Rock 'n' Roll History for
June 25


<-- Previous Day -- Home Page -- Next Day -->



1957 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Egyptian government officials announce that Rock 'n' Roll music can no longer be played in public, calling it an "imperialist plot."

1961 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Elvis Presley records "Little Sister" at RCA Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. When released the following August as a Double-A side with "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame"), it will reach #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also spent four weeks at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, one of Presley's nine UK chart-toppers between 1960 and 1962.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
The final Beatles world tour kicked off in Munich, Germany as the Fab Four saw "Paperback Writer" leap from #15 in the US to #1. Although John Lennon was the Beatle who actually wrote books, the song was penned by Paul McCartney.

June 25
Jackie Wilson was arrested for inciting a riot and refusing to obey a police order at a nightclub in Port Arthur, Texas. Wilson had a crowd of between 200 and 400 whipped into a frenzy and refused to stop singing when requested to do so by police. He was later convicted of drunkenness and fined $30.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
The Beatles premiere the song "All You Need Is Love" on a worldwide TV broadcast called Our World, watched by an estimated 400 million people. The now famous opening bars are from the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Sly And The Family Stone record "Hot Fun In The Summertime", which will reach #2 in the US next Fall.

June 25
The Hollies record "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", accompanied by Elton John on piano. It will become a #3 hit in the UK and climb to #7 in the US.

June 25
The Guess Who's "These Eyes" is certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies in the United States. The record had peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 three weeks earlier.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Bobby Darin marries his second wife, legal secretary Andrea Yeager, after they had lived together for three years. They would split just four months later, shortly before Darin's death.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Former Supremes member Florence Ballard put on a dynamic performance at Detroit's Ford Auditorium that drew wide acclaim and renewed interest in her career. Unfortunately, her comeback faltered and she would pass away a year later.

June 25
Tim Buckley, a popular performer and song writer during the 1960s and early '70s, died from a drug overdose at the age of 28. Between 1966 and 1974 he had released nine albums.

June 25
Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention release their tenth and final album, "One Size Fits All". It would rise to #26 on the Billboard 200 chart.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Marvin Gaye's 49th Billboard Top 40 single for Tamla / Motown Records, "Got To Give It Up", reached number one. Marvin would later sign with Columbia, but had only one more Pop chart entry during his lifetime, "Sexual Healing", #3 in 1982.

June 25
Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now", the theme from the motion picture Rocky, topped the Cashbox Best Sellers chart. Conti recorded the song and the rest of the film's score in just three hours for a total budget of $25,000, but the movie itself would go on to make over 177 million dollars in the US alone.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Billy Joel is awarded a Gold Ticket for performing in front of 100,000 fans at New York's Madison Square Garden. Crowds flocked to see the piano man sing the tunes from his "Glass Houses" album, which currently sat atop the Billboard 200 chart.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
For the first time in the history of the Billboard charts, there are more foreign acts in the top 100 than American artists.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Boudleaux Bryant, one of Nashville's most prolific songwriters, died of cancer at the age of 67. Bryant and his wife Felice wrote many of the Everly Brothers' hits, including "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream." The team also composed "Rocky Top," which became an anthem for the state of Tennessee.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Billy Joel gets his diploma, twenty-five years after leaving high school. The piano man had overslept and missed his English and Gym finals in 1967.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Bruce Springsteen was a surprise guest on David Letterman's final show as host of NBC's Late Night. After more than eleven years at NBC, Letterman began a similar show on CBS two months later.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Santana, with Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas on lead vocals, perform "Smooth" on The Late Show With David Letterman. Santana had not had a Billboard hit since "Hold On" reached #15 in 1982, but "Smooth" would top the Hot 100 and climb to #3 in the UK.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
The Recording Industry Association of America disclosed its plans to fight Internet piracy by suing hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Eric Clapton raised about $7.5 million for a drug addiction center he set up in the Caribbean by auctioning off some more of his favorite guitars. The items that were sold were the "Blackie" Stratocaster that Clapton played from 1970-1985 for $1 million, a 1964 cherry-red Gibson for $847,000 and a 1939 Martin acoustic that Clapton played on his "Unplugged" album went for $800,000.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 after suffering heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills. He earned the title of "The King Of Pop" by collecting thirteen Grammy Awards and thirteen US number one singles. Jackson's death triggered an outpouring of grief by music fans around the world, creating unprecedented surges of Internet traffic and causing sales of his music and that of the Jackson 5 to increase dramatically. Michael had been scheduled to perform his This Is It concert series to over one million people at London's O2 arena from July 13th, 2009 to March 6, 2010.

June 25
A Sgt. Pepper souvenir poster bearing the signatures of all four Beatles sold for $52,500 (£31,720) at a Pop memorabilia auction in New York City.

June 25
Sky Saxon, lead singer and founder of the 1960s band The Seeds, who had a Top 40 hit in 1967 with "Pushin' Too Hard", died unexpectedly in an Austin, Texas hospital. At the time of his death, he had been scheduled to begin a tour of the United States and Canada with a reformed version of The Seeds.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
B.B. King's longtime business manager, LaVerne Toney, was named sole executor of his estimated five to ten million dollar estate, despite objections from a lawyer representing four of the late Blues icon's daughters.

June 25
James Taylor scored his first Billboard number one album after "Before This World" moved 97,000 units during the previous week, edging out Taylor Swift's "1989", which was knocked down into the number two spot.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

June 25
The Yellow Cloud guitar owned by Prince was sold by Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. A lock of David Bowie's hair also sold for $18,750.

June 25
A shirt spattered with the blood of John Lennon was sold by Heritage Auctions for $40,819. The white button down shirt was worn by concierge Jay Hastings when he came to Lennon's aid after the former Beatle was shot in front of The Dakota apartment building in New York on December 8th, 1980.



<-- Previous Day -- Home Page -- Next Day -->