History Highlight:

Today in 1989, Neil Young played "Rockin' In the Free World" as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. It was awesome. Young, who was 43 at the time, came onstage wearing a leather jacket, Elvis T-shirt and faded jeans stitched with Toronto Maple Leafs motifs; he was backed by Charlie Drayton on bass, Steve Jordan on drums, and longtime sideman Frank "Poncho" Sampedro on second guitar. The performance marked a turning point in Young's career. Writing in the Village Voice Rock & Roll Quarterly, Jimmy McDonough observed, "[Young] was all over the stage, jumping on the drum stand, lunging out of camera range, whipping off earsplitting solos that sounded like falling power lines. It was the loudest thing I've ever heard on TV … This is easily his best band since Crazy Horse." Young later revealed that before going onstage, he had worked with a trainer — lifting weights and doing calisthenics — to bring himself to an energy level comparable to a typical encore. The song was included in the Saturday Night Live 25 Years of Music compilation, released in 2000.

Also, Today In:

1965 - Donovan made his U.S. television debut on Shindig! along with The Hollies, The Turtles and the Dave Clark Five.

1974 - Police were called to a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Öyster Cult concert after a fight broke out between two sound engineers. The kerfuffle began when the Skynyrd tech claimed that the sound had been deliberately turned off during the band's set.

1977 - Mary Ford — one-half of the musical team she formed with her husband, Les Paul — died from cancer after being in a diabetic coma for 54 days. Between 1950 and 1954, Les Paul and Mary Ford had 16 top-ten hits; in 1951 alone, they sold six million records.

1978 - Exile started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Kiss You All Over."

1992 - Steve Earle was arrested in Nashville, Tenn., after he failed to report for jury duty.

1993 - Kate Pierson of The B-52's was charged with criminal mischief and trespassing during an anti-fur protest at Vogue magazine's New York City offices.

1995 - Mariah Carey made chart history when she started an eight-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Fantasy," making her the first woman to enter the chart in the No. 1 spot.

2006 - Justin Timberlake started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. It also became the biggest album ever for pre-orders on iTunes.

Birthdays:

Singer Johnny Mathis is 80.

Marc Bolan, frontman of T. Rex, was born today in 1947.

Ben Lovett, keyboardist for Mumford and Sons, is 29 today.