History Highlight:

Today in 2014, Gary Burger died of pancreatic cancer on at the age of 71. He is best known as the guitarist and vocalist for the garage rock band the Monks, which was formed by five American GIs stationed in West Germany in 1964. With their shrill vocals and tonsure haircuts, the Monks were a pioneering force in avant-garde music, influencing bands such as Green Day and the Beastie Boys. Burger also served as the mayor of Turtle River, Minnesota — a small town just northeast of Bemidji — from 2006 until his death in 2014.

Also, today In:

1955 - CBS talent scout Arthur Godfrey turned down the chance to sign Elvis Presley. Instead, at the same audition, he signed singer Pat Boone.

1958 - The first ever Gold Record is awarded for sales of a million copies. It goes to Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star."

1962 - Bruce Channel started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hey! Baby".

1964 - The Beatles peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Please Please Me". They were still at No. 1 with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and at number two with "She Loves You". Billboard magazine reports that their records make up 60% of all singles sold.

1972 - Carole King's Tapestry takes Album of The Year at the Grammy Awards. Carly Simon wins for Best New Artist.

1973 - Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" was the No. 1 single in the land.

1980 - On his forty-seventh birthday, Quincy Jones was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine.

1981 - Eric Clapton was admitted to United Hospital in St. Paul, MN after an attack of bleeding ulcers which caused Clapton to cancel a 60-city tour of the U.S.

1981 - Roxy Music had their only U.K. No. 1 single with their version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy." That means this single charted higher than the band's "Love Is The Drug", "More Than This", and "Avalon".

1982 - Metallica performed their first concert at Radio City in Anaheim, CA. There were approximately 200 people in attendance and their nine song set only had two original songs.

1987 - At Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, California, No Doubt play their first concert, a benefit for a local scooter shop that burned down. In the audience is Tony Kanal, who like No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani, is still in high school. He joins the band later that year and starts dating Stefani; their breakup inspires the song "Don't Speak."

1990 - Flea and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers were arrested for sexually harassing a woman on Daytona Beach, Florida. They were each fined $1,000.

1991 - R.E.M. played the first of two nights at London's Borderline Club under the name of “Bingo Hand Job.”

1995 - The Goo Goo Dolls release their breakthrough fifth studio album, A Boy Named Goo, featuring their first major hit, "Name."

1995 - Grunge supergroup Mad Season release their only album, Above. The group includes Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees.

1995 - Collective Soul released their self-titled album. It became the band's highest-selling album to date, going triple-Platinum.

1998 - Weeks after Johnny Cash's Unchained won the Grammy for Best Country Album, his producer Rick Rubin took out a $20,000 full-page ad in Billboard with a photo of the singer giving the middle finger along with the text, "American Recordings and Johnny Cash would like to acknowledge the Nashville music establishment and country radio for your support." The finger photo itself was shot at a Cash concert in 1969 at California’s San Quentin prison by photographer Jim Marshall. The pose was the result of Cash’s response to the request: “John, let’s do a shot for the warden.” 

2005 - U2, The Pretenders, Buddy Guy, and Percy Sledge were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. U2 were inducted by Bruce Springsteen; The Pretenders were inducted by Neil Young; Eric Clapton inducted Buddy Guy; and Rod Stewart inducted Percy Sledge.

2011 - The long-neglected Neil Diamond was finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, along with Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Leon Russell.

2011 - Ronnie Hammond, the lead singer of The Atlanta Rhythm Section, died of heart failure at the age of 60. He led the band to two Billboard Top Ten hits, "So Into You" in 1977 and "Imaginary Lover" in 1978.

2016 - Sony ATV Music Publishing announced that it would buy out Michael Jackson's share of a joint music publishing venture for $750 million. The purchase gave Sony the rights to about three million songs, including works by The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift, but did not include Jackson's master recordings.

Birthdays:

Lee Hays of the Weavers was born today in 1914.

Quincy Jones is 91.

Jim Pons, bassist for The Turtles and The Mothers of Invention, is 81.

Michael Martin Murphey is 79.

Rick Dees is 74.

Mike Muir, lead singer of Suicidal Tendencies, is 61.

Michael Bland, drummer for Prince and Soul Asylum, is 55.

Kristian Bush of Sugarland is 54.

Taylor Hanson, the second-cutest Hanson brother, is 41.

Este Haim of Haim is 38.

Ansel Elgort is 30.

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