On this day in 1965, The Beatles had their first full day of shooting for their second film, Help! in the Bahamas

After the success of their first film, A Hard Day’s Night, a second movie was quickly approved and planned. A Hard Day’s Night’s success also made way for a larger budget was allocated to director Richard Lester, allowing the use of colour film and a more extensive musical score.

This was planned to be their first day of filming, but the band got a head start a day earlier after cancelling some rest time. So for their second day of filming, and first full day, the group recorded a scene cycling along the lengthy Interfield Road on New Provedence Island, where a number of scenes would follow in the next few days.

Help! was released later in the year, alongside an album of the same name, containing seven songs that appeared in the film. The film received mixed reviews on its release despite its commercial success. Some critics later credited the film with acting as a forerunner to the style of music video seen today.

On this day in 1967, The Beatles released Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever in the UK.

The song is inspired by a road in Liverpool that Lennon, McCartney and Harrison frequented when changing buses during their years as students. McCartney mentioned during an interview in 1965 that he wanted to write a song about Penny Lane, and in 1966 he wrote the song after being presented with Lennon’s Strawberry Fields Forever, which served as the singles second side. 

Penny Lane features a wide variety of instrumentation, adding handclaps, congas, piano, flutes, trumpets, oboes and a double bass to the groups usual combination. Still dissatisfied, McCartney decided to add a piccolo trumpet solo, which critics agree completes the song.

Many British reviewers were initially confused by the release and predicted trouble for commercial sales. The song however quickly went to number two on the charts, only beaten as a protocol dictated that only the sales of the better-selling side of a double A-side were eligible, essentially halving the numbers. This made the release the first Beatles single since 1963 to fail to reach number one. The band themselves were unperturbed by this result, with Starr recalling that it took pressure off the group.

On this day in 1967, Aretha Franklin released her first hit song, I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)

Franklin originally signed to Columbia Records in 1960 and released nine albums with them but had remained commercially unsuccessful. The record company let Franklin’s contract laps in 1966 and Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler quickly signed her and arranged recording sessions in Alabama for January.

Wexler arranged a group of musicians to join the session and they started by working on a song that Aretha had brought with her, written by Ronnie Shannon. Soon after, Wexler asked her to record a blues song, and to play the piano on it herself. Within minutes, Wexler knew he had a hit.

The song quickly reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 list as well as number 1 on the R&B chart and Franklin kept the momentum by swiftly following with an album of the same name, going gold soon after. The song was soon as a defining moment in Franklin’s career and soon became a superstar. By 1968 she was hailed as one of the most successful singers in the nation.

On this day in 1959, a plane crash claimed the lives of rock legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson

Holly had assembled the performers for his “Winter Dance Party” tour, set to cover 24 cities in as many days. However, distances between the stops had not been adequately accounted for, and thus after performing at Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly decided to charter a private flight to the next stop rather than take another 10 hour trip on the tour bus.

The small plane took off as usual, but soon after the lack of visibility and severe weather caused the plane to nosedive, hitting the ground at around 270 km/h and cartwheeling across a frozen field. All three occupants of the plane, as well as the pilot were killed instantly. Investigations were carried out and it was revealed that although the pilot was well-trained, he was unqualified to fly in such low visibility scenarios.

The crash was later immortalised in Don McLean’s song, American Pie. McLean later spoke of the impact the event had on him, stating Holly had been his musical idol. An annual memorial concert has been held since 1979 at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake where the group played their last shows.

On this day in 1970, John Lennon recorded “Instant Karma!”

After a busy December planning and executing their peace campaign, John Lennon and Yoko Ono celebrated New Years with a visit to Ono’s former husband, Tony Cox, in Denmark. While there, the Lennons, Cox and his new partner Melinda Kendall discussed the concept of “instant karma” where the consequence of ones actions are immediate rather than spread across a lifetime.

On the 25th of January, Lennon and Ono returned to the UK and two days later, Lennon awoke with the early ideas for a song inspired by the conversation about instant karma. He quickly developed a melody on his home piano, and completed the writing of the song in an hour.

Over the next 10 days, Lennon enlisted George Harrison and Phil Spector who aided in the songs recording and it was released soon after, on the 6th of February. The song was a commercial success reaching the top 10 in a number of countries around the world and peaking at number 3 on America’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. It went on to become the first song by a solo Beatle to sell over 1 million copies in the US.

On this day in 1964, The Beatles released their second album in the United States,  Meet The Beatles

After EMI subsidiary Capitol Records repeatedly rejected requests from Brian Epstein and George Martin to release Beatles records in the US, an EMI deputy was sent to Los Angeles to order the company to begin producing and releasing albums. 

Despite the covers claim to be the first US album, Meet the Beatles was actually beaten out 10 days earlier when Vee-Jay Records of Chicago released Introducing… The Beatles. However, Meet the Beatles managed to enter the charts first and as a result achieved the number one spot within a month of release.

The album was a huge critical and commercial success, receiving rave reviews and selling nearly 4.7 million copies by the end of the decade.  This success has continued, with Meet the Beatles appearing on numerous greatest rock album lists, including Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” at number 59 and currently sits at 5x platinum.

On this day in 1968, Johnny Cash performed two shows at Folsom Prison for the recording of a live album

Following the success of his song “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1955, Cash had become popular amongst inmates and received numerous requests to perform at various prisons. In 1957 Cash performed his first prison show at Huntsville State Prison. Receiving a positive reception, Cash was inspired to continue with his prison performances, and came up with the idea of recording one of these shows for a live album.

The idea was shelved until 1967, when Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of producing Cash’s material. The idea was pitched to Johnston who enthusiastically supported the concept, in stark contrast to the old personnel who had found the idea too risky.

On January 13th, a combination of musicians joined Cash in two performances at Folsom Prison, one at 9:40am and one at 12:40pm. The decision to hold two performances was made in case of the first show being unsatisfactory. However, the first show was much more successful in the end, with only two songs from the second performance making it to the LP.

Despite little support and investment by Columbia initially, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison became a hit, reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. The idea was so successful that it became a series, with Cash going on to perform at prisons in San Quentin, Tennessee and even Österåker in Sweden.

On this day in 1957, Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the final time

After two extremely popular visits to the show in 1956, Elvis’s star power was obvious and he was quickly booked for his third and final appearance. He performed a series of hits such as “Love Me Tender,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” and “Too Much”.

Elvis went on to dedicate the last song of his performance, a cover of “Peace in the Valley” to the people of Hungary, who in 1956 had suffered through an anti-Soviet revolution. Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker agreed  they should lend their support for their countries fight against Communism. Ed Sullivan himself joined Elvis in asking the audience to donate to the Hungarian relief efforts.

Presley’s final Ed Sullivan Show appearance is a well known performance in TV history. After his first two visits to the show, Elvis’ classic wild dance moves had clearly caused concern to some viewers who called CBS to complain. For this reason, it was decided that this appearance be filmed entirely from the waist up, hiding Elvis’ hip swinging moves from the camera. 

Regardless of the audiences concern, Ed Sullivan told viewers that Elvis was a “real decent, fine boy.” and that they had greatly enjoyed their experience with him.

On this day in 1967, The Beatles earned their 15th US number one hit with Hello Goodbye

Written by Paul McCartney in September, the song explores themes of duality in its lyrics. To compose the lyrics, McCartney reportedly sat at a piano and asked Beatles aide Alistair Taylor to say the opposite of whatever he said.

Within a month, the band headed to Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI studios) to record the song, ready to be released in late November. The song was released as a single, with Lennon’s I Am the Walrus on the B-side. Lennon had requested his song on the A-side, but it was decided Hello Goodbye would be a more commercially viable option.

Critics were harsh on the song, but the public reception soon proved that the track had more staying power than was thought. On its first day of release in Britain, the song sold over 300,000 copies and it soon went on to top charts in Britain as well as the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Holland and Norway. Hello Goodbye is still considered one of the most popular and well-known songs from the band, appearing on numerous compilations and greatest hits album to this day.

On this day in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono finished their peace campaign for 1969 with a meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister

After a busy few days in Canada that saw Lennon signing thousands of lithographs as well as numerous meetings with peace campaigners and media, Lennon and Ono were joined by Ronnie Hawkins and wife Wanda, Anthony Fawcett, John Brower and Chris and Ritchie Yorke on a train to Ottawa to meet Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. 

Upon arrival Lennon and Ono were introduced to the Prime Minister and the group sat down to chat about peace and their campaign, as well as the youth and their future. Both Lennon and Ono expressed their satisfaction with the meeting, with Lennon going as far as to claim that “if all politicians were like Trudeau, there would be world peace.” The pair also had a meeting with Health Minister John Munro where they would discuss the plans for a Mosport peace festival with the aims of keeping it “a safe and harmonious meeting of peace”.

After their meetings and a press conference, the pair would head to the airport to return to Toronto, before flying on back to London later in the day.