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Today in Rock History – May 27

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bob-dylan-freewheelin1963, The album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was released by Columbia in the USA. Establishing Dylan as a leader in the singer-songwriter genre and a supposed spokesman for the youth-orientated protest movement, it reached number 22 on the US charts and number one on the UK charts. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan showcased Dylan’s songwriting talent for the first time and propelled him to national and international fame.

1964, Pirate radio station Sutch was started by Screaming Lord Sutch, broadcasting from former army fort Shivering Sands in The Thames Estuary.

1966, The Velvet Underground go west, as Andy Warhol brings his Exploding Plastic Inevitable, featuring the Velvets and the Mothers, to San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium.

1967,  The Who play one of their weirdest dates, the Oxford Pembroke College May Ball, in Oxfordshire, England.. They are expected to play dance music but most of the prom goers spend the evening with their hands over their ears as first Cream and then The Who perform their standard repertoire. Pete’s guitar is stolen after the show.

1967, To celebrate Cilla Black’s birthday, her manager Brian Epstein organized illuminated greetings at London’s Piccadilly Circus and sites in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the “Bank Holiday Beano” held at the Civic Hall, Nantwich, England. The supporting act was The SOS.

1968, Pink Floyd were at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, St. Johns Wood in London recording tracks for A Saucerful of Secrets.

1969, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.

1971, “First Take” by Roberta Flack began the last of its five-weeks atop the US album charts.

1972, The Chi-lites went to number one on the singles chart with “Oh Girl.”

1972, Spirit and The J Geils Band played at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago.

1972, David Bowie appeared at Ebbisham Hall, Epsom, England on his Ziggy Stardust tour.

1973, The Allman Brothers Band played at the  Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California.

1974, Aerosmith appeared at the JFK Coliseum, Manchester, New Hampshire.

1975, Wishbone Ash performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1976, Keith Moon arrives at Brecknock School in North London school to inspect the boys of the 51st Company of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. For the occasion, Keith dons full evening attire. Keith had spent £500 ($750) on brand new bugles and drums. “Blimey,” he tells the press, “I know just how they felt playing with rotten instruments. I was in the sea cadets as a boy.” That night he and John attend the Rolling Stones’ concert at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

1977, Declan McManus made his “live” debut at the Nashville in London as Elvis Costello.

1977, The Sex Pistols single “God Save The Queen” was released in the UK. Banned by TV and radio, High Street shops and pressing plant workers refused to handle the record. It sold 200,000 copies in one week and peaked at number two on the UK charts.

1978, Bruce Springsteen performed at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1979, Yes appeared at the Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1980, Journey played at the Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

1981, Van Halen headlined at the Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio

1983, The Smiths were at number one on the UK independent chart with their debut single “Hand In Glove.” The Smiths recorded the track after their manager Joe Moss paid £250 ($375) for a one-day recording session at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England.

1984, Bob Dylan performed at the Arena di Verona, Verona, Italy.

1988, Def Leppard kicked off the third leg of their North American Hysteria world tour at George M. Sullivan Arena, Anchorage, Alaska.

1989, The Grateful Dead performed at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in Oakland, California.

1990, The Stone Roses played at Spike Island, Widnes, Cheshire, England to a capacity crowd of 30,000. The event, considered a failure at the time due to sound problems and bad organization, has become legendary over the years as a “Woodstock for the baggy generation.”

1994, The Eagles played their first show in fourteen years when they played a show at Irvine Meadows in Irvine California. The two-and-a-half-hour show ended with three encores. The set list: Hotel California, Victim of Love, New Kid in Town, Wasted Time,  Pretty Maids All in a Row,  The Girl From Yesterday,  I Can’t Tell You Why,  Ordinary Average Guy, Lyin’ Eyes, One of These Nights, Silent Spring, Tequila Sunrise,  Help Me Through the Night, The Heart of the Matter,  Love Will Keep Us Alive, You Belong to the City,  The Boys of Summer, Funk #49, Dirty Laundry, Life’s Been Good,  All She Wants to Do Is Dance, Heartache Tonight, Life in the Fast Lane.  Encore: Get Over It, Rocky Mountain Way.  Encore 2:  Already Gone, Desperado.  Encore 3: Take It Easy.

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

2008, Sir Paul McCartney was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale’s president, Richard Levin, said MacCartney had “awakened a generation, giving a fresh sound to rock and roll and to rhythm and blues.”

Born on May 27: Ruby Lewis, The Drifters and Ramsey Lewis (1935); Celia Black (1943); Peter Knight, violin, Steeleye Span (1947); Neil Finn, Split Enz,  Crowded House (1956); and Siouxsie Sioux, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Eddie Harsch, keyboards, The Black Crowes (1957); and Dr. Dre (1975)

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Today in Rock History – May 25

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1965, Blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, Sonny Boy Williamson died in his sleep. Van Morrison, Aerosmith, The Who, The Animals, Yardbirds, and Moody Blues all covered his songs. According to the Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, touring the UK in the 60’s, Sonny Boy set his hotel room on fire while trying to cook a rabbit in a coffee percolator.

1965, The Rolling Stones perform “How Many More Years” with their hero Howlin’ Wolf on ABC’s Shindig!

1967, Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale,” entered the UK charts for the first time, it went on to be a number one hit. The first video for the song was shot in the ruins of Witley Court in Worcestershire, England. Directed by Peter Clifton whose insertion of Vietnam War newsreel footage caused it to be banned from airplay on the Top Of The Pops TV show. The band subsequently made another video.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Gwent Constabulary (‘A’ Division) Spring Holiday Barn Dance, held at The Barn, Grosmont Wood Farm in Cross Ash, near Abergavenny,Wales, England. Support acts were Volume IV with MC Eddie Tattersall.

1967, Janis Joplin performed at the Carousel Ballroom i San Francisco with the Clara Ward Singers and H. P. Lovecraft.

1968, The Yardbirds appeared at Fillmore West in San Francisco.

1968, Pink Floyd performed at Mayfair Suite, The Belfry Hotel, Wishaw, Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, England. Support acts were Young Blood and Pineapple Incident. Admission included dinner.

1968, Simon and Garfunkel scored their second US number one album with Bookends.

1968, The Doors performed at Patio Gardens in Farmington, Utah.

1969, Jimi Hendrix played at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, California.

1969, A benefit concert was held for Fairport Convention at The Roundhouse, London to raise money for the families of the bands drummer Martin Lamble, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend, and clothes designer Jeannie Franklyn who were all killed in an accident driving back from a gig. Also on the bill, Family, Pretty Things, Soft Machine and John Peel.

1969, The Who and Led Zeppelin appeared at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland, USA. This was the only time the two group’s ever performed together, with Zeppelin opening the show. On the tickets Led Zeppelin was spelled Lead Zeppelin.

1971, King Crimson appeared at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England.

1972, David Bowie played at Chelsea Village, Bournemouth, England.

1973, During a 21-date UK tour Wings played the first of three sold out nights at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

Deep Purple

1973, Deep Purple’s single “Smoke On The Water” was released.

1974, Aerosmith performed at Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

1974, Rick Wakeman became the first member of the group Yes to have a number one album when Journey To The Centre Of The Earth went to the top of the UK charts.

1975, Rush played at the Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington.

1976, The Who perform at the Palais Des Sports in Lyons, France.

1976, Bob Dylan appeared at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah.

1976, The Rolling Stones performed at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

1977, The Broadway tribute Beatlemania opens at the Winter Garden Theater.

1977, The Grateful Dead appeared at The Mosque, in Richmond, Virginia.

1978, After seeing The Hype (soon to become U2) appearing at the Project Arts Centre, in Dublin, Paul McGuinness became their manager.

1979, Yes appeared at the Long Beach Civic Arena, Long Beach, California.

1980, Black Sabbath played at the Odeon, Birmingham, England.

1983, Roxy Music performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

1984, David Gilmour appeared at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, Massachusetts.

1985, Dire Straits scored their second UK number one album with Brothers In Arms, also a chart topper in the US and 24 other countries. Brothers In Arms was one of the first albums to be directed at the CD market, and was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment.

1990, Fleetwood Mac played the first of 42 North American dates on their Behind The Mask world tour at the PNE Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada. Squeeze were the opening act.

1997, A report showed that Elvis Presley was now the world’s bestselling posthumous entertainer with worldwide sales of over one billion, over 480 active fan clubs and an estimated 250,000 UK fans who still buy his records. Ironically he had died owing $3 million (£1.76 million).

1998, Coldplay released their first ever record, an EP called Safety, which featured 3 tracks, “Bigger Stronger,” “No More Keeping My Feet on the Ground,” and “Such a Rush.” The EP was intended as a demo for record companies and is now such a rarity that it is known to fetch in excess of £2000 ($3000) on eBay.

2003, Marilyn Manson were at number one on the US album chart with The Golden Age of Grotesque, a number four hit in the UK and the bands second US chart topper.

2005, The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in California announced that it was officially closing the stabbing case of Meredith Hunter, the 18-year-old American who was killed at the 1969 Rolling Stones Altamont Free Concert. Investigators, concluding a renewed two-year investigation, dismissed the theory that a second Hell’s Angel took part in the stabbing.

2006, Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter Desmond Dekker died of a heart attack at his home in London, England. Had one of the first international Jamaican hits in 1968, with the song “Israelites.”

2013, American rock and roll bassist, Marshall Lytle, died aged 79. He was best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s. He played upright slap bass on the iconic “Crazy Man, Crazy,” “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” and “Rock Around the Clock.”

Born on this day: Hal David (1921); Tom T. Hall, country music singer-songwriter (1936); Brian Davison, The Nice (1942); John Palmer, English keyboard player, Family (1943); Mitchel Margo, The Tokens (1947); Klaus Meine, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Scorpions (1948); Robert Steinhardt, American violinist, singer, Kansas (1950);  Paul Weller, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Jam, Style Council (1958); Glen Drover, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, Megadeth, Eidolon, King Diamond (1969); Joe King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Fray (1980)

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Today in Rock History – May 24

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1966, Captain Beefheart appeared at the Whisky a Go Go. West Hollywood, California. Supported by Buffalo Springfield and The Doors.

1967, Jimi Hendrix played at Gröna Lund in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1968, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band appeared at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull are arrested on charges of marijuana possession. The same day the Stones release “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” generally seen as a comeback record following the flop of Their Satanic Majesties Request. It goes to number three in the US, and the top spot in the UK.  Richards has stated that he and Jagger wrote the lyrics while staying at Richards’ country house, where they were awoken one morning by the sound of gardener Jack Dyer walking past the window. When Jagger asked what the noise was, Richards responded, “Oh, that’s Jack – that’s jumpin’ Jack.” The rest of the lyrics evolved from there.

1968, Pink Floyd appeared at The Punchbowl Hotel, Lapworth, England.

1969, Led Zeppelin performed at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago.

1969, Bob Dylan’s album Nashville Skyline peaked at number three in the US charts. The singer’s ninth album, it also scored Dylan his fourth UK chart topper. The album featured “Lay Lady Lay,” which became one of Dylan’s biggest pop hits, reaching the seventh position in the US, his biggest single in three years.

1969, The Beatles started a five week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Get Back,” the group’s 17th chart topper.  The song was credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston,”  the Beatles’ only single that credited another artist.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Shady Grove Music Fair, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

1970, Peter Green played his last gig with Fleetwood Mac when they appeared at the Bath Festival, Somerset, England.

1971, Bob Dylan’s 30th birthday is commemorated with a Peanuts cartoon commenting on the event. Dylan himself spends the day visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

1973, David Bowie played at the Odeon Theatre (Lewisham), in London.

1972, Grateful Dead Europe ’72 tour plays at the Lyceum in London, England.

1974, American composer, pianist, and bandleader Duke Ellington, died of lung cancer and pneumonia aged 75. He worked with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday.  He was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. In 2009 the United States Mint launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington on the reverse side of the coin.

1974, David Bowie released his eighth studio album Diamond Dogs. Thematically, it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, and Bowie’s own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Bowie had wanted to make a theatrical production of Orwell’s book and began writing material after completing sessions for his 1973 album Pin Ups, but the author’s estate denied the rights. The cover art features Bowie as a striking half-man, half-dog grotesque painted by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert. It was controversial as the full painting clearly showed the hybrid’s genitalia

1975, Earth Wind and Fire went to number one on the singles chart with”Shining Star,” the group’s first and only chart topper.

1976, AC/DC performed at The Nashville, London.

1978, Neil Young appeared at The Boarding House in San Francisco.

1979, Yes played at Selland Arena, Fresno, California.

1980, Genesis fans turning up at the Roxy Club box office in Los Angeles to buy tickets for a forthcoming gig were surprised to find the band members Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford selling the tickets themselves.

1981, Van Halen played at Wings Stadium, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1991, Founding member of The Byrds, Gene Clark, died of a heart attack aged 49. He penned group’s hits “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” and “Eight Miles High.” He was also a member of McGuinn, Clark and Hillman.

1991, Guns n’ Roses played the first show on their 192-date Use Your Illusion world Tour at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisconsin.

2003, Paul McCartney made his first ever live performance in Russia when he appeared in-front of 20,000 fans in Red Square

2007, Amy Winehouse, Madonna and Arctic Monkeys were among the winners at the Ivor Novello Awards. Winehouse won best contemporary song for her hit “Rehab,” while Madonna collected the international hit of the year for “Sorry.” Sheffield-based band Arctic Monkeys collected the best album award for Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not.

2010, Paul Gray, the bassist with US metal band Slipknot, was found dead in a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. The body of the 38-year-old musician was found by an employee at the hotel in a suburb of the city. Police said foul play was not suspected, but an autopsy would be carried out. The nine members of Slipknot wore masks in public and referred to other bandmates by numbers; Gray was number two.

Born on May 24: Bob Dylan (1941); Derek Quinn, Freddie and the Dreamers (1942); Patti Labelle, singer (1944); Steve Upton, Wishbone Ash (1946); Albert Bouchard, drums, Blue Oyster Cult (1947); Guy Fletcher, English keyboard player, guitarist, producer, Dire Straits, The Notting Hillbillies (1960); Dwight Errington Myers, aka Heavy D, rapper (1967); Rich Robinson, The Black Crowes (1969); Alessandro Cortini, keyboards, Nine Inch Nails (1976)

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Today in Rock History – May 23

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1964, Marvin Gaye appears on American Bandstand singing “You’re a Wonderful One.”

1967, Pink Floyd performed at Town Hall in High Wycombe, England.

1967, Jimi Hendrix appeared at Klub Bongo in Malmö, Sweden.

1968, Johnny Lee Hooker, supported by The Hallucinations performed at Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.

1968, Pink Floyd played two late shows at the Paradiso in Amsterdam.

1969, Bob Seger performed at the Hullabaloo Club in Oregon, Ohio.

1969, Sly and the Family Stone, Clarence Carter, and Rotary Connection performed the first of a two night stand at the Fillmore East in New York.

1969, Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. Admission was $5 (£3.12).

1970, Paul McCartney’s debut solo album, McCartney, started a three-week run at number one on the US album chart.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Columbia High School Auditorium, Decatur, Georgia.

1970, The Beatles album Let It Be started a three week run at number one on the UK charts.

1970, The Grateful Dead played their first gig outside the US at The Hollywood Rock Music Festival, in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffs, England.

1971, It’s the end of an era as Iron Butterfly split up.

1971, Frank Zappa appears at the Ohio Theater, Columbus, Ohio.

1973, Jefferson Airplane were prevented from giving a free concert in Golden Gate Park when San Francisco authorities passed a resolution banning electronic instruments. The group later wrote “We Built this City” about the ban.

1973, David Bowie performs at the Brighton Dome, Brighton, England.

1974, George Harrison announced the launch of his own record label, Dark Horse.

1975, Alice Cooper played at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1976, NBC tapes Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue at Colorado State University. The concert later airs under the title Hard Rain.

1977, Linda Ronstadt begins work on her Simple Dreams album at Sound Factory One in Los Angeles.

1978, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their 117-show Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour at Shea’s Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.  Several of the shows are broadcast on radio and become instant classics.

1978, Bob Seger performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1979, Due to a record company dispute, Tom Petty was forced to file for bankruptcy owing $575,000. A long-running battle with his record company followed.

1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Apollo Theatre, Manchester, England.

1981, Rush played at the Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.

1983, Eric Clapton appeared at Civic Hall, Surrey, England.

1987, Twelve former members of the Doobie Brothers reunited for a charity concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The show raised $350,000 (£220,000) for Vietnam veterans, about two-thousand of whom attended the show for free.

1991, Photographer Michael Lavine took what would be the publicity shots for Nirvana’s Nevermind album at Jay Aaron Studios in Los Angeles. The idea for the front cover shot of the baby swimming was taken after Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl saw a TV documentary on water babies and was taken by Kirk Weddle. Several babies were used. five-month old Spencer Eldon’s photo came out best.

1992, Iron Maiden went to number one on the UK album chart with Fear Of The Dark, their third chart topping album.

2006, The king of Sweden presented the surviving members of Led Zeppelin with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm recognizing them as “great pioneers” of rock music. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were joined by the daughter of drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group Abba, who named it after his record label, Polar Records.

2010, The Rolling Stones scored their first UK number one album in 16 years with the re-release of their classic 1972 double LP Exile On Main Street. The album, which was first released in 1972, had been reissued with previously unheard tracks. Their last chart topping album was 1994’s Voodoo Lounge

Born on May 23: Mac Wiesman, Foggy Mountain Boys (1925); Robert Moog, inventor (1934); Norman Johnson, Chairman of the Board (1943); Raymond Fulwood, Parliament, Funkadelic (1944); Bill Hunt, ELO (1947); Rick Fenn, 10cc (1953);  Philip James Selway, drummer, Radiohead (1967); Matt Flynn, Drummer, Maroon 5 (1970); Richard Jones, bass, Stereophonics (1974)

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Today in Rock History – May 20

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1965, The Who performed at Town Hall in Kidderminster, West Midlands, England.

1966, Bob Dylan and The Band played at the ABC Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some members of the audience were unhappy with Dylan “going electric,” and attempted to overpower the band by playing their own harmonicas.

1966, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who grew tired of waiting for John Entwistle and Keith Moon to arrive for their gig at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England. Moon had taken Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys to a taping of Ready Steady Go! and had also been popping pills. Pete and Roger took to the stage with the rhythm section of the local band that opened the show. When Moon and Entwistle finally arrived in the middle of the set. During the finale of “My Generation,” as Keith kicked over his drum set, Pete already in a foul mood, swung his guitar into the amp stack and accidentally (or on purpose) hit Moon on the head with his guitar. A brawl ensued. Moon suffered a cut on his leg and possibly a broken ankle. Moon and Entwistle quit the band, only to rejoin a week later.

1967, The Beatles new album Sgt Pepper”s Lonely Hearts Club Band had a special preview on the Kenny Everett BBC Light program, Where It’s At. They played every track from the album, except “A Day In The Life,” which the BBC had banned saying it could promote drug taking.

1967, The Young Rascals started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “Groovin.”

1967, Pink Floyd performed at Floral Hall in Southport, Lancashire, England. The support act was Big Sleep.

1967, Jimi Hendrix signs a US record deal with Reprise Records.

1967, Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” was the number one R&B single in America.  It had returned to the top of the charts after being dislodged by Martha & the Vandellas.

1968, Pete Townshend marries Karen Astley.

1968, The Beatles, armed with a bunch of new songs after their visit to India, met at George Harrison’s home in Esher, Surrey. They taped 23 new songs on George’s 4-track recorder, many of which would end up on The Beatles’ next two albums, the White Album and Abbey Road. The demos included “Cry Baby Cry,” “Revolution,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Blackbird,” and “Child of Nature,” a Lennon song that became “Jealous Guy.”

1969, Peter Cetera, from the band Chicago, was beaten up by four men at a Chicago Cubs-Dodgers baseball game at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. The men objected to the length of Cetera’s hair. In the liner notes to a Chicago box set, he recalled, “four Marines didn’t like a long-haired rock ‘n’ roller in a baseball park,  and of course I was a Cub fan, and I was in Dodger Stadium, and that didn’t do so well. I got in a fight and got a broken jaw in three places, and I was in intensive care for a couple of days.”  Cetera underwent four hours of emergency surgery.

1969, Led Zeppelin started three days of recording and mixing sessions at A&R Studios in New York City, which included the recording of “Heartbreaker” and various other parts for new tracks for the group’s  second album.

1970, Mountain played at the Eastown Theater in Detroit, Michigan.

1970, The final feature film involving The Beatles Let It Be was premiered simultaneously in London and Liverpool a week after the film’s US release.

1972, Fleetwood Mac  and McKendree Spring appeared at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee.

1972, T Rex were at number one on the UK singles chart “Metal Guru,” the band’s fourth and final chart topper. They also had the UK number one album with Bolan Boogie.

1972, Uriah Heep played at Liverpool Stadium in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.

1973, King Crimson appeared at the Civic Theatre, Ottawa, Canada.

1973, The Grateful Dead performed at the Stadium on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

1974, KISS played at Foothills Arena, Calgary, Alberta.

1975, AC/DC headlined at Croxton Park Hotel, Thornbury, Australia.

1976, Aerosmith played at  Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, Alabama.

1977, Rush performed at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago.

1978, The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack entered the 18th week of its amazing run of 24 weeks at number one on the US album charts.

1978, Paul McCartney went to number one on the US singles chart with “With A Little Luck,” his sixth solo US chart topper. It was taken from the London Town album.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at The Forum, Inglewood, California.

1980, Bob Dylan performed at the Franklin County Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio.

1983, David Bowie played at Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany.

1989, Ferry “Cross The Mersey” by Ferry Aid started a three week run at number one on the UK singles chart. The song was recorded to raise funds for the Hillsborough Football victims. Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and The Christians all featured on the recording

1997, U2 caused traffic chaos in Kansas City, Missouri after they paid for traffic control to close down five lanes so they could shoot the video for “Last Night On Earth.” Apart from major traffic jams, a passing Cadillac crashed into a plate glass window trying to avoid a cameraman.

1997, Foo Fighters released their second album The Colour And The Shape. The album was a Grammy nominee for Best Rock Album in 1998. Even though Foo Fighters are an American band, the word “Colour” in the album title is always spelled with the British spelling. This was a nod to producer Gil Norton, who is British. It reached the third spot on the UK charts, and was a top ten album in the US.

2001, R.E.M. started a two-week run at number one on the UK album chart with “Reveal.”

2007, Linkin Park went to number one on the UK album chart with Minutes To Midnight the bands fifth Top 20 UK album. Also a US chart topper.

2012, Robin Gibb, a member of the Bee Gees, and a singer-songwriter who helped to turn disco into a global phenomenon by providing the core of the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, died from cancer aged 62.

2013, Ray Manzarek, keyboard player and founder member of the The Doors died aged 74. Manzarek, who had suffered from bile duct cancer for many years, died in a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany. He formed The Doors with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1965 after a chance meeting with his old film school classmate at Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

2014, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, the Bavarian banker credited with turning The Rolling Stones into the world’s richest rock band, died at the age of 80. It was on Loewenstein’s advice that the Stones became tax exiles, decamping to the south of France in the 1970s.

Born on this day: Joe Cocker (1944); Cher (1946); Steve Currie, T Rex (1947); Jimmy Hendrson, Black Oak Arkansas (1954); Jane Wieldin,  The Go-Go”s (1958); Dan Wilson, Semisonic (1961);  Busta Rhymes (1972)

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Today in Rock History – May 9

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1966, The Doors played at the Whisky A Go-Go, West Hollywood, California auditioning for the position of the venue’s house band.

1967, Sandie Shaw was at number one on the UK singles chart with “Puppet On A String.” This week’s two highest new entries were Jimi Hendrix with “The Wind Cries Mary,” and The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset.”

1968, Blue Cheer, supported by Quill, appeared at Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.

1969, Neil Young & Crazy Horse played at The Stone Ballroom in New Haven, Connecticut.

1969, Beatles guitarist George Harrison’s experimental album Electronic Sounds was released on Zapple records.

1970, The Guess Who started a three-week run at number one on the singles chart with “American Woman.” It was the group’s sixth Top 30 hit and only chart topper. The song was born by accident when guitarist Randy Bachman was playing a heavy riff on stage after he had broken a string, the other members joined in on the jam. A fan in the audience who had recorded the gig on tape presented it to the group after the show and they developed it into a full song.

1973, Mick Jagger added $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 by The Rolling Stones January benefit concert for victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.

1974, Bonnie Raitt played two shows at Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The opening act was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Rolling Stone critic John Landau saw Springsteen and wrote “I have seen rock & roll’s future and his name is Bruce Springsteen.”

1974, Bob Dylan, appeared at a Friends of Chile benefit at New York’s Felt Forum. He plays “Spanish Is the Loving Tongue” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” with Arlo Guthrie, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger.

1977, The Grateful Dead performed at Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York.

1980, “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards.  Supertramp’s “The Logical Song” won Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldoff was inspired to write the song after hearing about the tragic shooting spree when 16-year-old Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others when she fired from her house across the street onto the entrance of a San Diego elementary school. Spencer showed no remorse for her crime and her full explanation for her actions was “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.”  Geldoff was in Altanta, Georgia and described the inspiration, “I was doing a radio interview in Atlanta and there was a telex machine beside me. I read it as it came out. Not liking Mondays as a reason for doing somebody in is a bit strange.”

1998, Jimmy Page appeared on Saturday Night Live with rapper Sean “Puffy” Combs and performed “Come With Me” from the Godzilla movie soundtrack. The song sampled the guitar riff from Led Zeppelin’s song “Kashmir.”

Born on May 9: Dave Prater, Sam & Dave (1937); Danny Rapp, Danny & the Juniors (1944) Richie Furay, Buffalo Springfield, Poco (1944); Steve  Katz, Blood Sweat & Tears (1945); Billy Joel (1949)

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Today in Rock History – May 8

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1965, Shooting of the promotional film for Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” took place at the side of the Savoy Hotel in London. Actors in the background were Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth. The cards that Dylan held up to the camera were painted by Alan Price and Joan Baez.

1966, Pink Floyd appeared at the Marquee Club in London.

1967, Gerry And The Pacemakers announced they were splitting up, recognizing they could no longer keep pace with the rapidly changing UK rock scene.

1969, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr signed a business management contract with Allen Klein and his company ABKCO, but Paul McCartney refused to sign, continuing to let the Eastmans represent his interests.

1970, The Who performed at the University of Kent in Canterbury, Kent, England. The opening act was Genesis.

1970, The Doors appeared at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan.

1970, The Beatles twelfth and final album, Let It Be was released, (it was recorded before Abbey Road and originally to be called Get Back). The album came in a deluxe-boxed edition with a Get Back book.

1972, Billy Preston is the first rock artist to headline at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

1974, UK keyboard player Graham Bond committed suicide after throwing himself under a London tube train at Finsbury Park station, aged 36. It took police two days to identify his body which was crushed beyond all recognition. Briefly a member of Blues Incorporated, a group led by Alexis Korner, before forming the Graham Bond Quartet, with a lineup of Bond on vocals and organ, Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass.

1975, Rush played at Lewis University, Lockport, Illinois.

1976, Abba scored their third No.1 single with “Fernando,” the song went on to become ABBA’s biggest selling single, with sales over 10 million.

1976, BBC Radio 1 DJ Johnny Walker announced he was quitting the station after being told he must pretend to like The Bay City Rollers.

1976, Former lead singer of the Lovin Spoonful John Sebastian went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Welcome Back’, taken from the TV show Welcome Back Kotter.

1976, In Houston, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson duet on “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Backstage, Nelson is given a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating drug trafficking.

1977, The Grateful Dead played one of their most celebrated shows – Barton Hall at Cornell University in Cornell, New York, a very popular show among Grateful Dead tape collectors.

1978, David Bowie appeared at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1979, Yes performed at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.

1980, Black Sabbath played at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1982, Neil Bogart died of cancer at the age of 39. Bogart was the founder of Casablanca Records, with Peter Guber, home of Donna Summer, The Village People, Kiss, T.Rex and Joan Jett.

1982, Paul McCartney scored his fifth UK No.1 album with Tug Of War. The album featured the duet with Stevie Wonder “Ebony & Ivory,” which was inspired by McCartney hearing comedian Spike Milligan say “black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!”

1984, Roger Waters released his first solo album The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking. The concept album, as originally envisioned by Waters in 1977, rotated around a man’s thoughts during a midlife crisis, and featured guest musicians Eric Clapton on guitar, David Sanborn on saxophone and Michael Kamen on piano.

1993, Aerosmith entered the US album chart at No.1 with Get A Grip, a No.2 hit in the UK. The album went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide as well as winning the band two Grammy awards.

2005, Bruce Springsteen was at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Devils and Dust’ his 13th No.1 studio album.

Born on this day: Robert Johnson (1911); Ricky Nelson (1940); Paul Samwell-Smith, The Yardbirds (1943); Rick Derringer (1947); Chris Franz, Talking Heads and Philip Bailey, Earth Wind & Fire (1951); Alex Van Halen (1955); Joe Bonamassa, guitarist extraordinaire (1977)

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Today in Rock History – May 7

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mamas-papas1966, The Mamas and the Papas started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Monday Monday.”  The group was reported, as saying they all hated the song except for its writer John Phillips. The Mamas and the Papas won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for this song.

1967, Jimi Hendrix played two shows at London’s Saville Theatre. Ringo Starr, Brian Jones and members of The Beach Boys and The Moody Blues were in the audience.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at King & Queen The Mojo A Go-Go Club, Tollbar, Sheffield, England, opened and owned by Peter Stringfellow. Acts who have also appeared at the club include Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker, Rod Stewart, Ike and Tina Turner, The Who, The Small Faces and Jimi Hendrix.

1967, The Who appear at MFF-Stadion in Malmo, Sweden, where the performance sparks a “fan-crush” as attendees rush the stage during the opening song “Substitute,” only to be shoved back by police. At least twenty attendees have to be carried out, some unconscious. The Who will not return to Sweden for five years.

1967, Pearls Before Swine begin recording an album called One Nation Underground. The LP included a song called “Miss Morse,” which would be banned in New York when it was discovered that lead singer Tom Rapp was singing F-U-C-K in Morse code. After disc jockey Murray The K played the record on the air, local Boy Scouts correctly interpreted the chorus and phoned in a complaint.

1970, Black Sabbath played at Osteseehalle, Kiel, Germany.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the University of Tennessee -Chattanooga.

1972, The Grateful Dead performed at the Bickershaw Festival in Wigan, England as part of their historic tour of Europe. The entire tour was released as a 73-CD box set.

 1972, Reginald Dwight legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John.

stones_exile1972, The Rolling Stones released the second album on their own label, Exile on Main Street featuring two hit singles, “Tumbling Dice’ and ‘Happy.” In 2003, the album was ranked number seven on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the highest of any Stones album on the list.

1973, “Money/Us and Them” was released as a 7-inch single in the US by Pink Floyd

 1974, Led Zeppelin held a party at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City for the launch of their new label Swan Song. Other label signings including, Scottish singer Maggie Bell (whose album Suicide Sal was the label’s fourth release), and British supergroup, Bad Company also attended.

1975, Yes played at Colston Hall, Bristol,England.

1976, Genesis performed at Will Rogers Auditorium, Fort Worth, Texas.

1977, The Eagles went to No.1 on the singles chart with “Hotel California,” the group’s fourth No.1,  The Eagles also won the 1977 Grammy Award for Record of the Year for Hotel California at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards in 1978. The song’s guitar solo is ranked 8th on Guitar Magazine’s Top 100 Guitar Solos and was voted the best solo of all time by readers of Guitarist magazine.

1978, 90,000 tickets were sold in eight hours for Bob Dylan’s forthcoming London dates at Earls Court.

1978, David Bowie played the first of three nights on his Low / Heroes world tour at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1979, Van Halen appeared at the Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1983, Paul Weller unveiled his new group Style Council at an anti nuclear benefit gig in London.

1983, Spandau Ballet were at number one on the UK singles chart with “True,” the group’s only chart topper. The song spent four weeks there, and was a hit in 20 other countries. Parts of the original version have been sampled and used in a number of songs – most notably PM Dawn’s 1991 US number one hit “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss,” which contains a sample of the song’s famous guitar hook.

1992, Nigel Preston drummer with The Cult died in London, England aged 32. Was a founding member of The Death Cult, he also played and recorded with Sex Gang Children, Theatre of Hate and The Gun Club.

1998, Eddie Rabbitt, US singer, songwriter died of lung cancer aged 56. During his career, he scored over twenty number ones on Billboard’s country singles chart including 1981’s “I Love A Rainy Night.” Elvis Presley, Dr Hook, Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle and Lynn Anderson all recorded his songs.

2006, Snow Patrol went to number one on the UK album chart with Eyes Open, the band’s fourth album. Also a chart topper in Ireland and Australia, and a number 27 hit on the US charts. The band’s first album Songs For Polarbears peaked at the 143rd spot when released in 1998.

Born on this day: Jimmy Ruffin (1974); Derek Taylor, publicist for the Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds (1942);  Billy Kreutzmann, Grateful Dead (1946); and Eagle Eye Cherry (1969)

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Today in Rock History – May 1

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hermans-hermits1965, Herman’s Hermits started a three week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter.”

1966, The Beatles played a 15-minute live set on stage for the last time in the UK when they appeared at the NME Poll Winners concert at Wembley Empire Pool. The Beatles set included five songs: “I Feel Fine,” “Nowhere Man,” “Day Tripper,” “If I Needed Someone,” and “I’m Down.” Also on the bill, The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman’s Hermits, Roy Orbison, Cliff Richard, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Who, and The Yardbirds.

1967, 32 year-old Elvis Presley married 21 year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, a girl he first met in 1959 when she was just 14 years old. When Elvis got out of the army in 1960, Beaulieu moved into the singer’s Graceland mansion with her family’s blessing. The wedding ceremony took place at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas and although the marriage license was only $15, the wedding cake cost $3,500. The couple divorced after five years of marriage on October 9, 1973.

1967, The FBI arrested The Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson on charges of avoiding the military draft and refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance. He was later released and joined the rest of the band in Ireland for a British tour.

1969, Bob Dylan recorded an appearance for The Johnny Cash Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. After two solo numbers from Dylan, Johnny Cash joined him for a rendition of “Girl From The North Country.” In this prime time show, Cash enjoyed booking contemporary performers as guests, such as Neil Young, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, James Taylor, Ray Charles, and Eric Clapton would perform on his program.

1970, Pink Floyd appeared at the Civic Center in Santa Monica, California.

1970, Led Zeppelin performed at Crawford Hall, University of California- Irvine.  Tickets were $4 (£2.67.) Lee Michaels was the support act.

1970, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of 13 shows in May, when they appeared at the Milwaukee Auditorium.

1970, The Grateful Dead played at Alfred College in Alfred, New York.

1972, Pink Floyd performed the first of two nights at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

 1973, In the US, Washington DC, proclaimed a “Marvin Gaye Day.”

 1974, The Carpenters performed at the White House, at the request of President Nixon.

led-zeppelin-presence1976, Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at number one on the US album chart with Presence, the group’s fifth chart topping album.

1976, The Bellamy Brothers went to number one on the US singles chart with “Let Your Love Flow. It was the duo’s only number one.

1977, The White Riot Tour kicked of at the Roxy in London with The Clash, The Jam and The Buzzcocks.

1978, David Bowie’s world tour stoped at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

1979, Elton John became the first pop star to perform in Israel. In three weeks time he also became the first Western solo pop performer to tour Russia.

1980, The South African government banned Pink Floyd’s single “Another Brick In The Wall” after black children adopted the song as their anthem in protest against inferior education.

1984, Fleetwood Mac drummer and founder member Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy. It was reported that the drummer had spent thousands of dollars of cocaine a month, and had refused to listen to financial advisers, buying up several homes, a $400,000 (£267,000) spread in Hawaii and a $1.8 (£1.2) million farm outside Sydney, Australia.

1986, American songwriter and producer Hugo Peretti died aged 70. Wrote and produced many classic hits including, “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” “Twistin’ The Night Away,” “Shout,” “The Hustle,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.”

1997, The house where Kurt Cobain committed suicide went up for sale. The asking price for the five-bedroom house built in 1902 was $3 (£2) million. The carriage house where the Nirvana guitarist died had been demolished.

2005, Coldplay became the first British band to have a new entry in the US Top 10 singles chart since The Beatles. Coldplay’s  single “Speed Of Sound” entered the chart at number eight, only the second time a UK band has achieved the feat. The Beatles managed it with “Hey Jude” in 1968.

2005, Bruce Springsteen went to number one on the UK album chart with Devils & Dust the American singer songwriter’s sixth UK chart topper.

2015, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars gave The Gap Band a writing credit on their huge hit “Uptown Funk,” due to its similarities with their 1979 track “Oops Up Side Your Head.” “Uptown Funk” which had topped the UK chart for seven weeks, and the US chart for 14, originally had six songwriters but was now credited to The Gap Band as well.

Born on May 1: Little Walter, bluesman (1930); Judy Collins (1938); Rita Coolidge (1944); Nick Fortune, The Buckinghams (1946); Ray Parker, Jr (1954); Johnny Colt, The Black Crowes (1966); Tim McGraw American country singer, actor (1967); D’arcy Wretsky-Brown, bass, Smashing Pumpkins (1968);

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Today in Rock History – April 29

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April 29

1967, The 14-hour Technicolour Dream benefit party for The International Times was held at Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill in London. Seeing the event mentioned on TV, John Lennon called his driver and went to the show. Coincidentally, Yoko Ono was one of the performers. More than thirty acts appeared included The Move, The Pretty Things, Soft Machine, Tomorrow, The Flies, The Creation Arthur Brown, and The Graham Bond Organisation. All the bands played for free. Members of Pink Floyd drove all night from an gig in The Netherlands arriving at 3 AM, and taking the stage at dawn.  The entire event was documented by BBC Television.

1967, Aretha Franklin releases her interpretation of the Otis Redding song “Respect.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix, The Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdink and Cat Stevens played two shows at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, England.

1969, While working on tracks for the forthcoming Beatles Abbey Road album, Ringo Starr added his vocal to “Octopus’s Garden.”

1970, The Allman Brothers Band played at Aliotta’s Lounge in Buffalo, New York.

1971, Promoter Bill Graham announces he’s closing the Fillmore Auditoriums in San Francisco and New York.

1972, David Bowie performed at Town Hall, High Wycombe, England.

1973, John Denver began a weekly live UK BBC 2 TV special, The John Denver Show.

1973, The Bay City Rollers appeared at The Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh in Scotland.

1974, King Crimson performed at the Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1975, Yes played at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, England.

The Bee Gees

1975, After suffering the indignity of having an album rejected by their label, the Bee Gees release their career renaissance Main Course, featuring the disco hits “Jive Talkin'” and “Nights on Broadway.”

1976, Genesis performed  Community Theater, Berkeley, California.

1976, After a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Elvis Presley’s Graceland home and proceeded to climb over the wall. A guard took him to be another crank fan and apprehended him.

1976, Bob Dylan appeared at Expo Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, Alabama.

1977, The Grateful Dead played the first of five nights at the New York Palladium, New York.

1977, The Kinks appeared at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario.

1979, Van Halen played at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1980, Black Sabbath began their first tour with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who had replaced Ozzy Osbourne.

1983, Roxy Music performed at the California State University, Fresnom, California.

1984, Yes appeared at the Civic Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.

1993, Guitarist, producer, Mick Ronson died of liver cancer aged 46. Ronson recorded and toured with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973. He released the 1974 solo album Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed’s album Transformer. He was also part of the Hunter Ronson Band with Ian Hunter. Among the talent Ronson worked with were Morrissey, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Wildhearts, The Rich Kids, Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett.

1995, Rapper Tupac Shakur married Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility, where he was serving a four-year jail term for sex abuse.

2001, A blue plaque was unveiled at 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington, London to honor the musical heritage of the address where British singer Dusty Springfield lived between 1968 and 1972.

2007, Arctic Monkeys started a three week run at number one on the UK album chart with their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare.

Born on April 29: Duke Ellington (1899); Carl Gardner, American singer, The Coasters (1928); Willie Nelson (1933); Klaus Voorman,  Manfred Mann, Plastic Ono Band (1942);  Tammi Terrell, singer (1945); Tommy James (1947); Michael Karoli, German guitarist, songwriter, Can (1948); Francis Rossi, Status Quo (1949); Mark Kendall, American guitarist,  songwriter, Great White (1957); Carnie Wilson, American singer-songwriter, actress Wilson Phillips (1968); China Forbes, American singer-songwriter, Pink Martini (1970); Mike Hogan, bass, The Cranberries (1973)

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