January 1

Births

1942: Joe McDonald (Vocals & Guitar for Country Joe and the Fish)

1950: Morgan Fisher (Keyboards for Mott The Hoople)

1958: Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) (DJ)

1975: Thomas Bangalter (Keyboards for Daft Punk)

Events

1940: New York radio station W2XDG, broadcasting from the Empire State Building, becomes the first to broadcast with the new Frequency Modulation technology, making it the first FM station in the world licensed by the FCC.

1950: Sam Phillips, a 26-year-old disc jockey, opens his new Memphis Recording Service -- later to be immortalized as Sun Studios -- in Memphis, TN, at the corner of Union and Marshall streets.

1953: Hank Williams is pronounced dead at Oak Hill General Hospital in Oak Hill, West Virginia, after passing away in the back seat of a Cadillac, en route to a show in Canton, Ohio at age 29. Many believe he died from a mix of alcohol and morphine.

1959: While on furlough from his Army outfit, Elvis Presley takes his new BMW out for a spin on Germany's famed Autobahn highway and totals it (fortunately leaving the scene of the accident without a scratch).

1959: For the first time, ABC-TV's teen dance program American Bandstand leads the US daytime television ratings.

1960: Johnny Cash makes his very first appearance on stage in a prison, singing for the inmates at San Quentin prison in San Rafael, CA, including one Merle Haggard, currently serving a three-year stint for burglary.

1964: BBC-TV premieres a new musical variety show entitled Top Of The Pops, kicked off by Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You," followed by lip-synced performances from the Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies and The Swinging Blue Jeans.

1967: The San Francisco chapter of the Hell's Angels holds the first annual New Year's Wail, a goodwill concert for the Haight-Ashbury hippies who bailed one of their members out of jail. Musical guests include the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin.

1967: The Doors made their first live television appearance lip-synching their first single 'Break on Through' on Shebang, KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles.

1968: A Berkeley, CA rock group called The Golliwogs makes the momentous decision to change its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

1972: The annual New Year's Day Tournament of Roses parade allows its first rock group on a float -- in this case, Three Dog Night.

1976: Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant walks for the first time following his horrible car accident in Greece the previous year.

1977: The Clash played the opening night at punk's first real venue, The Roxy Club in London.

1979: Bruce Springsteen's cheek was ripped open by a fire-cracker that was thrown onstage from the audience.

1982: Abba made their final live appearance as a group when they played in Stockholm, Sweden.

1987: Elton John is admitted to a hospital in Sydney, Australia, for emergency throat surgery, and is forbidden from performing for four months.

1989: Nirvana signed a one-year recording contract with Sub Pop records. The Seattle based label began not as a record label but as a fanzine (called Subterranean Pop), in the early 80's, also signed Soundgarden and Mudhoney.

1992: Dwight Yoakam falls off his horse in the middle of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, when the saddle strap breaks. Someone from the crowd repairs the strap, and Yoakam is back in the saddle again.

1993: Elton John's new single "The Last Song" hits the Top 40, giving him a unbroken record-setting string of consecutive years with a chart hit -- 23, beating out Elvis Presley's old record of 22.

1997: Singer / Songwriter Townes Van Zandt died from cardiac arrhythmia.

2000: George Harrison is informed that he will be able to play guitar again following knife injuries to his hand during Michael Abram's recent home invasion.

2002: At the christening of his daughter, Julie Rose, Eric Clapton surprises the attendees by marrying the mother, Melia McEnery, a woman almost half his age at 25.