April 17 in Music History: The Band play their first independent show, Paul McCartney releases his debut solo album

1960 – Eddie Cochran is killed when the taxi he is traveling in crashes into a lamppost on Rowden Hill in Chippenham, England. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survive the crash. Cochran was 21.

1964 – Dusty Springfield releases her debut album, A Girl Called Dusty.

1964 – Them (with Van Morrison) make their live debut at Ireland’s Maritime Hotel in Belfast.

1969 – The Band play their first independent show in San Francisco, Calfornia.

1970 – Paul McCartney releases his first solo album, McCartney, in the UK. It is released three days later in the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm2YyVZBL8U

1970 – Santana begins sessions for what would be their breakthrough album, Abraxas, at Wally Heider Recording Studio.

1973 – The Eagles release Desperado.

1982 – Johnny Cash hosts Saturday Night Live. He and Elton John are the musical guests. Cash sings “I Walk The Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” John sings “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)” and “Ball and Chain.” See more clips from this episode here.

1991 – Nirvana appear at the OK Hotel in Seattle, where they introduce the world to their new song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

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