InternetFM.com

Hand Curated Radio

You are here: Home / Archives for Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Today in Rock History – July 9

by

1967, On a tour supporting The Monkees, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appear at the Convention Hall, Miami, Florida. After it becomes plainly apparent that the group is not suited to teenybopper audiences, the tour’s promoter Dick Clark and Hendrix’s manager Chas Chandler concoct a story saying that the conservative Daughters of the American Revolution group had complained at Jimi’s act and so the Experience left the tour after just six shows.

1969, Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” John Lennon returned to the studio after recovering from a car crash in Scotland, and a bed was installed in the Abbey Road studio for Yoko, who was pregnant, and who had been more seriously injured in the car accident.

1971, Jim Morrison is quietly buried in Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery, making it a necessary stop on any rock fan’s European itinerary.

1972, Paul McCartney and Wings played their very first show in the small French town of Chateauvillon. The band included Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough, and Paul’s wife, Linda. It was McCartney’s first time on the road since the Beatles quit touring in 1966.

1974, Crosby Stills Nash & Young kicked off a reunion tour in Seattle in front of 15,000 fans.

1976, The Pretty Things, Supercharge, and third on the bill, The Sex Pistols, all appeared at The Lyceum, London, England, tickets £1.75 ($2.63.)

1977, Alan O’Day went to number one on the US singles chart with “Undercover Angel,” his only solo hit.

1977, Elvis Costello quit his day job at Elizabeth Arden Cosmetics to become a full time musician.

1978, The Rolling Stones drop in on Chicago’s Quiet Knight club to jam with hero Muddy Waters.

1979, The Pretenders kicked off a 23-date UK tour at Smatyz, Chester. The band’s single “Kid” was released that week.

1983, The Police started an eight week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Every Breath You Take” It was also a chart topper in the UK. Taken from the band’s album Synchronicity, Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance for the song at the 1984 Grammy Awards.

1983, Wham! went to number one on the UK album chart with their debut release Fantastic!, which went on to spend 116 weeks on the chart.

1988, Cheap Trick went to number one on the US singles chart with “The Flame,” the group’s only US chart topper.

1995, The Grateful Dead give their last concert with leader Jerry Garcia at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Jerry would die of a heart attack a month later while in drug rehab. The last song played at the concert – “Box of Rain.”

2006, Muse started a two week run at number one on the UK album chart with Black Holes & Revelations, the band’s fifth album release and second chart topper.

2006, Lily Allen scored her first UK number one single with “Smile.” The organ riff is a sample of Jackie Mittoo playing keyboards on “Free Soul” by The Soul Brothers. Lily’s actor dad, Keith Allen, was part of the Fat Les band who had a hit with “Vindaloo” in 1998.

2011, Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant joined three local musicians at a fundraising charity show in Monmouth Wales, where tickets cost £3 ($4.50.) 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 9: Bon Scott, AC/DC (1946); Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix Experience (1947); Jim Kerr, Simple Minds (1959); Courtney Love (1965);  Jack White (1975)

Get more Today in Rock History

Today in Rock History – March 9

by

marquee-club1967, Pink Floyd and The Thoughts appeared at the Marquee, London, England. The Marquee club has often been defined as “the most important venue in the history of pop music,” not only for having been the scene of the development of modern music culture in London, but also for having been an essential meeting point for some of the most important artists in rock music.
1967, The Small Faces, Family and The Strollers appeared at the Skyline Ballroom, Hull, Yorkshire.
1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Skyline Hotel in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England

1968, Bob Dylan started a ten week run at number one on the UK chart with John Wesley Harding. The album marked Dylan’s return to acoustic music after three albums of electric rock music and was exceptionally well received by critics, also reaching the second spot on the US charts. The commercial performance was considered remarkable, considering that Dylan had made Columbia Records release the album without much publicity.

1968, Jimi Hendrix and Soft Machine played at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York.

1968, The Who return to the site of their first non-New York U.S. show, the Grande Ballroom in Dearborn, Michigan, with Soap opening. At this show The Who add “Little Billy” to their show list. They also break all attendance records for the ballroom.

Jefferson Airplane

1968, This year’s edition of Who’s Who in America becomes the first to include notable rock stars other than Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Making the cut are the Rolling Stones, the Jefferson Airplane, the Mamas & the Papas, the Doors, Monkees, the Grateful Dead, and Donovan. Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan are inexplicably omitted.

1969, Janis Joplin played at the University of Toledo Fieldhouse in Toledo, Ohio.

1969, CBS aired a rerun of the The Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour, a variety show notable for its satiric humor and musical appearances by the Beatles, the Doors, and the Who. The program came under fire when guest Joan Baez used her appearance to publicize the predicament of her husband, who had been arrested for objecting to the draft.  The network explained the decision by stating that because that week’s episode did not arrive in time to be previewed, it would not be shown. An edited version aired two months later.

1970, Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London.
1971, Led Zeppelin appeared at Leeds University, Leeds, England, during their “Back To The Clubs” tour. This was the first tour which saw Zeppelin performing ‘Stairway To Heaven’, ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Going To California.’
1972, James Taylor, Carole King and Barbra Streisand perform a benefit concert for Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.

1973, Black Sabbath kicked off an 8-date sold out UK tour at Green’s Playhouse, Glasgow.

1974, Aerosmith appeared at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.

1975, Actor Telly Savalas was at number one on the singles chart with his version of the David Gates song “If.” Savalas was riding the wave of popularity from his hit television show Kojak.

1975, Genesis played at the Nuevo Pabellon Club, Badalona, Spain.

1976, David Bowie appeared at the Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida.

1977, The Jacksons CBS show was aired for the last time on US TV finishing at the bottom of the ratings.

The Sex Pistols

1977, The Sex Pistols, with Sid Vicious as their new bassist, sign with A&M in the label’s London offices. The next day they will stage a publicity stunt in which they sign a contract in front of Buckingham Palace.

1978, Bob Dylan performs at the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand.

1981, Robert Plant played a secret gig at Keele University, England with his new band The Honey Drippers.

1984, Yes performed at the  Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois.

1985, Mick Jagger released his solo single “Just Another Night.” It was a number 12 hit in the US and number 32 on the UK charts.

1985, Dead Or Alive were at number one on the UK singles chart with “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record.”) It was the first chart topper for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman who went on to produce over 100 UK Top 40 hits.

1991, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” gave The Clash their only UK number one single after the track was used for a Levi’s TV advertisement. The track was first released in 1982 from their album Combat Rock.

1997, Notorious BIG was gunned down and killed as he left a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Born Christopher Wallace, the rapper was pronounced dead on arrival at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He was 24 years old.

2005, 53-year-old Danny Joe Brown, the original lead singer of Molly Hatchet, died from renal failure due to complications from diabetes.

2007, Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in at his home in the New Hampshire town of Atkinson. He died from the smoke of two charcoal grills he’d lit inside his sealed master bathroom. He was found by police lying on a pillow on his bathroom floor with a note paper-clipped to his shirt which read: “Mr. Brad Delp. I am a lonely soul.”

Born on March 9: Ornette Coleman, jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, composer (1930); Lloyd Price, singer-songwriter (1933); Mickey Gilley (1936); John Cale, Welsh singer-songwriter, viola, and producer, The Velvet Underground (1942); Mark Lindsay, Paul Revere & The Raiders (1942);  Robin Trower (1945); Robert Calvert, English singer-songwriter, Hawkwind (1945); Chris Thompson, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1948); Trevor Burton, The Move (1949);Jimmy Fadden, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1949); Martin Fry, vocals, ABC (1958); Pete Wishart, Scottish singer, politician, Big Country (1962); Brendan Canty, American drummer, songwriter Fugazi (1966); Johnny Kelly, American drummer, Type O Negative, Danzig, A Pale Horse Named Death (1968); Shannon Leto, American drummer, actor, Thirty Seconds to Mars, The Wondergirls (1970);

Get more Today in Rock History

Today in Rock History – August 4

by

PInk-Floyd-Piper_at_the_Gates_of_Dawn1967, Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn in the UK, on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett.  When reviewed by the two main UK music papers, Record Mirror and NME both gave the album four stars out of five. The album was recorded at Abbey Road studios, London during the same time that The Beatles were recording Sgt Pepper’s. It peaked at number six on the UK album chart, and failed to chart in the US, when it was released on October 21st. Since that time, it has come to be regarded as a significant album in psychedelic rock.

1967, The Who performed at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

1967, A female Monkees fan stowed away on the band’s plane between shows in Minneapolis and St Louis. The girl’s father threatened to bring charges for transporting a minor across state lines.

1968, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas.

1968, The second day of the two day Newport Pop Festival took place in Costa Mesa, California with Blue Cheer, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Grateful Dead, Illinois Speed Press, Iron Butterfly, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Byrds. Over 100,000 fans attended the festival.

1970, After falling asleep on a woman’s porch in Los Angeles, Jim Morrison is arrested for public drunkenness.

1971, Emerson Lake & Palmer appeared at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Community Theater, Berkeley, California.

1974, KISS performed at the Morris Civic Auditorium, South Bend, Indiana.

1975, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife were both badly injured when the rented car he was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes. Plant smashed both his ankle and his elbow, and was not fully fit for the best part of two years. A forthcoming North American tour had to be cancelled.

1976, The Grateful Dead played at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey.

1977, AC/DC played at Dubs, Gainesville, Florida.

1979, A benefit concert was held to raise money for Little Feat guitarist and singer Lowell George, featuring members of his band plus Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt.

1979, Led Zeppelin play to 120,000 people at Knebworth Park in England. It was their first concert in the U.K. in four years.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult appeared at the Mary E. Sawyer Auditorium, LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

1980, John Lennon began recording what would become his final album, Double Fantasy, at The Hit Factory, New York.

1980, Pink Floyd kick off five nights of The Wall tour at London’s Earls Court. During the ambitious show, a giant wall is built across the stage between the band and the audience.

1981, Bruce Springsteen performed at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1982, Metallica played at the Whiskey A-Go-Go, Hollywood, California.

1984, Prince started a 24-week run at the top of the US album charts with Purple Rain. His sixth studio album which features the hits “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” along with the title track. It has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, becoming the seventh best-selling soundtrack album of all time.

1990, Mariah Carey’s started a four week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Vision Of Love,” her debut release. The song was nominated for three Grammy Awards at the 33rd annual ceremony, held on February 20, 1991, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, winning the latter.

1996, Oasis played two sold out nights at Balloch Castle Country Park, Loch Lomand, Scotland to over 80,000 fans.

2001, Dave Stewart married fashion photographer Anouska Fisz on a private beach on the French Riviera. Guest’s included Elton John, Mick Jagger, Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, and his former Eurythmics partner Annie Lennox.

2002, Bruce Springsteen scored his fifth UK number one album with The Rising, also a chart topper in the US.

2005, American blues singer and guitarist Little Milton died. Milton had suffered a brain aneurysm on  July 25th and had lapsed into a coma. In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who at the time a talent scout for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles, including the 1965 US number 25 single “We’re Gonna Make It,” and 1969’s “Grits Ain’t Groceries.”

2007, US singer, songwriter Lee Hazlewood died of cancer, in his home near Las Vegas aged 78. Hazlewood wrote and produced many of Nancy Sinatra’s most famous hits, including “These Boots Were Made For Walkin’,” “Jackson,” and “Did You Ever” as well as “Something Stupid,” the duet Nancy recorded with her father Frank in 1967. Hazelwood also produced Duane Eddy and Gram Parsons.

Born on August 4: Louis Armstrong (1901); Elsberry Hobbs, The Drifters (1936); Larry Knechtel, guitar, Keyboards, Bread (1940); Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream (1947); Robbin Crosby,  guitarist, Ratt(1958); Paul Reynolds, A Flock Of Seagulls (1962); Max Cavalera,  singer, guitarist, Sepultura (1969); Tom Parker, singer, The Wanted (1988)

Get more Today in Rock History

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin (“Celebration Day”)

by

OK, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and make a statement that will have Led Zep fans loathing my very existence. The Led Zeppelin of the 2007 reunion show and recent “Celebration Day” DVD/CD are so much better in every way than the Led Zeppelin of “The Song Remains The Same” circa 1973. Or, at least, the slightly touched up Led Zep of 2007 is better than the 1973 model. While it’s tough to compare a band that’s fresh off of releasing an album like “Houses Of The Holy” with a bunch of semi-retired veterans who have remained somewhat active over the years with various projects of relative merit, this final lap around the track for Led Zep ’07 found them a tight, succinct unit. In contrast, the Led Zep of 1973 were often sloppy, bombastic and ponderous on stage, making the “Song” soundtrack and bootleg concerts from the ’73 tour unlistenable at times. I will concede that Robert Plant’s voice is just a mere shadow of the miraculous wonder of a voice he had back in the day, but Plant rose to the occasion for the 2007 reunion, and with the addition of studio postproduction touch-ups, his voice sounds terrific here too. Besides, the 1973 Madison Square Garden recordings that provided the soundtrack to “The Song Remains The Same,” were also heavily touched up. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are as great as ever in 2007, and the band looks and sounds like they are having a ball on stage. And what can be said about Jason Bonham, other than there are no better substitutes for father John than his son, who makes mincemeat out of his drum skins. Now let’s talk image a little bit…” The film portrayed the band members via mystical vignettes that were just plain silly (and slightly boring) in 1976 when the film was released, although with hindsight those prog-rock visuals do come off somewhat nostalgic today (and still pretty silly). The “Celebration Day” film and concert is all business with none of the histrionics that surrounded the reunion (resulting in over 20 million requests for tickets to the show), with a focus squarely on the band and the occasion. I really didn’t want to buy into the whole “Celebration Day” hype machine, but I must admit that I am sitting here with a big grin on my face enjoying the latest installment in the Led Zep cannon. So, is “Celebration Day,” essential listening? Maybe not, but for anyone who remembers laughter, it’s a welcome addition to their discography…and heck, I’d go see them in a heartbeat if they decided to take the show on the road!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #79 – Led Zeppelin: “D’yer Mak’er” b/w “The Crunge”– Atlantic 45-2986 (S8/T8)

by

ledzeppelindyermaker45ledzeppelinthecrunge45

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #79 – Led Zeppelin: “D’yer Mak’er” b/w “The Crunge”– Atlantic 45-2986 (S8/T8)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

I jumped onto the Led Zeppelin bandwagon after the release of Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso) and the single “Stairway To Heaven” in 1972 when I was eleven years old. You couldn’t escape “Stairway” on FM radio and, at the time, I had no notion that they had existed before that record. With further investigation, I came to discover the three records before Led Zeppelin IV, although that came much later.

So when the mighty Zeppelin (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham) delivered their fifth album Houses Of The Holy in 1973, I was firmly in their camp as a fan as was most of my peer group.  But for older, long-time fans of the band, the release of Houses was met with much derision and whisperings of selling out due to the album’s first single “Dancing Days,” which was the most radio-friendly track the band had ever released. When fans began playing the record, they found several other tracks to gripe about including today’s jukebox classic and second single from the album, “D’yer Mak’er” backed with “The Crunge,” which really made the die-hard rockin’ blues-based Zep fans really cry foul.

“D’yer Mak’er” is an awkward hybrid of reggae and doo wop that is loaded with charm, a term seldom used to describe Led Zeppelin, and an attribute that Led Zep fans didn’t find to their liking. Jimmy Page: “I didn’t expect people not to get it. I thought it was pretty obvious. The song itself was a cross between reggae and a ’50s number, “Poor Little Fool,” Ben E. King’s things, stuff like that.” (Schulps, Dave (October 1977). “Interview with Jimmy Page”. Trouser Press via Wikipedia)

It was one of the few in the Zeppelin catalog where all four members of the band shared writing credits since it sprang forth from a studio jam. The band was never serious about the track as it was initially conceived as a joke, and bassist John Paul Jones went out of his way on numerous occasions to let it be known that he never liked the song. As a result, it was never performed in its entirety by the band in concert, although it did occasionally feature in the medley of tunes the band would incorporate into “Whole Lotta Love” on stage. That said, it was a commercial track and Atlantic Records in America chose to release it as a single which climbed to #20 on the charts.

The title of the song has several meanings including a slang for the phrase “Did you make her” which loosely translates to did you get to have sex with her. Another interpretation of the title was derived from an old Jamaican joke that went like this: “My wife’s gone to the Caribbean.” “Jamaica?” (which in Jamaican patois is pronounced “D’you make her?”) “No, she went down on her own.” Yuk, yuk, yuk…Ba-da, bum!

The flip of today’s single finds the mighty Zep tapping into their inner James Brown with aplomb on an ultra-funky workout that evolved out of another studio jam session.  It is one of the greatest recordings the band ever committed to vinyl showing off just how tight they were while capturing a jerky groove with ever-changing time signatures. It is also one of John Paul Jones’ favorite Zeppelin recordings.

The song pays homage to James Brown with it’s ending line, “Where’s that confounded bridge?” The line is a reference to James Brown’s penchant for recording live in the studio and shouting out orders to the band on the fly, including “Take it to the bridge.” Since “The Crunge” doesn’t have a bridge, the line grinds the song to an abrupt halt. Additionally, the lyrics “Ain’t gonna call me Mr. Pitiful, no I don’t need no respect from nobody,” pay tribute to Otis Redding’s recordings of “Mr. Pitiful” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”