The Beatles secretly tape a business meeting that rewrites their breakup story
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison met at Apple's Savile Row offices to discuss the band's future, and Lennon had an assistant run a portable tape recorder so hospitalized drummer Ringo Starr could hear the discussion afterward, per the Paul McCartney Project.
The surviving tape shows the three actively planning a new album, with Lennon proposing four songs apiece from himself, McCartney, and Harrison plus two from Starr, upending the long-told story that the band already knew Abbey Road was their final statement.
The Beatles secretly tape a business meeting that rewrites their breakup story
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison met at Apple's Savile Row offices to discuss the band's future, and Lennon had an assistant run a portable tape recorder so hospitalized drummer Ringo Starr could hear the discussion afterward, per the Paul McCartney Project.
The surviving tape shows the three actively planning a new album, with Lennon proposing four songs apiece from himself, McCartney, and Harrison plus two from Starr, upending the long-told story that the Beatles already knew Abbey Road was their final statement.
Hey Jude and Revolution have their TV premiere on Frost on Sunday
The Beatles' promotional films for Hey Jude and Revolution, shot four days earlier at Twickenham Film Studios with a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans singing along to the na-na-na coda, had their world television premiere on David Frost's Frost on Sunday, per The Beatles Bible.
Hey Jude was the first single on the band's own Apple label and became the longest song ever to reach No. 1, so the broadcast doubled as a coming-out party for both the song and the label.
The New Yardbirds play two shows on their second day in Denmark
Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, billed as the Yardbirds featuring Jimmy Page just a day after their live debut in Gladsaxe, played an early show at Reventlow Parken in Horslunde and a late show at Fjordvilla in Roskilde, per Wikipedia.
The short Scandinavian run was the band's only rehearsal in front of real audiences before they went home to London and recorded their debut album as Led Zeppelin.
The Beatles record Flying, their only all-four-credited instrumental
The Beatles spent an eight-hour session at EMI Studios cutting Flying for the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, with John Lennon on Mellotron and Hammond organ and all four members contributing wordless chanting and maracas, per The Beatles Bible.
It remains the only Beatles composition ever credited to all four members, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starkey, on a released studio recording.
Star Trek premieres on NBC with its space-age theme in tow
Star Trek debuted on NBC with the episode The Man Trap, introducing Alexander Courage's theremin-like main title theme, sung wordlessly by vocalist Loulie Jean Norman over swelling brass, per Wikipedia.
The theme became one of the most recognizable pieces of 1960s television music, an atmospheric marker of the era's space-age sound alongside the decade's pop and easy listening hits.
Screen Gems places the casting ad that launches the Monkees
Screen Gems producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider took out a classified ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reading "Madness!! Auditions Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series," seeking four insane boys age 17 to 21, per American Songwriter.
More than 400 hopefuls answered, including future stars like Stephen Stills, before the producers settled on Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, the lineup that would soon record Last Train to Clarksville and turn 1960s pop stardom into a television format.
The Beatles play Montreal under armed guard amid death threats
The Beatles played two shows at the Montreal Forum under heavy security after police received calls threatening to kill Ringo Starr, with sharpshooters on the roof and a plainclothes officer seated by the drum riser while Starr angled his cymbals as a makeshift shield, per The Beatles Bible.
The band left Montreal still riding the Beatlemania of their A Hard Day's Night tour, and their flight out was diverted to Key West by Hurricane Dora on the way to Florida.
Fats Domino records Heartbreak Hill for ABC-Paramount
Fats Domino cut Heartbreak Hill, a song he co-wrote with Al "Big Al" Downing, at Baker Studio inside Camden, New Jersey's Oasis Motel, during one of his later ABC-Paramount sessions, per Discogs.
The single only reached No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100, a quiet fade for one of 1960s R&B's founding pioneers as his chart run wound down.
The Beatles play their fifth and final Blackpool date of 1963
The Beatles closed out a summer-long run of Blackpool concerts with their fifth and last date at the ABC Theatre, a seaside residency that had become a fixture of their pre-fame touring schedule, per The Beatles Bible.
The band was riding the momentum of She Loves You, released just weeks earlier, as Beatlemania tightened its grip on British Invasion Britain that autumn.
Monster Mash debuts on the Billboard Hot 100
Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers' novelty single Monster Mash, built on Pickett's Boris Karloff impression, entered the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time, per Wikipedia.
It climbed to No. 1 just six weeks later on October 20, becoming the defining Halloween novelty hit of 1960s pop.
Eric Dolphy plays his definitive unaccompanied God Bless the Child
Eric Dolphy performed at the Studentenforeningens lecture hall in Copenhagen, part of a two-night run that produced his celebrated unaccompanied bass clarinet reading of Billie Holiday's God Bless the Child, per Wikipedia.
The solo, later released as part of the Eric Dolphy in Europe series, stands as one of jazz history's most influential unaccompanied woodwind performances.
John Coltrane records Like Sonny for Roulette Records
John Coltrane led a session with McCoy Tyner, Steve Davis, and Billy Higgins to record Like Sonny, a tribute he wrote for his friend Sonny Rollins, for Morris Levy's Roulette label, per Wikipedia.
Levy released the track under the title Simple Like instead, a renaming widely attributed to a publishing-rights grab typical of the era's exploitative jazz label deals.
Bebop bassist Oscar Pettiford dies in Copenhagen at 37
Oscar Pettiford, one of bebop's pioneering double bassists and a key figure in establishing the cello as a solo jazz instrument, died in Copenhagen at age 37 after contracting a sudden viral illness, per Wikipedia.
He had relocated to Denmark in 1958, and his presence there helped seed the European jazz scene that would draw American players for the rest of the decade.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in 1960s music on September 8?
September 8 saw 13 verified music events across the decade.
They're headlined by a secretly taped 1969 Beatles business meeting that rewrote the story of the band's breakup.
What was the Beatles' Apple meeting tape?
On September 8, 1969, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison met at Apple's Savile Row offices and had the discussion taped so hospitalized Ringo Starr could hear it.
The tape shows the band actively planning a new album, not preparing to split.
Did the Beatles receive death threats in Montreal?
Yes. On September 8, 1964, the Beatles played two shows at the Montreal Forum under heavy security after police received calls threatening to kill Ringo Starr.
Sharpshooters were stationed on the roof for both performances.
When did Star Trek first air?
Star Trek premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966, with the episode The Man Trap.
The broadcast introduced Alexander Courage's now-iconic main title theme.
When did Monster Mash come out?
Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 8, 1962.
It reached No. 1 six weeks later on October 20.
Did the Beatles do anything else on September 8?
Yes, across four different years.
In 1963 they played their final Blackpool date of the year, in 1964 they played Montreal, in 1967 they recorded the instrumental Flying, and in 1968 their Hey Jude and Revolution films premiered on British television.