History Highlight:

Today in 1977, The Clash released their first single, "White Riot." The song is about class economics and race, and thus proved controversial: Some people thought it was advocating a race war. Joe Strummer claimed, however, that was trying to appeal to white youths to find a worthy cause to riot (i.e., economic suppression of the lower classes), because he felt blacks in the U.K. had, especially given that the song was written after Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon were involved in the riots at the Notting Hill Carnival of 1976, which had been stirred by racial and economic tensions.

Also, Today in:

1939 - Frank Sinatra made his first recording, a song called "Our Love", with the Frank Mane band.

1967 - The Beatles had their 13th U.S. No. 1 single with McCartney's "Penny Lane."

1972 - Neil Young started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Heart Of Gold".

1978 - The Bee Gees held the top three positions on the U.S. singles charts, with "Night Fever" at No. 1; "(Love is) Thicker Than Water" by Andy Gibb at No. 2, which was co-written by Andy's brother, the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb; and "Emotion" by Samantha Song at No. 3, a tune that was written and produced by The Bee Gees.

1978 - Cal Jam II takes place at Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The largest festival of the late '70s, performers include Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foreigner, Santana and Heart. An estimated 350,000 fans attend; the Los Angeles Times reports that 700 of them were treated for overdoses of Angel Dust.

1991 - U2 were fined about $750 after being convicted of selling condoms illegally at the Virgin Megastore in Dublin.

1994 - Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain had four guns and 25 boxes of ammo confiscated after his wife, Courtney Love, had notified police. She was afraid he would commit suicide, which, sadly, he did about three weeks later.

1994 - After a long search and many auditions, The Rolling Stones hired Darryl Jones to replace bassist Bill Wyman; Wyman had earlier announced that he was tired of the whole thing.

1996 - The Sex Pistols announced that they were reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour.

2001 - John Phillips, singer, songwriter and leader of Southern California's The Mamas and The Papas, died at the age of 65.

2002 - The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, a close friend of the Ramones.

Birthdays:

Charley Pride is 78. He has had 39 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Pride is one of the few African-Americans to have had considerable success in the country music industry and one of only three African-Americans to be inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Wilson Pickett, forefather in the American soul movement, was born today in 1941. He passed away in 2006 at age 66.

John Hartman-drummer for The Doobie Brothers is 66.

Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart is 55.

Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains is 50.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, and Wikipedia.