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Today in Rock History – May 21

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who-anyway-anywhere-anyhow1965, The Who’s second single, “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere” backed with “Daddy Rolling Stone” is released in the UK on Brunswick. Derek Johnson in New Musical Express calls is “a wild racer, with just about every conceivable gimmick…it commands attention and should do well.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix signed with Reprise Records on the US Warner Brothers label. They released the guitarist’s three studio albums Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland.

1967, Pink Floyd was at Studio 3, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood in London to record songs for their debut album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

1968, The Monkees appeared at The Olympia Stadium, Salt Lake City.

1968, Rolling Stone Brian Jones appeared at Great Marlborough Street Magistrates court, London on a charge of possession of marijuana, Jones was released on £200 ($320) bail.

1969, Yes played at Harrods Way Inn, London.

1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded “Ohio.”

1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Seabreeze High School Auditorium, Daytona Beach, Florida.

1971, UK rock group Free announced that they were splitting up.

1971, King Crimson played at Regal Cinema, Cambridge, England.

1971, Paul McCartney releases his solo album Ram.

1972, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Family, Curved Air, Atomic Rooster, The Kinks, Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep, Country Joe McDonald, Buddy Miles, Status Quo, Brinsley Schwarz, Spencer Davis, The Strawbs and Humble Pie all appeared at the Second British Rock Meeting, Insel Grun, Germersheim, West Germany. The festival was due to take place in Mannheim, West Germany, but after protests from the locals, the concert actually took place in nearby Germersheim.

1973, David Bowie performed at the Theatre Royal, Norwich, England.

1974, Two would-be concert promoters were arrested by police on fraud charges in connection with selling mail order tickets for a forthcoming “Elten John” show. The misspelling help detect their fraud. Police took away over $12,000 in checks.

1975, ZZ Top appeared at Boston’s Music Hall

1976, The Rolling Stones begin a six-night stand at London’s Earls Court. Reviews of the show are the first to describe the band as “dinosaurs.”

1977, Rod Stewart was at number one on the singles chart with the double A sided single “I Don’t Want To Talk About It / First Cut Is The Deepest.’

1977, Stevie Wonder started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with his tribute to Duke Ellington, “Sir Duke,” his sixth US chart topper. It made it to number two in the UK.

1977, Grateful Dead performed at Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida, a show that can be heard on Dick’s Picks #29.

1978, Black Sabbath played at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1979, Elton John started a tour of Russia, when he played the first of eight concerts making him the first Western star ever to do so.

1980, A thief broke into Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the recording studio built by Jimi Hendrix and stole five Hendrix gold records.

1982, The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester, England. Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live. It was home to many Manchester acts and Oasis, Happy Mondays, U2, The Smiths, Charlatans, James, M People, who all played at the club.

1983, David Bowie went to number one on the US singles chart with “Let’s Dance,” featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Bowie’s first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic. The music video was made by David Mallet on location in Australia including a bar in Carinda in New South Wales, featured Bowie playing with his band while impassively watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism.

1988, Prince scored his first UK number one album with Lovesexy. The cover, based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino, caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude. Some record stores refused to stock it, or wrapped the album in black.

1994, The Manchester United Football Club, along with Status Quo, were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Come On You Reds.”

2001, Producer, arranger and keyboardist Tommy Eyre died of cancer aged 51. He worked with George Harrison, Wham!, Dusty Springfield, and BB King. Eyre played and arranged Joe Cocker’s hit “With A Little Help From My Friends” and Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.”

2006, Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at The Los Angeles Forum in California, the first dates on her Confessions Tour. The 60-date tour grossed over $260 (£162.5) million, becoming the highest grossing tour ever for a female artist.

2011, Adele went to number one on the US singles chart with “Rolling In The Deep,” taken from her second studio album, 21. The video to the song was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards nominations, “Rolling in the Deep” was also the Billboard Year End Hot 100 Number One Single of 2011.  The song received three 2012 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video.

2013, Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie’s legendary 1970s backing band Spiders From Mars, died from cancer at the age of 62. Bolder appeared on the studio albums Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973), and Pin Ups (1973). He joined Uriah Heep in 1976, replacing John Wetton.

Born on this day: Fats Waller (1904); Tony Sheridan (1940); Ronald Isley, The Isley Brothers (1941); Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist,  producer, Steeleye Span, The Watersons, Waterson:Carthy, Brass Monkey,  Blue Murder (1941); Vincent Crane, keyboards, The Crazy world of Arthur Brown (1943); Leo Sayer (1948);  Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter,  producer, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1955); Kevin Shields, American-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, My Bloody Valentine, The Complex, and Primal Scream (1963); Martin Blunt, bass, The Charlatans (1964); Christopher G. Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G. (1972); Adam Gontier, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, Three Days Grace, Big Dirty Band, and Saint Asonia (1978)

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Song Of The Day – “Ready For Love” by Bad Company

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badcompanyI was a rock snob during the 1970s and 1980s. I admit it, and for those that know me well, this revelation should come as no surprise. I loved prog rock, some southern rock, glam rock and glam’s second cousin disco. I had little tolerance for what I’ll term meat ‘n’ potatoes “dumb-ass” rock.

As a result, I missed out on huge hit albums by Boston, Kiss and Bad Company, to name but a few. However, over the years I’ve come to appreciate the early albums by all three bands. (For some unexplained reason, I always liked BTO, and still do.)

During the ‘80s, I took a pass on most of the hair metal (Poison, especially) and records by Foreigner, Def Leppard, Whitesnake and REO Speedwagon. I pretty much still hate those bands.

Bad Company was yet another supergroup featuring Paul Rodgers (vocals) and Simon Kirke (drums) from Free, Boz Burrell (bass) from King Crimson and Mick Ralphs (guitar) from Mott The Hoople. (King Crimson’s Mel Collins also plays saxophone on the album.) The group’s secret weapons were Paul Rodgers who had perhaps one of the greatest lead-singer voices in all of rock music and the crunchy guitar work of Mick Ralphs.

Being seasoned musicians, they knew their way around the business and approached Led Zeppelin manager, Peter Grant to handle them. He, in turn signed them to Zeppelin’s Swan Song record label in the U.S. (they were signed to Island everywhere else.) Their association with Zep’s record label also gave them added credibility on these shores.

Their sound was about as formulaic as you can get, and with each successive album they released, the songs became more and more generic, however their self-titled platinum chart topping debut album is a stunner. Like many of the biggest albums from the era, the cover was designed by Hipgnosis, but unlike most of Hipgnosis’ designs, they went for a stark and simple, straight-up branding approach for Bad Company rather than going psychedelic or surreal as they did for Pink Floyd, et al.

Today’s Song Of The Day is one several power ballads on the album. It was originally recorded by Mott The Hoople on their 1972 All The Young Dudes album. While I think that Mott’s glammed up version of the song is still better, Bad Company’s version does feature some really nice piano work courtesy of Ralphs and it is still one of the strongest cuts on the album.

The album included two chart singles, “Can’t Get Enough” (#5/1974) and “Movin’ On” (# 19/1974), but included a clutch of album tracks that have become staples of classic rock radio including the “Rock Steady,” the title track and today’s Song Of The Day.

This album also is one of a handful of albums where the name of the band is shared with the name of the album and also the name of a song on the album (i.e. “Bad Company” from Bad Company by Bad Company). I know of only a few others like that, and “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath from Black Sabbath immediately comes to mind.

My one and only attempt at being in a band was in middle school. The band was called Toxic Angel and I was the lead singer. The only song we ever attempted to play was “Can’t Get Enough” by Bad Company because it was so easy to pull off.  In fact, my bright and shining moment of rock star glory was when we performed the song during our 8th grade talent show in middle school. (We didn’t win.)

Straight Shooter, the follow-up album, was just as strong as the debut and spawned two more indelible singles in “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” (#36/1975) and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” (#10/1975). From there it was all downhill with each successive album being more generic than its predecessor.

Today in Rock History – March 2

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1967, The ninth annual Grammy Awards are held. Frank Sinatra’s Sinatra, A Man and His Music wins Album of the Year, while “Strangers in the Night” is named Record of the Year. John Lennon and Paul McCartney win the Song of the Year Grammy for “Michelle.”

1967, Engelbert Humperdinck was at number one on the singles chart with “Release Me.” The singer’s first of two number ones, the song spent six weeks at the top of the chart and a record fifty-six weeks on the chart.

1968, Blue Cheer give birth to heavy metal when their interpretation of “Summertime Blues” is released. The single goes to number 14.

1968, “Call Me Lighting” backed with “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” enters the US charts. It reaches number 40 in the Billboard charts and number 38 in Cash Box. That night The Who perform at New Edmonton Gardens in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. After the show they are thrown out of their hotel’s English-style pub for having long hair. In response John writes the song “What Are We Doing Here?”

1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono perform at a jazz festival in Cambridge, England, where they record “Let’s Go On Flying,” “Snow Is Falling All the Time,” “Don’t Worry Kyoko,” “Song for John,” and “Cambridge 1969.” It’s the first time a Beatle has performed solo.

1970, Genesis appears at the Mistrale Club, Beckenham, in the London Borough of Bromley, England.

1972, Yes appeared at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, New York.

1973, David Bowie played at the Masonic Temple Auditorium, Detroit, Michigan.

1974, Stevie Wonder won four awards at the Grammys. Innervisions is named Album of the year, while Best R&B song and Best vocal go to “Superstition” and “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” wins for Pop vocal performance. Joel Dorn (producer) and Roberta Flack take home a statue for “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”

1974, Terry Jacks started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Seasons In The Sun.”

1975, A policeman who stopped a Lincoln Continental for running a red light in Los Angeles was surprised to find Paul McCartney at the wheel with his wife Linda. The cop detected a smell of marijuana and on searching the car found eight ounces of the drug. Linda was arrested for the offense.

1976, The Who appeared at the Pavillon de Paris, Paris.

1977,  Black Sabbath performed at The Apollo, Glasgow, Scotland.

1977, The Jam played the first of a five-week Wednesday night run at The Red Cow, Hammersmith, London. The group had just signed a four-year recording contract with Polydor records.

1977, AC/DC appeared at The Top Rank in Swansea, England.

1977, David Bowie and Iggy Pop played at Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1978, Eric Clapton performed at the Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham, Alabama.

1979, Rush appeared at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas.

1979, Stevie Ray Vaughn played at Soap Creek Saloon, Austin, Texas.

1980, ZZ Top performed Dane County Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin.

1983, A new digital audio system, a five-inch compact disc containing up to 1 hour of music was launched by Sony, Philips and Polygram.

1985, Phil Collins started a five-week run at number one on the UK chart with his third solo LP No Jacket Required.

1985, The Smiths were at number one on the UK indie charts with “How Soon Is Now.”

1991, 21 years after it’s first release, “All Right Now” by Free made it to number two in the UK singles chart after being re-issued to coincide with its use in a Wrigley’s Chewing gum TV ad.

1991, French singer Serge Gainsbourg died of a heart attack. Famous for his 1969 UK chart topping duet with Jane Birkin on “Je t’aime… Moi non plus.” During his career, he wrote the soundtracks for more than 40 films.

1996, Oasis scored their second UK number one single when “Don’t Look Back In Anger” went to number one. From the band’s What’s The Story Morning Glory‘album. It was the first Oasis single to feature Noel on lead vocals instead of his brother, Liam Gallagher.

1999, Dusty Springfield died after a long battle against cancer, aged 59. The British singer had her first UK hit single in 1963 with “I Only Want To Be With You,” which reached number four, the 1966 UK number one and US number four single with “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles.

2003, Singer, songwriter Hank Ballard died from throat cancer. He wrote and recorded “The Twist” but it was only released on the B-side of a record. One year later, Chubby Checker debuted his own version of “The Twist” on Dick Clark’s Philadelphia television show. It topped the charts and launched a dance craze that prompted the creation of other Twist songs, including “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers and “Twistin’ the Night Away” by Sam Cooke.

2008, Canadian guitarist, singer, Jeff Healey, died of cancer. Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes when he was eight months old, resulting in his eyes being surgically removed. After living cancer-free for 38 years, he developed sarcoma in his legs. Despite surgery for this, the sarcoma spread to his lungs and ultimately was the cause of his death. Healey released over 12 albums, presented a long running radio show and worked with many artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top & Eric Clapton.

2013, A pencil doodle by Paul McCartney when he was a teenager sold for over $5,000. The sketches were drawn by McCartney during the late 1950’s while a student at the Liverpool Institute High School For Boys. The drawings showed multiple faces with different expressions on a single sheet of paper in pencil. The auction house said the drawing sold for £3,764 ($5,692)

Born on March 2: Kurt Weill (1900); Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter, producer, Four Tops (1938); Lou Reed (1942); Rory Gallagher (1949); Karen Carpenter (1950); Dale Bozzio, American singer, Missing Persons (1955); John Cowsill (1956); Mark Evans, bass, AC/DC (1956); John Bon Jovi (1962); Chris Martin, singer-songwriter, Coldplay (1977);

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Today in Rock History – January 18

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beatles-i_want_to_hold_your_hand1964, The Beatles made their US chart debut when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” entered the chart at number 45 just ten days after its release, making it the fastest-breaking and the fastest selling single in Capitol Records history. It went on to spend seven weeks at the number one position.

1965, The Rolling Stones recorded “The Last Time” and “Play With Fire” at the RCA studios in Hollywood, California. Phil Spector played acoustic guitar on “Play With Fire.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix recorded an appearance on UK TV show Top Of The Pops and also played a show at the Seven and a Half Club in Mayfair, London.

1969, Yes appeared at the Portsmouth College Of Education, Portsmouth, England.

1969, Fifth Beatle Pete Best wins a defamation suit against the band. Although rumors had been flying that the Beatles would perform a surprise concert at London’s Roundhouse on this day, it doesn’t happen.

1969, Pink Floyd plays two gigs. An afternoon show at Homerton College in Cambridge, and an evening performance at the London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle, London.

1969, The Beatles release the soundtrack to their animated film Yellow Submarine.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy played at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.

1970, Pink Floyd appeared at Fairfield Halls, in Croydon, England. The set list: Careful With That Axe, Eugene / The Embryo / Main Theme from “More” / Biding My Time / Astronomy Domine / The Violent Sequence / Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun / Atom Heart Mother // encore: A Saucerful Of Secrets.

1973, The Rolling Stones play a benefit for the citizens of earthquake-stricken Nicaragua in Inglewood, Calif. The concert raises $200,000 and the Stones add $150,000 of their own money.

1974, former members from Free (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson (Boz Burrell), formed Bad Company. The band went on to score a number one album with their self-titled debut release.

Elton-John-Greatest-Hits-11975, Elton John’s Greatest Hits remain atop the US album charts for the eighth consecutive week.

1975, Barry Manilow scored his first US chart topping single when “Mandy,” went to the top of the charts. The song was originally titled “Brandy,” but Manilow changed the title to avoid confusion with a song of the same name recorded in 1972 by Scott English.

1975, KISS played at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.

1977, Rush performed at the County Coliseum, El Paso, Texas.

1978, The Grateful Dead played at the Civic Auditorium in Stockton, California.

1981, Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics was arrested on stage at Milwaukee and was charged with the offence of simulating sex with a sledgehammer. Williams later filed a multimillion dollar civil suit against the Milwaukee Police, claming they sexually assaulted and beat her during the arrest, but a jury rejected her claims.

1981, Styx appeared at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1982, The Allman Brothers Band played at University of Miami, Miami, Florida.

1984, Van Halen kicked off their 103-date 1984 North American tour at Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.

1989, Stevie Wonder became the youngest living person (age 38) to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.  Other inductees include The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Otis Redding and Dion DiMucci.

1993, Elton John resigned his directorship of Watford Football Club. Having supported Watford Football Club since growing up locally, Elton John became the club’s chairman and director in 1976, investing large sums of money as the club rose three divisions into the English First Division. In 2015, the team ascended to the Premiere League, the pinnacle of English soccer.

1996, Lisa Marie Presley divorced Michael Jackson after less then two years of being married.

1997, Songwriter and producer Keith Diamond died of a heart attack. He wrote, “Caribbean Queen” and “Suddenly” for Billy Ocean, as well as hits for Donna Summer, James Ingram, Mick Jagger, Sheena Easton, and Michael Bolton.

2005, Motown producer Norman Whitfield pleaded guilty for failing to report royalty income he earned from 1995 to 1999 to the US Internal Revenue Service. Facing charges of tax evasion on over $2 million (£1.25m) worth of income, he was sentenced to six months of house arrest and a $25,000 (£15,625) fine. The producer was not imprisoned because of health problems.

2010, Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle died of cancer at home in Montreal at the age of 63. She was once married to folk singer Loudon Wainwright lll.  Kate was the mother of singers Rufus and Martha Wainwright. She rose to prominence with sister Anna when they recorded together in the 1970s. Other artists who covered the pair’s songs included Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Kirsty MacColl and Judy Collins.

2011, The largest collection of Beatles memorabilia went on display in a new museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rodolfo Vazquez, a 53-year-old accountant, turned his mammoth Beatles collection into a museum with more than 8,500 objects, setting the new world record for the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia. Some of the items included a box of condoms bearing the names of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a brick from the Cavern Club, a chunk of the stage from the Star Club in Hamburg, and certified copies of the band members’ birth certificates. Among his favorite items were 64 boxes of chewing gum in the form of Beatles records.

Born on January 18: Bobby Goldsboro (1941); David Ruffin, vocals, The Temptations, (1941); Legs Larry Smith, drums, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1944); Tom Bailey, vocals, keyboards, The Thompson Twins (1958); Jonathan Davis, vocals, Korn (1971); Crispian Mills, guitar, vocals, Kula Shaker (1973); Richard Archer, singer-songwriter, guitarist, Hard-Fi (1977)

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Today in Rock History – December 9

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cream-fresh-cream1966, Supergroup Cream released their debut studio album Fresh Cream in the UK. The power trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker also released their second single “I Feel Free” on the same day.

1967, The Doors appeared at the New Haven Arena, New Haven, Connecticut. Before the show, a policeman found singer Jim Morrison making out with an 18 year-old girl in a backstage shower and after an argument the policeman sprayed mace in Morrison’s face. Once on stage Morrison told the story of the backstage episode, and began taunting the police, who drag him off the stage and arrest him. The crowd riots, leaving the venue in disarray and many are arrested. Later over a hundred protesters gathered at the police station in demonstration, and more arrests were made.

1968, Free appeared at the Marquee Club in London England. Other acts appearing at the club that month included Joe Cocker, The Who, and Led Zeppelin.

1969, The Allman Brothers Band appears at Ungano’s, New York.

1970, Yes performs at Hull University, Hull, England.

1971, Richie Havens receives a role in the orchestral stage version of the Who’s rock opera Tommy.

1972,  The Moody Blues started a five-week run at number one on the US album chart with Seventh Sojourn.

1972, Tommy is presented with the London Symphony Orchestra in two live performances at the Rainbow Theatre in London. The production was originally planned for the LSO’s regular venue at the Royal Albert Hall, but the Hall’s management refuses because rock stars would be involved and because they consider Tommy to be “unsavory.” Roger performs the title role, John is Cousin Kevin, Keith is Uncle Ernie and Pete sings the narrator. Rod Stewart, Peter Sellers, Stevie Winwood, Richie Havens, Sandy Denny and Merry Clayton round out the cast. An album of the show, recorded at London’s Rainbow Theatre, is released and reaches number five in Britain the following year.

1972, Pink Floyd performs at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland.  The set list: Dark Side of the Moon // second set: One of These Days / Careful With That Axe, Eugene // encore: Echoes

1973, Yes played at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

george-harrison-darkhorse1974, George Harrison releases Dark Horse, his first album on the label of the same name. His cover of the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” is a backhanded farewell to wife Patti Boyd, who began a relationship with his friend Eric Clapton. Strangely enough, Boyd and Clapton join Harrison on the track. Rolling Stone is perplexed enough to decide, “Dark Horse is ultimately something more than an embarrassingly bad record.”

1974, On ABC’s Monday Night Football, John Lennon stops by booth during a game between Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins. Guest Ronald Reagan explains the rules of football to him.

1975, The Sex Pistols appeared at Ravensbourne College, Chistlehurst, London.

1976, Black Sabbath performed at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1978, Chic started a seven week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Le Freak.” Nile Rodgers later stated that the song was devised during New Years Eve of 1977, as a result of him and bassist Bernard Edwards being refused entrance to Studio 54, in New York City, where they had been invited by Grace Jones. However, Jones failed to notify the nightclub’s staff. He said the lyrics of the refrain were originally “Fuck off!” rather than “Freak out!”

1979, Marshall Tucker Band played at the Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1979, The Grateful Dead performed at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

1981, King Crimson appeared at the Shibuya Kokaido, Tokyo.

1984, Blue Oyster Cult performed at The Bacchanal, San Diego, California.

1988, According to a poll, the music of Neil Diamond was chosen as the best background music for sex, Beethoven was the second choice and Luther Vandross was voted third.

1989, Billy Joel started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “We Didn”t Start The Fire.” Its lyrics are made up from rapid-fire brief allusions to over a hundred headline events between 1949 (Joel was born on May 9 of that year) and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front.

1991, During their Use Your Illusion Tour, Guns N’ Roses played the first of three nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1997, Oasis played the first of three sold out nights at Wembley Arena, London, supported by Supergrass.

2000, U2 made their first-ever appearance on Saturday Night Live. The band played “Beautiful Day” and “Elevation.”

2010, Eric Clapton announced he was to sell off part of his extensive guitar collection to raise money for his Crossroads rehab Centre in Antigua. Highlights of the sale would include a guitar Clapton played at the Cream reunion shows in 2005, estimated to sell for more than £13,000 ($20,800). The sale to be held by Bonhams in New York would also feature a vast collection of amps and speakers, including a pair of Marshall speaker cabinets.

Born on December 9: Junior Wells (1932); Dan Hicks,  singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Charlatans, The Acoustic Warriors (1941); John Traynor, Jay and the Americans (1943); Neil Innes, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Rutles (1944); Dennis Dunaway, songwriter, bass, the Alice Cooper Band (1946); Joan Armatrading, singer, songwriter (1950); Donny Osmond (1957); Nick Seymour, bass, Crowded House (1958); Rikk Agnew, guitarist, Adolescents, Social Distortion, Christian Death (1958); Paul Landers, guitarist, Rammstein (1964); Brian Bell, Weezer (1968); and Jakob Dylan (1969); Geoff Barrow, drummer, DJ, composer, producer Portishead (1971); Frank Wright III, aka Tre Cool, drums, Green Day (1972);  Chris Wolstenholme, bass, Muse (1978)

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Today in Rock History – July 24

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The Byrds

1965, The Byrds were at number one on the UK singles chart with their version of the Bob Dylan song “Mr Tambourine Man.” It was the first Bob Dylan song to reach the top of the charts.  Across the Atlantic, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones began the third of it’s four week run at number one.

1966, The Who played at Brittania Pier in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England.

1967, All four Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein signed a petition printed in The Times newspaper calling for the legalization of marijuana.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at The Maryland Ballroom in Glasgow, Scotland.

1967, The Beatles meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The band had gone to hear a lecture on Transcendental Meditation (TM) at the Hilton Hotel in London. TM involved the silent repetition of a word or sound to produce a state of mind that reduces stress, calms the mind, and energizes both mind and body. The Maharishi invited The Beatles to travel with him to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend more lectures. They accepted his invitation.

1968, Pink Floyd, along with Friends of the Family, play at the Philadelphia Music Festival, held a JFK Stadium. The Who, The Troggs, and The Mandala were unable to perform as a lightning strike hit the set just as The Mandala were to take the stage, forcing the cancellation of the rest of the event.

1969, Free and Jethro Tull performed at Boston Tea Party in Boston.

1969, Pink Floyd appeared at Nederland 1 TV Studios in Zaandam, The Netherlands for the last of three European TV appearances. This performance was for the program Apollo 11.

1969, Paul McCartney recorded a demo of his new song “Come and Get It” at Abbey Road studios in London. McCartney gave the song to The Iveys, (soon to become known as Badfinger). The song was later used as the theme for the movie The Magic Christian.

1969, The Beatles  recorded “Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard” for their forthcoming Abbey Road album. The working title of “Sun King” was “Here Comes the Sun King,” but the title was changed due to the similarity to George’s “Here Comes the Sun.”

1970, Iggy & the Stooges performed at the Uptown Palladium 12 Theatre‎ in Birmingham, Michigan.

1971, Paul Revere and the Raiders went to number one on the singles chart with “Indian Reservation.”

1971, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Superball Fest, held at Midway Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Marc Bolan of T. Rex

1971, The number one record in the UK is T. Rex’s “Get It On.”

1971, Queen appeared at the Young Farmers Club, Wadebridge, England.

1972, Bobby Ramirez, drummer with Edger Winters White Trash, was killed after becoming involved in a brawl in a Chicago bar. The fight started after comments were made about the length of his hair.

1973, Led Zeppelin performed at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band drew 40,000 fans in attendance, earning a reported $120,000 for the show. The band’s film crew capture some footage of the event, in preparation for the three night finale at Madison Square Garden.

1974, George McCrae was at number one on the singles chart with “Rock Your Baby.” Written and produced by Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band. Regarded by some as the first disco number one

1975, Aerosmith appeared at the Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas.

1976, The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats album started a ten-week run at number one on the album chart.

1976, Aerosmith played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada.

1976, Elton John scored his first number 1 single with “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” a duet with Kiki Dee. It was written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin under the pseudonym “Ann Orson” and “Carte Blanche” and was Elton’s first number one after 16 Top 40 hits. John had met Dee when she was working as a backup singer. John would later re-record the song with RuPaul for his 1993 Duets album.

1976, Yes performed at Spokane Arena, Spokane, Washington.

1977, Donna Summer was at number one on the UK singles chart with the Giorgio Moroder produced “I Feel Love.” The disco diva’s only UK chart topper.

1978, The Robert Stigwood film Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was released, featuring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. The film received extremely negative reviews from most critics, and barely broke even at the box office.

1979, Van Halen played at the Civic Center, St. Paul, Minnesota.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult performed at the Convention Center Rotunda, Las Vegas.

1981, ZZ Top appeared at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.

1982, Survivor started a six week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Eye Of The Tiger,” taken from the film Rocky III. Also a chart topper in the UK. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.

1993, U2 started a two-week run at number one on the US album chart with Zooropa the Irish band’s fourth US No.1. Zooropa won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1994.

1993, UB40 started a seven week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” Elvis Presley had the first hit with the song, in 1961, Corey Hart was next up with a top 30 hit in 1987, and Hall and Oates recorded the song for 1990’s, The Last Temptation of Elvis charity album. UB40 originally covered the song for the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack, but Bono’s version was chosen instead. Also on the same day UB40 went to number one on the UK album chart with Promises And Lies.

1994, The Grateful Dead performed at Soldier Field in Chicago. Traffic was the opening act.

2003, Ozzy Osbournes long-standing tour manager, Bobby Thompson, was found dead in his Detroit hotel room. Thompson had been battling throat cancer.

2011, Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant joined three local musicians at a fundraising charity show in Monmouth Wales, where tickets cost £3. The event was a tribute to his friend, former Led Zeppelin producer Pat Moran, who died of a rare dementia in January. Plant delighted the small crowd in the Monmouthshire town with songs from his Led Zeppelin days as well as tunes from his solo career.

Born on July 24: Heinz Burt, bass, The Tornadoes (1942); Jim Armstrong, The Them (1944); Steve Goodman (1948); Paul Geary, American singer, drummer, manager, Extreme (1961)

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