Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley)
(September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959)

Cover, January 22, 1981.

The now-famous photograph (above) of John and Yoko is all the
more poignant for having been taken on the morning of December
8, 1980, just twelve hours before Lennon’s death.   

Annie Leibovitz (below) was commissioned by Rolling Stone to
photograph the couple as part of promotional efforts for their
joint album Double Fantasy.

In competing versions of the story, what Elvis Presley really wanted
for his birthday was a rifle or a bicycle—both fairly typical choices
for a boy his age growing up on the outskirts of Tupelo, Mississippi.

Instead, Elvis’s highly protective mother, Gladys,”She never let me
out of her sight”, Elvis would say—took him to the Tupelo Hardware
Store and bought a gift that would change  the course of history: a
$6.95 guitar. It was January 8, 1946, and Elvis Aaron Presley was 11
years old.

The historical significance of putting a guitar into the hands of a
young man who would later help define rock and roll is obvious
and for Elvis himself, however, getting that guitar was just one
more step in a thorough yet totally unplanned program of
childhood musical development that prepared him perfectly to
ignite a revolution 10 years later.

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977)
(Note: Elvis was 11 years old when this photo was taken)

Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black accompany Elvis (center)
in a little-seen photo from late 1954 or ’55.

The famous picture of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is
blown up by the blast from a subway vent, was shot during the
filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband,
Joe DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist, and the couple
divorced shortly afterward.

According to Marilyn Monroe: The Private life of a Public
Icon, the Hollywood bombshell loved filming the scene.

Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe in a scene from the movie
The Seven Year Itch.

Marilyn and Joe at the premiere for The Seven Year Itch.

Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, took the first close-up
images of the moon—4,308 in total—before it impacts with the
lunar surface northwest of the Sea of Clouds. The images were
1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year—Ranger 6—but
the probe’s cameras had failed as it descended to the lunar
surface.

Ranger 7, launched from Earth on July 28, successfully activated
its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact and began
beaming the images back to NASA’s receiving station in
California.