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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of Northern Illinois University ran a story claiming that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash in 1966 and had been replaced by a look-a-like.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 – June 24

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The Mothers of Invention

1966, The Mothers of Invention support comedian Lenny Bruce at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium.

1966, At the Cow Palace, the Beach Boys’ Summer Spectacular features performances by the Jefferson Airplane, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Percy Sledge, the Byrds, and the Sir Douglas Quintet.

1966, After holding a press conference aboard a yacht in New York City, The Rolling Stones kicked off their fifth North American tour at the Manning Bowl, Lynn, Massachusetts, with support acts The McCoys and The Standells.

1967, The Monkees went to number one on the US album charts with Headquarters, the group’s third chart topper.

1967, Pink Floyd make their debut performance on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, performing their new single “See Emily Play.” Syd Barrett wears a suit of velvet and satin.

1967, Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” entered the Billboard chart, where it would peak at number five. The song was written by the band around a melody composed by the group’s organist, Matthew Fisher. He was inspired by the chord progression of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Orchestral Suite in D,” composed between 1725 and 1739.

1969, Led Zeppelin recorded “Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is And What Should Never Be,” “Travelling Riverside Blues,” and “Communication Breakdown” for BBC Radio 1 at Maida Vale Studios, London. The session was broadcast on June 29, 1969.

1969, The Doors appeared at The Roach, New Orleans, Louisiana.

1972, David Bowie appeared at the Guildford City Hall, England, on his Ziggy Stardust world tour.

1972, In Fort Worth, Texas, the Rolling Stones film the concert that will be released as Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones.

1973, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon.

1973, Longtime Blues Project fans are overcome in New York’s Central Park when Al Kooper rejoins his old band onstage.

1978, Genesis, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Devo, Brand X and The Atlanta Rhythm Section all appeared at Knebworth Park, England, tickets cost $10 (£6.66.)

1991, Frank Zappa took part at the concert “Adieu Soviet Army,” organized in Prague, as the farewell to the last soldiers of Soviet Red Army, leaving free Czechoslovakia (the Red Army had occupied Czechoslovakia since the Prague spring). This was probably Zappa’s last rock appearance on the stage and it is recorded on the album Adieu C. A. (Soviet Army).

1999, Eric Clapton put 100 of his guitars up for auction at Christie’s in New York City to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. His 1956 Fender Stratocaster named Brownie, which was used to record the electric version of “Layla,” sold for a record $497,500 (£331,000.) The auction helped raise nearly $5 (£3.33) million for the clinic.

2001, Blink 182 scored their second US number one album with Take Off Your… The group’s fourth studio album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and contains the singles “The Rock Show,” “Stay Together for the Kids,” and “First Date.”

2005, The Thrills, The Zutons, Doves, The Killers, White Stripes, Kaiser Chiefs, Ash, The Coral, Keane, New Order, Coldplay, James Blunt, Brian Wilson, Garbage, Primal Scream and Basement Jaxx all appeared at the UK Glastonbury Festival.

2007, The White Stripes went to number one on the UK album chart with Icky Thump the duo’s sixth and final studio album. Icky Thump won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2008.

2013, Former Devo drummer Alan Myers died aged 58 in Los Angeles, California, following a long bout with cancer. Myers drummed for Devo between 1976 and 1986

Born on this day: Arthur Brown (1942);  Jeff Beck (1944); Chris Wood- Traffic (1944); and Colin Blunstone, The Zombies (1945); Mick Fleetwood, English-American drummer, Fleetwood Mac John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (1947);  Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player, songwriter, Yes, The Moody Blues, Refugee (1948); Andy McCluskey, English singer-songwriter, bass player,  producer, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1959); – Dennis Danell, American singer, guitarist, Social Distortion (1961);  Richard Z. Kruspe, German guitarist, Rammstein, Emigrate, and First Arsch (1967)

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Today in Rock History – May 12

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1965, The Rolling Stones recorded “(I Can’t Get No), Satisfaction” at RCA Hollywood studios. Keith Richards had come up with the guitar riff in the middle of the night a week earlier. It gave the band their first number one single in the US.

1967, Pink Floyd play London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, one of their first concerts to experiment with quadraphonic sound. The band composes a song for the Games for May event, which later becomes “See Emily Play.”

1967, Are You Experienced, the debut album by Jimi Hendrix was released in the UK. Hendrix also played a gig at the Bluesville Club, Manor House in London on this day.

1968, Jimi Hendrix was arrested by police on his way to Toronto for possession of hashish and heroin. Hendrix claimed the drugs had been planted on him.

1968, Brian Jones made his final live appearance with The Rolling Stones when they appeared at the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, England.

1969, Pink Floyd appear at the Paris Cinema, Lower Regent Street in London.

1970, The Grateful Dead release Workingman’s Dead.

1971, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger married Bianca Macias at St. Tropez Town Hall. The guest list included the other members of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills. The couple separated in 1977.

1972, David Bowie played at Polytechnic of Central London, London

1973, The Mothers of Invention performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1973, Led Zeppelin started a three week run at number one on the album chart with Houses Of The Holy, the group’s third chart topper.

1974, The Kinks appeared at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

1975, Genesis appeared at Rhein am Main Halle, Wiesbaden, Germany.

1975, Jefferson Starship gave a free concert in New York’s Central Park in front of 60,000 fans. The band and concert sponsor, WNEW-FM, were forced to pay $14,000 for cleaning up and damage done to the park after the event.

1976, The Rolling Stones performed at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland.

1977, After being dropped by both EMI and A&M records in less than 6 months, Virgin Records announced they had signed The Sex Pistols.

1979, The Who played at Arenes de Frejus, Cannes, France.

1980, The Who are on the cover of People magazine.

1981, Van Halen kicked off their 82 date North American Fair Warning Tour at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1983, ZZ Top played at the Mississippi Coliseum, Jackson, Mississippi.

1985, Phil Collins kicked off the North American leg on his ‘No Jacket Required’ World Tour at the Centrum, Worcester, Massachusetts.

2001, American singer and TV show host Perry Como died aged 88. He scored fourteen US number one singles, from 150 US chart hits and over 25 UK chart hits, including the single “Magic Moments” and “Catch A Falling Star.” Como was once the highest-paid performer in the history of television.

Born on this day: Burt Bachrach (1928); Ian Drury (1942); Billy Swan (1944); Ian McLagan, keyboards, Small Faces (1946); Steve Winwood (1948); and Billy Squier (1950)

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Song Of The Day – “Invocation & Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin” by The Mothers Of Invention

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mothersofinventionabsolutelyfreeIt’s Mother’s Day and you should always listen to your MOTHERS!

Nobody and I mean absolutely nobody sounded like The Mothers Of Invention back in 1966 when they released their second album Absolutely Free. The Mothers offered their own brand of compositional complexity, out of the ordinary instrumentation, Doo Wop harmonies and Free Jazz wig-out all under one roof…and you could dance to it too!

Complete with paeans to vegetables, brown shoes, drinking Americans, and an endless array of characters like Suzy Creamcheese and The Duke Of Prunes, Zappa and company skewered middle class “square” America on Absolutely Free.

In fact, Mother’s Day would have been ripe for Zappa’s razor sharp commentary as well, but on this Mother’s Day, I only post this album in tribute to all mothers.

Your Mothers on this musical journey featured the sophisticated compositional talents of one Frank Zappa, who also sang and played some guitar, Jim Fielder uncredited on guitar because he left the group before the album came out the vocals of the late, great Ray Collins, Jimmy Carl Black – “The Indian of the group” on drums, Roy Estrata (currently serving 25 years in prison for child abuse) on bass, Billy Mundi also on drums, the esteemed Don Preston on keyboards and John Leon “Bunk” Gardner on Flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon and saxophone.

Today’s Song Of The Day is a jazz improvisation that is best experienced within the context of the entire record, so here it is for your utmost listening pleasure, The Mothers Of Invention’s second record in its entirety Absolutely Free. In fact, I just spun my trusty old vinyl copy of this today in preparation for Mother’s Day.

Here’s one for all mothers…Happy Mother’s Day to your Mothers, happy Mother’s Day to your mother and, especially Happy Mother’s Day to mine…I Love You Mommy!

Today in Rock History – November 17

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1966, The Beach Boys were at number one on the  singles chart with “Good Vibrations.” The single was taken from the album Pet Sounds.

1967, A 16-date UK package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice and Amen Corner played at the City Hall, Sheffield. A review in the Sheffield Star noted, “Like an electrified golliwog, Jimi Hendrix threw himself into a live-wire act that featured his intricate guitar interpretation.”

1967, The Mothers of Invention played at the Masonic Temple Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan.

1967, Pink Floyd released their third single “Apples And Oranges,” which failed to chart.

1967, The Who kicked off their second North American tour supporting The Buckinghams at Shawnee Mission South High School in Kansas City.

1968, The Moody Blues performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1971, Slade were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Coz I Luv You,” the group’s first of six chart toppers. The misspelt song titles became a trademark for Slade, causing a great furor among teachers up and down the country.

1971, Led Zeppelin played at the Kinetic Circus in Birmingham during a tour of the UK.

1972, Yes performed at Tilson Auditorium, Terre Haute, Indiana.

1973, The Grateful Dead performed at Pauley Pavillion, at the University of California at Los Angeles.

1973, Melody Maker carries an interview with The Who’s John Entwistle in which he discusses his abilities on brass instruments. In the same issue, Michael Watts reviews the November 13th show and says audiences seemed unsure during Quadrophenia, with most of the applause given for the old standards. Also, there is a report that both Mick Jagger and David Bowie have turned down roles in the upcoming Tommy film. Eric Clapton is listed as one of the possible stars.

1974, John Lennon scored his second solo number one album with Walls And Bridges.

1975, Bob Dylan played at War Memorial Coliseum, Rochester.

1976, ZZ Top appeared at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey.

1977, Rush performed at the Palace Theatre, Albany, New York.

1979, Jethro Tull bass player John Glascock died at the age of 28, as a result of a congenital heart defect. Had also been a member of Chicken Shack.

1979, The Commodores went to number one on the US singles chart with “Still,” the group’s second US number one single, it made number four in the UK.

1980, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Lakefront Arena, New Orleans.

1984, The best-of collection The Who: The Singles is released in Europe, Australia and Japan. It contains the first appearance of an alternate take of “Happy Jack,” and the BBC mix of “I Can See For Miles.”

1985, Wham! Were at number one on the UK album chart with Make It Big and number one on the US singles chart with “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.” Michael’s inspiration for the song, was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew’s parents, originally intended to read “wake me up before you go” but with “up” accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote “go” twice on purpose.

1992, Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, formerly of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, received an estimated $4.0 (£2.5) million in back payments from the song “Why Do Fools Fall In Love,” after a long battle to claim royalties owed them.

1995, English singer-songwriter and founding member of folk rock band Lindisfarne, Alan Hull, died of a heart attack aged 50. Lindisfarne scored the 1972 UK number three single “Lady Eleanor.”

1996, The Spice Girls were at number one on the UK album chart with their debut release Spice Girls. Five singles were released from the album, “Wannabe,” “Say You’ll Be There,” “2 Become 1,” “Who Do You Think You Are,” and “Mama.” “Wannabe” was the first single released and went to number one in 31 countries. Following that, “Say You’ll Be There” and “2 Become 1” were chart toppers in 53 countries.

2000, It was reported that Andy White who played drums on The Beatles track “Love Me Do,” which was featured on the new Beatles Greatest Hits album would not earn enough from it to buy his own copy. White would get no more than his original session fee of £7 ($11.20)

2003, American country music legend Don Gibson died of natural causes aged 75. He notched the 1958 US number seven single “Oh Lonesome Me,” covered by Neil Young on his After The Gold Rush album, and the 1961 UK number 14 single “Sea Of Heartbreak.” His song “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962.

2007, The Eagles were at number one on the US album chart with Long Road Out Of Eden, the band’s seventh studio album, and first since 1979.

Born on November 17: Gordon Lightfoot (1938); Bob Gaudio, The Royal Teens, The Four Seasons, (1942); Gene Clark, The Byrds (1944); Martin Barre, Jethro Tull (1946); Rod Clements, Lindisfarne (1947); Robert Antoni, vocals, Nazz, Utopia (1947);  East Bay Ray,  guitarist, Dead Kennedys (1948); Jeff Buckley,  singer-songwriter (1966); Richard Fortus,  guitarist, Guns N’ Roses, Love Spit Love (1966): Kimya Dawson,  singer-songwriter, guitarist, The Moldy Peaches (1972); Isaac Hanson,  singer-songwriter, guitarist, Hanson (1980)

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