Rock 'n' Roll History for
September 20


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1964 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
3,682 fans paid $100 per ticket to see The Beatles play a charity concert at the Paramount Theatre in New York City to wrap up their North American tour.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Although the record label gave credit to a fictional band called The Archies, it was singer Ron Dante who led a group of studio musicians to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with "Sugar Sugar" for the first of four weeks. In August 1969 the record was certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies. The song also topped the UK Official Chart for eight weeks and is considered the most successful Bubblegum single of all time.

September 20
Associated TV spends a million pounds to gain control of The Beatles' music publishing company, Northern Songs.

September 20
Creedence Clearwater Revival scored their only UK #1 single with "Bad Moon Rising".

September 20
Blind Faith's self-titled album hits #1 on both the US and UK charts, selling more than half a million copies in the first month of its release.


1970 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Jim Morrison of The Doors is acquitted on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, but is found guilty of exposing himself during a concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove a year and a half earlier. At his trial at the Dade County Courthouse in Miami, Judge Goodman sentenced Jim to six months of hard labor and a $500 fine for public exposure and sixty days of hard labor for profanity. The sentence was appealed, but Morrison was never brought to trial, as he would die in Paris, France on July 3rd, 1971. The band's tour manager, Vince Treanor is adamant that the incident never happened at all.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested for the second time in four weeks for possession of cannabis, this time for growing it at their Scottish farmhouse near Campbeltown.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
30 year old Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash on September 20th, after playing a concert at North-western State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. His small charter plane, a Beechcraft D-18, hit a tree just after take-off in bad weather. He and Maury Muehleisen, his lead guitarist, both died in the wreck, along with the members of the plane's crew. Only a week before, Croce finished recording his third album, "I Got a Name".

1975 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
David Bowie had the top tune on Billboard's singles chart with "Fame", a song co-written by John Lennon, who can be heard singing near the end of the record.

September 20
The Bay City Rollers appeared on the Saturday Night Variety Show and performed their just released record, "Saturday Night", which would climb to number one in the US by the first week of January.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
The Captain and Tennille musical variety show premiered on ABC TV. After just one season however, the duo felt they could no longer keep up with the heavy work load and asked to be released from their contract.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Ringo Starr releases his sixth studio album, "Ringo The 4th". The LP was a failure from the get go, both commercially and critically. It stalled at #162 on the Billboard 200 and couldn't crack the UK Official Albums Chart at all. Neither of the two singles pulled from the album, "Wings" and "Drowning in the Sea of Love" charted in the US.


1978 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
The Who's "Who Are You" LP goes Gold. The single of the same name would later be used as the theme for the popular US TV show C.S.I.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Huey Lewis And The News started a three week run at the top of the US singles chart with "Stuck With You", a #12 hit in the UK.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Patty Smyth's duet with Eagles' drummer Don Henley, "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", peaks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it would stay for the next six weeks. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Pop Vocal, Duo or Group, but lost to Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson's rendition of "Beauty And The Beast".

1994 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
The Temptations receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2004 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Billy Joel is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6233 Hollywood Blvd.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Leonard Skinner, the Florida school teacher who inspired a group of high school students to use his mis-spelled name during their rise to fame as the Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away at a nursing home at the age of 77. Although the band did not get along with Mr. Skinner when he was their teacher, they eventually patched things up and became friends.

2012 - ClassicBands.com.

September 20
The family of the late Dan Hamilton, of Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, won a significant jury verdict against publisher Music Force, who allegedly failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty payments for the 1975, number one hit, "Fallin' In Love".


2013 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Testimony ended in a long-running lawsuit claiming the promoter of Michael Jackson's planned comeback concerts was negligent in hiring the doctor convicted of causing the death of the superstar.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

September 20
Elton John admitted during an appearance on the UK TV show Good Morning Britain that he was considering retiring from recording. He told the audience, "My records don't sell anymore because people have enough Elton John records in their collection. I love making them, but it's someone else's turn now."



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