This Day in Music
On October 5, 1962, The Beatles changed the musical landscape forever with the UK release of their debut single, “Love Me Do.” The jaunty track spent 26 weeks on the pop chart, peaking at No.17, and later appeared on the band’s debut album, Please Please Me, released in March 1963. The single would be released in the US a year and a half later, in April 1964, and it went straight to No.1.
On October 5, 1973, Elton John released his seventh studio album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It became John’s best-selling studio album and features some of his best-loved songs, including “Candle in the Wind,” “Bennie and the Jets,” and the title track. Ranked as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone, the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.
In 1966, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. They played their first show together just over a week later, on October 13, at the Novelty in Évreux, France.
In 1970, the highly-anticipated Led Zeppelin III was released in the UK. The album, which peaked at No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic, featured a broad range of instrumentation and some of the band’s most recognizable tracks, including the fiery “Immigrant Song.” It has since been certified 6X Platinum in the US alone.
In 1974, Olivia Newton-John scored her first No.1 in the US with “I Honestly Love You.”
In 1999, Roger Daltrey announced that The Who would reunite. Their highly-anticipated first show back together took place on October 29 in Las Vegas.
BORN ON OCTOBER 5
1937: Garth Hudson (The Band)
1941: Doris Coley (The Shirelles)
1944: Jim Capaldi (Traffic)
1961: Pete De Freitas (Echo & the Bunnymen)
1967: Butch Vig (Producer)
1970: Zelma Davis (C+C Music Factory)
