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Today in Rock History – June 17

June 17, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1965, Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles completed work on the new Paul McCartney song “Yesterday” with the overdubbing of an additional vocal track by McCartney and a string quartet. They also recorded “Act Naturally” for Ringo’s vocal contribution on the Help! album and the song “Wait” in four takes. “Wait” will not be included on ‘Help!’, it was included on the following LP, Rubber Soul.

1965, The Kinks and the Moody Blues made their US concert debut at the Academy of Music in New York City.

1966, The Who performed at City Hall in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

1966, Guitarist Peter Green joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

1966, Paul McCartney buys himself a farm in Kintyre, Scotland. He would later write the song “Mull of Kintyre.”

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Ballroom, Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, Kent, England, supported by the Tony Merrick Set.

1969, Neil Young & Crazy Horse appeared at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.

1971, Carole King went to number one on the album chart with Tapestry for the first of 15 consecutive weeks. The album contained “It’s Too Late,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”

1971, Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent played at the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band performed at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1972, Don McLean had a number one UK single with “Vincent.” The song was written about the 19th century artist Vincent Van Gogh. The song is played daily at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

1972, David Bowie performed at Town Hall in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.

1972, Organist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan plays with the Grateful Dead for the last time at the Hollywood Bowl.

1972, Pink Floyd release their soundtrack Obscured by Clouds in the US.

1972, The Rolling Stones album Exile On Main Street started a four-week run at the top of the charts.

1973, Dolly Parton recorded “I Will Always Love You” in RCA’s Studio “B” in Nashville. Written for her one-time partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner (the two were splitting professionally at the time). The song was later a world-wide hit for Whitney Houston.

1974, KISS played at the Sunshine Inn, Asbury Park, New Jersey.

1975, Aerosmith appeared at McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado.

1976, The Grateful Dead begin the first of three nights at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey.

1976, Ian Dury played his last gig with Kilburn and the High Roads before starting his solo career. The show at The Assembly Hall, Walthamstow also had The Sex Pistols, and The Stranglers on the bill.

1976, Neil Diamond performed at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.

1977, Steve Winwood releases his first self-titled solo album, three years after leaving Traffic.

1977, Eric Clapton played at Rhein-Neckar-Halle, Heidelberg, Germany.

1978, Andy Gibb became the first solo artist in the history of the US charts to have his first three releases reach number one. “Shadow Dancing” hit the top of the charts, spending seven weeks at the top, and becoming the best selling single in the US that year.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

1978, “You’re The One That I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John started a nine week run at number one on the UK singles chart. The song was from the film Grease.

1978, As Jefferson Airplane prepare to play Germany’s Lorley Festival, Grace Slick is discovered too inebriated to perform. The band cancels.

1979, Yes played at New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut.

1980, Led Zeppelin performed at Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany.

1981, Pink Floyd performed The Wall at Earl’s Court Exhibition Hall, Earl’s Court, London.

1983, David Bowie appeared at Freilichttheater, Bad Segeberg, Germany.

1983, James Brown, UB40, Fun Boy Three, The Beat, Curtis Mayfield, Jimmy Cliff, Marillion and Melanie all appeared at this years Glastonbury CND Festival, Shepton Mallet, England.

1984, Van Halen played at the Kansas Coliseum, Valley Center, Kansas.

1987, Florida real estate agent Vittoria Holman sued Motley Crue and their concert promoter for hearing loss allegedly incurred at a concert in December 1985. Holman and her daughter had front row seats less than 10 feet (3 meters) from the speakers. The case was settled out of court with the band’s insurance company paying Holman over $30,000. (£18,200.)

1997, Fans rioted at an Ozzfest concert in Columbus Ohio, after Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t perform due to throat problems. Angry fans broke windows, uprooted trees, and turned over a parked car.

2007, The Traveling Wilburys went to number one on the UK album chart with Collection. The lineup of the Wilburys was: George Harrison, (Nelson Wilbury,) Jeff Lynne, (Otis Wilbury,) Roy Orbison, (Lefty Wilbury,) Tom Petty, (Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.,) and Bob Dylan, (Lucky Wilbury.)

2012, Bruce Springsteen played his longest show when he turned in a three-hour-and-48-minute, 32-song, set at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. This surpassed the previously longest show, Dec. 31, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, which clocked in at 3:43.

Born on June 17: Norman Kuhlke, The Swinging Blue Jeans (1942); Chris Spedding, session guitarist for Donovan, David Essex, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry (1944); Barry Manilow (1946); Greg Rolie, Santana (1947); and Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys (1958)

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Today in Rock History – March 28

March 28, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1967, Working on sessions for the new Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s at Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon recorded his lead vocal for “Good Morning Good Morning,” and Paul McCartney added a lead guitar solo to the track. Lennon had decided he wanted to end the song with animal sound effects, and asked that they be sequenced in such a way that each successive animal was capable of scaring or eating the preceding one.

1967, Pink Floyd performed at the Chinese R&B Jazz Club, Corn Exchange, Bristol, England.

1968, Steppenwolf appeared at the Terrace Ballroom in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1968, Pink Floyd recorded a performance of “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” for the BBC 2 TV Omnibus – The Sound of Change show at the Abbey Mills Pumping Station, East Stratford, in London. The special, which was produced by Tony Palmer, also featured performances by The Who, Cream and Jimi Hendrix focused on the “socio-political context of rock music.” The show was later broadcast in black and white on November 3rd and repeated (in color) in May of the following year.

1969, Led Zeppelin played at the Marquee Club, London.

1970, Grand Funk Railroad and Illinois Speed Press played at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1970, Simon and Garfunkel were in the fifth of six consecutive weeks at number one on the US singles chart with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

1971, Yes appeared at Deutschlandhalle Berlin Arts Festival, Berlin, Germany.

1972, King Crimson played at the Orpheum, Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1973, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Civic Center Arena in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1973, Led Zeppelin released Houses Of The Holy in the UK. The album title was a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed “Houses of the Holy.”

1974, During a UK tour, Queen appeared at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

1974, Delta blues singer and guitarist Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup died of a stroke at the age of 69. He wrote “That’s All Right (Mama,”) covered by Elvis Presley, and “My Baby Left Me.”

1975, ZZ Top performed at the Toledo Sports Arena, Toledo, Ohio.

1976, Genesis began their first North American tour since Peter Gabriel left the band, appearing in Buffalo, New York, with Phil Collins taking over as lead singer.

1977, Kiss played the first of five sold-out nights on their Alive II world Tour at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

1977, During a UK tour, Pink Floyd played the first of four sold out nights at New Bingley Hall, Staffordshire County Showground, Stafford.

1978, Aerosmith appeared at the Orpheum Theatre in their hometown of Boston.

1981, Blondie started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with”Rapture,” the group’s fourth chart topper.

1981, Elton John’s version of The Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There” was released as a tribute to John Lennon.

1982, David Crosby was arrested after crashing his car on the San Diego Highway. Police also found cocaine and a pistol in the Crosby Stills & Nash stars car. When the police asked Crosby why he carried the gun, his reply was, “John Lennon.”

1986, The Grateful Dead performed at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.

1992, Over a $100,000 (£58,800) worth of damage was caused at The Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, California, when Ozzy Osbourne invited the first two rows of the audience on stage. Several others took up the offer and the band was forced to exit the stage.

2005, After playing a warm-up date the night before at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, U2 kicked off their Vertigo tour at the iPay One Center in San Diego, California. The 131-date world tour would see the band playing in North America, Europe, South America and Japan. By the time it finished, the Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets, grossing $389 million. It was the second-highest figure ever for a world tour.

Born on March 28: Chuck Portz, The Turtles (1944); Milan Williams, The Commodores (1948); John Evans, Jethro Tull (1948); Reba McEntire (1954); Steve Turner, guitar, Mudhoney (1965); Dave Keuning, guitarist, The Killers (1976); Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga (1986)

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Today in Rock History – March 25

March 25, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1966, At a photo session with Bob Whitaker’s studio in London, The Beatles posed in white coats using sides of meat with mutilated and butchered dolls for the cover of their next American album, Yesterday and Today. After a public outcry, the album was pulled from stores and re-issued with a new cover. At the time, some of the Beatles defended the use of the Butcher photograph. Lennon said that it was “as relevant as Vietnam” and McCartney said that their critics were “soft.” However, this opinion was not shared by all band members. George Harrison said in The Beatles Anthology that he thought the whole idea “was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things thinking it was cool and hip when it was naïve and dumb; and that was one of them.”

1966, The Who play the Corn Exchange in Hertford, England.

1967, The Beatles perform “All You Need Is Love” during a global satellite broadcast.

1967, Jimi Hendrix played at the Gliderdrome Bingo Hall in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The building was originally an open air skating rink. A roof was added just after the outbreak of World War II. The Gliderdrome was destroyed by fire on in May, 1959, but the “new” Glider was opened within a year on Wednesday, January 27 1960.

1967, The Turtles started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Happy Together.”

1967, The Who and Cream made their U.S. concert debut at RKO 58th Street Theatre, New York City as part of a rock and roll extravaganza promoted by DJ Murray the K.

1967, The Rolling Stones kicked off a three-week European tour in Orebro, Sweden. Arriving in Copenhagen for the tour the group were delayed after customs officers search all their luggage for drugs.

1967, Pink Floyd played three gigs in 24 hours. The appeared at the Ricky Tick Club at the Thames Hotel in Windsor, England, then headed for a late show at the New Yorker Discotheque in Swindon, with The Outer Limits as support. Lastly, then played at the Shoreline Club at the Caribbean Hotel in Bognor Regis, as part of an Easter Weekend All-Nighter.

1968, The 58th and final episode of The Monkees TV series was broadcast in the US.

1969, John and Yoko started their week long “bed-in” in the presidential suite at The Amsterdam Hilton hotel. The couple invited the world’s press into their hotel room every day, to talk about promoting world peace.

1969, Yes appeared at Madam Toussauds Hall Of Kings, London.

1970, Led Zeppelin performed at the Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado.

1971, Grand Funk Railroad played at Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the O’Shaughnessy Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota.

1972, America started a three week run at number one on the US singles chart with their debut hit “Horse With No Name.” The group scored eight other top 40 hits during the ’70s.

1972, Lindisfarne started a four-week run at number one on the UK album chart with their debut album Fog On The Tyne.

1973, King Crimson performed at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.

1973, Roxy Music appeared at Festival Hall, Torbay, England.

1974, Rolling Stone reports that concerts by Yes, Gregg Allman, and the Beach Boys have all been hit by streakers, no doubt inspired by Ray Stevens’ No. 1 hit “The Streak.” Meanwhile, Allman himself performs the last date of a solo tour. To reassure the audience that the Allman Brothers Band are not splitting up, the entire band comes out and performs a 90-minute encore.

1974, KISS performed at the Bayou Theater, Washington D.C.

1975, Aerosmith played at the War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, the first date on their 63 date North American Toys In The Attic Tour.

1976, US singer, songwriter Jackson Browne’s wife Phyllis Major committed suicide.

elvis-costllo-1977 — Elvis Costello – 1977

1977, Elvis Costello released his debut single “Less Than Zero.” It didn’t make the Top 40.

1978, 20 Golden Greats by Buddy Holly and The Crickets went to number one on the UK album chart, giving Holly his first ever chart topping, LP almost 20 years since his first release in 1959.

1978, Kansas performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1979, Van Halen played at Selland Arena, Fresno, California.

1981, Rush appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

1982, The Police performed at Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri.Rush

1983, Motown Records celebrated its 25 anniversary with a concert in Pasadena, featuring; The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Jr. Walker, The Commodores, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and The Jackson 5.

1993, The Grateful Dead performed at the Dean Smith Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2002, Bono from U2 made a appearance at the air rage trial of R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, telling the court “I came to court because Peter is actually famously known for being a peaceable person. I once had to twist his arm to get him to a boxing match.” Buck was later cleared of all charges. He had been accused of attacking two cabin staff and covering them in yogurt, knocking over a cart and trying to steal a knife. Buck did not deny his behavior but claimed a Zolpiden sleeping pill reacted violently with alcohol, turning him into a “non-insane automaton”.

2005, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne were forced to flee their Buckinghamshire mansion after a blaze broke out as they slept. Ozzy and his wife were roused by a fire alarm and ran to safety in the garden, rescuing their pets as they escaped.

2006, Buck Owens Jr. American singer and guitarist died. Pioneered the Bakersfield sound a reference to Bakersfield, California. He scored twenty No.1 hits on the Billboard country music charts.

2007, The Notorious B.I.G. was at number one on the US album charts with Greatest Hits. It was the rapper’s fourth album release after being killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California on March 9, 1997.

Born on March 25: Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter, The Rock and Roll Trio (1934); Hoyt Axton (1938); Aretha Franklin (1942); Elton John (1947); Jack Hall, Charlie Daniels Band (1947); Chuck Greenberg, American saxophonist, songwriter, producer, Shadowfax (1960); Steve Norman, guitar, sax, Spandau Ballet (1960); Jeff Healy (1966); Frank Ferrer, American drummer, Guns N’ Roses, The Psychedelic Furs, Love Spit Love (1966); Ryan Lewis, American DJ, producer, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (1988)

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Today in Rock History – February 2

February 2, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1963, The Beatles played at the Gaumont Cinema, Bradford on the opening night of the nationwide Helen Shapiro UK tour. The Beatles were at the bottom of the six-act bill playing just four songs, “Please Please Me,” “Chains,” “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,” and “A Taste of Honey.”

1966, The Rolling Stones released “19th Nervous Breakdown.” It peaked at number two on the singles chart.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at Cadenna’s in Guildford, Surrey, England.

1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played live on UK TV show Top Of The Pops performing “Purple Haze.”

1969, Led Zeppelin played at The Rock Pile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1969, Yoko Ono divorced her husband Tony Cox. Yoko was granted custody of their daughter Kyoko. John Lennon and married Yoko the on March 30th.

1970, The Grateful Dead performed at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri.

1970, Mason Proffit and The Hollies played at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse, on the campus of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

1971, Yes performed at the Palais des Sports in Paris.

1972, during a UK tour, Stevie Wonder appeared at the Manchester Odeon, Manchester, England.

1973, NBC premieres a new music series called Midnight Special, hosted by Helen Reddy.

1973, Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer injured his hands when his piano rigged to explode as a stunt, detonated prematurely during a concert in San Francisco.

1974, The Carpenters started a four week run at number one on the UK album chart with The Singles 1969-73, featuring 12 hits and the US number one “Top Of The World.” It would return to the top of the charts on three other occasions.

1974, Barbra Streisand started a four week run at number one on the US singles chart with the theme from the film The Way We Were. The single won an Oscar for Best Song, and a Grammy for Song of the Year.

1975, Genesis played at Grand Valley State College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

1976, Genesis released A Trick Of The Tail, their seventh studio album, and the first to feature drummer Phil Collins as full-time lead vocalist following the departure of original vocalist Peter Gabriel. After auditioning over 400 vocalists, which saw Collins teaching the potential lead singers the songs, the band decided that Collins should be the new vocalist.

1978, Emerson, Lake & Palmer played at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

1979, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City. There had been a party to celebrate Vicious’ release on $50,000 (£29,412) bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at midnight. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon and heroin residue were discovered near the body.

1980, Rush appeared at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

1984, Ozzy Osbourne headlined at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1985, Foreigner started a two-week run at number on the US singles charts with “I Want To Know What Love Is,” also a UK chart topper. London-born Mick Jones wrote the song and sang lead vocals with the British-American rock band.

1988, Frank Zappa appeared at the Palace Theatre, Albany, New York.

1993, Willie Nelson agreed to pay $9 million (£5.63m) of the $16.7 million (£10.4m) he owed the Internal Revenue Service. His accountants, Price Waterhouse, had not been paying Nelson’s taxes for years and in addition to the unpaid taxes, Nelson’s situation was worsened by the weak investments he had made during the early 1980s.

2007, Keyboardist Joe Hunter, a veteran session musician as one of the Funk Brothers, who helped craft the distinctive Motown sound, died in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 79. Hunter performed with such legendary Motown acts as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Martha and the Vandellas.

Born on February 2: Alan Caddy, guitarist, The Tornadoes (1940); Graham Nash (1942); Ronnie Goodson, John Fred and His Playboy Band (1945); Howard Bellamy, The Bellamy Brothers (1946); Alan McKay, Earth Wind & Fire (1948); Russ Valory, Steve Miller Band (1949); Robert DeLeo, bass, Stone Temple Pilots, Talk Show, Army of Anyone (1966); Shakira (1977)