their driver denied it until he was confronted with surveillance video.

2007 - Amy Winehouse overdosed on a mixture of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine after a London pub crawl. Her hospitalization causes the cancellation of her first US tour. The singer refused her record company's request to enter rehab for alcohol abuse, inspiring her hit record "Rehab."

Birthdays:

Ali Score of A Flock Of Seagulls is 65.

The Edge is 56.

Rikki Rockett of Poison is 56.

JC Chasez of *NSYNC is 41.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.