Sheldon Zoldan

Segregation on buses ended December 20, 1956 when the U.S. Supreme court ruled the law unconstitutional. The year before Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her seat. The Neville Brothers wrote our Song of the Day about it called "Sister Rosa."

It’s hard to lose that loving feeling when “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers played more than eight million times on radio and television from 1964 to 2000. On December 13, 1999, music publisher BMI named it the most played song on the radio in the 20th century.

On Dec. 6, 1969, a Hell’s Angel member killed a concertgoer during a rock concert at Altamont Speedway in northern California. Rock historians like to call it the end of the 1960s, and the antithesis of Woodstock, four months earlier.

Some might argue George Harrison was the most successful Beatle after the Beatles’ broke up. He released 12 solo studio albums and two live albums before he died November 29, 2001 of lung cancer. The Song of the Day was written while he was a Beatle but after he discovered Hindu and Hare Krishnaism. Both religions focus on reincarnation.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Sheldon Zoldan’s Song of the day recognizes “The Summer of His Years” as the first song written about his death.

“Stairway to Heaven” is the greatest rock song ever made, then again, maybe not. The debate started when it was released November 8, 1971, and it still continues.

Without the Industrial Revolution and some newly formed medical ideas, there would be no Beach Boys, beach movies, beach bums or National Beach Day, which is today, August 30.

Linda Ronstadt was plenty good. She had the voice of an angel and a face to match. On August 23, 2013, in an interview with AARP she said that she had Parkinson’s Disease. The diagnosis was later corrected to progressive supranuclear palsy, another degenerative brain disease.

Elvis Presley died August 16,1977 at the age of 42. To this day, he remains the king of rock ‘n’ roll. "Can't Help Falling in Love" was the last song he sang in concert before his death.

Some say the 1960s died in the overnight hours of August 9, 1969, when the Manson Family forced their way into the home of actress Sharon Tate, killing her, her unborn baby, and four others. They left the words "Helter Skelter" on the walls.