This Day in Music History: The Beatles record their last Christmas record, REM gets their first top 10 song

1925 – The “WSM Barn Dance” debuts on the Nashville radio station WSM. Two years later, the show is rechristened “The Grand Ole Opry.”

1944 – The musical Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland, premieres in New York.

1964 – Willie Nelson makes his Grand Ole Opry debut.

1967 – The Beatles record their last fan club record as a group, “Christmas Time Is Here Again!” The Beatles’ Christmas records were spoken and musical messages from the group that were posted out on flexi disc at Christmas time to members of their official fan-clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States.

1974 – John Lennon joins Elton John on stage at Madison Square Garden after losing a bet to Elton that “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” would not hit #1. They sing their chart-topper together as well as The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” It would be Lennon’s last concert appearance.

1987 – REM has their first entry in the Top 10 on the US singles chart with “The One I Love.”

1991 – Nirvana records a performance for BBC TV music show Top Of The Pops in London. When asked to lip-sync “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to a pre-recorded tape, Kurt Cobain protests by singing an octave lower (he later confirms he was imitating Morrissey from The Smiths), and attempts to eat his microphone. He also changes some of the lyrics, exchanging the opening line “load up on guns, bring your friends,” for “load up on drugs, kill your friends.”

2000 – David Bowie is crowned the musician’s musician. Bowie beat The Beatles and alternative rockers Radiohead in a survey by the NME that asked hundreds of top rock and pop stars to name their biggest musical influence.

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