On this day November 17 in Rock history:
1962 - The Four Seasons' "Big Girls Don't Cry" reaches the top spot on the Billboard singles chart, just as their first hit, "Sherry" did earlier in the year. Songwriter Bob Crewe later said that he was inspired to write the song after he heard actor John Wayne use the phase "big girls don't cry" in a 1956 movie called Slightly Scarlet. In the UK, the song reached #13.
1963 - John Weightman, the Headmaster of a Surrey Grammar School, banned all students from having Beatle haircuts. In announcing his decision he said "This ridiculous style brings out the worst in boys physically. It makes them look like morons." One of his senior students replied, "The ban will not go down well with most of the boys. I think it is stupid. The Beatles are great and I see nothing wrong with their style of haircut."
Nancy Sinatra and her husband Tommy Sands appear on The Ed Sullivan Show where they perform "Old Straw Hat" and "Hey Good Lookin'". The two had married in 1960 and would divorce in 1965.
1970 - Elton John, along with Dee Murray on bass and backing vocals, and Nigel Olsson on drums and backing vocals, perform live at A&R Recording Studios in New York. The thirteen songs they play are broadcast on WABC-FM and later make up Elton's first live album, "17-11-70", which would reach #11 in America and #20 in the UK.
1971 - Rod Stewart and The Faces release "A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... To A Blind Horse", their third LP together. The album contains the band's biggest hit, "Stay with Me", which reached #17 in the US and #6 in the UK, while the LP went to #6 in the US and #2 in the UK.
Columbia Records releases "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II", a double LP compilation of older material. The collection would become one of the singer's best selling albums, being certified 5X Platinum and reaching #14 in the US and #12 in the UK.
1973 - 13-year-old Tony DeFranco led Canada's The DeFranco Family to the top of the Cashbox Best Sellers list with "Heartbeat - It's A Lovebeat". The song would reach #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but did not chart in the UK.
1974 - ABBA kick off their first European tour in Copenhagen, playing outside of Sweden for the first time.
1976 - Olivia Newton-John's first television special, A Very Special Olivia Newton-John is broadcast on ABC-TV. Ron Howard, Lee Majors, Lynda Carter and Elliot Gould co-star.
1979 - Former Jethro Tull's bass player John Glascock died of a heart attack in London at the age of 26. Though he recorded with the band, Glascock's long battle with heart disease kept him from touring.
The Commodores held down the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Still", their twelfth Billboard Pop Chart entry. It would be the group's last number one record before Lionel Richie went solo.
1980 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release their fifth album, "Double Fantasy" in both the US and UK. The LP would reach the top of the charts in both countries as well as seven others around the globe. Four singles made the Billboard Top 40, "(Just Like) Starting Over" (#1), "Woman" (#2), "Watching The Wheels" (#10), and "Nobody Told Me" (#5). The collection would go on to win Album Of The Year at the 1982 Grammy Awards and sell over three million copies in America alone.
1984 - Six months after it was released, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! tops the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of three weeks. The single would be certified Platinum in the United States for sales of over two million copies. The tune also went to #1 in the UK for two weeks.