On this day in 1958, the Recording Industry Association of America gave out the first certified gold record for an album to the soundtrack of “Oklahoma!”

Released in 1955, the film is an adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name. The story follows a farm girl and her courtship by two rival suitors, a cowboy and a farmhand. The film received rave reviews and was voted a “New York Times Critics Pick”.

The soundtrack was originally released as a 42-minute album on Capitol Records, but only in mono. However, as other 1956 films such as “Carousel” began to release state of the art stereo soundtracks, the decision was made to reissue the album in stereo. Due to the differences in mono and stereo grooves on the disk itself, it became necessary to cut a brief section of the music for its stereo release.

The album went to number one on the Billboard Pop Album Chart in 1956 and also reached the top of the UK albums chart. The certified gold record at the time indicated that the album had made one million dollars in sales, the requirement of 500,000 units sold was not added until 1975.

On this day in 1964, The Beatles played the first of two shows in Auckland, New Zealand

After arriving in Wellington on the 21st, the band played four concerts across two days before heading for Auckland for the next four. The band played two shows a night, one at 6:30pm and one at 8:30pm.

The band was welcomed officially by the mayor, but the Auckland police were much less impressed. In 1981, a tour manager recalled the inspector in charge having the opening remark of “We didn’t want ‘em here and I don’t know why you brought ‘em.” This attitude caused a plethora of security issues throughout the tour. In Auckland, only three officers were assigned to protect the hotel entrance from a mob of several thousand fans. The Beatles were trampled underfoot as they tried to enter the hotel. 

John Lennon was so outraged by the lack of security that he reportedly considered cancelling the shows. A tour manager claimed it was the one time he saw Lennon lose his temper, and that Ringo Starr was equally unimpressed. Both members were slightly injured and Lennon lost a clump of hair after being trampled by the crowds.

Despite these issues, the concerts went ahead as planned and were hugely successful, drawing a huge crowd of adoring fans. However more trouble arose as the band attempted to leave Auckland as a threat of a ‘germ bomb’ on the plane meant that police quarantined all stage equipment overnight and everyones suitcase was checked, delaying the flight by half an hour. Despite the turbulent issues that plagued the tour, the concerts are recalled fondly by the band and by New Zealanders. 

On this day in 1980, Led Zeppelin embarked on what would end up being their final tour

The “Tour Over Europe” would be the bands first series of shows since performing at Knebworth, England almost a year earlier. Singer Robert Plant was reluctant to perform another US tour and the band aimed to avoid some of the negative press attention that had troubled them in the UK, so manager Peter Grant compromised by organising a short European tour.

Throughout the tour, the band played at small venues with modest sound systems and lighting effects, giving it a more low key feel than the bands other recent tours. There were still issues on stage, including a show in Vienna where Jimmy Page was struck in the face with a firecracker and a show in Nuremberg where John Bonham collapsed on stage and was rushed to hospital. Speculation arose that the collapse was due to overindulgence with alcohol and drugs, but the band stated he had simply overeaten.

The tour ended with a show in Berlin on 7th July, which would be the last show performed by the band until 2007. John Paul Jones recalled of the tour “Morale was very high. We were in really good spirits… By the time John [Bonham] died, we had sorted it out and were ready to go again. He died in rehearsals for an American tour.”

All shows from this tour were recorded and later released by the bootleg label Tarantura on a 26 disk box set and has been released unofficially many times since. 

On this day in 1966, Janis Joplin debuted with the band that would launch her career to stardom

Joplin’s career really began in 1964 when she recorded a number of blues standards with future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Her vocal style attracted the attention of San Francisco psychedelic outfit Big Brother and the Holding Company and their manager and promoter, Chet Helms was quick to recruit Joplin to the group, with her officially joining on June 4, 1966.

The following week, Joplin and the band appeared for their debut at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom. The line-up at the time consisted of guitarists James Gurley and Sam Andrew, bassist Peter Albin and drummer Dave Getz alongside Joplin. Albin later said that the meeting wasn’t the Hollywood moment many imagined and that it took Joplin around a year to really learn how to perform with an electric band.

Within a few months, the group entered the studio to record their debut, self-titled album which would be released the following year. They soon attracted a bigger deal after Columbia Records head Clive Davis heard them play at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The band then released a second album, Cheap Thrills, before Joplin left the band in 1968 to pursue her tragically short lived solo career before her accidental death in 1970.

On this day in 1967, Aretha Franklin scored her first solo number one song with her cover of “Respect”

Originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1965, Franklin recorded the song during a New York session with Jerry Wexler, though she had already been playing the song live for several years.

Franklin’s version of the song flips the lyrics to be from a female perspective and introduces ideas like the spelling out of respect and the “sock it to me” refrain, which became a household expression. These changes allowed “Respect” to be viewed more as a song about civil and womens rights. The altered lyrics represent Franklin as a strong woman demanding respect from her partner and from others in the world. She said of the song that “I don’t think it’s bold at all. I think it’s quite natural that we all want respect – and should get it.”

The song was immediately popular, reaching number one on the Billboard charts where it remained for two weeks. It is now considered a classic song, being inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll list, as well as number 5 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”