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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lemmings Lament” by National Lampoon

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lemmings Lament” by National Lampoon

“Welcome to the Woodshuck Memorial Festival: Three Days Of Peace, Love And Death!”

So began one of the funniest and spot-on parodies of the Woodstock generation with this announcement made by none other than John Belushi. Lemmings was performed as a stage show by National Lampoon in 1973, and not only launched the career of Belushi, but also introduced many of us to Chevy Chase, Tony Hendra and Christopher Guest.

The show opened at the Village Gate, in New York City, on January 25, 1973, and ran for 350 performances. It included a then-unknown John Belushi performing a parody of Joe Cocker on the song “Lonely At The Bottom” (with fellow Lampooner Paul Jacobs taking on the part of Leon Russell). Belushi’s Cocker would reach a much wider audience on Saturday Night Live several years later.

Other parodies included “Highway Toes” performed by Christopher Guest (This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind) taking on James Taylor, “Positively Wall Street” also by Guest, this time as Bob Dylan and “Pizza Man,” a send up of ‘50s Rock and Roll hilariously performed by Alice Playton. Today’s Song Of the Day, “Lemming Lament” was performed by Paul Jacobs, Christopher Guest, Alice Playton and John Belushi, billed as Freud, Marx, Engels and Jung, taking the piss out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

I’ve been a fan of this album since it came out in 1973, but I never knew of the existence of a filmed performance that was released on VHS many years ago. Of course, it is now out of print on video again, but it turns up in its entirety on YouTube every so often.

The Lemmings album was not National Lampoon’s first foray into musical parody. They released the album Radio Dinner the year before which also featured Christopher Guest and Tony Hendra (who does a great John Lennon on “Magical Misery Tour”), along with SNL alum Michael O’Donoghue and Melissa Manchester. The Lampoon would go to the well again in 1975, with the album Goodbye Pop featuring Christopher Guest, Paul Jacobs, Paul Shaffer, and future SNL alum Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.

John Belushi as the Woodshuck announcer parodying an actual Woodstock announcement: “There isn’t enough food to go around. There just isn’t enough food. So remember, the man next to you is your dinner.” Classic…all the way!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Graduation Day” by The Beach Boys

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Graduation Day” by The Beach Boys

The Four Freshman took this song to the top twenty back in 1956 and the Wilson brothers were listening. And while The Beach Boys certainly were influenced by the Freshmen, the Freshmen were in turn influenced by vocal groups of the Big Band Era like The Pied Pipers and The Modernaires, as well as the close harmonies employed by numerous Barbershop Quartets that came before them. The song celebrates a rite of passage that many are embarking upon as we speak. I was torn between choosing this vocal group gem, or to let it all hang out and go with “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper.

Today in Rock History – May 29

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1965, Bob Dylan’s album Bringing It All Back Home was at number one on the UK charts, his second chart topping album. It would be displaced the following day by the soundtrack to The Sound of Music.

1965, The Beach Boys started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Help Me Rhonda,” the group’s second US chart topper.

1967, The Move, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Zoot Money and Pink Floyd all appeared at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall in Spalding, Lincs, England. Tickets cost £1 ($1.60).

1969, Crosby, Stills & Nash released their self-titled debut on Atlantic Records label. It spawned two top 40 hits, “Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”

1969, The Who appeared at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago.

1970,  Pink Floyd’s soundtrack to the Michelangelo Antonioni film Zabriske Point had its UK album release. It featured previously unreleased Pink Floyd tracks “Heart Beat, Pig Meat,” “Crumbling Land,” and “Come In Number 51, You’re Time Is Up.”

1970, Jethro Tull played at the Eastown Theater in Detroit, Michigan.

1971, The Rolling Stones started a two week run at number one on the American singles chart with “Brown Sugar.” The song was purportedly about Mick Jagger’s affair with American singer Marsha Hunt. It was the band’s sixth chart topper, and a number two hit in the UK.

1971, Three dozen Grateful Dead fans were treated for hallucinations caused by LSD after they unwittingly drank spiked apple juice served at a gig at San Francisco’s Winterland. This was the first of two nights at Bill Graham’s venue. Tickets cost $2 (£ 1.25).

1972, Paul McCartney releases his bizarre interpretation of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as Wings. It barely makes the top thirty on the charts. McCartney apparently was making a point about censorship after the BBC banned his political single “Give Ireland Back to the Irish.”

1973, Record executive Clive Davis is fired from Columbia for misappropriating $100,000. He later founded Arista Records and engineered Santana’s comeback with Supernatural.

1973, David Bowie performed at Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

1973, Mike Oldfield releases his ambient masterpiece Tubular Bells.  The opening piano solo was used briefly in the soundtrack to the William Friedkin film The Exorcist (also released in 1973), and the album gained considerable airplay because of the film’s success.

1973, Roger McGuinn performs his first solo gig at New York’s Academy of Music and confirms rumors that his band The Byrds is finished.

1975, Aerosmith were at Cobo Arena in Detroit, and Rush appeared at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas.

1976, Diana Ross started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Love Hangover,” her fourth chart topper.

1976, ZZ Top appear at Groves Stadium, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

1977, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Kenny Logins all appeared at the Tangerine Bowl, Orlando, Florida. Tickets cost $10 – $12.50.

1977, Manchester band Warsaw, (later to become Joy Division) made their live debut supporting The Buzzcocks at The Electric Circus, Manchester, England.

1979, Yes performed at the McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado.

1980, Thin Lizzy played at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1980, The Grateful Dead performed at the Civic Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

1981, Bruce Springsteen appeared at the Wembley Arena in London.

1983, Styx played at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.

nirvana-nevermind1991, After just completing the recording of the Nevermind album, Nirvana played a last-minute show at the Jabberjaw in Los Angeles. In the audience was Iggy Pop, Dave Grohl’s girlfriend and L7 bassist Jennifer Finch who brought along her best friend Courtney Love.

1997, Singer songwriter Jeff Buckley disappeared after talking a swim in the Mississippi River, his body was found on six days later, after being spotted by a passenger on a tourist riverboat.

1997, The Manic Street Preachers won the best song award for “A Design For Life” at the 42nd Ivor Novello awards. Other winners included The Spice Girls for Hit of the year with “Wannabe,” Elvis Costello for Outstanding contribution to music. George Michael won Songwriter Of The Year and Most Performed work for “Fastlove.”

1999, Skeletal remains were found by photographers looking for old car wrecks to shoot at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California. Based on forensic evidence the remains were Philip Kramer, former bassist with rock group Iron Butterfly, who had disappeared on his way home from work on February 12, 1995. His death was ruled as a probable suicide.

2007, A piano used by John Lennon on the night he died was put up for sale for $375,000 (£189,000) on The Moments in Time memorabilia website. The upright grand piano was part of the Record Plant Recording Studios in New York where the former Beatle recorded his 1971 Imagine album. Lennon was said to be so fond of the instrument that he had it moved to whichever studio he was working in and had used the piano hours before being shot on December 8, 1980.

2009, Phil Spector was jailed for at least 19 years for murdering an actress in 2003. The producer, 69, famed for his Wall of Sound recording technique, was  found guilty of shooting Lana Clarkson at his California home. Spector had pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder during the five-month retrial in Los Angeles. His lawyers said he would appeal. Spector was given a sentence of 15 years to life for second-degree murder and an additional four years for personal use of a gun.

2015, Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch went up for sale with a price tag of $100m (£65m). Jackson bought the Santa Barbara development in 1987 for $19.5 million, but struggled to pay for it, until an investment company stepped in to help him save it from auction.

Born on May 29:  Gary Brooker, Procol Harum (1945); Mike Porcaro, Toto (1955); La Toya Jackson (1956); Mel Gaynor, drums, Simple Minds (1959); Noel Gallagher, Oasis (1967)

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Song Of The Day – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention

Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Dvorak…the alphabet of classical composers goes on and on…and then you come to “Z.”

May I offer “Zappa?” Yup, Frank Zappa…an artist whose music will be studied by serious composers for generations to come.

You don’t believe me? Then check out today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman, “The Uncle Meat Variations” from Uncle Meat.

The Uncle Meat album was released in 1969 and was conceived as a soundtrack to a science fiction film that was never finished. The front cover sported the following subtitle: “Most of the music from the Mother’s movie of the same name which we haven’t got enough money to finish yet.”

A finished version of the film was released in the late 1980s bearing many of the scenes filmed for the movie and was rather incoherent. The double album was also planned as part of a suite of albums called No Commercial Potential that included the Mothers’ records Lumpy Gravy, We’re Only In It For The Money and Cruising with Reuben & the Jets.

Frank Zappa: “It’s all one album. All the material in the albums is organically related and if I had all the master tapes and I could take a razor blade and cut them apart and put it together again in a different order it still would make one piece of music you can listen to. Then I could take that razor blade and cut it apart and reassemble it a different way, and it still would make sense. I could do this twenty ways. The material is definitely related.” (Zappa: A Biography – Barry Miles)

The Mothers consisted of Frank Zappa, Ray Collins on vocals, Jimmy Carl Black on drums, Roy Estrada on bass, Don Preston on keyboards, Billy Mundi on drums, Bunk Gardner on woodwinds, Ian Underwood on keyboards, Artie Tripp on percussion and Euclid James “Motorhead” Sherwood on saxophone.

The album is one of The Mothers’ and Zappa’s finest, and I opine that it will be studied by serious musicians for years to come.

So, “Roll over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news.”

“Fuzzy dice and bongos”…indeed!

Sequestered Together in 3D Again

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Your Uncle Marty here, as we take a different view of the global pandemic with chapter 535 of The Award Winning 3D RadioActivity.  There are a lot of appropriate tunes to touch, and the times brings out the best in satire, so we present some fun with a bit of both.  Now children, staying at home and so on are things we do to stop the spread of Corona.   Social life must stay online; Keep 2 metres clear of me, turn it up, stay hydrated, and listen to 3D! 😎

Download or click to play here:
https://archive.org/download/The3dRadioactivity/3dradio_20200517-3DQII.mp3

Every time I turn around I see, or hear another infectious tune, so more may be coming our way after our run of them over the past five shows.  A big thanks goes out to Radio Dave, Grant, Candi, Debbie, Sheri, Sundae and Tom for the great suggestions! 

We have lost numerous artists over the past 12 months, nearly one every week since last Memorial Day, so we will be giving them a fond farewell and sendoff next time.  Make sure we play your tribute to them by letting me know.  Send a email, or with a message on  our Facebook  page which has links to the archives of all the earlier episodes and graphics in the photo section.  Look for us on Denver’s MileHiRadio,  Theacidflashback.com,   http://www.villageconnectionmagazine.com/ Long Island, New York,  TuneIn and InternetFM dot com, because the best FM radio is now on the Internet.

Until we meet again, Keep Rockin’ On!

…Uncle Marty

“It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

…Marilyn Monroe

Today in Rock History – May 16

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1966, The Beach Boys released the album ‘Pet Sounds.’ The album is now regarded as the masterpiece of composer-producer Brian Wilson, and is often hailed as one of the best and most influential albums in popular music.

1966, Dylan’s iconic Blonde On Blonde album was released, reaching No.9 in the US charts and No.3 in the UK. Rock’s first double album, and Dylan’s seventh studio effort, it was recorded with Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson and Nashville country music session players, and had what Dylan later called ‘that wild mercury sound’.

1967, Jeff Beck appeared at the Corn Exchange in Bristol, Manfred Mann played at the Industrial Ballroom in Norwich, and appearing on the ITV show ‘As You Like It’; Lulu, Cat Stevens, Herd, Georgie Fame and the Tremeloes.

1969, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane was arrested for possession of marijuana and received a two and a half year suspended sentence.

1969, Pete Townshend spent the night in jail for assaulting a man during a Who gig at The Fillmore East. What Townshend didn’t know was the man who jumped onto the stage was a plainclothes policeman trying to warn the audience that a fire had broken out. The Who guitarist was later fined $30 for the offense.

1970, Police burst into the Bloomington, Minnesota hotel room of Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin after neighbors complain about noise. They find Balin and friends with marijuana and teenaged girls. The singer is sentenced to a year’s hard labor and a fine, but on appeal only has to pay the fine.

Randy Bachman, second from right

1970, Randy Bachman leaves the Guess Who.

1970, Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to No.1 on the album chart with ‘Deja Vu’.

1970, Pink Floyd played at the Warehouse in New Orleans, with support from The Allman Brothers Band and Country Funk.  The band had $40,000 worth of equipment stolen from their truck overnight. Nick Mas0n  told Melody Maker in an later interview, “We sat at our hotel thinking – ‘Well that’s it. It’s all over.’  – We were pouring out our troubles to a girl who worked at the hotel and she said her father worked for the FBI. The police hadn’t helped us much, but the FBI got to work and four hours later it was found.”

1972, The Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 tour stop is Theatre Hall in Luxembourg.

1974, Brian May collapsed in New York while Queen were on a US tour and was flown back to England suffering from hepatitis.

1974, Neil Young made an unannounced appearance at The Bottom Line in New York and played songs from his new album ‘On The Beach.’

1975, Chubby Checker hosts The Midnight Special, with appearances by Lesley Gore and Danny & the Juniors.

1976, Patti Smith made her UK debut at The Roundhouse, London.

1978, A David Bowie show at Deutschlandhalle in Berlin was halted during “Station to Station” when Bowie noticed security manhandling an audience member. Bowie ordered him in German to stop, which he did and the show resumed.

1987, U2 started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ‘With Or Without You’, the group’s first US No.1. The third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, the song was the group’s most successful single at the time.

Born on this day: Liberace (1919); Robert Fripp, King Crimson (1946); Darrell Sweet, Nazareth (1947); Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers (1951); and Janet Jackson (1966)

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Today in Rock History – May 14

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1964, Jan & Dean start recording “Little Old Lady (From Pasadena).”

1965, The Who appeared at Civic Hall in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England.

1965, San Francisco radio station KYA hosts the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, Beau Brummels, Paul Revere & the Raiders, and the Vejtables at the Civic Auditorium.

1966, The Who played at Palais in Bury, Manchester, England.

1967, around the UK – Jimi Hendrix played at the Elizabethan Ballroom in Manchester, The Bee Gees appeared at The Beachcomber in Nottingham, and Alan Price played at the Coatham Hotel in Redcar.

1967, Pink Floyd played “Pow R Toc H” and “Astronomy Domine” live on the arts program The Look of the Week broadcast by BBC2 television. Syd Barrett and Roger Waters were interviewed by classic music critic Hans Keller. Below is video from that appearance.

1968, Cream performed at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.

1968, Paul McCartney and John Lennon make a guest appearance on The Tonight Show to announce the creation of Apple Corps.

1969, During a UK tour, Fairport Convention’s van crashed on the M1 motorway on the way home from a gig in Birmingham, killing the group’s 19 year-old drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn.

1969, King Crimson performed at the Revolution Club, London, while Yes appeared at the Marquee Club.

1970, The Grateful Dead played at Merramac Community College in Kirkwood, Missouri.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band played The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1973, Led Zeppelin performed at the Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans.

1974, Another Grateful Dead show at a college venue. This time at Adams Field House at the University of Montana in Missoula.

1975, Yes appeared at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, England.

1976, The Rolling Stones played at Granby Halls, Leicester, England.

1976, 33 year old Keith Relf, former lead singer for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted while tuning a guitar which was not properly grounded. The accident happened in his West London home where he was found by his eight year old son, still holding the plugged-in electric guitar.

1977, The Eagles’ Hotel California enters it’s last week at number one on the US album charts.  It held the top spot for five weeks in the spring of 1977, and on two occasions earlier in the year.

1977, Talking Heads played a gig at The Rock Garden in London where Brian Eno, who was in the audience, sees them and goes on to produce the band.

1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland.

1983, Spandau Ballet scored their first and only UK number one album with “True.” The title track from the album spent four weeks at the top of the UK singles charts and reached the second spot in the US. Other singles from the album included “Gold” (a number two UK hit and a Top 30 hit in the US), “Lifeline,” and “Communication.”

1988, Led Zeppelin reunited for the Atlantic Records 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden, New York, appearing with Jason Bonham the son of John Bonham on drums. Other acts performing included Foreigner, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Wilson Pickett and Ben E. King.

1998, singer and actor Frank Sinatra died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles aged 82, after suffering a heart attack. Sinatra had his first hit in 1940, working in the Swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1953 film From Here to Eternity. He went on to score over 25 Top 40 singles including the 1966 chart topper “Strangers In The Night.” His 1969 single “My Way,” re-entered the UK charts eight times and spent a total of 165 weeks on the UK chart.

2006, Red Hot Chili Peppers started a two-week run at number one on the UK album chart with Stadium Arcadium, the bands’ ninth studio album, also a US chart topper.

Born on this day: Bobby Darin (1936);  Jack Bruce (1943); Gene Cornish, The Young Rascals (1946);  Al Ciner, The American Breed (1947); and David Byrne (1952)

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Song Of The Day – “Baja” by The Astronauts

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astronautsThey were a surf group from Boulder, Colorado. Yup, you heard that right, the group was from Colorado, where there is no ocean in sight, and yet they recorded nine surf albums for RCA Records during the 1960s.

The Astronauts consisted of Rich Fifield (guitar and vocals), Jon “Storm” Patterson (guitar and vocals), Bob Demmon (guitar), Dennis Lindsey (guitar) and Jim Gallagher (drums).  When the group went into the recording studio to record their first album in 1963, they’d never heard of or played surf music before.

Their first single was “Baja” which was written by none other than Lee Hazelwood (who was famous for his production work with Duane Eddy and Nancy Sinatra). The song was the group’s only appearance on the U.S. charts, where it flew all the way up to the none-too-impressive height of #94, and stayed for one solitary week.

The song was from their debut album, Surfin’ With The Astronauts (released in 1963) and featured covers of some of the biggest surf hits of the day including “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Miserlou,” “Pipeline,” “Susie Q,” “Let’s Go Trippin’,” “Batman” and “Banzai Pipeline” (written by Henry Mancini, no less). Their other classic single was the hot rod tune, “Competition Coupe,” which also served as the title cut from one of their albums of, you guessed it, hot rod tunes.

But while success seemed to elude The Astronauts here in the states, they found they were “Big In Japan” (as the song title goes), where they scored a number one hit with the song “Movin’” (retitled “Over The Sun” for the Japanese market) and three top-ten albums.

By 1967, it was pretty much over for The Astronauts when Gallagher and Lindsey were drafted and went to Viet Nam. However, Fifield did go on to become a member of one of the versions of the psychedelic rock group, The Electric Prunes.

Today in Rock History – May 4

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pink-floyd-may-19671967, Pink Floyd performed at the Locarno Ballroom in Coventry, West Midlands, England.

1968, Steppenwolf make their first appearance on American Bandstand.

1968, The Yardbirds played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Mary Hopkin won her heat on the ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks. She later signed with The Beatles owned Apple Records, Paul McCartney produced her UK No.1 single “Those Were The Days,” which also made No. 2 in the US. Hopkin later married record producer Tony Visconti.

1968, The Who appear at Melody Fair in North Tonawanda, New York.

1969, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr all show up at the London wrap party for The Magic Christian. The film, based on Terry Southern’s novel, stars Peter Sellers and Ringo.

1969, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Central City Park in Macon, Georgia.

1970,  Four Kent State Students killed, seven others wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen during demonstrations against Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. Neil Young pens the song “Ohio” within a week and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young record and release it in early June.

1972, The Grateful Dead perform at the Olympia Theater in Paris during their fabled Europe ’72 tour.

1972, Pink Floyd played at the Music Hall in Boston on the last night of a North American tour. The show was moved from the Orpheum Theater, a smaller venue due to the high ticket demand.

1973, Led Zeppelin opened their 1973 North American tour, which was billed as the “biggest and most profitable rock & roll tour in the history of the United States.” The group would gross over $4 million from the dates, flying between gigs in “The Starship,” a Boeing 720 passenger jet, complete with bar, shower room, TV and video in a 30′ lounge and a white fur bedroom.

1973, Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

1974, Grand Funk Railroad started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with their version of the Little Eva hit “The Loco-Motion.” It was only the second time that a cover version had been a No.1 as well as the original.

1974, The film soundtrack to The Sting’by Marvin Hamlisch started a five-week run at number one on the album chart.

1975, Elvis Presley kicked off a 31- date North American Tour by playing two shows at the Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

1976, David Bowie performed the first of four nights at the Empire Pool, Wembley, in London. Earlier in the day, he gave a rare interview to Jean Rook of the Daily Express.

1976, The Rolling Stones played at the AWD Dome, Bremen, Germany.

1977, The Patti Smith Group, David Johansen, Dead Boys, Blondie, Suicide and Richard Hell & The Voidoids all appeared at a Punk Benefit at CBGB’s in New York City.

1978, “Night Fever” by The Bee Gees was at number one on the UK singles chart. The group’s third chart topper and the theme from the film Saturday Night Fever. The song was a US number one for over two months.

1979, Rush appeared at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1980, ZZ Top performed at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey.

1984, King Crimson played at Kenmin Hall, Kanagawa, Japan.

1987, American blues vocalist, harmonica player Paul Butterfield, who fronted The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, died at his home in North Hollywood, California, of drug-related heart failure, he was 44. He achieved international recognition, as one of the early acts performing during the Summer of Love, at The Monterey festival and Woodstock festival.

1989, Stevie Ray Vaughan set out on what would be his last ever tour at the Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia. The guitarist was killed in a helicopter crash on 27th Aug 1999 after a concert at Alpine Valley Music Theater in Wisconsin, after playing 107 of the 110 dates.

1996, Alanis Morissette started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Jagged Little Pill.

2004, Clement Seymour Dodd died aged 72. Producer and major force in the development of ska and reggae, made the first recordings of Bob Marley.

Born on this day – Dick Dale (1937); Nicholas Ashford, Ashford & Simpson (1942); George Wadenius, Blood Sweat & Tears (1945); Bruce Day, Santana, Pablo Cruise (1951); Randy Travis (1959); and Mike Dirnt, bass, Green Day (1972)

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Today in Rock History – April 11

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1964, The Beatles set a new chart record when they had 14 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs ranged from “Can’t Buy Me Love” at number one to “Love Me Do” at number 81.

1965, Performing at the New Musical Express poll winners concert, at London’s Wembley Empire Pool, England, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Animals, The Kinks, Herman’s Hermits, Moody Blues, Them, Cilla Black, The Seekers and Donovan.

1966, Buffalo Springfield made their live debut at The Troubadour in Hollywood, California. The folk rock band are renowned both for their music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Buffalo Springfield were among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion.

1967, During a 18-date European tour The Rolling Stones played two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France

1968, Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company perform on ABC’s Hollywood Palace.

1970, Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac while on tour in Germany, to avoid breach of contract he agreed to finish the current tour.

1970, The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Let It Be’. It became the group’s 19th No.1 in 6 years.

1973, The Beach Boys appeared at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia. The Beach Boys were at a very low ebb in popularity in America and this show proved a financial disaster for the promoter, with less than 3,000 tickets sold for the 16,000 capacity venue. Opening act was Mothers Finest and middle of the bill was Bruce Springsteen who played a 60-minute set.

1974, David Bowie Arrives in New York on the SS France. Checks into the Sherry Netherlands Hotel on 5th Avenue. During his stay in New York Bowie spent time putting together a new tour band and seeing live music, particularly black artists such as The Temptations, The Spinners and Marvin Gaye at venues in Harlem such as the Apollo Theatre.

1976, During a tour of Australia, Queen appeared at the Entertainments Centre in Perth.

1977, Alice Cooper played to an audience of 40,000 in Sydney, Australia, the largest crowd to attend a rock concert in the country’s history. After the show Cooper was placed under house arrest at his hotel until he posted a bond for $59,632. That amount was the sum that a promoter claimed to have paid Cooper for a 1975 Australia tour he never made. The two settled when it was found that the promoter did not fulfill his part of the agreement either.

1981, Eddie Van Halen married actress Valerie Bertinelli, co-star of the 1980’s television hit, One Day at a Time. The two had met eight months earlier when Bertinelli’s brother took her to a Van Halen concert in Shreveport, Louisiana.

1992, Def Leppard scored their second UK chart topping album with Adrenalize, the follow-up to the multi million selling Hysteria album.

1994, Oasis released their first single “Supersonic,” which peaked at  number 31 on the UK charts. However, over time it has amassed sales of over 215,000, making it their 13th biggest selling single ever in the UK. “Supersonic” was also the band’s first single to chart in the United States, where it peaked at number eleven on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

2006, June Pointer, the youngest of the four Pointer Sisters who went from teenage Gospel singers to the top of the Pop charts with such hits as “Fire,” “Slow Hand,” and “I’m So Excited,” died of cancer at the age of 52.

2014, Nirvana were enshrined to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of KISS and Beatles manager Brian Epstein. REM’s Michael Stipe inducted the group, saying, “Nirvana tapped into a voice that was yearning to be heard. Nirvana were kicking against the mainstream. They spoke truth and a lot of people listened.”

Born on April 11: Neville Staples, The Specials (1956); Stuart Adamson, Big Country (1958); Nigel Pulsford, Bush (1965); Joss Stone, singer (1987)

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