This Date in Rock Music History: May 21

1963:  The Beatles recorded five songs for the BBC radio show Saturday Club and six for Steppin' Out before a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in London.
1964:  The Drifters recorded "Under The Boardwalk".  Johnny Moore was called upon to sing lead after Rudy Lewis had died the night before.
1965:  The Four Tops appeared on the U.K. television show Ready Steady Goes Live!
1966:  Mel Carter's "Band of Gold" was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1966:  A hot new song was moving up the chart.  It was called "Paint It Black" from the Rolling Stones.

This Date in Rock Music History: May 20

1954:  The landmark single "Rock Around The Clock" was released by Bill Haley & the Comets.  The song wouldn't officially begin the Rock Era until it reached #1 a year later after being featured in the movie The Blackboard Jungle and re-released.

This Date in Rock Music History: May 19

1958:  Peggy Lee recorded the great song "Fever" at the famous Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, California.

This Date in Rock Music History: May 18

1959: This artist changed the name at the suggestion of Dick Clark's wife Bobbie because he resembled a teenage Fats Domino.  He scored 35 hits over three decades, but on this date, Chubby Checker debuted on the chart for the first time with "The Class", in which he did imitations of Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, the Coasters, Cozy Cole and the Chipmunks.

This Date in Rock Music History: May 17

1958:  "Jerry Lee Lewis Day" was held in Lewis's hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana.
1963:  Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary and Pete Seeger performed at the first Monterey Folk Festival, held over three days in Monterey, California.

This Date in Rock Music History: May 16

1960:  The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania celebrated proclaimed it "Jimmy Clanton Week".
1960:  Elvis Presley held on to #1 for a fourth week with "Stuck On You".

This Date in Rock Music History: May 15

1957: Chuck Berry recorded "Rock & Roll Music" at the Chess Studios in Chicago, Illinois. (Note: some websites report that he recorded the song on either May 6 or May 21, but according to the book 'Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings' by Steve Sullivan, Berry recorded the song on May 15.)