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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 26

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1964, Marianne Faithful recorded the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards song “As Tears Go By,” accompanied by future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.

1965, The Isley Brothers release their single “Twist and Shout.”

1966, The Rolling Stones were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Paint It Black,” their sixth chart topping single.

1966, The Who were at the Locarno Ballroom in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, England.

1966, Recording began for The Beatles’  “Yellow Submarine” at Abbey Road studios in London. Producer George Martin was not available due to a bout with food poisoning. The idea for the song came to Paul McCartney late one evening. “The color yellow came to me, and a submarine came to me,” he has stated. Both John Lennon and Donovan contributed to the lyrics. It was a melody that Paul felt would suit Ringo perfectly.

1968, Pink Floyd, Blonde On Blonde and The Pretty Things all appeared at the OZ Magazine benefit at the Middle Earth Club, Covent Garden, London, England. OZ was a satirical humor magazine, founded by Richard Neville in 1963, and based in Sydney, Australia. In its second and better-known incarnation it became a counter-culture magazine, based in London from 1967 to 1973.

1968, US blues artist Little Willie John died in prison after being convicted of manslaughter. H co-wrote and was the first to record  “Fever,” covered by Peggy Lee in 1958, and “Need Your Love So Bad” covered by Fleetwood Mac. James Brown recorded a tribute album Thinking Of Little Willie John… And A Few Other Nice Things.

1969, John and Yoko began an eight-day “bed in,” in room 1742 of The Hotel La Reine Elizabeth, Montreal, Canada, to promote world peace. They recorded “Give Peace a Chance” in the hotel room, during which Petula Clark can be heard on the chorus. The song was credited to Lennon & McCartney, even though Paul had nothing to do with the record.

1969, The Hollies record “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” with a young Elton John providing piano.

1969, Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends goes to number one on the American album chart, knocking their own Graduate soundtrack out of the top spot.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Mile High Raceway in Denver, Colorado.

1972, Ike and Tina Turner appeared at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Mott the Hoople

1972, Mott The Hoople was on  the verge of splitting up, when David Bowie offered them two of his new songs, “Suffragette City,” which they turned down and “All The Young Dudes,” which they recorded. The song gave the group a number three UK and US Top 40 hit.

1972, The first day of the four day UK festival The Great Western Express near Lincoln featuring The Faces, Joe Cocker, Humble Pie, Slade, The Groundhogs, Ry Cooder, Don McLean, Brewers Droop, plus a special appearance by Monty Python.

1973, The Beatles “1967-1970″album went to number one on the chart.

1973, The Edgar Winter Group went to number one on the singles chart with “Frankenstein,” the bands only chart topper, and a number 18 hit in the UK. The group featured former McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer.

1974, KISS performed at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington.

1975, Rush appeared at the Paramount Theatre, Portland, Oregon.

1976, Aerosmith played at Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1977, Billy Powell, singer with The O’Jays died of cancer.  Originally known as The Triumphs, and then The Mascots. They took the name “The O’Jays,” in tribute to radio disc jockey Eddie O’Jay.

1977, The Grateful Dead performed at the Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

1978, On Irish television this day, a program called Youngline a series for young people highlighting their interests. It included a feature on a new pop group, The Hype, soon to be renamed U2.

1978, Neil Young appeared at The Boarding House in San Francisco.

1979, “Sunday Girl” gave Blondie their second UK number one hit single. The track was taken from the group’s Parallel Lines, which went on to become the biggest selling album of 1979.

1979, The first day of the two day Loch Lomond Festival featured The Stranglers, Dr Feelgood, Skids, Third World, The Dickies. Day two featured The Average White Band, Buzzcocks, Rockpile and The Boomtown Rats, who played “I Don’t Like Mondays” live for the first time.

1983, David Bowie performed at the Amphithéâtre de Fréjus, Fréjus, France.

1994, Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. The couple divorced in 1995. They had first met when the seven-year-old Presley attended several of Jackson’s concerts in Las Vegas.

1995, The Rolling Stones played two semi-acoustic concerts at the Paradiso Amserdam over two days. Keith Richards later said that the Paradiso concerts were the best live shows the Stones ever did. The venue is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century, subsequently squatted in 1967 by hippies who wanted to convert the church into an entertainment club. Artists who have recorded concerts at the Paradiso include Joy Division, Willie Nelson, Phish, Nirvana, The Cure, Lenny Kravitz, Nick Cave, Dave Matthews and Amy Winehouse.

2002, The first episode of At Home With The Osbournes was shown on MTV in the UK. Already becoming a hit in the the US, the show focused on the madman, his wife Sharon, and two of their three children. Oblivious to the camera, they bicker, squabble, curse and hang out backstage at Ozzy shows.

2009, A US judge ended a bitter two-year battle over the late soul singer James Brown’s estate. Judge Jack Early ruled half of his assets will go to a charitable trust, a quarter to his wife and young son, and the rest to his six adult children. Brown’s family and wife Tomi Rae Hynie Brown, had fought over his fortune since he died of heart failure in 2006.

Born on May 26: Peggy Lee (1920); Miles Davis (1926); Levon Helm, The Band (1943); Garry Peterson, Canadian-American drummer, The Guess Who, Bachman–Turner Overdrive (1945); Mick Ronson, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople (1946); Stevie Nicks (1948); Hank Williams, Jr. (1949);  Marian Gold, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, Alphaville (1954); Lenny Kravitz (1964); Alan White, English drummer, Oasis,  Starclub (1972); Lauryn Hill, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, Fugees (1975)

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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 – April 29

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April 29

1967, The 14-hour Technicolour Dream benefit party for The International Times was held at Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill in London. Seeing the event mentioned on TV, John Lennon called his driver and went to the show. Coincidentally, Yoko Ono was one of the performers. More than thirty acts appeared included The Move, The Pretty Things, Soft Machine, Tomorrow, The Flies, The Creation Arthur Brown, and The Graham Bond Organisation. All the bands played for free. Members of Pink Floyd drove all night from an gig in The Netherlands arriving at 3 AM, and taking the stage at dawn.  The entire event was documented by BBC Television.

1967, Aretha Franklin releases her interpretation of the Otis Redding song “Respect.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix, The Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdink and Cat Stevens played two shows at Bournemouth Winter Gardens, England.

1969, While working on tracks for the forthcoming Beatles Abbey Road album, Ringo Starr added his vocal to “Octopus’s Garden.”

1970, The Allman Brothers Band played at Aliotta’s Lounge in Buffalo, New York.

1971, Promoter Bill Graham announces he’s closing the Fillmore Auditoriums in San Francisco and New York.

1972, David Bowie performed at Town Hall, High Wycombe, England.

1973, John Denver began a weekly live UK BBC 2 TV special, The John Denver Show.

1973, The Bay City Rollers appeared at The Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh in Scotland.

1974, King Crimson performed at the Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1975, Yes played at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, England.

The Bee Gees

1975, After suffering the indignity of having an album rejected by their label, the Bee Gees release their career renaissance Main Course, featuring the disco hits “Jive Talkin'” and “Nights on Broadway.”

1976, Genesis performed  Community Theater, Berkeley, California.

1976, After a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Elvis Presley’s Graceland home and proceeded to climb over the wall. A guard took him to be another crank fan and apprehended him.

1976, Bob Dylan appeared at Expo Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, Alabama.

1977, The Grateful Dead played the first of five nights at the New York Palladium, New York.

1977, The Kinks appeared at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario.

1979, Van Halen played at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1980, Black Sabbath began their first tour with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who had replaced Ozzy Osbourne.

1983, Roxy Music performed at the California State University, Fresnom, California.

1984, Yes appeared at the Civic Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.

1993, Guitarist, producer, Mick Ronson died of liver cancer aged 46. Ronson recorded and toured with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973. He released the 1974 solo album Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed’s album Transformer. He was also part of the Hunter Ronson Band with Ian Hunter. Among the talent Ronson worked with were Morrissey, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Wildhearts, The Rich Kids, Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett.

1995, Rapper Tupac Shakur married Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility, where he was serving a four-year jail term for sex abuse.

2001, A blue plaque was unveiled at 38 Aubrey Walk, Kensington, London to honor the musical heritage of the address where British singer Dusty Springfield lived between 1968 and 1972.

2007, Arctic Monkeys started a three week run at number one on the UK album chart with their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare.

Born on April 29: Duke Ellington (1899); Carl Gardner, American singer, The Coasters (1928); Willie Nelson (1933); Klaus Voorman,  Manfred Mann, Plastic Ono Band (1942);  Tammi Terrell, singer (1945); Tommy James (1947); Michael Karoli, German guitarist, songwriter, Can (1948); Francis Rossi, Status Quo (1949); Mark Kendall, American guitarist,  songwriter, Great White (1957); Carnie Wilson, American singer-songwriter, actress Wilson Phillips (1968); China Forbes, American singer-songwriter, Pink Martini (1970); Mike Hogan, bass, The Cranberries (1973)

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Today in Rock History – March 29

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rolling-stones-brian-jones-19671967, During a European tour The Rolling Stones appeared at the Bremen-Stadthalle in Germany. Also on the tour, The Easybeats and The Creation.

1967, Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles finished recording “Good Morning Good Morning.” They then started work on a new song “With a Little Help From My Friends,” (originally titled “Bad Finger Boogie,”) recording 10 takes of the rhythm track, then Ringo overdub a double-tracked lead vocal.

1968, Sly & the Family Stone performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Glen Campbell gets his big break when the Smothers Brothers make him the host of the Summer Replacement Variety Hour.

1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Black Sabbath, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Curved Air, J.J. Jackson’s Dilemma, Shy Limbs, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Sunflower Brass Band and Toe Fat all appeared at the London Free Easter Festival in Bethnal Green, London, England.

1969, Janis Joplin performed at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

1969, Blood Sweat & Tears went to number one on the US album chart with their self- titled album.

1970, Led Zeppelin played at Hofheinz Pavillion at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Tickets cost $6.50.

1970, John Lennon and Yoko Ono announce that Yoko is pregnant with John’s son.

1972, In Bombay, India, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page record versions of “Four Sticks” and “Friends” with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately, differing music theories lead to the sessions being scrapped. Says Plant, “It’s very hard for them to cope with the Western approach to music with their counting of everything, their times, and so on.”

1972, Pink Floyd performed at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England.

1973, Roxy Music appeared at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1973,  Dr. Hook appear on Rolling Stone‘s cover shortly after making a splash with their hit “The Cover of Rolling Stone.” Just like the lyrics in the song, the band members buy five copies of the magazine to give to their mothers.

1974, King Crimson played at Stadthalle, Heidelberg, Germany.

1975, Labelle went to number one on the singles chart with “Lady Marmalade,” the group’s only chart topper.

1975, Blow By Blow, the sixth studio album by Jeff Beck (post Yardbirds).  Beck went fusion and did it well. It was produced by George Martin, Blow By Blow peaked at number four in the US charts, went platinum, and scored a Grammy for Best Instrumental Album.

1975, Led Zeppelin had all their six albums in the Top 100 chart in the same week with their latest album Physical Graffiti at number one.

1976, Electric Light Orchestra appeared at Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1976, during a European tour Neil Young started a three night run at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1978, David Bowie kicked off his Low / Heroes  77-date World Tour at San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.

1979, After attending a Dire Straits show during their residency at the Roxy in Los Angeles, Bob Dylan asked Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on the sessions for his next album. Slow Train Coming was the album, recorded in Muscle Shoals in May of 1979, with Jerry Wexler producing. Dylan had first heard Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler when his assistant Arthur Rosato played him the single “Sultans of Swing.”

1980, Mantovani, (Annunzio Paolo Mantovan), orchestra leader died aged 74. Born in Italy his family moved to England in 1912, where he studied at Trinity College of Music in London. He recorded over 50 albums for Decca records, including Song from Moulin Rouge and Cara Mia, both reached number one in the UK. In the United States, between 1955 and 1972, he released over 40 albums with 27 reaching the Top 40 and 11 the Top Ten. His biggest success was with the album Film Encores, which made it to number one in 1957.

1980, Rush played at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada.

1980, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, spent its 303rd week on the album chart, beating the record set by Carole King’s album Tapestry. The album remained in the US Billboard charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album in chart history. After moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006.

1985, Roger Waters appeared at The Spectrum, Philadelphia.

1986, Austrian singer Falco started a three-week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Rock Me Amadeus,” also a number one in the UK. Falco became the first German speaking artist to achieve a chart topping single on the US charts.

2001, Brian Wilson was honored in a three hour tribute at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Guest performances included Billy Joel, Paul Simon, The Go-Gos, and the trio of Carly Simon, David Crosby, and Jimmy Webb. Also singing Beach Boy songs were Ann and Nancy Wilson, Elton John, and Aimee Mann. Brian Wilson himself joined the fun when he took the stage for the final three songs, “Barbara Ann,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

Born on March 29: Vangellis (1943); Chad Allen, The Guess Who (1943); Michael Brecker (1949); Perry Ferrell, Jane’s Addiction (1959)

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Today in Rock History – March 21

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Who-1965-live1965, The Who appeared at the Trade Union Hall, Watford, England.

1965, After “I Want To Hold Your Hand” had held the number one position on the US singles chart for seven weeks, The Beatles started a two-week run at the top of the charts with “She Loves You.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at Speakeasy in London.

1970, Pink Floyd played the last date of their March European Tour at the Tivolis Koncertsal in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1970, The Beatles “Let It Be” debuts at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest ever new entry. In the UK, the Beatles’ “Let It Be” is kept from the top position by “Wand’rin’ Star,” the only single ever to feature the vocals of actor Lee Marvin.

1971, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Boat Club, Nottingham, England on their Back To The Clubs tour. This was the first tour which saw Zeppelin performing “Stairway To Heaven,” “Black Dog,” and “Going To California.” Zeppelin opened the set with “Immigrant Song” and “Heartbreaker.” This small club on the banks of the River Trent had also seen performances by Elton John, Black Sabbath, Sex Pistols and Rod Stewart.

1972, The Grateful Dead played the first of seven nights at the Academy of Music in New York City, New York.

1973, The BBC banned all teenybopper acts appearing on UK TV show, Top Of The Pops after a riot following a David Cassidy performance.

1974, Yes appeared at the Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1975, Led Zeppelin played at the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle, Washington.  Two people were arrested for scalping the $7.50 face value tickets for as much as $20.

1976, Iggy Pop and David Bowie were involved in a drug bust at their hotel room in Rochester, New York.

1977, The Eagles performed at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

dire-straits1978, Dire Straits played at The Marquee Club in London, England. Tickets priced at 70p.

1980, Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers was sent to Pentonville Prison after losing his appeal against a drug conviction.

1981, REO Speedwagon went to number one on the US singles chart with “Keep On Loving You.” It was the group’s first top forty hit and first chart topper. In the UK, it climbed to the seventh spot in the charts.

1983, Pink Floyd release The Final Cut in the UK, their last album with Roger Waters. The US release is slated for April 2nd.

1984, Strawberry Fields, an area in Central Park bought by Yoko Ono in memory of her late husband was opened.

1985, Bruce Springsteen kicked off the second leg of his Born in the USA world tour at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia.

1987, U2 scored their third UK number one album with The Joshua Tree, featuring the singles “Where The Streets Have No Name,” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The album became the fastest selling in UK history and the first album to sell over a million CDs, spending a total of 156 weeks on the UK chart. Also a US number one.

2006, Three South African women whose father, Solomon Linda, wrote “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in 1939, won a six-year court battle that gave them 25 per cent of all past and future royalties from the song. Linda who was a cleaner at a Johannesburg record company when he wrote the song, received virtually nothing for his work and died in 1962 with $25 in his bank account. The song had been recorded by Pete Seeger (as “Wimoweh,”) The Kingston Trio, The Tokens, Karl Denver and R.E.M. and was featured in the Disney film The Lion King. It was estimated that the song had earned $15 million for its use in The Lion King alone.

Born on March 21: Viv Stanshall, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943); Rosemary Stone, Sly & the Family Stone (1945); Roger Hodgson, Supertramp (1950); and Conrad Lozano, Los Lobos; Russell Thompkins Jr, vocals, The Stylistics (1951); Sean Dickson, The Soup Dragons (1967)

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Today in Rock History – March 20

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1969, John Lennon married Yoko Ono at the British Consulate Office in Gibraltar. They spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning for an international “Bed-In” for peace. They planned another “Bed-in” in the United States, but were denied entry. The couple then went to Montréal, and during a “Bed-in” at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel recorded ‘Give Peace a Chance’. Lennon also detailed this period in The Beatles’ ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’, recorded by Lennon and McCartney on April 14, 1969.

1970, David and Angela Bowie were married at Beckenham Registry Office, London. They were divorced in 1980.

1970, The Grateful Dead performed at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York.

1971,  The Rolling Stones placed full page advertisements at their own expensein all the UK’s music papers disclaiming any connection with the release of the Decca album Stone Age saying “in our opinion the content is below the standard we try to keep.”

1971, Janis Joplin started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with the Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby McGee.”  The song is the second posthumous number one song of the rock era, reaching the top of the charts almost six months after Joplin’s death on October 4th, 1970.

1973, Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Cum On Feel The Noize,” the group’s fourth UK number one.

1976, Status Quo started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with their third No.1 album Blue For You. The bands record label set up a deal with Levi Jeans, advertising in over 6,000 clothes shops to help promote the album.

Lou Reed

1976, Alice Cooper married 19 year old Sheryl Goddard.

1977, Lou Reed was banned from appearing The London Palladium in England because of his punk image.

1977, T Rex played their final ever gig when they appeared at The Locarno in Portsmouth, England.

1980, 28 year- old Joseph Riviera held up the Asylum Records office in New York and demanded to see either Jackson Browne or The Eagles. Riviera wanted to talk to them to see if they would finance his trucking operation. He gave himself up when told that neither act was in the office at the time.

1982, Joan Jett And The Blackhearts started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a No.4 hit in the UK. The song had been a B-side from 60’s band The Arrows.

1991, Eric Clapton’s four year old son, Conor, fell to his death from the 53rd story of a New York City apartment after a housekeeper who was cleaning the room left a window open. The boy was in the custody of his mother, Italian actress, Lori Del Santo and the pair were visiting a friend’s apartment. Clapton was staying in a nearby hotel after taking his son to the circus the previous evening. The tragedy inspired his song “Tears in Heaven.”

Born on March 20: Lee “Scratch” Perry, reggae producer (1936); Jerry Reed (1937); Jimmy Vaughn (1949); Carl Palmer, ELP (1951); Fonso Martin, Steel Pulse (1956); and Chester Bennington, vocals, Linkin Park (1976)

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Today in Rock History – February 14

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aretha-franklin-19671967,  Aretha Franklin records a cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect”at Atlantic Studios in New York. It would become a number one US single in June.

1967,  The Doors play the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles.

1967, Jimi Hendrix appeared at Gray’s Club in Tilbury, Essex, England.

1968, Manfred Mann were at number one on the UK singles chart with their version of the Bob Dylan song “The Mighty Quinn.” It was a number ten hit in the US.

1968, Drumming up some publicity, Frank Zappa announces he’s working on two films with his Mothers of Invention. Uncle Meat doesn’t see the light of day until 1987, while a proposed Japanese monster movie never comes to fruition.

1969, The Grateful Dead perform at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1970, The compilation album Motown Chartbusters Vol. 3 went to number one on the UK chart, featuring Diana Ross and The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and The Four Tops.

1970, Pink Floyd performed at King’s Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

1970, The Who appeared at Leeds University, England. The show was recorded for the band’s forthcoming Live At Leeds album. The University of Leeds refectory, has now been named a national landmark in the UK, commemorated with a blue plaque.

1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono started a week long run as co-hosts on the Mike Douglas TV show.

1973, David Bowie collapsed on stage during a concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

1974, Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille (of Captain And Tennille) married in Virginia City, while on a promotion tour of the States. They divorced in 2014.

1974, Keith Moon flies back to London to play drums at an all-star Roy Harper concert at The Rainbow. Jimmy Page, David Bedford, and John Bonham also take part under the band name Interglactic Elephant Band. Part of the show is later released as the Roy Harper album Flashes From The Archive Of Oblivion.

1975, Rush played at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

1977, Singer songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine’s day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her song “At Seventeen,” she had never received any.

1977, The B-52’s made their first live performance, appearing in a Greenhouse at a Valentines Day party in Athens.

1979, Dire Straits performed at the Rosengarten, Mannheim, Germany.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult played at Agricultural Hall, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

1986, Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of the television series Miami Vice. Zappa portrayed a crime boss named “Mr. Frankie.”

1987, Bon Jovi started a four week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Livin’ On A Prayer,” the group’s second US number one, a number four hit in the UK.

1989, Keyboard player Vincent Crane died.  He was a member of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and Atomic Rooster.

1992, The film Wayne’s World, which featured appearances from Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper, premiered in the US. The use of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the film propelled the song to number two on the US singles charts nearly 20 years after its first release.

1994, The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia married movie maker Deborah Koons.

1995, Rapper Tupac Shakur was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual abuse charge. He was later released on appeal.

1999, Lenny Kravitz scored his first UK number one single with “Fly Away,” a number twelve hit in the US. The track had been used on a TV ad for cars.

2002, Mick Tucker, drummer with glam rock band Sweet, died of leukemia.

2003, Stolen reel-to-reel studio recordings by The Beatles were found in Australia. Police recovered the tapes of the White Album and Abbey Road, after they were advertised for sale in a Sydney newspaper. Australian police had been tipped off by British detectives from Operation Acetone, an investigation into thefts of original Beatles music from Abbey Road studios in London in the 1960’s.

2007, Winners at the 27th annual Brit Awards at London’s Earls Court included Muse, who won Best British Live Act, British Breakthrough Act went to The Fratellis. Winner of the Best International Breakthrough Act was Orson. Take That won the first-ever live vote, when they took home the Best British Single for “Patience.” Arctic Monkeys were named Best British Group, James Morrison was named Best British Male and Amy Winehouse won Best British Female. Justin Timberlake won Best International Male, and Nelly Furtado won Best International Female. The Killers won Best International Group and Best International Album for Sam’s Town and Oasis won the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award.

2009, Bruce Springsteen went to number one on the US album chart with Working on a Dream, his sixteenth studio album.

2010, Doug Fieger singer, songwriter with The Knack died after a long battle with cancer. The Knack had the 1979 US number one and UK number six single “My Sharona,” which he wrote for Sharona Alperin, who later became his girlfriend.

Born on February 14: Maceo Parker, sax, Parliament-Funkadelic (1943); Vic Briggs, The Animals (1945); Doug Simiril, piano, Steve Miller Band (1946); Tim Buckley (1947); Rob Thomas, Matchbox 20 (1972)

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Today in Rock History – January 28

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Moody-Blues-Go-Now1965, The Moody Blues were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Go Now!”

1965, The Who made their first appearance on UK TV show Ready Steady Go! To project the desired image, the hand-picked audience consisted only of teens dressed in the current “Mod” fashion.

1966, The Cavern Club in Liverpool closes, having run up debts of 10,000 pounds. The club became world famous as one of The Beatles’ earliest venues.

1967, The Four Tops appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London. Also on the bill, The Dakotas, Madeline Bell, The Remo Four and Johnny Watson.

1968, Jim Morrison of The Doors was arrested and charged with public drunkenness after harassing a security guard at a Las Vegas adult movie theater.

1969, After the Beatles cut versions of “Get Back” and “Don”t Let Me Down” for single release, John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet Allen Klein for the first time at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

1969, Marmalade were at number one on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles song “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da.”

1970, Jimi Hendrix performed at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1970, The Who played at the Theater des Westens in Berlin, Germany.

1971, Genesis appeared at St. George’s Hall, Bradford, England.

1972, Pink Floyd played at Town Hall in Leeds, England.

1972, Deep Purple performed at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California.

1973, Bruce Springsteen appeared at Villanova University appearing to an audience of 25 people.

1974, Hawkwind took the stage at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England.

1975, Genesis performed at Civic Hall, Phoenix, Arizona.

1977, Pink Floyd’s tenth studio album Animals entered the UK charts at number two. The sleeve concept was that of Roger Waters, who lived at the time near Clapham Common, and regularly drove past Battersea Power Station. A view of the imposing, but disused former power station building was chosen for the cover image, complete with massive inflatable pig suspended between two of the towers.

1978, The Fleetwood Mac album Rumours went to number one on the album chart.  The album sold over 15 million copies worldwide and spent over 440 weeks on the album chart.

1982, AC/DC appeared at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1983, The first Narara Music Festival was held near Somersby, New South Wales over the Australia Day weekend, the line-up included Men At Work, The Church, The Choirboys, Cold Chisel and INXS.

1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood started a five-week run at number one on the UK singles chart with “Relax!”

1985, The recording took place for “We Are The World,” the US equivalent of “Band Aid” at A&M Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the all star cast included Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, (who contributed four lines to the charity single), Ray Charles, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Perry and Bob Geldof. The session was produced by Quincy Jones.

1987, The Grateful Dead played at the Civic Center in San Francisco.

1988, Eleven years after it was released, The Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols went Gold in the US with sales over 500,000.

1994, Paul and Linda McCartney attended the premiere of Wayne’s World II in London. The couple then went on to Hard Rock Cafe, where the film star Mike Myers presented them with a check for LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) for £25,000 ($42,500) from the sale of Linda’s vegetarian burgers.

1998, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher played a 20-minute solo gig at the King Head, an English pub in Santa Monica in front of 250 fans.

2000, Saxophonist and bandleader Thomas “Beans” Bowles died of prostate cancer aged 73. He played on many Motown sessions including Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heat Wave,” and The Supremes “Baby Love.” Bowles wrote the melody on Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt. 2.”

2001, Limp Bizkit started a two-week run at number one on the UK album chart with Chocolate Starfish.

2005, English drummer and singer songwriter Jim Capaldi died of stomach cancer aged 60. He was a member of Traffic,  and had the solo 1975 UK number four single “Love Hurts.” Capaldi also worked with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and George Harrison.

2009, Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell died at the age of 56 of a suspected heart attack in Florida. Powell called police saying he was having trouble breathing and emergency services tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead an hour later.

2015, Sly Stone was awarded $5m (£3.3m) in missed royalties by a Los Angeles court. The singer claimed his former manager, Gerald Goldstein, and lawyer, Glenn Stone, had cheated him out of earnings dating back more than 20 years. In 2011, it was reported he was homeless and living in a camper van after falling on hard times, and fighting drug addiction problems.

Born on January 28: Ronnie Scott, jazz musician London club owner (1927); Dick Taylor, The Pretty Things (1943); Robert Wyatt, Soft Machine (1945); William Nelson, Funkadelic (1951); Dave Sharpe, guitarist and singer, The Alarm (1959)

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Today in Rock History – January 20

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Fairport Convention1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at Haverstock Hill Country Club in London.

1967, The Monkees TV show was shown for the first time in the UK.

1968, Fleetwood Mac, The Move, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Fairport Convention  all appeared at the Roundhouse Chalk Farm in London.

1968, The Who play at Festival Hall in Brisbane, Queensland. The performances go over well with the audience but gets belittled in the next day’s press. “The Who were guilty of playing down to the yokels.” The tone of the press coverage is only to get worse. On the same day, back in England, New Musical Express reports that “Glow Girl” will be The Who’s next single. Pete Townshend mentions “Little Billy,” written for the American Cancer Society and, probably referencing “Faith In Something Bigger,” says he wants The Who to “preach” on their next album.

1968, Having been in seclusion since his 1966 motorcycle accident, Bob Dylan tries to build bridges with the folk community he left behind by going “electric.” He and the Band perform at a Carnegie Hall tribute to Woody Guthrie, sharing a bill with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Odetta, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

1968, One hit wonders John Fred and the Playboy Band started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Judy In Disguise, (With Glasses.”) The song reached the third spot in the UK. It was inspired by The Beatles “Lucy In The Sky.”

1968, Buffalo Springfield played at Whittier High School, Whittier, California.

1968, The Grateful Dead performed at the Municipal Auditorium in Eureka, California.

1969, Bruce Springsteen had two of his poems published in the Ocean County College Literary Yearbook Seascapes. Springsteen was in his second semester at the Toms River, New Jersey College.

1969, The rumor mill states that Led Zeppelin appeared at the Wheaton Youth Center, Wheaton, during their first North American tour, and played to a tiny audience. There is no evidence of this show ever occurring. Led Zeppelin’s road manager, Richard Cole, does not recall it either. The first Baltimore area show was at the Civic Center on February 16, 1969.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band played at the University of California Riverside in Riverside, California,

1970, Led Zeppelin appeared at Leeds Town Hall, England.

1970, John Lennon and Yoko Ono both cut their hair off in Denmark and declare it to be Year One.

1971, Chicago and The Chamber Brothers appeared at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1972, on the first date of a UK tour, Pink Floyd premiered their new album Dark Side Of The Moon at The Dome, Brighton, England. Due to technical problems this was abandoned after the track “Money.”

1973, Rock ‘n’ roll wild man Jerry Lee Lewis performs at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. The Opry officials ask him to play only country music and refrain from using any obscenities. However, “The Killer” plays “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On,” before exclaiming, “I am the rock ‘n’ rollin’, country and western, rhythm and blues singin’ motherfucker.”

1973, Bob Dylan begins recording in Mexico City the soundtrack to Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, a Western starring Kris Kristofferson, James Coburn, and himself.

1974, Genesis performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London on the Selling England By The Pound tour.

1975, The US Top Five singles: number five, Stevie Wonder, “Boogie On Reggae Woman,”  number four, Ohio Players, “Fire,” number three, Barry Manilow, “Mandy,” second, Neil Sedaka, “Laughter In The Rain,” and at number one, The Carpenters with “Please Mr Postman.”

1977, Foghat appeared at the Omni Coliseum, Atlanta.

rumours1978,  The Fleetwood Mac album Rumours went to number one on the UK album chart, also a number one in the US for thirty weeks in 1977. The album went on to sell over 15 million copies world- wide, and spent over 440 weeks on the UK chart.

1980, Aerosmith played at the Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, Maine.

1981, Bruce Springsteen performed at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

1982, During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the light, the bat lay motionless, and thinking it was a rubber fake, the singer picked it up and attempted to bite its head off. As he did this, the bat started to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realized it wasn’t fake but in fact a living thing. After the show Ozzy was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots.

1983, Def Leppard released their third studio album Pyromania which featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The album has now sold over 10 million copies in the US.

1985, Foreigner had their only UK number one single with “I Want To Know What Love Is.” London-born Mick Jones wrote the song.

1986, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan appeared at a concert to celebrate the first Martin Luther King day in the US.

1988, The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney does not attend, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles was the reason for his absence.

1997, Ben and Jerry’s introduced Phish Food, a new flavor of ice cream named after the Vermont based rock group Phish. The ingredients were chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.

1999, Bill Albaugh drummer from the 1960’s psychedelic group The Lemon Pipers died aged 53. The Lemon Pipers scored the 1967 US number one single “Green Tambourine.”

2001, A memorial service was held for Kirsty MacColl who was killed in a boating accident off the coast of Mexico in December 2000. Bono from U2 and Billy Bragg were among friends and fans that packed St Martin-in-the-fields church in London.

2002, George Harrison had the posthumous UK number one single with the re-release of the 1971 former chart topper “My Sweet Lord.” Harrison’s single replaced Aaliyah’s “More Than A Woman,” the only time in chart history that one deceased artist had taken over from another at the top spot.

2012, Etta James, most often remembered for her signature song “At Last,” which reached the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart, died from complications of leukemia at the age of 73. She also placed nine other songs in the American Top 40, won three Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Born on January 20: Leadbelly (1889); Slim Whitman, country singer (1924); Ron Townson, The Fifth Dimension (1933); Billy Powell, vocals, The O’Jays, (1942); Rick Evans, Zager & Evans (1943); Eric Stewart, Mindenders, Hotlegs, 10cc (1946); Paul Stanley, guitar, vocals, KISS (1950); Ian Hill, bass, Judas Priest (1952); Greg Kreisel, aka Greg K, bass, The Offspring (1965); Nicholas Allen Jones, Manic Street Preachers (1969); Gary Barlow, vocals, piano, songwriter, Take That (1971); Questlove, drummer, DJ, and producer The Roots, Soulquarians (1971); Rob Bourdon, drums, Linkin Park (1979); Nathan Connolly, Snow Patrol (1981)

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