This Day in Music History – July 2nd

1955 – ABC Television premiered “The Lawrence Welk Show.”

1956 – Elvis Presley recorded “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”

1956 – Buddy Holly’s first single “Blue Days, Black Nights” b/w “Love Me” was released.

1961 – The Drifters released the single “Sweets For My Sweet.”

1976 – For the first time in 12 years, Brian Wilson joined the Beach Boys on stage. The next night the show was recorded for an NBC Beach Boys special.

1981 – Bruce Springsteen played the first show ever at the 21,000 seat Brendan Byrne Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey.

1984 – Epic Records set a record as two million copies of the Jacksons’ “Victory” were shipped to stores. It was the first time that such a large initial shipment had been made.

1986 – The Prince movie “Under The Cherry Moon” was released. It was his second movie.

1990 – Representatives of the Italian Catholic Church announced that they would attempt to halt Madonna’s concerts in Rome because of her alleged inappropiate use of crucifixes and sacred symbols.

1991 – “Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records Of All Time” was released.

1991 – Axl Rose (Guns ‘n’ Roses) sparked a riot during a concert outside of St. Louis when he jumped off the stage and attacked a fan who was videotaping the concert. 60 people were hurt.

2005 – MTV and VH1 aired the eight hours of the Live 8 concerts. The performances, featuring artists U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z and Destiny’s Child among many others, were held in eight cities to raise awareness of poverty in Africa.

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