Rock History September 7
1968, The Doors played the first of two nights at The Roundhouse, London, playing twice nightly on their first UK visit. Granada TV filmed the sold out gigs, later shown as “The Doors Are Open,” which were attended by members of The Rolling Stones and Traffic.
1968, The Beach Boys played at at Patio Gardens in Farmington, Utah.
1968, Pink Floyd performed at Le Blboquet, St. Germain des Pres, in Paris, where they played “Let There Be More Light” live as part of a four-hour TV special entitled Surprise Partie. The music program also featured The Who, Joe Cocker, The Troggs, Fleetwood Mac, Small Faces, PP Arnold, The Equals, and others. It was broadcast in color on ORTF2 on December 31st.
1968, The American magazine Eye contains lyrics for three Pete Townshend songs, “Party Piece from Rael,” a song from the unfinished rock opera that led to “Rael” from The Who Sell Out, “Joker James”, which would ultimately be recorded for the Quadrophenia Soundtrack, and “Join My Gang”.
1968, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham made their live debut as Led Zeppelin but billed as Yard Birds at Teen Club Box 45 in Gladsaxe, a suburb in the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. Around 1,200 youngsters attended the show at Egegard School. Teen Club President Lars Abel presenting “The New Yardbirds” on stage, introduced Robert Plant as Robert Plat. A local review stated, “Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless, and the music continued to ring nicely in the ears for some time after the curtains were drawn after their show. We can therefore conclude that the new Yardbirds are at least as good as the old ones were.”
1968, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown LP and the single “Fire” backed with “Rest Cure” are released in the US. The single peaks at number two in both the Billboard and Cash Box charts. Pete Townshend gets an associate production credit on both, and plays rhythm guitar on the B-side.
1969, King Crimson appeared at the Victoria Ballroom, Chesterfield, England.
1971, Led Zeppelin performed at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The set list: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going To California, What Is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love (medley), Communication Breakdown, Organ solo / Thank You, Rock and Roll.
1972, David Bowie appeared at The Top Rank, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, England.
1973, The Rolling Stones kicked off a nine-date UK tour at the Empire Pool London. Tickets £2.20.
1973, The Grateful Dead played at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
1974, The 101ers made their performing debut at the Telegraph pub in Brixton. The pub rock band featured singer, guitarist Joe Strummer who would later join The Clash.
1974, Aerosmith performed at the Wollman Skating Rink Theater in New York.
1976, Abba were at number one on the singles chart with “Dancing Queen,” the group’s only chart topper. The song was a a number one smash hit in over a dozen countries and stayed at the top of the Swedish charts for 14 weeks.
1977, Rush appeared at Winnipeg Arena, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
1978, Yes played at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1978, Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, died of a overdose of heminevrin prescribed to combat alcoholism. A post-mortem confirmed there were 32 tablets in his system, 26 of which were undissolved. Moon had attended a party the night before organized by Paul McCartney for the launch of the The Buddy Holly Story movie. He played on all The Who albums from their debut, 1965’s My Generation, to 1978’s Who Are You, which was released two weeks before his death.
1979, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia.
1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Jai Alai Fronton Hall, Miami, Florida.
1982, Van Halen appeared at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Phoenix, Arizona.
1985, David Bowie and Mick Jagger were at number one on the UK singes chart with their version of the Martha Reeves and The Vandellas 1964 hit “Dancing In The Streets.” The song had been recorded as part of the Live Aid charity appeal. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium and Jagger at the JFK Stadium, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible.
1997, Fleetwood Mac went to number one on the US album chart with The Dance. The album went on sell over 5 million copies in the US alone.
2001, Michael Jackson was reunited onstage with the Jackson Five at his 30th Anniversary Celebration in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. It ended Jackson’s 11-year hiatus from performing in the U.S. Jackson was joined by Eminem, Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his singing career.
2003, Singer, songwriter, Warren Zevon died. He had worked as a session musician, was the piano player and band leader for the Everly Brothers. His 1969 song “She Quit Me” was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy. Jackson Browne, The Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt all appeared on his albums. He recorded over fiften solo albums, had the 1978 US number twenty-one single “Werewolves Of London.” He made frequent appearances on the David Letterman Show, whose host was an early proponent of his music.
2003, Black Eyed Peas started a six-week run at number one on the UK singles chart with “Where Is The Love.” The best selling single of 2003, with an uncredited Justin Timberlake on the recording.
2024, British bassist Herbie Flowers, who played with David Bowie, Elton John, T. Rex and Paul McCartney, died at age 86, according to a social media post from his family. No cause of death was announced. Flowers played the iconic bassline for Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”.
Born on September 7: Little Milton, blues singer (1934); Buddy Holly (1936); Gloria Gaynor (1949); Chrissie Hynde (1951); Benmont Tench, keyboards, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1954); and LeRoi Moore, saxophonist, Dave Matthews Band (1961)
Abba, Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, keith Moon, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Small Faces, The Beach Boys, The Clash, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Van Halen, Warren Zevon, Yes.
