Many happy returns, TV debuts, landmark record deals and more. It’s This Week In Rock.

#OnThisDay January 20, 1973: Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes move up 14 places to No. 9 in the UK singles chart with their first hit, ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’. Did you know that, despite Harold Melvin’s top billing, the lead vocals here where actually sung by Teddy Pendergrass?

#OnThisDay January 21, 1991
Manic Street Preachers make their debut on UK TV when they appear on BBC2’s cult music show ‘Snub TV’ in support of their new single, ‘Motown Junk’. “We just want to mix politics and sex and put it on stage,” they declare.

#OnThisDay January 22, 1949
Many happy returns to erstwhile E Street Band drummer Vini ‘Mad Dog’ Lopez. Having held down the beat on ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’ and ‘The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle’, he was inducted in to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by Bruce Springsteen in 2014.

#OnThisDay January 23, 1965
Petula Clark becomes the first British female singer to top the US charts since Vera Lynn in 1952 when the classic ‘Downtown’ makes it to No. 1. It also hits pole position in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and West Germany.

#OnThisDay January 24, 1981
Adam And The Ants’ superstar status is confirmed when they begin a – count ‘em! – 10-week residency at the top of the UK album charts with their second long player ‘Kings Of The Wild Frontier’.

#OnThisDay January 25, 1977
The Clash sign to CBS Records for £100,000. Between 1977 and their eventual split in 1985, the highly influential band release six album – ‘The Clash’, ‘Give ‘em Enough Rope’, ‘London Calling’, ‘Sandinista!’, ‘Combat Rock’ and ‘Cut The Crap’. Which one is your favourite and why?

#OnThisDay January 26, 1963
Happy birthday to Wham!’s Andrew Ridgeley. Their first single to top the UK charts was ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’, a feat that was matched in the US charts. Wham! also enjoyed 12 UK Top 10 singles, including five UK number ones.