1965, Velvet Underground’s manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group’s first paying gig, $75, to play at Summit High School, in Summit, New Jersey, opening for the Myddle Class. 1966, The Monkees debut album started a 13-week run at number one on the album chart, selling over three million copies in three […]
Today in Rock History – November 11
1965, The final recording session for The Beatles Rubber Soul album took place, at Abbey Road, London. They needed four new songs to finish the album so an old song “Wait” is pulled off the shelf and work is completed on “I’m Looking Through You.” The band recorded two new songs from start to finish. […]
Today in Rock History – November 10
1963, The Yardbirds, with Eric Clapton on guitar, appeared at The Crawdaddy Club, Richmond, Surrey, England. 1966, The Who go into CBS Studios in London and record their next single “Happy Jack” in at least two versions. Sometime during this session Roger and Pete go off to a pub and John and Keith stay behind […]
Today in Rock History – November 5
1965, The Who released the single “My Generation” in the US. While the UK release would reach the second spot, the song barely rippled in the US peaking at number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1965, The Doors appeared at the Pioneer Club Boat Ride, Los Angeles, California. 1966, The Monkees were at the […]
Today in Rock History – November 2
1965, The Who perform at The Marquee in London where they break box office records for the venue. 1966, “Mississippi” John Hurt, country blues singer and guitarist, died of a heart attack in his home state of Mississippi. Material recorded by him has been re-released by many record labels over the years and his songs […]
Today in Rock History – October 30
1961, Two days after Beatles fan Raymond Jones asked for The Beatles’ German single “My Bonnie” (recorded with Tony Sheridan) at Brian Epstein’s NEMS record store in Liverpool, two girls asked for the same record. Epstein’s difficulty in locating the record was due to him not knowing that the record was released, not by The […]
Today in Rock History – October 27
1964, 31-year old Salvatore Philip Bono married 18-year old Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere. For a time they performed together as Caesar and Cleo before changing the name of their act to Sonny and Cher. Their union lasted twelve years. 1966, The Four Tops were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Reach Out […]
Today in Rock History – October 17
1964, Manfred Mann started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” It was also a chart topper in the UK. The song was first released by the US group The Exciters. 1967, A 10-date package tour of the UK played the last night at the […]
Today in Rock History – October 11
1962, The Beatles made their first appearance on the UK singles chart with “Love Me Do,” which peaked at number four. 1964, The Who performed at Wolsey Hall, Cheshunt, England. 1967, The Doors appeared at Danbury High School, Danbury, Connecticut. Before the group came on stage, an announcer told the audience not to leave their […]
Today in Rock History – October 10
1964, During a UK tour The Beatles appeared at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. Ringo Starr drove himself to the venue after taking delivery of a brand new Facel Vega, apparently reaching speeds of 140 MPH on the M6 motorway. 1965, The Who arrive at Stockholm airport in Sweden to begin their two-day tour. Unfortunately, […]
