November 20 Rock And Roll History

Get the latest rock and roll history facts about your favorite classic artists right here on ZOZ.

On this day in 1961, Bob Dylan started recording his first album at Columbia in New York City.

In 1973, 19-year-old Scot Halpin was in the audience at a show the Who was putting on when he was recruited to take over for drummer Keith Moon, who had collapsed. The young man played the remaining three songs in the set.

In 1976 on this day, Paul Simon hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live. He performed a duet with George Harrison on "Here Comes The Sun" and "Homeward Bound." Paul McCartney and John Lennon both watched the show on TV. 

In 1991, the Rolling Stones signed a $45 million contract with Virgin Records, setting the record for rock's highest paid group (although that record has since been broken). Their deal was to make 3 albums over the next 6 years.

In 1995, "Beatles Anthology 1" was released by Apple Records as part of the "Beatles Anthology" collection. It featured rarities, outtakes, and live performances from 1958–1964, including songs with original their bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe, as well as drummer Pete Best.

And in 1998, a study was conducted at Ohio University that compared noise levels of rock music. The researchers tested people from the ages of 18 to 21, and people from the ages of 51 to 58. Participants were asked to rate the volume of rock music played at nine intensities, ranging from 10 decibels to 90 decibels. The song that was used was ‘Heartbreaker’ by Led Zeppelin, and it was played for 10 seconds at the different levels. It was determined that older people considered rock music to be much louder than younger people did.