July 1

•   1970: Casey Kasem’s “The American Top Forty” radio show debuts in eleven U.S. cities

•   1969: Sam Phillips sells Sun Records

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July 2

•   1980: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and manager Joel Rifkin of the Grateful Dead are arrested in San Diego for interfering in the drug-related arrest of a concert-goer

•   2005: Live 8 Concerts take place around the world to draw attention to poverty in Africa

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July 3

•   1969: Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool

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July 6

•   1957: 15-year-old Paul McCartney and 16-year-old John Lennon meet at a church picnic near Liverpool

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July 7

•   1980: The original lineup of Led Zeppelin performs for the last time

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July 9

•   1995: Jerry Garcia plays with the Grateful Dead for the last time at Chicago’s Soldier Field; he will die of a heart attack in one month

•   1971: Doors lead singer Jim Morrison is buried at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France

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July 11

•   1969: David Bowie releases “Space Oddity” as an ode to American space travel to the moon

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July 13

•   1985: Live Aid, a concert to benefit world hunger, takes place at Wembley Stadium in England and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia

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July 17

•   1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience opens for The Monkees at N.Y.’s Forest Hills Tennis Stadium

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July 20

•   1965: Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released by Columbia Records

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July 21

•   1990: Roger Waters performs “The Wall” at  the former site of The Berlin Wall

•   1986: The album Appetite For Destruction is released by Guns N’ Roses

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July 23

•   1980: Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux dies two days after a car accident

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July 25

•   1969: Neil Young makes his first appearance with Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Fillmore East

•   1965: Bob Dylan plugs in his guitar and is booed at the Newport Folk Festival

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July 29

•   1974: Mama Cass Elliott dies in her London apartment from a heart attack at the age of 32

•   1968: The Byrds leave for a tour of South Africa without Gram Parsons, who claimed he refuses to enter a country that allows apartheid. The decision ended Parsons tenure with The Byrds

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July 31

•   1976: (More cowbell!!) “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is released by Blue Oyster Cult

 

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