Aug 14 in Music History: The Who release Who’s Next, Michael Jackson buys rights to Lennon/McCartney songs

1962 – Unhappy with drummer Pete Best’s role in The Beatles, Brian Epstein and the other three members decide to sack him. Best plays his last gig the following night at The Cavern in Liverpool. Ringo Starr, who is nearing the end of a three-month engagement with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, receives a call from John Lennon asking him to join the band. Ringo gives Rory Storm three days’ notice and makes his first appearance with the Fab Four on August 18.

1971 – The Who release Who’s Next.

1971 – Elton John records “Madman Across The Water.”

1974 – Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play The Blues is released.

1976 – Funded by a £400 loan, Nick Lowe’s debut single “So It Goes” becomes the first release on Stiff Records. The label’s marketing and advertising is often provocative and witty, billing itself as “The World’s Most Flexible Record Label” with slogans like “We came. We saw. We left.”

1985 – Michael Jackson wins a bid over Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalogue. At $47.5 million, he gains the rights to more than 250 songs written by Lennon and McCartney (and destroys his relationship with Paul).

1989 – Bon Jovi’s New Jersey album becomes the first US album to be released legally in the Soviet Union. The Russian label Melodiya pays the band with a truckload of firewood since rubles can’t leave Russia.

1993 – Freddie Mercury has his first solo UK #1 single with “Living On My Own.” The song had been a minor hit in 1985 when released from his solo album Mr. Bad Guy. This remixed version was reissued.

1995 – Foo Fighters make their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman when they perform their new single “This Is A Call.”

1998 – PBS premieres a documentary on Robbie Robertson’s heritage: “Robbie Robertson: Making A Noise – A Native American Musical Journey.”

2007 – Apple announces that the entire catalog of John Lennon will be available at iTunes Music Store.

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