Today in rock history: on this date in 1962, the recording of what’s often referred to as the best live album of all time took place. James Brown’s renowned Live At The Apollo album was recorded on this date at the legendary Harlem, New York theater named in the title. Backed by his stunning vocal back-up singers The Fabulous Flames and a superb backing band consisting of a seven-piece horn section, the recording more than proved the dynamic star power of James Brown as the “Hardest Working Man In Show Business” as he was deemed. The record remained on sales charts for more than a solid year when it was released in May of 1963 and peaked at no. 2 on Billboard’s pop albums charts. At its height, music retailers had a hard time keeping this phenomenal album on store shelves as rapid sales often caused record stores to run out of copies quickly.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1971, American singer/songwriter Don McLean released his second album, American Pie. The nearly-nine minute title track made McLean an overnight superstar thanks to the frequent airplay it received. Considered one of the greatest and most popular epic rock songs of all time, the tune laments the “day the music died, ” a term often equated with the fateful plane crash that claimed the lives of young rock singers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. Both the album and the single skyrocketed to the top spot on their respective sales charts and made Don McLean’s song and album an integral part of the early 1970s musical experience.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1981, not long after the dissolution of punk rock band Gen X (originally known as Generation X), lead singer Billy Idol released his first solo record, the four-song EP, Don’t Stop. Consisting of two songs from the catalog of his former band, a spirited cover of Tommy James and the Shondells’ hit “Mony Mony” and one brand new, original song, the record was intended as Idol’s introduction to the American market which, for the most part, was unfamiliar with his work. A remixed version of Gen X’s hit U.K. dance single “Dancing With Myself” was included as was a re-recorded version of one of their greatest songs, “Untouchables.” The record fared respectably and set the stage for his proper first full-length album which would be released the following year and would make him an international superstar on the strength of his hit single, “White Wedding.”

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Review: Billy Idol gives more, more, more at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

Today in rock history: on this date in 1980, Cheap Trick released its fifth studio album, All Shook Up. At the height of its popularity following the unparalleled success of their live At Budokan album as well as its 1979 blockbuster Dream Police album, the band decided to hire longtime Beatles record producer George Martin to oversee the project and produce this album. The results were astounding and pleased the most devout Cheap Tricks fans immensely; to this date, many of the band’s diehard fans rank All Shook Up among the band’s very best and most ambitious works it ever committed to vinyl. While it didn’t fare as well as the band or the record label might have anticipated (it peaked at no. 24 on Billboard’s pop albums charts), it did produce one minor hit single, the album's opener, “Stop This Game.” Still fresh-sounding and inventive, this is easily one of the very finest Cheap Trick albums every released.