The Beatles hand the Rolling Stones a hit single in a London rehearsal room
John Lennon and Paul McCartney ran into Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham on Charing Cross Road, then walked over to the Stones' rehearsal and finished writing I Wanna Be Your Man on the spot, handing it straight to the band, per udiscovermusic.
The Rolling Stones turned it into a raw, slide-guitar single that gave them their first UK Top 20 hit that November, and watching Lennon and McCartney write so fast is what pushed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to start writing their own songs.
Hendrix leads Gypsy Sun and Rainbows through a loose New York club set
Jimi Hendrix brought his short-lived Woodstock lineup, Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, into the Salvation club in Greenwich Village for one of only a handful of shows the expanded band ever played, per setlist.fm.
The set leaned on songs like Izabella that Hendrix was still shaping that same month, giving the small club crowd a rare early listen to material from right after his headline-closing Woodstock set.
Pink Floyd plays their first-ever show in Sweden
Pink Floyd made their Swedish debut at the Gyllene Cirkeln jazz club in Stockholm, just over a month after releasing their first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, per setlist.fm.
Engineer Anders Lind taped the hour-long show on a Revox deck, one of the only surviving complete live recordings of Syd Barrett fronting the band, playing new album tracks like Astronomy Domine before he left psychedelic rock's founding lineup the following year.
Revolver reaches number one on the Billboard albums chart
The Beatles' seventh studio album, Revolver, climbed to number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart, starting a six-week run at the top just weeks after the band played their final paid concert at Candlestick Park, per Billboard.
Built on backward tape loops, Indian instrumentation, and studio effects the band could never have played live, Revolver marked their full turn from touring group to studio act, with tracks like Tomorrow Never Knows pointing straight at psychedelic rock.
The Supremes spend a second week at number one with You Can't Hurry Love
The Supremes held onto number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with You Can't Hurry Love, a Holland-Dozier-Holland single built around a walking bassline rooted in Motown's gospel influences, per Wikipedia.
It was the group's seventh chart-topping single, proof that Detroit's polished Motown, soul, and R&B sound could dominate national pop radio as easily as it did soul stations.
The Byrds track Turn! Turn! Turn! at Columbia Studios
The Byrds were back at Columbia Studios in Hollywood working on their Pete Seeger-based single Turn! Turn! Turn!, one of several sessions that stretched across the first two weeks of September with producer Terry Melcher, per Wikipedia.
Unlike their debut hit Mr. Tambourine Man, where session players had handled most of the instruments, the band was finally playing its own parts, with Jim McGuinn's chiming twelve-string guitar driving the track to number one that December.
You Really Got Me starts a two-week run at number one in the UK
The Kinks' You Really Got Me began a two-week stay at number one on the UK singles chart, built around Dave Davies' distorted guitar riff, famously cut by slicing his amp speaker with a razor blade, per the Official Charts Company.
The single's raw power made the Kinks overnight stars and gave hard rock and heavy metal one of their earliest sonic blueprints.
Rod Stewart records his first solo single
A nineteen-year-old Rod Stewart recorded his debut solo single, a cover of the blues standard Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, for Decca Records, with a young John Paul Jones playing bass on the session, per On This Day in Music.
The single missed the charts, but the session paired two future rock stars years before Stewart joined the Faces and Jones formed Led Zeppelin.
The Beatles hand the Rolling Stones a hit single in a London rehearsal room
John Lennon and Paul McCartney ran into Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham on Charing Cross Road, then walked over to the Stones' rehearsal and finished writing I Wanna Be Your Man on the spot, handing it straight to the band, per udiscovermusic.
The Rolling Stones turned it into a raw, slide-guitar single that gave them their first UK Top 20 hit that November, and watching Lennon and McCartney write so fast is what pushed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to start writing their own songs.
The Daily Mirror runs its Four Frenzied Little Lord Fauntleroys feature on the Beatles
The Daily Mirror published journalist Donald Zec's feature on the Beatles, Four Frenzied Little Lord Fauntleroys Who Are Earning £5,000 Every Week, after Zec interviewed the band at his London flat the day before, per American Songwriter.
Zec poked fun at their stone-age hair styles and sudden wealth, but the high-profile national coverage only fed Beatles mania that autumn, just weeks after the band's single She Loves You had topped the UK chart.
Ral Donner's Elvis-like ballad peaks at number four
Ral Donner's You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It) peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, capping an eight-week climb up the chart, per Wikipedia.
Donner's voice sounded so close to Elvis Presley's that many radio listeners assumed the record was a new Presley single, a comparison that boosted the song's sales while shadowing the rest of Donner's career.
The Dick Clark Show airs its final episode
The Dick Clark Show closed out its run on ABC with a highlights episode, ending nearly three years as a Saturday-night showcase for the era's rising rock and roll and teen-pop acts, per Wikipedia.
Bobby Rydell's Volare, one of the biggest teen-idol hits of the show's run, captures the polished pop sound that filled its Saturday-night slot before American Bandstand became Dick Clark's signature program.
Devil or Angel gives Bobby Vee his first number one in Vancouver
Bobby Vee's Devil or Angel, a revival of the Clovers' 1956 R&B ballad, reached number one on Vancouver's CFUN-TASTIC 50 chart, part of the single's run to number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, per Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds.
The hit turned the seventeen-year-old Fargo singer, who had famously filled in for Buddy Holly's band the night of the 1959 plane crash, into a genuine pop and Brill Building teen idol.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in 1960s music on September 10?
September 10 saw 12 verified music events across the decade.
They're headlined by the Beatles handing the Rolling Stones the song I Wanna Be Your Man in 1963.
Why did the Beatles give the Rolling Stones I Wanna Be Your Man?
John Lennon and Paul McCartney ran into Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham in London on September 10, 1963, and learned the Stones needed a follow-up single.
They finished writing the song on the spot and gave it straight to the band.
When did the Kinks hit number one with You Really Got Me?
You Really Got Me began a two-week run at number one on the UK singles chart starting September 10, 1964.
Dave Davies' distorted guitar riff, cut by slicing his amp speaker, drove the single to the top.
When was Pink Floyd's first show in Sweden?
Pink Floyd played their first-ever Swedish concert at the Gyllene Cirkeln jazz club in Stockholm on September 10, 1967.
Syd Barrett was still fronting the band, and engineer Anders Lind taped the full hour-long set.
Who played bass on Rod Stewart's first single?
John Paul Jones, later of Led Zeppelin, played bass on Rod Stewart's debut solo single Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.
Stewart recorded it for Decca Records on September 10, 1964, at age nineteen.