Led Zeppelin is awarded a Gold record for the double disc album "Physical Graffiti". The LP would eventually be certified as 16 times Platinum for sales of over 8 million copies.

The Mannish Boys, featuring a young David Bowie, released their debut single "I Pity The Fool". The guitar solo was performed by Jimmy Page, who was a session musician at the time.

Capitol Records releases The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA", which will rise to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is just a rewritten version of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen", with new lyrics by Brian Wilson. Arc Music, Berry's publisher, objected, and was given the sole copyright, including Brian Wilson's lyrics.

The Jeff Beck group, featuring a virtually unknown singer named Rod Stewart, along with bass player Ron Wood and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, make their debut in London, England.

Bo Diddley has his first recording session at Universal Recording Studio in Chicago, where he lays down "Bo Diddley", which will top the Billboard R&B chart by the following June. Even though the song didn't crack the Hot 100, it was added in 2012 to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings.

Manfred Mann earns a Gold record for "Blinded by the Light," a song written by Bruce Springsteen. It was their first US number one record since "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" thirteen years earlier.

After the family of the late Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin threatens a lawsuit, Led Zeppelin performs in Copenhagen, Denmark as The Nobs. The band had earlier invited Countess Frau Eva von Zeppelin to meet with them for a cup of tea at a television studio, and by all accounts the conference was very friendly. However, her anger rekindled when she saw the cover of their debut album "Led Zeppelin", featuring the Hindenburg airship crashing to the ground in flames. The noblewoman angrily described the group as "shrieking monkeys."

Pink Floyd record their first single, "Arnold Layne", which will top the UK charts but won't crack the Hot 100 in the US.

Guitarist Jimmy Page released a solo single called "She Just Satisfies", which would fail to chart on either side of the Atlantic.

Van Halen's "Jump" peaks at #1 in the US and #7 in the UK. Over the years David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics, but most often says they are about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building.

Alice Cooper decided to stick it to “the man” and throw his hat into the ring or the governorship of Arizona, but instead of declaring himself to be a representative of either the Democratic or Republican parties, he instead went way independent by citing himself as representing a different party altogether.

“I’m definitely a write-in candidate,” Cooper told People Magazine at the time. “Hey, I’m a native. I’m a registered voter. I represent the Wild Party, and I even have a campaign slogan: ‘Alice Cooper: A Troubled Man for Troubled Times.”

According to Joe Rhatigan’s Bizarre Politics, Cooper had a backup slogan, too – “A Messed-Up Governor for a Messed-Up State” – but as it happens, he never had the opportunity to whip out either of them. You see, the only reason the topic came up was because Arizona’s governor at the time had found himself on the receiving end of a recall petition, but when he was impeached and removed from office, the secretary of state took over his position, leaving an election unnecessary.

Queen had Billboard's top tune with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a song that Freddie Mercury later revealed came to him while he was taking a bath. The song remained at #1 in America for four consecutive weeks and was later awarded a Platinum record for sale of one million copies

Asylum Records releases the Eagles' single, "Hotel California". It will top the Billboard Hot 100, reach #8 in Great Britain, and made the Top Ten in eight other countries. The song would go on to win the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards in 1978. The closing guitar solo, shared by Don Felder and Joe Walsh, was voted the best solo of all time by readers of England's Guitarist magazine in 1998, and was ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine's Top 100 Guitar Solos. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the tune at #49 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and it was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It has sold over three million copies in the United States and over one million in Great Britain.

Simon And Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" entered the UK album chart at number 1, where it would stay for 12 consecutive weeks. It would return to the top seven times, spending a total of 41 weeks there over the next two years. In the US, the LP spent 10 weeks at number 1 on the strength of three Top Ten singles and was the number 7 album of the decade in America.

Cher gives Sonny a birthday present by filing for divorce after ten years of marriage. The split would be finalized on June 26th, 1975

Bon Scott, vocalist for AC/DC, died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 33. The band reached #35 in the US and #38 in the UK in 1979 with "You Shook Me All Night Long".

The third time would be the charm for a Topeka based group called Kansas. After scoring Top 40 hits with "Carry On Wayward Son" (#11) and "Point Of Know Return" (#28), "Dust In The Wind" entered the Billboard chart on its way to becoming the group's only Top 10 hit.

The Long Beach, California band called War started a two-week run at #1 on the Billboard album chart with "The World Is A Ghetto". The LP was their third to make the chart after the departure of lead singer Eric Burdon.

"Careless Whisper" by Wham! began a three week stay at the top of the Billboard chart. An 18-year-old George Michael had written the melody four years earlier while riding on a bus.

After smoking three packs of cigarettes a day for many years, Nat King Cole died of lung cancer at the age of 47. His daughter Natalie had just turned 15 the previous week. Nat originally played piano in Jazz bands, but stepped to the front of the stage for good when "Mona Lisa" became a number one hit in 1950. Cole continued his hit streak with "Unforgettable" (#12 in 1951), "A Blossom Fell" (#2 in 1955), "Send For Me" (#6 in 1957), "Looking Back" (#5 in 1958), "Ramblin' Rose" (#2 in 1962) and "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" (#6 in 1963). He hit the charts again in 1991 when his voice was dubbed into a duet with Natalie on an updated version of "Unforgettable", which rose to #14.