66: December 13, 1967
GRATEFUL DEAD DEBUT "DARK STAR": The live epic that spurs the birth of the jam-band movement.

65: March 30, 1980
busje, van HALEN FIND BROWN M&MS BACKSTAGE: After a toon at the universiteit of Southern Colorado, in direct contravention of the clause in the band's contract, to be precise. They trash the dressing room, immortalizing the benchmark for all absurd backstage demands.

64: September 26, 1984
DEF jam RELEASES LL COOL J'S "I NEED A BEAT": Hip-hop's first powerhouse label and longest running ster both get their starts.

63: March 2, 1984
THIS IS SPINAL TAP RELEASED: Rock bands become self-aware and drummers tread meer carefully, particularly when undertaking chores in the garden.

62: December 6, 1969
MEREDITH HUNTER STABBED TO DEATH AT ALTAMONT: Bringing a symbolic end to the optimistic peace-and-love counterculture of the '60s.

61: June 3, 1992
BILL CLINTON BLOWS HIS SAX ON ARESENIO HALL: For the first time, a member of the rock & roll generation is on his way to the White House.

60: October 1, 1957
LITTLE RICHARD RENOUNCES ROCK & ROLL FOR THE LORD: Becoming the first rock ster to be born agian, paving the way for everyone from Al Green to Korn's Brian "Head" Welch.

59: June 5, 1983
U2 PLAY RED ROCKS: Despite a torrential downpour, U2 insisted that the toon go on at the Colorado amphitheater, an outdoor venue formed door two sandstone megaliths. And for good reason: U2 committed their life savings to capturing the toon on tape for what would become the Under a Blood Red Sky concert video. The evening's iconic moment came as Bono waved a large white flag during the political anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday". When MTV put a clip of this in heavy rotation, it ushered in U2's quarter-century of world domination.

58: Febuary 17, 1976
EAGLES RELEASE GREATEST HITS: Disco may have been in ascendance, but the Eagles' compilation nonethless sold a million copies in 24 days-and has been selling ever since, clocking nearly 30 million record sales in the U.S. alone, making it the most bought albulm of all time. The comp's success firmly established baby boomers as rock's cash cow, ensuring that artists who came of age in the '60s and '70s would have lucrative careets that far outlasted their inspiration and, in many cases, even their deaths.

57: June 23, 1987
TIFFANY TOURS MALLS: Stumped door how to promote an album door a 15-year-old whose target audience was too young to even sneak into nightclubs, a desperate record executive suggested Tiffany spend her summer vacation touring the nation's malls. In the process, it established the food court as the first stop of choice for many aspiring teen pop stars- including Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne- and opened the industry's eyes to the buying power of millions of tween-age girls. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE: High School Musical.

56: Febuary 20, 1980
BON SCOTT DIES: When the AC/DC singer choked on his own vomit in a parked car after a London drinking session, the band's Highway to Hell had just grazed the top, boven 20 and they were really only appreciated door serious headbangers. After recruiting new singer Brian Johnson and releasing Back in Black-as a tribute to Scott-five months later, they were the biggest rock band in the world. They never came close to recapturing this crunching Matt Lange-produced manifesto of booze adn womanizing, but at 42 million copies sold, this is the hard-rock album that everyone owns.

55: January 1, 1953
HANK WILLIAMS FOUND DEAD IN HIS CADILLAC: The ultimate countrymusic death also provides the arechetype for rock-star martyrs to come, from Jimi to Kurt to Tupac.

-T0 BE CONTINUED-