History Highlight:

Today in 1961, Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was born, making him 63 today. The Flaming Lips, which formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1983, have released 15 studio albums and won three Grammys and were nominated for three more. They might be best-known, however, for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and Coyne's signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. We were lucky enough to have the Flaming Lips headline 2016's Rock the Garden, as seen above.

Also, in:

1962 - Chubby Checker's "The Twist" became the only single in the history of the charts to make it to #1 on two separate occasions. The first time had been in September of 1960.

1963 - The Beatles recorded a TV appearance on the ABC Television program "Thank Your Lucky Stars" in Birmingham playing their new single, "Please Please Me". The show was broadcast on January 19.

1964 - Bob Dylan releases his third studio album, The Times They Are a-Changin'.

1965 - The first day of recording sessions for Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home album were held at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Dylan recorded "Subterranean Homesick Blues," and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

1968 - Johnny Cash played a show, which was recorded for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, California in front of 2,000 inmates. When released, the lead single, "Folsom Prison Blues" (an update of his 1956 hit) became one of the most famous recordings of his career. The song combines elements from two popular folk styles, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career.

1969 - Elvis Presley started recording in Memphis for the first time since the Sun sessions in 1955.

1969 - The Beatles release Yellow Submarine in the United States. It was issued as the soundtrack to the animated film of the same name, which premiered in London in July 1968.

1973 - Carly Simon's album No Secrets, featuring the hit single "You're So Vain," hits #1 in America.

1978 - Work began on the first album by Sting (Gordon Sumner), Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, known as The Police. The album would be titled Outlandos d'Amour.

1979 - Toto peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their debut single "Hold The Line".

1979 - Donny Hathaway commits suicide at age 33 by jumping from the balcony of his 15th floor room at the Essex House hotel in New York City.

1979 - The Y.M.C.A., unimpressed and certainly not amused by the flamboyantly gay Village People's song "Y.M.C.A.," sued the group. The action was later dropped.

1980 - The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, The Beach Boys, Santana and Joan Baez performed a benefit concert for the people of Kampuchea at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA.

1984 - BBC Radio 1 announced a ban on "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read called it "obscene", a BBC TV ban also followed.

2004 - The NFL rejected Bono's request to perform "American Prayer" during the Super Bowl halftime show as part of an effort to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

2005 - The Chemical Brothers released their fifth studio album, Push the Button. It features “Galvanize” feat. Q-Tip, “Believe,” and “The Boxer.”

2015 - Mark Ronson released his fourth studio album, Uptown Special. It features “Uptown Funk.”

2016 - The Rolling Stones' first manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, passed away at the age of 82. He owned the Crawdaddy Club in London where The Rolling Stones were the house band. After he was replaced by Andrew Loog Oldham in May of 1963, Gomelsky went on to manage The Yardbirds, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger before moving to New York in 1978 and opening The Green Door nightclub.

2017 - Magic Alex (Alexis Mardas) a Greek electronics engineer died aged 74. He is best-known for his close association with the Beatles.

2021 - Sylvain Sylvain died from cancer at age 69. He was a member of New York Dolls. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes.

Birthdays:

Songwriter and singer Liz Anderson (“Mama Spank,” Merle Haggard’s “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive”) was born today in Roseau, Minnesota, in 1927.

Jazz guitarist Joe Pass — who worked with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald — was born today in 1929.

Daevid Allen of Soft Machine was born today in 1938.

Trevor Rabin, guitarist for Yes, is 70.

Fred White, drummer with Earth, Wind & Fire, was born today in 1955. He passed away in 2023 on January 1.

Don Snow of Squeeze is 67.

Graham "Suggs" McPherson, the lead singer of Madness, is 63.

Trace Adkins is 62.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.