This Week in Music

In 1955, after telling Ed Sullivan that he would perform a song called "Sixteen Tons", Bo Diddley sings "Bo Diddley", live on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show. He would never be invited back.

In 1958, the Kingston Trio became the very first group to ever have an album reach the top of the US chart. Before them, only solo artists had hit number one. They would go on to record a total of fourteen Top Ten albums and an additional five would enter the top 25.

In 1967, Rolling Stone Magazine quotes San Francisco disco jockey Tom Donahue: "Top Forty radio, as we know it today and have known it for the last ten years, is dead, and its rotting corpse is stinking up the airwaves."

In 1974, the band Spooky Tooth split up after releasing seven albums since 1968. At various times, the group included Gary Wright (who would have solo success with "Dreamweaver" and "Love Is Alive"), Mick Jones (later with Foreigner), Chris Stainton (who went on to work with Joe Cocker), and Henry McCullough. (recruited by Paul McCartney and Wings) The British band never charted in their home country, but gained modest success in the US.

In 1976, the Band's final concert in their original line-up, called The Last Waltz, was given on November 25th. It included appearances by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Emmylou Harris, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Hawkins and Neil Diamond.

In 1998, despite objections from The Recording Industry Association of America, who is worried about the growing problem of internet file swapping, the first portable MP3 player goes on sale in the US.