May 9
1970
The Guess Who have a hit on Billboard‘s Hot 100 with “American Woman”, a song born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman strums a heavy riff on stage after he broke a string and the band had taken a break. The rest of the group joined in and Burton Cummings started singing the first thing that popped into his head. A fan in the audience taped it and presented it to the group after the show where it started the evolution to a full song.
1998
Jimmy Page duets on Saturday Night Live with Sean “Puffy” Combs on “Come With Me” from the Godzilla movie soundtrack that includes the famed riff from Led Zeppelin’s song “Kashmir.”
2020
Bone cancer claims the life of “Little Richard” Penniman at the age of 87. He had nine songs on the Billboard Top 40 over a two-year period in the 1950s and influenced dozens of musicians from that point on.
