Today in rock history: on this date in 1971, as glam rock was beginning to take over English music charts, one of the best and most well-known songs of the genre, T. Rex’s “Get it On (Bang a Gong)” hit the No. 1 spot on British sales charts for the first of four straight weeks. The song hails from the band’s classic album, Electric Warrior, which also reached No. 1 on album sales charts in England and was the best-selling album of the year in that country as well. The band’s dynamic lead singer, the late Marc Bolan, is widely recognized as being the first British artist to wear glitter and usher in the glam-rock movement that would dominate British sales charts for the next several years. “Get it On” is recognized as the band’s most popular single, and it was the highest-charting T. Rex single in the U.S. — where it peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard pop singles chart. The song was a hit again in 1985, when Duran Duran side project The Power Station recorded a version of the song and had a hit with it in England as well as America.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1962, legendary R&B outfit Booker T. & the M.G.’s released one of its best-known hits, the classic instrumental, “Green Onions.” As part of the superb Stax/Volt Records roster of artists, the band, led by one of the greatest Hammond organ players of all time, Booker T. Jones, was one of the integral influences on soul, funk and R&B music. He released a string of fantastic, essential albums throughout the 1960s, and “Green Onions,” one of the funkiest instrumentals of all time, was a huge hit; it went straight to No. 1 on the American R&B singles chart and peaked at No. 3 on the pop singles chart. The song has been included in several film soundtracks over the years and remains one of, if not the, greatest instrumental hit songs of all time.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1967, the second album by San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow, became the very first of the band’s records to achieve gold sales status. The album was the first to feature powerful lead singer Grace Slick — and what led the group to become the first of the West Coast psych-rock bands to achieve worldwide success. Fueled by singles “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love,” this classic record became the first in a long line of albums by the band to sell extremely well, a feat Jefferson Airplane successfully achieved well into the 1970s. Surrealistic Pillow also features another San Francisco music legend, The Grateful Dead’s late guitarist and lead singer, Jerry Garcia, guesting on guitar on several of the tracks on this classic album.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1990, Texas-based heavy metal band Pantera released its fifth album, Cowboys From Hell, which was also the group’s major label debut. After being turned down or ignored by major labels for a long time, Pantera released four albums on independent labels which earned it a dedicated following of fans. By chance, a representative from the Atco/Atlantic Records label happened to catch one of Pantera’s live shows while stranded in Texas after a hurricane and was so impressed with the performance that he strongly suggested to the powers that be at the label to sign the band to its roster. A smart move, indeed; Cowboys From Hell was unanimously praised by metal rock critics for its aggressive sound and its no-nonsense approach. One of the most influential and successful metal bands to emerge nationally in the ’90s, this, the band’s major label debut cracked the Top 30 on Billboard’s pop albums chart and eventually went on to achieve platinum status with copies sold exceeding the one million-unit mark. The album featured single “Cemetery Gates” as the title track, and it became the first in a run of successful, integral metal albums for this highly regarded band.