This Day in Music History: George Harrison releases Electronic Sound, Bruce Springsteen makes his television network debut on SNL

1962 – The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein meets with EMI producer George Martin, who eventually signs the band to record demos on June 4, 1962. It is their first recording contract.

1963 – The Rolling Stones sign their first management contract with Andrew Loog Oldham’s management company, Impact, agreeing to license their UK output to Decca.

1964 – Louis Armstrong goes to #1 on the US singles chart with “Hello Dolly,” making him the oldest artist to top the charts at the age of 62. (In 2011, 85-year-old Tony Bennett breaks this record with his Duets album.)

1966 – The Beatles record “For No One.”

1965 – Bob Dylan plays the first of two sold out nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall. All four members of The Beatles are in the audience.

1969 – George Harrison’s experimental album Electronic Sound is released on Zapple records.

1970 – The Guess Who start a three-week run at #1 on the US singles chart with “American Woman,” which is actually a tribute to the women of Canada, and the band’s only chart topper. The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he broke a string and the other members joined in on the jam. A fan in the audience who had recorded the gig presented the tape to the group after the show, and they developed it into a full song.

1974 – Bruce Springsteen gets a huge career boost when he opens for Bonnie Raitt at a show in Cambridge, MA. Playing his full two-hour set at Raitt’s insistence (rare for an opening act), Bruce is so impressive that Rolling Stone magazine‘s rock critic Jon Landau writes in Boston’s The Real Paper, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” Landau goes on to become Springsteen’s manager and producer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M64N9GfDCi4

1992 – Bruce Springsteen makes his North American network television debut on Saturday Night Live with host Tom Hanks.

1998 – Brian Wilson plays his first ever solo concert at a show in St. Charles, Illinois.

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.