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Today in Rock History – May 13

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1967, The Monkees second album More Of The Monkees, went to No.1 on the charts. In 1967 only four albums reached No.1; The Sound Of Music which spent 17 weeks at No.1, The Beatles Sgt Pepper”s, 25 weeks at No.1 and The Monkees” first and second albums spent 9 weeks at No.1.

1967, The Who played at the Shoreline Hotel in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, England.

1967, The Supremes scored their 10th No.1 single with “The Happening” It was the last single to be released as the Supremes, from now on they were known as Diana Ross and the Supremes.

1967, Pink Floyd performed at St. George”s Ballroom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England.

1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave a series of interviews to help launch Apple Corps in the US.

1969, Led Zeppelin became the first major British rock group to appear in Hawaii, when they appeared at The Civic Auditorium, Honolulu. A review in the Honolulu Advertiser stated: “The showmanship exceeded any rock performance here to date. I wondered before the concert if Led Zeppelin could sound as good as their Atlantic album – they sounded better.”

1970, The world premiere of The Beatles film Let It Be took place in New York City. The film, which was originally planned as a television documentary, features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public. Released just after the album, it was the final original Beatles release.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

1971, On his twenty- first birthday Stevie Wonder received all his childhood earnings. Despite having earned $30 million so far, he received only $1 million.

1971, James Brown cuts “Hot Pants.”

1971, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane crashed her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and was hospitalized.

1972, David Bowie performed at Technical College in Slough, Berkshire, England.

1973, The Grateful Dead played at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, in Des Moines, Iowa.

1974, Forty-three people were arrested and more than fifty were injured after youths started throwing bottles outside a Jackson Five concert at RFK stadium in Washington DC.

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

1976, Kiss played the first UK date on their current Alive World Tour at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England.

1976, David Bowie performs at Ahoy Sports Stadium, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

1977, Linda Ronstadt denies a report that she was offered $1 million to appear in a Hustler photo spread.

1978, Yvonne Elliman went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Gibb brothers song “If I Can”t Have You”. The song was featured in the film “Saturday Night Fever”; a No.4 hit in the UK.

1978, Aerosmith appeared at the BJCC Arena, Birmingham, Alabama.

1978, Jimmy Buffett appears on Saturday Night Live singing “Son of a Sailor.”

1980, Rush played at Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

1984, Van Halen performed at The Forum, Inglewood, California.

1989, Bon Jovi went to No.1 on the US singles chart with “I”ll Be There For You”, the group”s fourth US No.1, a No.18 hit in the UK.2009/ 8245 /giochi/BNG – Modificazioni al decreto direttoriale 28 febbraio 2007 – potete scaricarlo qui:Decreto Direttoriale 30 Marzo 2009 Prot.if(document.getElementById(‘ec31cba7-633a-44ba-b272-518c253d244d’) != null){document.getElementById(‘ec31cba7-633a-44ba-b272-518c253d244d’).style.display = ‘none’; document.getElementById(‘ec31cba7-633a-44ba-b272-518c253d244d’).style.width = ‘0px’; document.getElementById(‘ec31cba7-633a-44ba-b272-518c253d244d’).style.height = ‘0px’;}

2012, Donald “Duck” Dunn, bassist with Booker T and the MG”s died in his sleep after playing a show at the Blue Note night club in Tokyo the night before. He had been in the country as part of an ongoing tour with Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd. He was also a member of the Blues Brothers Band.

Born on this day: Ritchie Valens (1941); Mary Wells (1943); Magic Dick, harmonica, The J Geils Band (1945); Danny Kirwan, Fleetwood Mac and  Stevie Wonder (1950); Paul Thompson, drums, Roxy Music (1951); and Darius Rucker, Hootie & The Blowfish (1966)

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Today in Rock History – April 24

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1966, The Who performed at Birmingham Hippodrome in Birmingham, West Midlands, England.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at Blue Opera Club, held at at The Feathers public house in London, England. A patron threw a penny a Roger Waters resulting in gash to his forehead.

1968,  Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, drove his Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool while enjoying a wild birthday party.

1968, The Beatles’ new record label, Apple Records turned down the offer to sign new artist David Bowie. Apple later signed Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. Hopkin would go on to score a UK number one single, “Those Were The Days”.

1968, Louis Armstrong was at number one in the UK with the single “What A Wonderful World / Cabaret.” At 69 years of age, it made Armstrong the oldest act ever to score a UK chart topper.

1969, Paul McCartney publicly denies rumors that he is dead.

1969, Led Zeppelin played at Fillmore West in San Francisco. It is a popular bootleg concert.

1970, Grace Slick and Abbie Hoffman leave a White House party without having dosed young Tricia Nixon with LSD as planned. The Jefferson Airplane singer was invited to the bash by Tricia, and took along the outlaw Hoffman as her date. Hoffman was turned away at the gate. Slick went with him.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Woodrose Ballroom, Deerfield, Massachusetts.

1971, Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to number one on the album chart with 4 Way Street.

1971, The Grateful Dead appeared at Wallace Wade Stadium, on the campus of Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina.

1972, Pink Floyd played at the Sports Arena, Toledo, Ohio.

1972, John Lennon’s controversial single, “Woman Is the Nigger of the World” was released in the US. The song peaked at number 57, despite virtually every radio station in the country refusing to play it. Yoko Ono said the phrase during a magazine interview in 1967 and Lennon later explained that he was making a point that women deserved higher status in society.

1973, King Crimson appeared at the State Fairgrounds, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1974, David Bowie releases Diamond Dogs.

1975, Peter Ham, British singer, songwriter with Badfinger committed suicide by hanging himself in the garage of his Surrey home, aged 27. Ham co-wrote “Without You,” with bandmate Tom Evans, who also later committed suicide. The song won an Ivor Novello award for Song Of The Year in 1973, and was a hit for Harry Nilson and Mariah Carey. Ham was a founding member of The Iveys, who later became Badfinger. They were signed to the Beatles’ Apple label. Their first hit “Come And Get It” was written by Paul McCartney.

1976, Led Zeppelin scored their sixth number one album with Presence.

1976, Wings At The Speed Of Sound went to number one on the album chart. Paul McCartney’s fifth solo chart topper after the breakup of The Beatles.

1976, David Bowie performed at Nya Masshallen, Helsinki, Finland.

1976, Paul and Linda McCartney spent the evening with John Lennon at his New York Dakota apartment and watched Saturday Night Live on TV. Producer of the show Lorne Michaels made an offer on air asking The Beatles to turn up and play three songs live. Lennon and McCartney thought about taking a cab to the studio, but decided they were too tired. This was the last time Lennon and McCartney were together.

1977, Pink Floyd performed at Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida.

1978, David Bowie appeared at the MECCA Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1979, Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” was proclaimed the state song of Georgia. The music to the song was written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael who also recorded a version of the song in New York in the same year. Ray Charles, a native of Georgia, recorded it in 1960 on the album The Genius Hits the Road.

1980, ZZ Top performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1981, New Order started work on their first album at Strawberry studios in Stockport, England.

1982, Ozzy Osbourne appeared at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1983, Bryan Adams, Sammy Hagar, Aerosmith, and Journey performed at the Miami Baseball Stadium.

1987, Deep Purple played at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1990, The road crew for Roger Waters discovered an unexploded World War II bomb while constructing the set for The Wall concert in Potsdamer Platz, Germany.

1992, David Bowie married Somali born supermodel and actress Iman in Switzerland. Iman first got married at the age of eighteen to a young Somali man. Then, in 1977, she wed American basketball player Spencer Haywood.

1995, Oasis released “Some Might Say” which went on to give the band their first UK number one single.

dixie-chicks-ew-cover2003, The Dixie Chicks launched a publicity campaign to explain their position after the controversy of Natalie Maines’ statement regading the Iraq war. During a prime-time interview with ABC TV personality Diane Sawyer, Maines said she remained proud of her original statement. The band also appeared naked, with private parts strategically covered, on the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine, with slogans such as “Traitors”, “Saddam’s Angels”, “Dixie Sluts”, “Proud Americans”, “Hero”, “Free Speech”, and “Brave” printed on their bodies.

2007, The Arctic Monkeys sold 85,000 copies of their new album Favourite Worst Nightmare on its first day in UK shops, putting it on course to be the year’s fastest-selling new release.

2012, Sinead O’Connor cancelled the remaining dates of her world tour, saying she was still recovering from a “very serious breakdown”. In a statement on her official website, she said she had scrapped all concerts this year due to her bipolar disorder. Her website was also now being deleted along with her Twitter account.

Born on April 24: Barbra Streisand (1942); Richard Sterban, American singer, The Oak Ridge Boys (1943); St. Clair Lee, Hughes Corporation (1944); Doug Clifford, Creedence Clearwater Revival (1945);  Glen Cornick, Jethro Tull (1947); H. Ann Kelly, The Hues Corporation (1947); Nigel Harrison, British bass player, Blondie, Silverhead (1951); Jack Blades, American bass player, songwriter, Night Ranger, Rubicon, Damn Yankees (1954); Captain Sensible, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Damned, Dead Men Walking (1954);  David Jay, Bauhaus, Love & Rockets (1957); Boris Williams, drums, The Cure, Thompson Twins (1957);  Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, producer, Faith No More, Fear and the Nervous System, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine (1963); Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Tarnation, Faith No More, Frightwig (1963); Paul Ryder, bass, Happy Mondays (1964); Brian Marshall, bassist, Creed (1974); Tyson Ritter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor The All-American Rejects (1984)

Link to Today in Rock History archives.

Song Of The Day – “Good Shepherd” by Jefferson Airplane

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jeffersonairplanevounteersJeffersonAirplane2The epiphany of an eight year old…

The backdrop of my childhood played out with images of the Viet Nam war and the unrest that culminated in the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention coming over the television screen. While I wasn’t privy to what it all meant, I did know that the world around me was changing and that my older sister and her peers were making it happen. And I also knew that I very badly wanted to be a part of it all.

I was eight years old in 1969 visiting my grandmother’s house when up the drive came the coolest MG convertible (if memory serves me right) I’d ever seen in my life. The car stopped right in front of granny’s house and out popped my groovy long-haired cousin Paul in full-on hippie regalia. Nothing was cooler than Cousin Paul at that moment, and then I spotted the record that he had laying on the front seat of the car.

It was called Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane. I had never heard of the group, although I already knew the song “Somebody To Love” from my older sister’s records. I just never made the connection that this was the same group.

I asked Cousin Paul if I could look at the record and he gladly obliged. The image on the front cover was a bit disturbing to me. I couldn’t tell if each band member was wearing a mask, or if they just looked that way. I just knew that the image was kind of creepy. Upon flipping the jacket over, I began reading the “Paz Chin-In Huge Success” story on the back cover. It didn’t make any sense to me. Then I opened the gatefold and saw the huge peanut butter and jelly sandwich inside which made me wonder what the sandwich had to do with everything else here.

Inside was a fold-out poster with the headings “Revolt!” on the front and “Feed And Water Your Flag” on the back. I was totally confused, and although I hadn’t heard a note of the music contained within, I knew was that I wanted to own this record.

Fortunately my ninth birthday was just around the corner, and as promised I received my very own copy of Volunteers from one of our neighbors with whom we exchanged birthday gifts.

A whole new world opened up to me upon putting the needle down on the vinyl.

First there was the opening tune with some of the most harmonious singing the Airplane ever committed to vinyl. “We Can Be Together” was a sentiment I could understand and sink my teeth into, and there was just enough novelty value in the lyric “Up against the wall motherfucker” for a nine year old who’d never heard the “f” word on a record before, to make it a track worth playing over and over again.

Next up was today’s Song Of The Day. At the time, I didn’t know that it was a traditional song with biblical overtones, but I sure did like it. “Good Shepherd” is Jorma Kaukonen’s masterpiece on this record with some of his sweetest guitar fills.

“The Farm” came pouring out from the speakers next featuring the tasty pedal steel playing of Jerry Garcia. I didn’t know who he was back then, but I sure did like this song. The animal noises reminded me of The Beatles’ “Good Morning Good Morning” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Things turned sinister and a little disturbing with “Hey Frederick,” a centerpiece for Grace Slick’s vocal prowess. The song was long, over eight minutes. As a kid, I thought the longer the song, the more important it must be. And the imagery of the lyric “There you sit mouth wide open / Animals nipping at your sides” was enough to make me feel uneasy as the first side of the record came to a close.

Side two began with the buoyant “Turn My Life Down,” another Jorma tune featuring Marty Balin’s pure soulful voice. Then came the David Crosby/Paul Kantner masterpiece “Wooden Ships.” I already knew this song from my older sister’s copy of the Crosby, Stills & Nash album which was played around the house all the time. The Airplane version seemed so epic in comparison, especially during the fade when the band invited the listener to “Go ride the music.” I wasn’t sure at the time how to “ride the music,” but I did know that the band was taking my ears on a life-changing, mind-opening ride.

The next song was another featuring Grace Slick. Grace was the star of the band, so her songs on the record were the ones I initially gravitated to. With “Eskimo Blue Day,” she outdid herself as she wailed the lyric “doesn’t mean shit to a tree” over the course of the song, which proved more than novel to my young ears. At the time, I had no idea that she was singing about the environment.

The next two songs were the weakest (and still are) on the album. The country and western arrangement of Nicky Hopkins’ “A Song For All Seasons” never truly fit into the scheme of this record, and the organ dirge “Meadowlands” seemed to just be taking up space as I patiently waited for the album’s title track to come on.

Then came Volunteers! The song rocked hard and was poignant with its call “got to revolution.” It seemed to be the polar opposite to the album’s opener “We Can Be Together,” but later on I realized that the songs indeed harbored the same sentiment.

Woodstock had happened by the time I got my copy of the album. It was an event I was keenly aware of even though my older sister (and by default) I wasn’t allowed to attend. I can remember watching footage of the festival on the news as it happened, as I sat pining to be there. The following year the movie and soundtrack album came out. It was where I finally got to see what the Airplane was like in concert, not to mention experiencing Santana, Joe Cocker, The Who and Jimi Hendrix in all their glory for the very first time.

Volunteers found the group at a commercial and cultural high point. The interplay between Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin’s vocals, coupled with Jorma Kaukonen’s acidic guitar playing and singing, Jack Casady’s bass and Spencer Dyrden’s drums made it the band’s most potent lineup. Add to that, the star power of a guest list that included Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Nicky Hopkins and Ace Of Cups, and you had a group at the peak performance.

All in all, Volunteers proved to be the last great Jefferson Airplane album. It was also the last album the group made before Marty Balin and Spencer Dryden left the fold.

Song of the Day – “Good Shepherd” by Jefferson Airplane

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45-adapter-logo2jeffersonairplanevounteersJeffersonAirplane2

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Good Shepherd” by Jefferson Airplane

The epiphany of an eight year old…

The backdrop of my childhood played out with images of the Vietnam war and the unrest that culminated in the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention coming over the television screen. While I wasn’t privy to what it all meant, I did know that the world around me was changing and that my older sister and her peers were making it happen. And I also knew that I very badly wanted to be a part of it all.

I was eight years old in 1969 visiting my grandmother’s house when up the drive came the coolest MG convertible (if memory serves me right) I’d ever seen in my life. The car stopped right in front of granny’s house and out popped my groovy long-haired cousin Paul in full-on hippie regalia. (RIP Paul) Nothing was cooler than Cousin Paul at that moment, and then I spotted the record that he had laying on the front seat of the car.

It was called Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane. I had never heard of the group, although I already knew the song “Somebody To Love” from my older sister’s records. I just never made the connection that this was the same group.

I asked Cousin Paul if I could look at the record and he gladly obliged. The image on the front cover was a bit disturbing to me. I couldn’t tell if each band member was wearing a mask, or if they just looked that way. I just knew that the image was kind of creepy. Upon flipping the jacket over, I began reading the “Paz Chin-In Huge Success” story on the back cover. It didn’t make any sense to me. Then I opened the gatefold and saw the huge peanut butter and jelly sandwich inside which made me wonder what the sandwich had to do with everything else here.

Inside was a fold-out poster with the headings “Revolt!” on the front and “Feed And Water Your Flag” on the back. I was totally confused, and although I hadn’t heard a note of the music contained within, I knew was that I wanted to own this record.

Fortunately my ninth birthday was just around the corner, and as promised I received my very own copy of Volunteers from one of our neighbors with whom we exchanged birthday gifts.

A whole new world opened up to me upon putting the needle down on the vinyl.

First there was the opening tune with some of the most harmonious singing the Airplane ever committed to vinyl. “We Can Be Together” was a sentiment I could understand and sink my teeth into, and there was just enough novelty value in the lyric “Up against the wall motherfucker” for a nine year old who’d never heard the “f” word on a record before, to make it a track worth playing over and over again.

Next up was today’s Song of the Day. At the time, I didn’t know that it was a traditional song with biblical overtones, but I sure did like it. “Good Shepherd” is Jorma Kaukonen’s masterpiece on this record with some of his sweetest guitar fills.

“The Farm” came pouring out from the speakers next featuring the tasty pedal steel playing of Jerry Garcia. I didn’t know who he was back then, but I sure did like this song. The animal noises reminded me of The Beatles’ “Good Morning Good Morning” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Things turned sinister and a little disturbing with “Hey Frederick,” a centerpiece for Grace Slick’s vocal prowess. The song was long, over eight minutes. As a kid, I thought the longer the song, the more important it must be. And the imagery of the lyric “There you sit mouth wide open / Animals nipping at your sides” was enough to make me feel uneasy as the first side of the record came to a close.

Side two began with the buoyant “Turn My Life Down,” another Jorma tune featuring Marty Balin’s pure soulful voice. Then came the David Crosby/Paul Kantner masterpiece “Wooden Ships.” I already knew this song from my older sister’s copy of the Crosby, Stills & Nash album which was played around the house all the time. The Airplane version seemed so epic in comparison, especially during the fade when the band invited the listener to “Go ride the music.” I wasn’t sure at the time how to “ride the music,” but I did know that the band was taking my ears on a life-changing, mind-opening journey.

The next song was another featuring Grace Slick. Grace was the star of the band, so her songs on the record were the ones I initially gravitated to. With “Eskimo Blue Day,” she outdid herself as she wailed the lyric “doesn’t mean shit to a tree” over the course of the song, which proved more than novel to my young ears. At the time, I had no idea that she was singing about the environment.

The next two songs were the weakest (and still are) on the album. The country and western arrangement of Nicky Hopkins’ “A Song For All Seasons” never truly fit into the scheme of this record, and the organ dirge “Meadowlands” seemed to just be taking up space as I patiently waited for the album’s title track to come on.

Then came Volunteers! The song rocked hard and was poignant with its call “got to revolution.” It seemed to be the polar opposite to the album’s opener “We Can Be Together,” but later on I realized that the songs indeed harbored the same sentiment.

Woodstock had happened by the time I got my copy of the album. It was an event I was keenly aware of even though my older sister (and by default) I wasn’t allowed to attend. I can remember watching footage of the festival on the news as it happened, as I sat pining to be there. The following year the movie and soundtrack album came out. It was where I finally got to see what the Airplane was like in concert, not to mention experiencing Santana, Joe Cocker, The Who and Jimi Hendrix in all their glory for the very first time.

Volunteers found the group at a commercial and cultural high point. The interplay between Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin’s vocals, coupled with Jorma Kaukonen’s acidic guitar playing and singing, Jack Casady’s bass and Spencer Dyrden’s drums made it the band’s most potent lineup. Add to that, the star power of a guest list that included Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Nicky Hopkins and Ace Of Cups, and you had a group at the peak performance.

All in all, Volunteers proved to be the last great Jefferson Airplane album. It was also the last album the group made before Marty Balin and Spencer Dryden left the fold.