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Today in Rock History – June 11

June 11, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1966, The Rolling Stones started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with “Paint It Black,” the group’s third No.1 single.

1966, European radio stations mistakenly report that The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey is dead. Actually, it was guitarist Pete Townshend who had been injured in a car accident a few days earlier.

1966, Elvis Presley begins shooting his 26th film, Double Trouble.

1967, Printed in this week’s music weekly Melody Maker’s ad’s pages, “Freaky lead guitarist, bass and drummer wanted for Marc Bolan’s new group. Also any other astral flyers like with car’s amplification and that which never grows in window boxes, phone Wimbledon 0697.” The band who formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, went on to release four underground folk albums before becoming known as T Rex.

1968, Cream appeared at Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal, Quebec.

1968, London’s Olympic Studio catches fire while the Rolling Stones are there recording Beggars Banquet.

1968, Working at Abbey Road studios in London on the White Album, John Lennon worked on “Revolution 9” in studio 3, while Paul McCartney recorded “Blackbird” in studio 2.

1969, The Beatles were at No.1 on the singles chart with “The Ballad Of John and Yoko,” the group’s 17th No.1. Only two Beatles played on the track, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

1969, David Bowie releases his single “Space Oddity” in conjunction with the planned Apollo 11 lunar landing.

1970, Traffic jammed at the Fillmore East in New York.

1970, The Rascals, Poco, and Alee Keith played at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appear at the Eastown Theater, Detroit, Michigan.

1972, Led Zeppelin performed at the Civic Center in Baltimore. Tickets were priced from $5.50 – $7.50. The set list was: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused, What Is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love (medley incl. Let That Boy Boogie, I Need Your Love Tonight, Hello Mary Lou, Heartbreak Hotel, I’m Going Down, Going Down Slow), Rock and Roll, Communication Breakdown.

1972, The Rolling Stones play the Forum in Inglewood, California. The opening act is Stevie Wonder.

1973, Deep Purple performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1974, The Who headlined at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1975, The Rolling Stones appeared at the Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

1976, The Grateful Dead performed at the Great Boston Music Hall.

1976, AC/DC appeared at Glasgow City Hall, Scotland, on the first night of their Lock Up Your Daughters 19 date UK tour.

1977, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours retains the number one album in the US. Just one of the 31 weeks it would spend in that position in 1977 and 1978.

1977, Joe Strummer and Topper Headon were detained overnight in prison in Newcastle upon Tyne having failed to appear at Morpeth Magistrates on May 21st. Both Clash members were to answer a charge relating to the theft of a Holiday Inn pillowcase. They were both fined £100 ($170).

1977, KC and the Sunshine Band became only the second group after The Jackson Five to achieve four US No.1’s when “I’m Your Boogie Man” went to the top of the charts.

1977, As Britain celebrated the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, The Sex Pistols reached No. 2 in the singles chart with “God Save The Queen.”

1978, Genesis appeared at Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany.

1980, Aerosmith played at Stage West, Hartford, Connecticut.

1981, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at the Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois.

1983, ZZ Top played at the Civic Auditorium Arena, Omaha, Nebraska.

1984, Yes performed at Isstadion, Stockholm, Sweden.

1988, Nelson Mandellas 70th birthday tribute took place at Wembley Stadium, London, featuring Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman, George Michael, Eric Clapton, UB40, The Eurythmics and Simple Minds. The event was broadcast live on BBC 2 to 40 different countries with an estimated audience of 1 billion.

1991, The Grateful Dead played at the Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2005, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin founding member and guitarist, was awarded an OBE in the Queen of England’s Birthday Honours list and Queen guitarist and founding member Brian May was awarded a CBE.

2011, Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon, re-entered the Billboard Album chart at No. 47, and reached the milestone of 1,000 weeks on Billboard’s charts.

Born on this day: John Lawton, Uriah Heep (19467); Glenn Leonard, The Temptations (1947); Alan Skipper, drums, The Pretty Things (1948) and Frank Beard, ZZ Top (1949)

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Today in Rock History – January 2

January 2, 2020 by Mitch Michaels

1965, The Beatles Story, yet another US-only collection of Fab Four releases, goes to number seven in the album charts. The Beatles are currently number one in the singles charts with “I Feel Fine.”

1966, “We Can Work It Out” by the The Beatles takes over the top spot from Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence.” It remains for two weeks, then falls to second once again behind “Sounds of Silence,” after which it reclaims the top spot for one more week.

1968, The entire shipment of John and Yoko’s album Two Virgins was seized by authorities in New Jersey due to the full frontal nude photograph of the couple on the cover. The album was eventually wrapped in plain brown paper in record stores.

1969, Led Zeppelin played the first of four nights at the Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles during the band’s first North American tour. Support group was the Alice Cooper band.

1969, Filming began at Twickenham studios in England of The Beatles rehearsing for the Let It Be album. The project ran into several problems including George Harrison walking out on the group on January 10th.

1970, Poco appeared at the Terrace Ballroom in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1971, The George Harrison album “All Things Must Pass” started a seven week run at number one on the album chart, making Harrison the first solo Beatle to score a US chart topping album.

1972, Syd Barrett plays an unannounced solo gig at King’s College Cellar, Cambridge.

1973, Led Zeppelin performed at City Hall in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

1974, US country singer, actor and radio presenter Tex Ritter died of a heart attack when he was trying to bail a member of his band from a jail in Nashville. His song “High Noon” won an Oscar for Best Song in 1952.

1975, In efforts to defend himself from deportation, John Lennon and his lawyers are granted access to Department of Immigration files. The pop star wants to find out if he’s been barred from the US because of drug use, or his remarks about President Richard Nixon.

1976, Bad Company, Nazareth, Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance, The Pretty Things and Be Bop Deluxe all appeared at the second day of the Great British Music Festival at London’s Olympia.

1977, Genesis played at the Rainbow Theatre in London.

1979, Sex Pistol’s bass player Sid Vicious went on trial in New York accused of murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen three months earlier.

1980, US singer Larry Williams was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head in his Los Angeles, California home aged 45. Williams had the 1957 US number five and UK number 21 single “Short Fat Fannie.” He was also known for “Bony Moronie” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.’ The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dr. Feelgood, Flying Burrito Brothers, Johnny Winter, Little Richard, The Who, Ritchie Valens and Bill Haley & His Comets all covered his songs.

1982, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York.

1985, Aerosmith appeared at the Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York.

1989, Record Mirror published a chart of 1988’s Top UK singles artists. Number one was Kylie Minogue, number two, Bros, number three, Yazz, number four Tiffany, fifth Phil Collins, six, Cliff Richard, 7, Erasure, 8, Pet Shop Boys, 9, Belinda Carlisle, and number 10, Wet Wet Wet.

1994, Meat Loaf started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Bat Out Of Hell 2-Back Into Hell.

1997, Guitarist Randy California from Spirit drowned when rescuing his 12-year old son when he was sucked into a riptide in surf off Hawaii.

2000, Travis started a six-week run at number one on the UK album chart with The Man Who.

2005, Green Day were at number one on the UK album chart with their seventh album American Idiot. The album went on to be nominated for seven Grammy Awards, winning the Best Rock Album of 2005.

2007, Gnarls Barkley’s song “Crazy” was confirmed as the biggest selling UK single of 2006 selling over 700,000 copies. The track, which was the first to reach number one on downloads alone, held off the challenge of X-factor winner Leone. Snow Patrol’s album Eyes Open topped the album chart with estimated sales of 1.5 million while Take That’s comeback release Beautiful World came in just behind. Singles sales had doubled to over 65 million since the download chart was launched in September 2004.

Born on this day: Isaac Asimov (1920); Roger Miller (1936); Chick Churchill, Ten Years After (1949); and Glenn Goins, guitar, vocals, Parliament, Funkadelic (1954)

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Today in Rock History – November 12

November 12, 2019 by Mitch Michaels

1965, Velvet Underground’s manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group’s first paying gig, $75, to play at Summit High School, in Summit, New Jersey, opening for the Myddle Class.

1966, The Monkees debut album started a 13-week run at number one on the album chart, selling over three million copies in three months. The group would own the album charts for 31 of the ensuing 33 weeks, before the arrival of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

1966, Pink Floyd appeared at the Corn Exchange, Bedford, England, supported by Something Else.

1966, Johnny Rivers went to number one on the US singles chart with “Poor Side Of Town.”

1968, UK book and record chain W.H. Smiths refused to display The Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland due to the naked girls featured on the sleeve. The record was then made available as two albums with changed artwork after the complaints.

1968, Yes played at the Marquee Club, London.

1969, The Who played at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.

1969, King Crimson performed at the Grande Riviera, Detroit, Michigan.

1970, Pink Floyd appeared at the Falkoner Centret, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark.

1971, Poco, Gary Wright, along with Aliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah performed at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1971, The Velvet Underground appeared at Friars, Aylesbury, England

1971, Led Zeppelin appeared at The Locarno Ballroom, Sunderland, England. Admission was 75p ($1.20).

1971, The Supremes kicked off a 13-date UK tour at The Regal, Edmonton.

1971, Pink Floyd performed at Irvine Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

1972, The Grateful Dead appeared at Soldier’s and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

1972, David Bowie played at the Music Hall, Houston, Texas.

1973, Mott The Hoople kicked off a 20-date UK tour at Leeds Town Hall with support group Queen.

1973, Queen appeared at Town Hall, Leeds, England.

1974, Black Sabbath played at Festival Hall, Melbourne, Australia.

1976, AC/DC appeared at the Corn Exchange, Cambridge, England, supported by The Tyla Gang.

1976, Eric Clapton performed at the Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas.

1977, during a UK tour Blondie appeared at Friars in Aylesbury, supported by XTC.

1977, The Sex Pistols went to number one on the UK album chart with their debut LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, the punk group’s only chart topping album.

1978, Aerosmith appeared at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.

1979, San Francisco witnesses the premiere of Rock Justice, a rock opera penned by Jefferson Starship’s Marty Balin. The show runs for four nights at the Old Waldorf nightclub. Balin stars as a rock star on trial for suffering a career nosedive.

1980, AC/DC appears at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1981, The Rolling Stones perform at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1983, Bob Dylan’s Infidels album reached its highest position when it peaked at number nine in the albums chart. Dylan’s 22nd studio album was co-produced with Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler. Dylan had also approached Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Frank Zappa as possible producers.

1986, Iron Maiden played at the Ice Hall, Helsinki, Finland.

1988, U2 started a six-week run at number one on the US album chart with their sixth studio album, Rattle And Hum, which went on to sell over 14 million copies.

1997, The Spice Girls were at number one on the UK album chart with their second album Spiceworld, it was also the name of their tie-in film. The album became a huge hit worldwide, lengthening the so-called “Spicemania” fever at that time. It produced 4 singles all of which saw commercial success and has now sold over 20 million worldwide.

2001, The three living former Beatles met for the last time at George Harrison’s hotel in New York City for lunch. Harrison died two weeks later at a friend’s home in Los Angeles on November 29th, aged 58.

2008, Mitch Mitchell, the British drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience was found dead in his US hotel room aged 61. Mitchell had been working with Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames in 1966 when he was invited to audition for a new band being formed to back Jimi Hendrix. During the ’70s Mitchell failed an audition for Paul McCartney’s new band, Wings.

Born on November 12: John Walker, The Walker Brothers (1943); Brian Hyland, singer (1943); Booker T. Jones. Booker T and the MG’s (1944); Neil Young (1945); Donald Roeser, aka Buck Dharma, guitar, vocals, Blue Oyster Cult (1945); Errol Brown, singer, Hot Chocolate (1948); Lawrence Juber, Wings (1952); Les McKeown, singer, Bay City Rollers (1955); Nick D’Virgilio, drummer, Big Big Train and Spock’s Beard (1968);

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Today in Rock History – September 5

September 5, 2019 by Mitch Michaels

1964, The Animals started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “House Of The Rising Sun.” When first released the record company printed the time of the song on the record as three minutes feeling that the real time of four minutes was too long for radio airplay.

1965, Sonny & Cher made their first live UK appearance when they appeared at the 100 Club in London.

1965, The Rolling Stones recorded their eighth single “Get Off Of My Cloud” at RCA studios in Hollywood. The song peaked at number one in the US and the UK.

1966, John Lennon started work in Germany on his role as Private Gripweed in the film How I Won The War.

1967, Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles began recording John Lennon’s new song “I Am the Walrus,” recording 16 takes of the basic backing track.

1968, On their first ever visit to the UK The Doors appeared on Top of The Pops performing “Hello I Love You” live on the TV show.

1969, King Crimson performed at Market Hall, Romford, England.

1969, The Stooges made their New York debut at The Pavilion supporting MC5.

1970, Janis Joplin started recording sessions recording a version of the Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster song “Me and Bobby McGee.” Joplin, who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson’s from the beginning of her career to her death, topped the US singles chart with the song in 1971, making the song the second posthumous number one single in US chart history after “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.

1970, Poco appeared at the Terrace Ballroom in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1971, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Chicago International Amphitheatre.

1972, Yes played at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland.

1974, David Bowie played at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, California.

1975, Black Sabbath performed at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.

1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington was seriously injured in a car crash in Florida.

1978, Joe Negroni from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers died of a brain hemorrhage. They had the 1956 UK number one and US number six single “Why Do Fools Fall In Love.”

1978, The Electric Light Orchestra appeared at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Civic Center, Dothan, Alabama.

1980, Black Sabbath performed at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1981, Soft Cell were at number one on the UK singles chart with their electronic version of “Tainted Love.” The song had been a hit for Gloria Jones in 1964. Jones who became Marc Bolan’s girlfriend, was the driver of the car, that crashed and killed Bolan on September 16, 1977. Jones nearly died in the accident.

1981, Stevie Nicks went to number one on the US album with Bella Donna, featuring the tracks “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Tom Petty, “Leather and Lace,” with Don Henley, “Edge of Seventeen,” and “After the Glitter Fades.”

1994, Oasis appeared at The Hacienda in Manchester to celebrate the launch of their debut album Definitely Maybe. The album went on to become the fastest selling debut album of all time in the UK and marked the beginning of Oasis’ success in America, selling over one million copies there.

2006, Arctic Monkeys won the UK Mercury Prize for their album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The Sheffield-based bands album became the fastest-selling debut in chart history after shifting more than 360,000 copies in its first week of release in Feb 2006.

2012, Singer-songwriter Joe South, who had hits in the late 1960s and early ’70s, including “Games People Play,” “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” and (“I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” died at home in Atlanta, Georgia from a heart attack, aged 72.

Born on September 5: John Stewart, The Kingston Trio (1934); Al Stewart (1945) Freddie Mercury, Loudon Wainwright III, and Buddy Miles (1946); Dave Clempson, guitar, Humble Pie (1949)