Dave Swanson

'Paul Is Dead' rumors, which claimed the Beatle had died, showed up in newspapers on September 23, 1969.

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On Sept. 9, 1968, recording engineer Chris Thomas received a note from producer George Martin. "Chris, hope you had a nice holiday," it read. "I'm off on mine now. Make yourself available to the Beatles."

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When an artist releases a live album, it often closes one chapter in their career, and opens another. Such was the case with the 1978 release of 'Stage' by David Bowie.

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On Sept. 4, 1983, Phil Lynott gave his final performance with the band he created, the amazing Thin Lizzy. By the start of of the 1980s, things were exceptionally busy for the band. Leader Phil Lynott was married at the start of 1980; he released his debut solo album, 'Solo In Soho,' that spring; became a father that summer, and issued a new Lizzy album, 'Chinatown,' that fall.

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On August 28, 1993, Bruce Dickinson gave his last performance with Iron Maiden until he rejoined the band in 1999. The 1993 show was filmed by the BBC at Pinewood Studios in London and broadcast on MTV and pay-per-view in the U.K. Later, it was released as 'Raising Hell' on home video.

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As the U.K. blues-rock boom of the late '60s escalated, Fleetwood Mac were in the thick of it with their second album, 'Mr. Wonderful,' which was released in August 1968. Having just put out their debut at the start of the year, the Mac were rolling full steam ahead.

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"Four gentlemen and one great, great broad ... Big Brother & the Holding Company." Bill Graham utters these words at the very start of the San Francisco band's classic 'Cheap Thrills' album, introducing the band -- not just Janis Joplin and a bunch of guys who wandered onstage to back her up.

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On Aug. 12, 1968, in a small space on Gerrard Street in the west end of London, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the very first time. The first song the band -- which would later be named Led Zeppelin -- tore into was 'The Train Kept A-Rollin',' which was a fixture in Page's previous band, the Yardbirds.

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On Aug. 9, 1968, the Beatles were in the middle of the recording sessions that would yield 'The Beatles,' the double LP better known as 'The White Album.' One song that got finished that day was Paul McCartney's 'Mother Nature's Son.'

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It was 45 years ago that Yes began their live career on a very inauspicious note, as they performed their first gig on Aug. 3, 1968 at the East Mersea Youth Camp in Essex.

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On Aug. 3, 1963, the Beach Boys' fifth single, 'Surfer Girl,' hit the Billboard charts. The song would eventually make it's way to No. 7.

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The era of the big rock festival is littered with the legendary, the local, and the forgotten. Woodstock and Monterey may have the cache, and Altamont the tragedy, but among the ruins of the rock festival era sits an interesting curiosity known as the Newport Pop Festival. On Aug. 3-4,1968, the all-but forgotten festival took place at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa Calif.

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