JULY 18: The Daily Flashback

1936: The first Oscar Meyer Wienermobile rolled out of General Body Company’s factory in Chicago.
1953: 18-year-old Elvis Presley, a truck driver by trade, stopped into Memphis Recording Service (later renamed Sun Studios) and paid $3.98 to record two songs: “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.”
1960: Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never” was released.
1968: The Grateful Dead released their sophomore album, Anthem of the Sun.
1970: Ron Hunt of the San Francisco Giants was hit by a pitch for the 119th time in his career.
1978: Def Leppard made their live debut before an audience of 150 at a school in Sheffield, England.
1980: Closer, the second and final album from Joy Division, was released just two months after the suicide of singer Ian Curtis.
1991: The first show of the original Lollapalooza tour is held at Compton Terrace in Tempe, Arizona, featuring Jane’s Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice-T, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes and Fishbone.
1992: Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown were married.
1993: Rage Against the Machine protested music censorship by appearing at their Lollapalooza set in Philadelphia completely nude except for duct tape over their mouths. They refused to play any music, and simply stood for 25 minutes with the letters PMRC written on their chests, a reference to the Parents Music Resource Center.
2008: Billy Joel played the “Last Play at Shea” concert – the final show before Shea Stadium is closed down. He is joined by Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey.
2014: Shakira became the first person to accumulate 100 million likes on Facebook.

BIRTHDAYS
1906: Clifford Odetts
1913: Red Skelton
1918: Nelson Mandela
1921: John Glenn
1929: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
1937: Hunter S. Thompson
1938: Ian Stewart
1939: Dion DiMucci
1941: Martha Reeves
1949: Wally Bryson
1950: Glenn Hughes
1954: Ricky Skaggs
1982: Ryan Cabrera

DEATHS
1998: Nico