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Today in Rock History – September 24

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bob-dylan19651965, Bob Dylan played the first night on a 36 date North American tour at Austin Municipal Auditorium in Austin, Texas.

1966, Jimi Hendrix arrived in London with manager Chas Chandler on a flight from New York City. With only the clothes he was wearing, Hendrix had sold his other belongings to pay a hotel bill in New York.

1966, The Association started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Cherish.” The New Christy Minstrels almost recorded the track but Association member and songwriter, Terry Kirkman, held onto “Cherish” instead of selling it for $1000. The finished recording played for 3 minutes and 25 seconds, but the single’s label listed the time as 3:00 so that disc jockeys wouldn’t be discouraged from playing a “long song.”

1967, Traffic made their live debut when they appeared at Saville Theatre in London, featuring Steve Winwood.

1967, Filming continued for The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour at West Malling Air Station, Maidstone, Kent with the shooting of the “Your Mother Should Know” ballroom finale. The Beatles were all dressed in white suits and shoes, gliding down a glittery staircase as 160 members of Peggy Spencer’s dance team swirled round about.

1969, Pink Floyd performed at Stadsgehoorzaal, Leiden, The Netherlands.

1970, The Rolling Stones played at Palais des Sport, Paris

1971, Yes appeared at Queen’s Hall,  Barnstable, Devon, England.

1972, During his Ziggy Stardust tour and on his first North American visit, David Bowie appeared at the New Fisher Theatre, Detroit, Michigan.

Roxy Music
Roxy Music

1974, Roxy Music played at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.

1976, The Grateful Dead performed at College Hall on the campus of William & Mary College, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

1977, Rush appeared at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, New York.

1980, The mixing of the forthcoming John and Yoko album Double Fantasy moved from the Hit Factory in New York City to the Record Plant East. During this session, John Lennon gave one of last ever interviews to Lisa Robinson from 97-FM in Buffalo.

1980, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Congress Center Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

1983, UB40 scored their first No.1 album with Labour Of Love.

1984, Culture Club had their second number one single with “Karma Chameleon,” which stayed at the top of the charts for six weeks and became the best-selling single of 1983.

1988, Bobby McFerrin started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” the first a-Capella record to be a chart topper. It made it to number two in the UK. The song was also included in the movie, Cocktail. It would go on to win Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

1988, The Hollies were at number one on the UK singles chart with “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother” after the song was used on a UK television beer commercial  The song was originally a hit in 1969 and featured a young Elton John on piano.

1990, AC/DC released The Razors Edge, their 11th internationally released studio album. The only studio album to feature drummer Chris Slade, reached number two on the chart.

1991, Nirvana’s album Nevermind was released in America, entering the chart at number 144 on its first week. The album which peaked at number one in January 1992, has now sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The idea for the iconic front cover shot of the baby swimming came after Kurt Cobain and drummer Dave Grohl saw a TV documentary on water babies.

2003, The Dave Matthews Band played at Central Park in New York City, in front of almost 100,000, the band’s largest audience to date. The Central Park Concert was later released as an album.

2004, The Strat Pack: Live in Concert was held at Wembley Arena in London marking the 50th Anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster guitar. The concert featured Ronnie Wood, Joe Walsh, Gary Moore, Brian May, David Gilmour, Albert Lee, Andy Fairweather-Low, Hank Marvin and many more.

2012, Mumford & Sons released their second studio album Babel which debuted at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It became the fastest selling album of 2012 in the UK and was nominated in the category of Album of the Year for both a Brit Award and Grammy Award, winning the latter.

Born on September 24: Mel Taylor, drums, The Ventures (1934); Linda McCartney (1942); Gerry Marsden, Gerry and the Pacemakers (1942); Carson Osten, Nazz, Utopia (1946); Jerry Donahue, Fotheringay, Fairport Convention (1946); and Peter Salisbury, drums, The Verve (1971)

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Today in Rock History – September 23

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rolling-stones-19661966, The Rolling Stones 66 12-date UK tour kicked off at the Royal Albert Hall London. Supported by The Yardbirds, Ike and Tina Turner, and Peter Jay and the New Jaywalkers. Both Keith Moon and John Entwistle from The Who were in the audience.

1967,  The Mothers Of Invention appeared at the Royal Albert Hall London making their UK live debut

1967, The Box Tops started a four week run at No.1 on the singles chart with “The Letter.” The record went on to sell over four million copies and receive two Grammy nominations. It was also a Top Ten hit for Joe Cocker in 1970.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared at the Corn Exchange in Chelmsford, Essex, England.

1968, Working on new songs for their forthcoming White Album, The Beatles recorded a new John Lennon song “Happiness Is A Warm Gun In Your Hand”,  theworking title of “Happiness Is A Warm Gun.” The title came from the cover of a gun magazine that producer George Martin showed Lennon. Jim Morrison from The Doors came to visit The Beatles in the studio and watched them recording.

1969, The Northern Star newspaper of Northern Illinois University ran a story claiming that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash in 1966 and had been replaced by a look-a-like. Russell Gibb of WKNR-FM in Detroit picked up on the claim and the story went worldwide. By late October 1969 the hoax was so well entrenched, that McCartney came out of seclusion at his Scottish farm to deny the story. When McCartney was asked to comment by a reporter, he replied, “Do I look dead? I’m as fit as a fiddle.”

1970, Mick Jagger met Bianca Macias for the first time after a Stones concert at the Paris Olympia. The couple later married.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Fillmore East, New York.

Led-Zeppelin-19711971, Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at The Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan.

1972, Mott the Hoople performed at Liverpool Stadium in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.

1973, Genesis played at Stadttheater, Osnabrück, Germany.

1974, Robbie McIntosh, a founding member of the Average White Band, died of a heroin overdose at a Hollywood party. He inhaled a white powder thought to be cocaine but was actually pure heroin. AWB scored the No.1 single “Pick up the Pieces,” which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1975.

1975, Hawkwind appeared at the Opera, Reims, France.

1976, AC/DC played at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany.

1976, The Grateful Dead performed at Cameron Indoor Stadium, on the campus of Duke University, a gym better known for the basketball played there, than as a music venue.

1977, Yes played at The Forum, Inglewood, California.

1978, 10cc had their third and final UK No.1 single with “Dreadlock Holiday.” The lyrics, about a white man lost in Jamaica, were based on a true event that happened to Moody Blues vocalist Justin Hayward and Eric Stewart from 10cc in Barbados.

1978, AC/DC played at the Uptown Theater, Kansas City, Missouri.

1978, Black Sabbath appeared at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena, Anaheim, California.

1979, Van Halen performed at the Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

1980, Bob Marley collapsed on stage during a concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Marley had collapsed in New York’s Central Park while jogging, two days before and was told to immediately cancel the US leg, but flew to Pittsburgh to perform one final performance. This was the last time Marley ever appeared on stage performing, Marley died of cancer in May of 1981.

1981, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, New York.

1982, Roxy Music appeared at Wembley Arena, London.

1983, Rush performed Radio City Music Hall, New York

1997, The Rolling Stones kicked off the North American leg of their Bridges To Babylon tour playing the first of two nights at Soldier Field in Chicago.

2006, Neil Young was named artist of the year at the Americana Honors and Awards at the fifth annual event in Nashville, Tennessee. The 60-year-old singer-songwriter released the protest album Living With War that year.

Born on September 23: John Coltrane (1926); Mighty Joe Young (1927); Ray Charles (1930); Hilly Cristal, owner CBGB’s (1931); Roy Buchanan (1939); Julio Iglesias (1943); John Banks, The Merseybeats, (1943); and Steve Boone, The Lovin’ Spoonful (1943); Ron Bushy, drums, Iron Butterfly (1945); Dan Toler, Great Southern, Allman Brothers (1948); and Bruce Springsteen (1949)

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Today in Rock History – September 22

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great-society
The Great Society

1965, San Francisco band The Great Society, featuring Grace Slick, make their live debut at The Coffee Gallery, North Beach, California. The lineup featured Grace, her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, his brother Darby Slick on guitar, David Miner on vocals and guitar, Bard DuPont on bass, and Peter van Gelder on flute, bass, and saxophone.

1967, The Doors appeared on the Murray the K show on WPIX-TV in New York City performing “People Are Strange” and “Light My Fire.”

1968  Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum gives its Beatles statues their fifth hair and clothes makeover in four years, in keeping with the lads’ taste for hippie fashions.

1968, The Amboy Dukes played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, A new weekly TV show,  The Music Scene aired on ABC for the first time. Stevie Wonder Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Tom Jones, Cass Elliot, James Brown, Janis Joplin, and Sly and the Family Stone were all booked to appear on the show.

1969, The Band released their self-titled album, which peaked at number nine on the US chart, and included “Rag Mama Rag,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” In 2009, the album was preserved into the National Recording Registry because the album was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and reflects life in the United States.”

1970, The Rolling Stones performed at the Palais des Sport in Paris.

1971, David Crosby and Graham Nash appear at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.

Bowie-ziggy-stardust1972, David Bowie kicked of the North American leg of his Ziggy Stardust world tour at the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.

1973, The Rolling Stones scored their eighth No.1 album when “Goats Head Soup” started a two-week run at the top of the charts.

1974, The Sonny Bono Comedy Revue was shown for the first time on ABC-TV.

1976, Rush perform at The Dome Arena, Rochester, New York.

1977, Yes appear at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California.

1978, Jethro Tull released the live album Bursting Out. It was recorded at various locations during the European Heavy Horses tour in May and June 1978

1978, Black Sabbath plays at Selland Arena, Fresno, California.

1979, Gary Numan had his second and final UK number one single with “Cars.” Also on this day Gary Numan went to number one on the UK album chart with The Pleasure Principle.

1979, Jackson Browne, Chaka Khan, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and Tom Petty, appeared at Madison Square Garden, New York for two anti-nuclear benefit shows.

1979, Def Leppard had their first major live review when UK music weekly Melody Maker reviewed a gig the band had played in Wolverhampton.  The band had just released their debut 3-track single, and featured a 15 year-old drummer

1981, Composer Harry Warren died aged 88. He wrote over 800 songs including “I Only Have Eyes For You,” a hit for The Flamingos and Art Garfunkel, “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “That’s Amore,” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Warren’s songs were featured in over 300 films.

1983, During a UK comeback tour The Everly Brothers appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In the audience, Paul and Linda McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and Mickey Dolenz.

1984, Echo And The Bunnymen, Spear Of Destiny, The Sisters Of Mercy, The Redskins, and The Chameleons all appeared at the first York Rock Festival, York, England.

1985, The first Farm Aid benefit concert was held before a crowd of 80,000 people at the Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, the event had been spurred on by Bob Dylan’s comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers. The star studded line-up of country stars included Alabama, Hoyt Axton, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels Band, John Denver, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Rogers.

1987, The Grateful Dead play at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1990, Nirvana played their biggest gig to date when they appeared at the Motor Sports International Garage in Seattle. Drummer Dave Grohl who would audition for the band in a few days time, was in the audience of 15,000 people.

1990, Garth Brooks album No Fences entered the US album chart. It went on to become the biggest selling country album of all time and sold over 13 million copies in the first five years of release.

1991, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Boston Garden in Boston.

2001, A Tribute to Heroes was aired commercial-free on most of the major US TV networks. The live program was organized to raise money following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center. Neil Young, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, U2, Limp Bizkit, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam all performed. Manning the telephones to take pledges were celebrities including Jack Nicholson, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Robin Williams, Meg Ryan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kurt Russell, Adam Sandler and many more.

2004, Cat Stevens, who now goes by the name of Yusuf Islam, was escorted from a diverted transatlantic flight and refused entry into America by FBI agents. His name showed up on a US watch list after his United Airlines  had taken off from London. The flight landed in Maine where Islam, who was traveling with his 21-year-old daughter, was detained and questioned.

Born on September 22: David Coverdale, vocals, Whitesnake (1949); Richard Fairbrass, singer, Right Said Fred (1953); Debby Boone (1956); Nick Cave (1957); and Joan Jett (1960); Will Farquarson, guitar, Bastille (1983)

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Today in Rock History – September 18th

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1968,  The Beatles recorded 20 takes of “Birthday” while working at Abbey Road studios on new songs for their forthcoming White Album Roadie Mal Evans added handclaps, and Yoko Ono and Pattie Harrison contributed backing vocals on the track.

1968,  The Doors film a six-song set for Danish Radio Television  at TV-Byen in Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen, Denmark. The program is simply called “The Doors” but it’s come to be known as the Danish Television Special. Curiously, rather than perform “Hello, I Love You” after “Texas Radio” as they had been doing in concert for much of the year, the band chooses instead to perform “Love Me Two Times.” The special was broadcast on October 30, 1968.

1969, King Crimson performed at Penthouse, Scarborough, England.

1970, Jimi Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital in London at the age of 27 after choking on his own vomit. Hendrix left the message “I need help bad man,” on his managers answer phone earlier that night. Rumors and conspiracy theories grew up around Hendrix’s death. Eric Burdon claimed Jimi had committed suicide, but that’s contradicted by reports that he was in a good frame of mind. In 2009, a former Animals roadie published a book claiming that Jimi’s manager had admitted to him that he arranged the murder of Hendrix, since the guitarist wanted out of his contract.

1970, Alice Cooper performed at Rainy Daze in Chesterfield, Missouri.

1970, Santana, Country Joe McDonald, and Bread appeared at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1971, The Who scored their first and only number one album with Who’s Next, the bands sixth release, featuring “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

1971, Pink Floyd play the first of two nights at the Festival de Musique Classique, at the Pavillion de Montreaux, Montreaux, Switzerland. The show included a performance of “Atom Heart Mother” with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and choir.

1972, The Who, Mott The Hoople, The Faces and Atomic Rooster all appeared at The Oval, London.

1972, Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull entered the last of it’s 11-week run on the Aussie album charts.

1974, KISS appeared at the Electric Ballroom, Atlanta, Georgia.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band played at The Spectrum, Philadelphia.

1976, One hit wonders Wild Cherry started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Play That Funky Music.”

1976, Frampton Comes Alive! is number one in the US for the seventh of ten total weeks during April, July, August, September, and October.

1977, Yes performed at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.

1978, Neil Young and Crazy Horse kicked off a 23 date US tour at Cobo Hall in Detroit promoting the album Comes A Time.

1979, The Who performed at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1980, Yes appeared at the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1981, Gary Numan took off on a round the world trip in a single engine Cessna plane. The attempt ended after he was forced to land in India, where local police arrested him.

1982, The seven-minute epic by Dire Straits “Private Investigations” went to number two on the UK singles chart, held off by Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” at number one.

1982, Blue Oyster Cult performed at Weedsport Speedway, Syracuse, New York.

1983, Kiss appeared without their make-up for the first time during an interview on MTV.

1987, The Grateful Dead played the third of five nights at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1993, Garth Brooks went to number one on the US album chart with In Pieces. The album spent 25 weeks on the chart and sold over six million copies. The album peaked in the second spot on the UK chart.

1996, At Sotheby’s in London, Julian Lennon successfully bid just over $39,000 (£21,000), for the recording notes for the song Paul McCartney wrote for him, “Hey Jude.” At the same event, John Lennon’s scribbled lyrics to “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” sold for $103,500, (£57,500).

2006, 73 year old country singer Willie Nelson and four members from his band were charged with drug possession after marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms were found by police on his tour bus. Police had stopped the tour bus near Lafayette, Louisiana.

2009, Leonard Cohen collapsed on stage during a concert in Valencia, Spain and was taken to hospital. He was later discharged after doctors told him he had food poisoning. Cohen was in the middle of singing his song “Bird On The Wire” when he fainted, prompting the band to stop playing and rush to help him.

Born on this day: Jimmie Rodgers (1933);  Frankie Avalon (1939); Alan King, Ace (1946); Kerry Livgren, Kansas (1947); Mike Hossack, drums, The Doobie Brothers (1950); Dee Dee Ramone (1952); and Joanne Catherall, vocals, The Human League (1962)

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Today in Rock History – September 15

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1965, The Ford Motor Company became the first automaker to offer an 8-track tape player as an option for their entire line of vehicles on sale in the US. Tapes were initially only available at auto parts stores. Home 8-track equipment was still a year away.

1966, The Who played at Gaumont Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.

1966, The Small Faces were at number one on the UK singles chart with “All Or Nothing,” their only chart topping hit. According to Kay Marriott, Steve Marriott’s mother, Steve wrote the song about his split with ex-fiancee Sue Oliver, though first wife Jenny Rylance states that Marriott told her he wrote the song for her, as a result of her split with Rod Stewart.

1967, During a UK tour, Pink Floyd appeared at the Starlight Room in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1967, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead played at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. Big Brother and the Holding Company were also on the bill, but failed to show up.

1967, Filming continued for The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. Lunch was at James and Amy Smedley’s fish and chip shop in Taunton, Somerset with The Beatles being filmed and photographed eating their fish and chips.

1968, The Doors were forced to perform as a trio at a concert in Amsterdam after singer Jim Morrison collapsed while dancing during the Jefferson Airplane’s performance.

1968, Procol Harum performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, King Crimson played at the Pavillion, Bath, England.

1970, Black Sabbath and The Dog That Bit People appeared at The Marquee, London.

1970, US Vice-President Spiro Agnew said in a speech that the youth of America were being “brainwashed into a drug culture” by rock music, movies, books, and underground newspapers.

1972, Yes appeared at the Hollywood Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, Florida.

1973, Hawkwind played at the Scandinavium, Götheborg, Sweden.

1974, Aerosmith performed at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana

1975, Pink Floyd released their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here.  The album explored themes of absence, the music business, and former band-mate Syd Barrett’s mental decline. It went to number one in the US and the UK, and went on to spend a total of 84 weeks on the chart.

1975, Bob Dylan released Slow Train Coming, an album of religious songs, including the Grammy Award winning single, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” The album alienated many of his long time fans.

1975, Johnny Cash played at Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany.

1976, AC/DC performed at Fabrik, in Hamburg, Germany.

1978, Bob Dylan kicked off his longest and most continuous US tour of his career in Augusta, Maine, playing the first of sixty-five gigs in sixty-two cities.

1978, Black Sabbath appeared at the Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, Ohio.

1979, Led Zeppelin’s In Through The Out Door began a seven-week run at number one on the US album charts, the band’s sixth chart topper.

1980, Van Halen played at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Phoenix, Arizona.

1981, Blue Oyster Cult performed at Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, New York.

1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax” became the longest running chart hit since Engelbert Humperdink’s “Release Me,” after spending 43 weeks on the UK singles chart.

1990, The Steve Miller Band had a UK number one hit with “The Joker,” 16 years after it’s first release. The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974. More than 16 years later, it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart after being used in Great Deal, a television advertisement for Levi’s, thus holding the record for the longest gap between transatlantic chart-toppers.

1994, A reel to reel tape of The Quarry Men, John Lennon’s first band, appearing at St Peter’s Parish Church garden party Liverpool in July, 1957, sold for £69,000, ($125,000) at a Sotheby’s auction.

2004, Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) died in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with prostate cancer. He was a founding member of The Ramones, a major influence on many punk and ’90s bands.

2008, Pink Floyd keyboard player and founding member Rick Wright died aged 65 from cancer. David Gilmour who joined the band at the start of 1968 said, “He was such a lovely, gentle, genuine man and will be missed terribly by so many who loved him.” In 2005, the full band reunited, for the first time in 24 years, for the Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park. Wright had also contributed vocals and keyboards to Gilmour’s 2006 solo album On An Island.

Born on this day: Kid Sheik, trumpet, Preservation Hall Jazz Band (1906); Al Casey, American guitarist, composer (1915); Bobby Short (1924); Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist, bandleader (1928); Signe Anderson, Jefferson Airplane, KBC Band (1941); Lee Dorman, Iron Butterfly, Captain Beyond (1942);  Ola Brunkert, session drummer, Abba (1946); Kelly Keagy, Night Ranger (1952); Maggie Reilly, Scottish singer-songwriter, Michael Oldfield Band (1956); Michael Dorge, Crash Test Dummies (1960); Huw Bunford, Super Furry Animals (1967); Paul Thomson, Scottish drummer, Franz Ferdinand (1976)

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Today in Rock History – September 14

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1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on UK music show Top Of The Pops.

1967, Filming continued for The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour in South West England. The Beatles searched for a quiet, secluded field in which they could conduct filming, but once they’d disembarked from the bus and set up for shooting, scores of onlookers began to crowd around, causing a traffic jam that required the police to step in.

1968, Roy Orbison’s house in Nashville burnt down, his two eldest sons both died in the blaze. Orbison was on tour in the UK at the time of the accident.

1968, Led Zeppelin performed as The Yardbirds at Angby Park in Knivsta, a small Swedish town 48 km (30 miles) north of Stockholm.

1968, The first episode of the animated series The Archies was aired on US TV. The recording group had contributions from Ron Dante, Andy Kim, Jeff Barry and others. Rock mogul, Don Kirshner, who also brought us The Monkees), was put in charge of the studio group. The following year The Archies started a eight-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Sugar Sugar’, becoming the longest running one hit wonder.

1970, Stevie Wonder married Syreeta Wright a former secretary at Motown Records.

1971, During a US tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Berkley Community Theatre, Berkley, California. The set list included Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, That’s the Way, Going to California, What Is and What Should Never Be and Whole Lotta Love.

1974, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Jesse Colin Young and Joe Walsh all appeared at Wembley Stadium, London, England.

1974, Eric Clapton scored a No.1 with his version of the Bob Marley song “I Shot The Sheriff.”

1974, Stevie Wonder started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Fulfillingness First Finale his second US No.1.

1979, The film Quadrophenia was released. Based on The Who’s 1973 rock opera the film featured Phil Daniels, Toyah Willcox, Ray Winstone, Michael Elphick and Sting.

1981, The Rolling Stones played a secret pre-tour warm-up show at the Sir Morgan’s Cove club in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Billed as Little Boy Blue & The Cockroaches, a local radio station announced that the Stones were in town, resulting in the club being besieged by over 4,000 fans attempted to get into the 350-person venue. Police were drafted in to control the crowds, which resulted in eleven fans being arrested.

Born on this day: Pete Agnew, Nazareth (1946);Paul Kassoff, Free (1950); Steve Berlin, Los Lobos (1955); and Amy Winehouse (1983)

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Today in Rock History – September 13

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Beatles-Yesterday1965, The Paul McCartney song “Yesterday” was released as a Beatles single.

1967, The Beatles formed an electronics company called Fiftyshapes, Ltd. appointing John Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex) to be the company’s director. Alex claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine, instead of the 4-track at Abbey Road (this never materialized). One of his more outrageous plans was to replace the acoustic baffles around Ringo Starr’s drums with an invisible sonic force field. George Harrison later said that employing Mardas was “the biggest disaster of all time.”

1968, Procol Harum performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Pink Floyd played at Mothers, Erdington, Birmingham, England.

1968, During a North American tour The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California.

1969, This was the first day of the three-day Rugby Bag Blues Festival in Warwickshire, England with Pink Floyd, The Nice, Taste, Free, Third Ear Band, Ralph McTell, Roy Harper, King Crimson, The Strawbs, Edgar Broughton, Spirit of John Morganand John Martyn.

1969, John and Yoko flew to Canada with the Plastic Ono Band to perform at the Rock & Roll Revival Show in Toronto, Canada. The band members Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White were put together so late that they had to rehearse on the plane from England. Also making an appearance at the concert were Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Bo Diddley, The Doors, Chicago, and Alice Cooper. Lennon later released his performance as the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album.

1970, The Who performed at Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany.

1972, Pink Floyd appeared at Henry Levitt Arena in Wichita, Kansas, during their North American tour. The set included “Dark Side of the Moon,” which would not be officially released until 1973.

1973, The Rolling Stones played at City Hall, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.

bowie_dd1974, David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs” tour stops at the Convention Center in Tuscon, Arizona.  His band includes: Mike Garson on piano and mellotron, Carlos Alomar, guitar, Earl Slick, lead guitar, Doug Raunch, bass, Greg Enrico, drums, Pablo Rosario, percussion, David Sanborn, alto sax, flute, Richard Grando, baritone sax, flute, Michael Kamen, electric piano, moog, and oboe, plus backing vocalists.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey.

1976, Electric Light Orchestra played at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.

1977, Rush performed at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada.

1978, The Grateful Dead performed a 33-minute soundcheck at the Gizah Sound and Light Theatre, in Cairo, Egypt.  The instrumental Ollin Arrageed type jams, in advance of their three night engagement at the Giza plateau, took place at the footsteps of the great pyramids of Egypt.

1980, Jackson Browne scored his only chart topping album with Hold Out.

1984, U2 played the first of five nights at the Sports And Entertainment in Melbourne, Australia during their Unforgettable Fire world tour.

1985, “We Are The World” won Best Group Video and the Viewer’s Choice at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Don Henley’s “The Boys Of Summer” video won four trophies, including Best Video. Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” takes the prize for Best Male Video and Tina Turner won Best Female Video for “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

1986, Berlin went to number one on the US singles chart with the Giorgio Moroder written and produced “Take My Breath Away.” On the B-side was The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.” Both songs were featured in the film Top Gun.

1986, The Communards were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” which had been a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in 1975, and later a hit for Thelma Houston.

1991, Geffen Records threw a party to launch Nirvana’s single “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The band ended up being thrown out of their own party after starting a food fight.

1996, American rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot six days earlier when he was driving through Las Vegas. 13 bullets were fired into his BMW. The incident was blamed on East and West Coast Gang wars. Shakur was a convicted sex offender, guilty of sexual abuse. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion “Suge” Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records.

1997, The Verve scored their first and only UK number one single with “The Drugs Don’t Work,” taken from their third album, Urban Hymns. The track became the band’s most successful single in the United Kingdom.

2005, The home where Jimi Hendrix grew up in Seattle was saved from demolition after a new location was agreed at the last minute. The James Marshall Hendrix Foundation and the City of Seattle agreed to renovate the building into a community center opposite the cemetery where the guitarist was buried in 1970.

Born on this day:  Dave Quincy, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1939); David Clayton-Thomas, Blood Sweat & Tears (1941); Peter Cetera, Chicago  (1944);  Steve Gaines, Lynyrd Skynyrd (1949); Randy Jones, Village People (1952); Steven John Kilbey,  singer, bass The Church (1954); Stephen Perkins, Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros (1967); Joe Rooney, guitarist, Rascal Flatts (1975)

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Today in Rock History – September 11

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1967, Filming began for The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. There was no script, nor a very clear idea of exactly what was to be accomplished, not even a clear direction about where the bus was supposed to go. The “Magical Mystery Tour” bus set off for the West Country in England stopping for the night in Teignmouth, Devon were hundreds of fans greeted The Beatles at their hotel.

1967, Pink Floyd performed the first of three nights at the Starclub in Copenhagen, Denmark. Also on the bill were The Beefeaters, Peter Belli & B. Brothers, Steppeulvene, The Clan, Hitmakers, and others.

1967, During a 10-date tour of Sweden, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played two shows at the Grona Lund in Stockholm.

1968, Bassist from Sly and the Family Stone, Larry Graham was busted for cannabis possession as the band arrived in London to start a UK tour.

1970, The Rolling Stones played at the Forum Copenhagen in Frederiksberg, Denmark.

1970, The Amboy Dukes appeared at Uptown Palladium 12 Theatre‎ in Birmingham, Michigan.

1971, Donny Osmond started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Go Away Little Girl.” The singer’s only solo chart topper. The song had also been a chart topper for Steve Lawrence in 1963.

1971, Who’s Next by The Who hits its peak on the Billboard charts at the number four position.

1971, The animated Jackson Five series premiered on ABC-TV.

1972, Hawkwind performed at Waldbühne, Berlin, Germany.

1973, The Rolling Stones appeared at Kings Hall (Belle Vue), Manchester, England.

1974, The Grateful Dead played at Alexandra Palace, London.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Capital Centre, Landover.

1976, KC and the Sunshine Band went to the top of the singles charts with (“Shake Shake Shake), Shake Your Body,” the group’s third number one.

1977, David Bowie recorded a guest appearance on Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas TV show duetting with Crosby on “Peace On Earth – Little Drummer Boy.” The track became a UK No.3 hit five years later in 1982.

1978, Aerosmith played at Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California.

1979, Van Halen appeared at Furitsu Taiiku Kan, Osaka, Japan.

1981, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed at the Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois.

1982, Chicago started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “Hard To Say I’m Sorry,” the group’s second chart topper.

1982, John “Cougar” Mellencamp became the only male artist to have two singles in the Top Ten as well as the number one album. “Jack and Diane” was at number four, while “Hurts So Good” held the eighth spot. His album American Fool was at number one for the first of nine weeks.

1987, Founding member of The Wailers, Peter Tosh was shot dead at his home in Kingston Jamaica by armed robbers.

1987, Peter Gabriel cleaned up at the MTV Awards, winning best video, best male video, best concept video, best special effects, and five other awards for the track “Sledgehammer.”

1988, Michael Jackson appeared at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England on his Bad world tour. Over 3,000 fans were treated by the St. John Ambulance service for passing out, hysteria, and being crushed among the crowd of 125,000 fans, the largest concert of the 123-date world tour.

1988, Metallica kicked off their 222-date Damaged Justice world tour at the MTK Football Stadium in Budapest, Hungary.

1996, Noel Gallagher walked out on the rest of Oasis half way through an American tour after a fight with his brother Liam in a hotel in Charlotte North Carolina. Noel flew back to London the following day.

2001, Walking to work in New York, as an comic book illustrator, Gerard Way witnessed the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The day’s events inspired him to start a band, which became My Chemical Romance, with Way becoming their lead singer.

2003, Tommy Chong, one-half of the comedy team of Cheech and Chong, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison and fined $20,000 for selling drug paraphernalia over the Internet. The 65 year-old Chong pled guilty to the charges in May. He remained free until April, 2004, when he went to jail.

2004, American lyricist Fred Ebb died of a heart attack at his home in New York City. Co-wrote, “New York, New York” and “Chicago,” and worked with Liza Minnelli.

2014, American songwriter, singer, manager, and record producer Bob Crewe died aged 83. Crewe wrote a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons, including “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” and “Rag Doll.” He also had hit recordings with Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, Patti LaBelle, Barry Manilow and others.

Born on September 11: Bernie Dwyer, Freddie and the Dreamers (1940); Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead (1943) Tommy Shaw, Styx (1953); Mick Talbot, keyboards, Style Council (1958); Moby, (Richard Hall), producer, vocalist (1965);  Harry Connick, Jr. (1967); Richard Ashcroft, guitar, vocals, The Verve (1971); and Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris (1977)

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Today in Rock History – September 10

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1964, The Kinks third single “You Really Got Me,” was at number one on the singles chart. Future Led Zeppelin founder and guitarist Jimmy Page played tambourine on the track.

1964, Rod Stewart recorded his first single, a version of Willie Dixon’s “Good Morning Little School Girl.” Future Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones played on the session.

1965, The Who perform at Borough Assembly Hall in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England.

1965, The Byrds begin recording “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Unlike their first hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” members of the group itself were permitted to play instead of session musicians.

1966, The Beatles started a six-week run at number one on the album chart with Revolver, the group’s ninth chart topper.

1966, The Supremes started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “You Can’t Hurry Love.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix played at Stora Salen Akademiska Föreningen, Lund, Sweden.

1968, The Beatles were at number one on the singles chart with “Hey Jude,” the group’s 15th number one and the longest chart topper ever at seven minutes and ten seconds. The single was the first release on the group’s Apple records label.

1970, Elvis Presley appeared at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri.

1971, Led Zeppelin played at Onodaga War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, New York. A mezzanine ticket cost $6 (£3.75).

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Central Theater, Passaic, New Jersey. The opening act was Cactus.

1972, King Crimson performed at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England.

1972, Pink Floyd played at McFarlin Auditorium, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

1973, The BBC banned The Rolling Stones single “Star Star,” from their Goat’s Head Soup album because it contained the word “Star-fucker” in the chorus a dozen times.

1974, The New York Dolls spit up. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973’s New York Dolls, and Too Much Too Soon in 1974.

1976, ZZ Top performed at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1977, Rush appeared at Saskatoon Arena, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

1978, AC/DC played at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Columbus, Ohio.

1979, The Police appeared live at The Assembly Rooms, Derby, England.

1980, Van Halen performed at Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1981, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band appeared at the Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois.

1988, Guns N’ Roses started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” the group’s first US number one, a number 24 hit in the UK.

1991, Nirvana’s single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released in the US. The unexpected success of the song in late 1991 propelled Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream.

1994, REM were at number nine on the singles chart with “What’s The Frequency Kenneth.” The song was inspired by a bizarre incident when Dan Rather of CBS news was accosted on the street by a man who kept asking him “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”

1995, Kiss played the first date on their 117-date Alive World Tour at Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

2005, Grammy-award winning guitarist and singer Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown died from complications of lung cancer and the long term effects of emphysema and heart disease in Texas at the age of 81. Recorded with Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder and Frank Zappa during a career that spanned 50 years.

2009, A harmonica owned by Bob Dylan sold for £2,700 ($4320) at auction in Norfolk, England, more than four times the guide price. The singer-songwriter had presented the chromonica harmonica, made by Hohner, to a member of his wardrobe department in 1974.

Born on September 10: Cynthia Lennon (1939); Jose Feliciano (1945) Danny Hutton, Three Dog Night (1946); Barrie Barlow, Jethro Tull (1949); Don Powell, drums, Slade (1950); Joe Perry, Aerosmith (1950); and Mikey Way, bass, My Chemical Romance (1980)

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Today in Rock History – September 9

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1965, The Hollywood Reporter ran the following classified ad, “Madness folk & roll musicians, singers wanted for acting roles in new TV show. Parts for 4 insane boys.” The Monkees were born.

1965, The Rolling Stones were at number one  with (“I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

1967, Pink Floyd opened a four-date Scandanavian tour at the Boom Dancing Center in Aarhus, Denmark, supported by Wishful Thinking, Step by Step, Shaking Phantoms, and Barnet And His Dandy-Brothers. More than one thousand people attended the show. The microphones failed forcing the band to play an instrumental set.

1967, The Doors appeared at the Village Theater in New York City. The venue was to become The Fillmore East.

1968, Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles recorded “Helter Skelter.” John Lennon played bass and honked on a saxophone, roadie Mal Evans tried his best at playing trumpet. Paul McCartney recorded his lead vocal and George Harrison ran about the studio holding a flaming ashtray above his head.

1970, Elvis Presley performs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona.

1971, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Hampton Roads Coliseum in Hampton.

1972, Slade were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Mama Weer All Crazee Now,” the group”s third UK chart topper, taken from their album Slayed?

1972, Jim Croce started a five-week run at number one on the album chart with You Don”t Mess Around With Jim.

1973, Genesis performed at The Olympia Theatre, Paris, as they began touring in support of Selling England By The Pound.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band play at Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

1977, David Bowie appeared on Marc Bolan’s ITV show, Marc, singing “Heroes” as well as a duet with Bolan, “Standing Next To You,” which is prematurely terminated when Bolan fell from the stage, much to Bowie’s amusement. After the show the pair recorded demos together which were never finished because Bolan was killed in a car crash a week later.

1977, Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention appeared at the SDSU Open Air Theatre, San Diego, California.

1978, Frank Zappa, The Tubes, Peter Gabriel, The Boomtown Rats, Rockpile and Wilko Johnson’s Solid Senders all appeared at Knebworth Park, England tickets cost £5.50 ($8.80) in advance or £6.00 ($9.60) at the gate.

1978, U2 appeared at Top Hat Ballroom, Dublin, Ireland.

1980, Foghat played at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1982, Van Halen performed at The Forum, Inglewood, California.

1989, New Kids On The Block scored their second US chart topping single with “Hangin’ Tough,” also a number one in the UK in 1990. The group also went to number one on the US album chart on this day with Hangin’ Tough.

1992, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic knocked himself unconscious during the MTV music and video awards after being hit on the head with his guitar after throwing it ‘up in the air’.

2004, US guitar maker Ernie Ball died after a long illness. In the late 50’s Ball opened the first music store in the USA in Tarzana, California to sell guitars exclusively. He developed the guitar strings called ‘Slinkys’ specifically designed for rock and roll electric guitar.

2014, Scottish guitarist Robert “Throb” Young died at the age of 49. Young founded Primal Scream with school friend and singer Bobby Gillespie in Glasgow in 1984. As a member of Primal Scream, Young performed on all of the group’s records up to 2006’s Riot City Blues, and including their most famous album, Screamadelica.

Born on September 9: Joe Negroni, singer, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (1940), Otis Redding (1941) Doug Ingle, Iron Butterfly (1945); Bruce Palmer, bass, Buffalo Springfield (1946); Freddy Weller, Paul Revere and the Raiders (1947); Dave Stewart, Eurythmics (1952); Michael Buble (1975)

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