History Highlight:

Today in 1973, Gram Parsons' manager, Phil Kaufman, was fined $300 for stealing Parsons' body from the Los Angeles International Airport, contrary to Parsons' family's wishes to deliver the body to Louisiana for a funeral. Before his death, Parsons had said that he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree National Park and his ashes spread over Cap Rock. Kaufman claimed that it was Parsons' wish to be cremated, so he and a friend borrowed a hearse and drove the body to Joshua Tree. Upon reaching the Cap Rock section of the park, they attempted to cremate Parsons' corpse by pouring five gallons of gasoline into the open coffin and throwing a lit match inside; an enormous fireball resulted, drawing police attention. Since there was no law against stealing a dead body, Kaufman and his friend were technically fined for stealing the coffin. Parsons' remains were eventually buried in Garden of Memories Cemetery near New Orleans.

Today In:

1961 - Jimmy Dean started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Big Bad John."

1965 - The Rolling Stones started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Get Off Of My Cloud," their second top single in America.

1967 - During a three-hour session Bob Dylan recorded "All Along The Watchtower" and "John Wesley Harding" at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville.

1970 - Aerosmith performed their first-ever gig when they played at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Mass.

1972 - During a U.K. tour, Billy Murcia of The New York Dolls died after choking on his coffee following a drug overdose.

1975 - The Sex Pistols made their live debut at St Martin's School Of Art in central London, supporting a band called Bazooka Joe, which included Stuart Goddard (the future Adam Ant). The Pistols' performance lasted 10 minutes.

1976 - The Steve Miller Band went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Rock'n Me," the group's second No. 1 hit.

1982 - The Soft Cell hit, "Tainted Love," logged a record 43 weeks on Britain's Top 100.

1993 - Pearl Jam went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Vs, selling 950,378 copies in one week.

2001 - Less than a year after the breakup of the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan re-emerged with a new band called Zwan. The new Chicago combo featured former Pumpkins' drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

2014 - Taylor Swift's album 1989 debuted at No. 1 on America's Billboard albums chart, selling 1.287 million copies in its first week.

Birthday:

Glenn Frey was born today in 1948.

Guy Clark was born today in 1941.

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