July 13 is truly a special day in rock history. It’s when we celebrate one of the biggest music events ever, 1985’s Live Aid. Despite its headline-stealing magnitude, other notable events have happened in the rock world on this date. These are the most important ones.
Breakthrough Hits and Milestones
- 1956: Elvis Presley released a double A-side single featuring “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel”. It was his biggest two-sided hit, as both singles reached number 1 on the pop charts, confirming The King’s place as one of the era’s top singers and performers.
- 1964: The Beatles released the “A Hard Day’s Night” single in the U.S. It was part of the soundtrack for the movie with the same name and was the fifth of no less than seven Beatles songs to hit number 1 in only a one-year period.
- 1974: Eric Clapton releases his only US number-one single, “I Shot the Sheriff.” It was a cover of a Bob Marley song that had been released a year earlier and helped get reggae music into the mainstream.
Notable Recordings and Performances
Many legendary performances took place on this day throughout the years. These events changed rock history and are still talked about to this day:
- 1968: Black Sabbath, initially called “Earth”, played their first-ever gig on this day at a blues club called The Crown Pub in Birmingham, England. Although they were a blues band at the time, they would eventually develop the dark and heavy sound that laid the foundations for modern heavy metal.
- 1973: Queen released their self-titled debut album. Although they’d make it big a few years later with the album A Night at the Opera, Queen’s first album was a hint of what was to come. The eclectic mix of progressive rock, folk music, and straight-up hard rock was to define one of the most loved and admired bands in music history.
- 1985: The Live Aid benefit concert took place on this day in two different venues, London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Stadium. It’s estimated that up to 1.9 billion people watched it on TV, which at the time was about 40 percent of the world’s population. It featured dozens of the biggest bands and artists at the time and had many memorable events, including an electric 20-minute performance by Queen and a Led Zeppelin reunion.
When it comes to special moments in rock history, July 13 has it all: legendary concerts, meaningful debuts, and hits that we still hear on radio stations around the world.
