20 January
1961--The Beatles perform at Lathom Hall, Seaforth, Liverpool.
1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club - a night show.
1963--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at night.
1964--US release of Beatles LP Meet the Beatles (Capitol). Songs: I Want to Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, This Boy, It Won't Be Long, All I've Got to Do, All My Loving, Don't Bother Me, Little Child, Till There Was You, Hold Me Tight, I Wanna Be Your Man, and Not a Second Time. 69 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #1. This is the first of a remarkable 33 Beatles records released in the States in 1964.
1964--The Beatles perform two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France. A short interview with The Beatles is broadcast on radio station Europe I at midday.
1965--The Rolling Stones and the Kinks make their first appearance on ABC-TV's "Shindig!" Also appearing are the Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Bobby Vee, Bobby Sherman and Gerry & the Pacemakers.
1967--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). Overdubbing begins for A Day in the Life. John Lennon and Paul McCartney record vocals, Paul adds a bass line, and Ringo adds drums. The alarm clock that was recorded to mark the end of the 'missing section' is a perfect lead-in for the first line of Paul's song fragment that had been spliced into the song ("Woke up, fell out of bed"), so the ringing clock is kept on the track. Paul's vocal, intended as a rough guide for a later (Feb. 3) final recording, ends on an expletive when Paul makes a mistake.
1969--The Beatles are scheduled to begin recording sessions for the Get Back album at their new Apple Studios on this day. They had entrusted the construction of the studio to their resident electronics wizard, Alex Mardas, better known as "Magic Alex." Alex had promised that The Beatles wouldn't have to work with puny 8-track recording equipment--he would provide 72-track equipment. And they would no longer have to hide Ringo away behind sound baffles to isolate his drums, for Alex was going to install an invisible sonic force-field that would do a much better job. Problem was, "Magic Alex" was a flake. The mixing console was constructed from odd bits of wood and an old oscilloscope, "and [it] looked not unlike the control panel of a B-52 bomber." The Beatles tried a sample recording and the results were dismal; the tape was useless. The Beatles had to bring in rented equipment, and they lost two days getting the studio in shape for proper recording.
1970--John and Yoko have most of their hair cut off while in Denmark (in the barn of Anthony Cox's north-Jutland retreat). Their hair will be auctioned off to benefit black activist Michael X's (Abdul Malik) "Black House" in London. At a Black House rally on Feb. 4, Michael X will give John and Yoko a pair of Muhammad Ali's boxing trunks in return. Michael X will be hanged for murder in Trinidad on December 29, 1975.
1971--In Japan, John meets Yoko's parents for the first time. Yoko