This Day In Rock History: July 18th
1966: The Byrds’ third album, Fifth Dimension, was released by Columbia Records. Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band’s principal songwriter Gene Clark, and contains increased songwriting output by guitarist Jim McGuinn and David Crosby. It is also the first Byrds album not to include any songs written by Bob Dylan, whose material had previously been a mainstay of the band’s repertoire. Upon release, Fifth Dimension was widely regarded as the band’s most experimental album to date and is today considered influential in originating the musical genre of psychedelic rock.
1970: Queen played their first concert at London’s Imperial College. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor had performed previously as members of Smile, whose lead singer and bassist, Tim Staffell had left the group to join Humpy Bong. Friend of the band Farrokh Bulsara, known as “Freddie,” encouraged the others to keep performing and joined as a singer and keyboardist. He soon after took the surname “Mercury” and suggested “Queen” as the name for the group. Their first gig also included Mike Grose, the first of several bassists before the band settled on its classic lineup with bassist John Deacon a year later.
source:wwcfradio