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Today in Rock History – June 13

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1967, The Bee Gees appeared live on the UK TV show As You Like It. The group were promoting their debut single “New York Mining Disaster 1941.”

1968, Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Hallucinations performed at Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.

1969, The Who stage the Hollywood premiere of Tommy, performing the rock opera at the Hollywood Palladium as part of the “Magic Circus” with fellow acts Poco, and the Bonzo Dog Band. Attending the show are Janis Joplin, Spirit, Mama Cass Elliot, David Crosby, Peter Tork and The Turtles.

1969, The Rolling Stones held a photo call in Hyde Park to introduce new guitarist Mick Taylor. The 20 year-old former John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers member made his live debut with the Stones the following month at a free concert at Hyde Park London.

1969, Glen Campbell played at the Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

1969,  Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Sam & Dave, and the Staple Singers perform at the Soul Bowl ’69, held at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

1969, The Grateful Dead performed at the Convention Center in Fresno, California.

1969, Led Zeppelin play at Town Hall in Birmingham, the first of eleven shows in England and France before returning to the US. Supporting acts were Liverpool Scene and Blodwyn Pig

1969, Pink Floyd played at the Great Hall, Devonshire House at the University of Exeter, in Exeter, England.

1970, The Beatles started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “The Long And Winding Road,” the group’s 20th chart topper. The album Let It Be started a four-week run at number one the US album chart on the same day.

1970, Grand Funk Railroad, supported by Steel Mill, featuring Bruce Springsteen, appeared at the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown, New Jersey, tickets cost $5.00 (£3.33.)

1970, Christine Perfect says she will retire from music following the release of her self-titled solo album. However, she later becomes a member of her husband, John McVie’s, band, Fleetwood Mac.

1971, Grin, led by Nils Lofgrin played at the Alexandria Roller Rink, Alexandria, Virginia.

1972, The Rolling Stones performed at the San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1972, Clyde McPhatter, original lead vocalist with The Drifters, died of a heart attack in New York. He joined Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1950, formed The Drifters in 1953, and had several solo hits including 1962’s “Lover Please.” He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

1973, David Bowie played at the Gaumont State Theatre, London.

1974, King Crimson appeared Cow Palace in San Francisco.

1974, David Bowie, Corinne “Coco” Schwab., Stuey George and driver Jim James leave the MainMan suite at the Sherry Netherland Hotel in New York to begin the nine hour trip by limousine to Montreal for the start of the “Diamond Dogs” tour.

1975, John Lennon made his last ever TV appearance when he appeared on Salute To Sir Lew Grade, performing “Slippin And Slidin,” and “Imagine.”

1976, Aerosmith appeared at the Civic Center, Charleston, West Virginia.

1977, Crosby Stills and Nash performed at the Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island.

1977, Rush played at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, England.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York.

1980, Before a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game, Pat Benatar performs a short set and dances with the team mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

1980, “Roadie” opens across America. Appearing in the film are VH1 giants Meat Loaf, Blondie, Pat Benatar, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, and Styx.

1980, The Grateful Dead performs at the Seattle Center Coliseum, in Seattle, Washington.

1981, Smokey Robinson was at number one on the UK singles chart with a song he wrote in the late 60’s. “Being With You.” It was his first solo chart topper.

1984, Yes appeared at the Falkoner Teater, Copenhagen, Denmark.

1988, The biggest charity Rock concert since Live Aid in 1985 took place at London’s Wembley Stadium, to rally against South African apartheid. Among the performers were Sting, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Dire Straits. Half the money raised went towards anti-apartheid activities in Britain, the rest was donated to children’s charities in southern Africa.

1992, Erasure started a five-week run at number one in the UK with the Abba-Esque EP. The release featured four covers of Abba hits and Vince Clark & Andy Bell dressed up as the two female members of Abba for the videos.

1992, Billy Ray Cyrus started a 17-week run at number one on the US album chart with Some Gave All. His debut album featured the world-wide breakthrough song “Achy Breaky Heart,” which was originally recorded as “Don’t Tell My Heart” by The Marcy Brothers on their 1991 self-titled album.

1995, Alanis Morissette released her studio album, Jagged Little Pill. The album went on to sell over 30 million copies world-wide, and made Morissette the first female Canadian to score a US number one album. Jagged Little Pill featured the massive hits “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket,” “Ironic,” and “You Learn.”

2003, The Arctic Monkeys made their live debut at The Grapes pub in Sheffield, England. They received £27 ($46) from ticket sales.

2015, Rapper MC Supreme was killed in Malibu, California when a pickup truck hit his parked car on the shoulder of the Pacific Coast Highway. The 47-year-old “Black in America” performer, whose real name was Dewayne Coleman, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Born on June 13: Uriel Jones, session drummer, the Funk Brothers (1934); Bobby Freeman, singer (1940); Marv Tarplin, American guitarist, songwriter, the Miracles (1941);  Malcolm McDowell, actor  (1943); Dennis Locorriere, guitar, Dr Hook (1949); Howard Leese, American guitarist, producer, Bad Company, Heart (1951); Paul De Lisle, American bass player, songwriter, Smash Mouth (1963); Denise Pearson, English singer-songwriter, Five Star (1968); Rivers Cuomo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Weezer, Avant Garde, Homie (1970);

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Today in Rock History – June 11

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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 – June 6

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1965, Herman’s Hermits play The Ed Sullivan Show.

1965, The Rolling Stones released the single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on the Decca label in the US. The song also featured on the American version of the Rolling Stones’ fourth studio album, Out of Our Heads, released that July.

1965, The Who played at St. Joseph’s Hall in London.

1966, Roy Orbison’s first wife, Claudette, was killed when a truck pulled out of a side road and collided with the motorbike that she and her husband were riding on in Gallatin, Texas, she was 25.

1966, The Who head from Sweden to Denmark, flying into Copenhagen. That night Keith Moon and John Entwistle go drinking at the Carousel Club and sit in for a set with The Tremeloes.

1968, Screaming Lord Sutch appeared at the Freehold Hullabaloo in Freehold, New Jersey. Sutch was touring the East Coast in a old custom-painted Rolls Royce hearse. The support band was The Castiles, with Bruce Springsteen on vocals).

1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Soul Survivors appeared at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.

1969, Rod Stewart signs as a solo artist to Mercury Records.

1970, Christie were at number one on the singles chart with “Yellow River,” the group’s only chart topper. Written by Jeff Christie for the Tremeloes who turned it down, so he recorded it himself.

1970, Felix Cavaliere & The Rascals played at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

1970, Syd Barrett played his first gig since leaving Pink Floyd at the Extraveganza ’70, at London’s Olympia. He was joined on stage by Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.

1970, This is the third of a four night residency for the Grateful Dead at San Francisco’s Fillmore West.

1970, The Doors appeared at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia.

1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono jammed live on stage with Frank Zappa at The Filmore East in New York. Some of these recordings were released in 1972, on John Lennon’s third post-Beatles album, Some Time in New York City.

1971, This date was the last broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show. Ed’s final musical guests are Gladys Knight & the Pips.

1972, David Bowie releases his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

1973, King Crimson played at Ellis Auditorium, Memphis, Tennessee.

1974, Billy Swan records his chart topping song “I Can Help.”

1975, Pink Floyd fly to America for a tour. It would end in disaster when an addled Roger Waters spits on the audience. The event would serve as the inspiration for writing The Wall in an attempt to exorcise his demons.

1975, The Rolling Stones appeared at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri.

1976, Genesis performed at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1977, Queen appeared at Earls Court in London, England.

1977, Students at UCLA are shocked when Stevie Wonder appears as a guest lecturer, talking about his experiences with Motown and then performing music by way of illustration.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

1979, Def Leppard played at Crookes Workingman’s Club in Sheffield. The gig was reviewed in UK music paper Sounds and led to a recording contract with Phonogram Records.

1981, Van Halen appeared at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.

1982, Tom Petty, Crosby Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks and Jackson Browne all appeared at The Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California to a crowd of 85,000 fans at the six hour Peace Sunday, We Have A Dream antinuclear concert. Dylan was joined onstage with Joan Baez and duetted with her on “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “With God On Our Side.” The show was partly broadcast on ABC TV’s Entertainment Tonight program on the same day.

1984, Blue Oyster Cult performed at the Agora Ballroom,  a “cavernous” former bowling alley in an industrial area in Hartford, Connecticut.

1986, A&R man Dick Rowe died of diabetes. Rowe became famous for not signing The Beatles to Decca records and made the classic quote “Nobody cares about guitar group’s anymore.” He did however sign The Rolling Stones to Decca.

2003, Keyboard player with The Animals Dave Rowberry died aged 62. He replaced Alan Price who left in 1965. The Animals had the 1964 UK and US number one single “House Of The Rising Sun.”

2006, Billy Preston died of kidney failure. The Grammy-winning keyboard player collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.

Born on June 6: Levi Stubbs, The Four Tops (1936); Gary “US” Bonds (1939); Clarence White, The Byrds (1944); and Steve Vai, guitarist, Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake (1960)

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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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Today in Rock History – May 19

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beatles -sgtpeppers1967, The Beatles held a press party at manager Brian Epstein’s house in London for the launch of the Sgt. Pepper’s album. Linda Eastman was hired as the press photographer.

1967, Pink Floyd played at Club A’ Go Go in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England.

1969, The Who appeared at The Rock Pile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1970, New Riders of the Purple Sage, along with The Grateful Dead, performed at the Washington University Quadrangle in St. Louis, Missouri.

1971, Emerson, Lake And Palmer and Mott the Hoople played at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri.

1971, King Crimson performed at the Lyceum Ballroom in London.

1972, David Bowie appeared at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.

1973, Stevie Wonder went to number one on the US singles chart with “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.” His third chart topper, it was the second release from Talking Book.

1973, Paul Simon released the single “Kodachrome” which became a hit in the US, but was banned from airplay in the UK because it contained a brand name.

1973, Humble Pie played at Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York.

1973, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Fairground Coliseum, Columbus, Ohio.

1974, The Grateful Dead performed at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

1976, Bob Dylan played at Henry Levitt Arena, Wichita, Kansas.

1976, Rolling Stone Keith Richards crashed his car near Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England, after falling asleep at the wheel.

1976, Aerosmith performed at the Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville, Alabama.

1978, Dire Straits released their first major label single “Sultans Of Swing.”

1979, Van Halen appeared at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1979, Eric Clapton held a party at his Surrey house celebrating his recent marriage to Patti Boyd. Clapton had set-up a small stage in the garden and as the evening progressed, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr ended up jamming together along with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Mick Jagger. The jam session comprised a selection of Little Richard and Eddie Cochran songs.

1979, Supertramp went to number one on the US album chart with Breakfast In America, the group’s only chart topper.

1980, Black Sabbath played at City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England.

1980, Ringo Starr and his future wife, actress Barbara Bach were involved in a car crash less than half a mile from where Marc Bolan was killed, the car was totaled, but Starr and Bach were not seriously injured.

1982, Blue Oyster Cult appeared at Rudi Sedlmayr Halle, Munich, Germany.

1983, Roxy Music performed at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

1984, Bob Marley and the Wailers started a 12-week run at number one on the UK album chart with the compilation album Legend, released to commemorate the third anniversary of Marley’s death. It reached the fifth spot in the US. Legend is the best-selling reggae album of all-time, with over 15 million copies sold in the United States and an estimated 25 million copies sold globally.

1988, James Brown was arrested for the fifth time in 12 months, following a car chase near his home, he was charged with assault, resisting arrest and being in charge of illegal weapons, he was given a 6 year jail sentence.

2001, Mike Sammes founder of The Mike Sammes Singers died aged 73. He worked with Tom Jones, Cliff Richard and featured on The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” and “The Long And Winding Road.”

2007, Lawyers for Michael Jackson dropped an effort to block an auction of the star’s personal belongings and other Jackson family items. An agreement was reached with representatives of an auctioneer, who was the current owner of the materials, and a New Jersey man who claimed to own a warehouse full of Jackson memorabilia, after a failed business venture wound up in bankruptcy court.

2013, A guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison sold for $408,000 (£269,000) at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by VOX was bought by an unidentified US buyer in New York. Harrison played “I Am The Walrus” on the guitar in a scene from Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Lennon used it in a video for “Hello, Goodbye” later that year. After playing the guitar, Lennon gave it as a 25th birthday present to Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas, a member of The Beatles’ inner circle in the 1960s.

Born on this day:  Pete Townshend (1945); Tom Scott, saxophonist (1946); Greg Herbert, Blood Sweat & Tears (1947); Dusty Hill, ZZ Top (1949); Grace Jones and Joey Ramone (1952); and Philip Rudd, drums, AC/DC (1954)

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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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Song Of The Day – “We Can Work It Out” by Stevie Wonder

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steviewondersignedsealedHe was no longer little…but he was not yet big either…

By 1970, Stevie Wonder had grown restless with the constraints that Motown Records put upon his creativity. Rather than continue to create commercial fodder that was sure to climb the charts, Wonder wanted to dig deeper by addressing social concerns with his music, and exploring different instrumentation on his records. On his 1970 album Signed, Sealed & Delivered, he began to spread his musical wings and display a newfound maturity in his songwriting and his singing, particularly on songs like “I Can’t Let Heaven Walk Away,” “Something To Say” and “Never Had A Dream Come True.”

Sure, he still had the ability to give Motown what they wanted, but Wonder craved more control over his recordings, and for this album he wrote or co-wrote seven of the tracks and received full production credit for the first time. (In reality, he actually only produced two of the tracks and co-produced three more.)

Along with the hit title track (#1 R&B, #3 Pop), the album also featured the singles “Heaven Help Us All” (#9 Pop), “Never Had a Dream Come True” (#11 R&B) and Wonder’s cover of The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” (#13 Pop). Wonder’s version of the Beatles classic announces its intention right from the get-go with one of the most succinct and exciting organ intros ever to grace the Motown label. From there, it’s a non-stop soul fest compete with Wonder’s exuberant lead vocals over funky harmonica riffing flying around the mix. The recording earned Wonder his second Grammy Award nomination, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, while the album hit #25 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and also climbed to the #7 spot on the R&B Albums chart.

The song was credited to Lennon and McCartney; however the lyrics were primarily written by McCartney and were about his relationship with then girlfriend Jane Asher. The Beatles’ recorded it during the sessions for Rubber Soul, and released it as one side of a double A-sided single with “Day Tripper” on the flip.

Wonder’s version was heard playing over the closing credits of the 2005 film Kicking And Screaming. He also performed his version of the song at The White House to honor Paul McCartney in 2010 when McCartney was awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress.

While the release of Signed, Sealed & Delivered was a somewhat tentative step toward full-blown maturity on vinyl, It did bring Wonder one step closer on the road to world class albums like Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Songs In The Key Of Life.

Today in Rock History – May 10

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1966, A year after returning to her home state of Texas from San Francisco, Janis Joplin heads west again. She was summoned by Chet Helms, a friend who is now managing Big Brother & the Holding Company. He dispatches Travis Rivers, an old acquaintance of Janis’ from her Port Arthur, Texas days to convince the singer to join Big Brother. Joplin had even considered becoming a member of 13th Floor Elevators.

1967, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards appeared at Chichester Crown Court, Sussex, charged with being in possession of drugs, they elect to go to trial pleading not guilty and were both granted £100 bail.

1968, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Fillmore East in New York.

1968, Jim Morrison incites a riot at a Doors gig in Chicago.

1969, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, The Move, Status Quo, Tremeloes, Marmalade, Love Sculpture, Van Der Graaf Generator all appeared at Nottingham’s Pop & Blues Festival, held at the Notts County Football Ground, Nottingham, England. Presented by John Peel, tickets 22/6 at the gate. Floyd closed the day’s events, playing in the pouring rain.

1969, The Who played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, The Moody Blues started a two-week run at number one on the album chart with On The Threshold Of A Dream. It was their first number one album.

1969, The Turtles gave a special performance at the White House as guests of Trica Nixon. Stories circulate concerning members of the group allegedly snorted cocaine on Abraham Lincoln’s desk.

1969, Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way” made the British Top ten for the first time. Over the next three years it re-entered the Top 50 singles chart on eight different occasions. Paul Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, after he told Anka he was quitting the music business. Anka changed the melodic structure and lyrics to the song with Sinatra in mind.

1969, Led Zeppelin made their first appearance on the album chart when the bands debut album charted at number six, going on to spend 71 weeks on the UK album chart. It entered the US chart the following week at number ten. Now considered one of the most important debuts in rock, creating an entirely new interpretation of the rock and roll genre because of the groundbreaking music and recording techniques. The album was recorded in thirty-six hours.

1969, The Who played the first of three nights at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan on their North American Tommy tour.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Sports Arena, Atlanta, Georgia.

1970, David Bowie was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Song “Space Oddity,” which he performed that night accompanied by the Les Reed Orchestra. The event was transmitted live via satellite to venues in America, France, Spain, Australia, Holland and Venezuela. Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs “Ashes to Ashes” and “Hallo Spaceboy.”

1971, Yes appeared at Teatro Lirico, Milan, Italy.

1972, Hawkwind played at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1974, The Who sold out Madison Square Gardens in New York City for four nights selling 80,000 tickets.

1974, Queen appeared at the Uris Theater, New York.

1974, Eric Clapton records “I Shot the Sheriff.”

1974, A party to celebrate the launch of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label at Los Angeles’ Bel Air Hotel ends with the guests tossing food and chinaware at one another.

1975, Stevie Wonder played in front of 125,000 fans at a free concert near the Washington Monument to celebrate Human Kindness Day.

1976, Aerosmith played at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1976, The Rolling Stones kicked off a 12-date UK tour at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow.

1977, Rush appeared at the Riverside Theatre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1979, Roxy Music played at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1980, Pete Townshend’s solo album Empty Glass is released in the U.S. John Rockwell in The New York Times says, “it a success that sounds like The Who of a decade before,” while Jon Parales in Mademoiselle says it shows “Pete has risen to the challenge set forth by punk rock.”

1980, Bob Dylan performed at City Hall, Portland, Maine.

1984, David Gilmour played at the Forum in Montreal.

1986, Falco was at number one on the UK singles chart with “Rock Me Amadeus.” Falco became the first-ever Austrian act to score a UK and US number one hit single and the first German speaking artist to achieve a US chart topper. Falco died of severe injuries received on  February 6, 1998, when his sports car collided with a bus in the Dominican Republic. It was later determined that the bus driver was speeding, for which the driver served three years in prison.

1997, The Hillsborough Benefit gig took place at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium with The Beautiful South, Manic Street Preachers, Dodgy, Space, Stereophonics and The Lightning Seeds.

1999, American singer, songwriter poet, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children’s books Shel Silverstein died of a heart attack aged 57. He penned “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash, which earned Silverstein won a Grammy for in 197o. He also authored many songs for Dr Hook including “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover of the Rolling Stone.”

2010, New York City’s Apollo Theatre began installing bronze plaques on the sidewalk outside the building of legends who had close ties to the theater. Among the first to be honored were James Brown, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson and Ella Fitzgerald.

Born on this day –  Dave Mason, Donovan, and Graham Gouldman, 10cc (1946); Jay Ferguson, Spirit (1947); Sid Vicious (1957); and Bono (1960)

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Today in Rock History – April 27

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beatles-studio-19661966, The Beatles began recording the new John Lennon song “I’m Only Sleeping” at Abbey Road studios London, England. Recording began at 11:30 PM. The band recorded 13 takes, concluding on May 6th. The song features the then-unique sound of a reversed guitar duet played by George Harrison, partly because the tape was played backwards accidentally.  Paul McCartney wanted to see if the band could recreate the sound. George recorded two guitar parts specifically for that purpose. It was released on the album Yesterday And Today.

1968, Simon & Garfunkel release “Mrs. Robinson” from The Graduate soundtrack.

1969, Joe Cocker makes his debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1969, The Who performed at the Kinema Ballroom, Dunfermline, England.

1969, Pink Floyd appeared at Mothers Club in Erdington, Birmingham, England. Radio 1 DJ John Peel served as the emcee,  He wrote in his weekly column for Disc & Music Echo, “At one moment they are laying surfaces of sound one upon another in symphonic thunder; at another isolated, incredibly melancholy sounds which cross another sounding like dying galaxies lost in sheer corridors of time and space.”

1970, David Bowie and The Hype, Barclay James Harvest, High Tide and The Purple Gang all appeared at Stockport Grammar School, England.

1971, The Grateful Dead performed at the Fillmore East in New York City. The Beach Boys also appeared on stage with the Dead, who together performed a short set of Beach Boys songs.

1972, Pink Floyd appeared at Ford Auditorium, Detroit, Michigan.

1973, King Crimson played at Irvine Auditorium, Philadelphia.

1974, A free afternoon event was held in the parking lot of the University of Connecticut, Ice Hockey Arena in Storrs. The four acts that appeared, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Fairport Convention, and Fat Back. Springsteen then went on to play another gig that evening at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

1974, Genesis appeared at the Century Theatre, Buffalo, New York.

pink-floyd-19751975, Pink Floyd played the last of a four night run at Los Angeles’ Sports Arena. A total of 511 fans were arrested over the four nights for possession of marijuana.

1976, Customs officers on a train at the Russian/Polish Border detained David Bowie, after Nazi books and mementos were found in his luggage. Bowie claimed that the material was being used for research on a movie project about Nazi propaganda leader Joseph Paul Goebbels.

1977, Eric Clapton performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.

1978, David Bowie appeared at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1979, Roxy Music played at the Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan.

1980, Rush performed at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1981, Ringo Starr married actress and one time “Bond Girl” Barbara Bach. The pair met while filming the movie, Caveman, with Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long. In attendance at the wedding were George Harrison and Paul McCartney.

1985, USA For Africa started a three-week run at number one on the US chart with “We Are The World.” The US artists’ answer to Band Aid had an all-star cast including Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon plus the composer’s of the track, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

1996, Oasis played the first of two nights at Manchester’s Maine Road football ground as a ‘thank you’ to their fans, the 80,000 tickets sold out in hours.

2003, Madonna went to number one on the UK album chart with American Life, the Material Girl’s eighth chart topping album. It also reached the top spot on the US album charts.

2009, Aerosmith were to hold a free concert in Hawaii to placate angry fans who brought a legal case against them. Fans filed a class action case, which claimed the band had cancelled a sold-out show in Maui two years ago, leaving hundreds of fans out of pocket in favor of a bigger gig in Chicago. Lawyers for the would-be concert-goers said Aerosmith had now agreed to put on a new show, and would pay all expenses. Everyone who bought a ticket to the original concert would receive a free ticket.

Born on April 27: Casey Kasem (1932) Jerry Mercer, drummer, Mashmakhan, April Wine (1939); Jim Keltner, drummer, Traveling Wilburys, Plastic Ono Band, and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends (1939); Gordon Haskell, King Crimson (1947); Pete Ham, Badfinger (1947); Kate Pierson, The B-52’s (1948); Ace Frehley, Kiss (1951); Sheena Easton (1959); Will Boyd, bass, Evanescence, American Princes, and The Visitors (1979)

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hold On Longer” by John Legend

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johnlegendloveThis spectacular piece of song craft and mood comes from John Legend’s latest album Love In The Future. I’ve literally played this song over and over since it came out several weeks ago, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the best Stevie Wonder song that Wonder never wrote. Yet, in two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of splendor, Legend manages to match the seemingly unmatchable level of artistry of classic Stevie Wonder.

The song lists amongst its writers John Stephens (aka John Legend) and Kanye West who also gets and executive producer credit for the album along with Legend and Dave Tozer. Like his other albums, his latest is a stone-classic in the making.