This Day in Rock History: February 4

Breakthrough Hits and Milestones

• 1965: The Righteous Brothers hit No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with their song "You've Got That Lovin' Feelin'," which was also No. 1 in the U.S. at the time. In 1999, it was declared as the most-played song of the 20th century.
• 1974: "Benny & the Jets" by Elton John was released from his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. This is one of the artist's most popular songs and was his first Top 40 Hit.
• 1978: The Bee Gees' hit single "Staying Alive" reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it spent four weeks. It also won the GRAMMY for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices at the 1979 ceremony.

Cultural Milestones

• 1948: Alice Cooper was born in Detroit, Michigan. He formed the Alice Cooper band in 1964 and released seven studio albums until 1975, when he went solo but kept the name, while also legally changing his name to Alice Cooper.
• 2000: The members of ABBA turned down a substantial offer of $1 billion to reform the band. It was confirmed by Bjorn Ulvaeus that the band wasn't interested in performing together again.

Notable Recordings and Performances

• 1968: The Beatles recorded the basic track for their iconic song "Across the Universe" at London's EMI Abbey Road studios. It was initially included in a charity compilation album called No One's Gonna Change Our World, and a slightly different version featured on the band's 1970 album, Let It Be.
• 1972: David Bowie recorded the final few songs for his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album at Trident Studios in London. These included "Sufragette City," "Starman," and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide."
• 1977: Rumors, one of the best-selling albums of all time with over 45 million copies sold worldwide, was released by Fleetwood Mac. All four of the album's singles made it to the Billboard Hot 100's top 10, and the song "Dreams" hit No. 1.
• 1991: Queen released their 14th album, Innuendo. It was their last album released while lead singer Freddie Mercury was still alive.
• 2017: Black Sabbath, a band credited with being the inventor of heavy metal, had their last performance at the NEC Arena. Known as The End Tour, the band played a 15-song set in their last of 81 performances.

Industry Changes and Challenges

• 1983: Karen Carpenter, singer from the rock duo The Carpenters, died at her parents' home in Downey, California, of complications from an eating disorder. She was only 32 at the time.
• 2004: During a trans-Atlantic flight to London, Courtney Love was arrested at Heathrow Airport. She was alleged to have verbally abused the flight crew, who wouldn't let her friend sit next to her in first class.