Rock History August 6
1965, The Beatles released their fifth album in the UK, the soundtrack to Help!, their second film. The US release took place on August 13. The album was produced by George Martin. It contains fourteen songs in its original British form. Seven of these, including the singles “Help!” and “Ticket to Ride”, appeared in the film and took up the first side of the vinyl album. The second side contained seven other releases including “Yesterday.”
1965, Decca records released The Small Faces debut single “Whatcha Gonna Do About It.” It peaked at number 14 on the UK chart, number 28 and Canada, and did not chart in the US.
1966, Paul Revere & the Raiders appeared at the Sports Arena in Toledo, Ohio.
1967, The Who spend two days at Talentmasters Studio in New York. Al Kooper joins the band on organ to record two versions of “Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand.” One is released in the U.S. on the B-side of “I Can See For Miles,” while the other remains in the vaults until the 1995 edition of The Who Sell Out. Also recorded is a studio version of “Summertime Blues,” an organ overdub on “Relax,” performed by Pete, and new vocals to replace the guide vocals on “I Can See For Miles.”
1968, The Who perform at the Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.
1969, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin made their one and only appearance in Sacramento, California, playing at Memorial Auditorium.
1970, The 10th National Jazz, Blues and Pop four day Festival was held at Plumpton Racecourse in Sussex, England. Featuring, Family, Groundhogs, Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, Fat Mattress, Yes, Caravan, The Strawbs, Black Sabbath, Wild Angles, Wishbone Ash and Daddy Longlegs.
1970, Steppenwolf, Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Poco and Johnny Winter all appeared at the Concert For Peace at New York’s Shea Stadium. The concert date coincided with the 25th anniversary of dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
1971, Pink Floyd made their first ever visit to Japan, playing three dates there. The first show was at Seikei Gakuen Jofundai, near Lake Ashi, in Hakone for the Hakone Aphrodite ’71 along with Buffy Sainte Marie, The 1910 Fruit Gum Company, Mops, Strawberry Path, Happenings Four, and several other Japanese acts.
1972, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California.
1973, Stevie Wonder was seriously injured when the car he was riding in crashed into a truck on Interstate 85 near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, leaving him in a coma for four days. The accident also left him without any sense of smell.
1974, Abba scored their first US top ten hit when “Waterloo” went to number six. It was a chart topper in the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland. The Swedish group were also on their first American tour.
1974, CSNY played at the Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.
1975, The Rolling Stones appeared at the Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, Virginia.
1976, Robin Trower performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.
1977, The Police appeared at The Red Cow, Hammersmith Road in London, admission was 60p ($1.10.)
1977, This week’s UK Top Five singles: No.5 “Fanfare For The Common Man,” ELP. No.4, “Pretty Vacant,” The Sex Pistols. No.3, “Angelo,” Brotherhood Of Man. No.2, “Ma Baker,” Boney M and No.1, “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer.
1978, Aerosmith performed at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
1979, Van Halen played at Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas.
1980, Fleetwood Mac appeared at the Hollywood Sportatorium, Pembroke Pines, Florida.
1981, Stevie Nicks released her first solo album Bella Donna which contained four top 40 US hits. They were “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with Tom Petty, “Leather and Lace,” with Don Henley, “Edge of Seventeen,” and “After the Glitter Fades.”
1982, Pink Floyd’s The Wall starring Bob Geldof as “Pink”opened in movie theaters in New York. The film was conceived alongside the double album by Roger Waters.
1988, Appetite For Destruction, Guns N’ Roses debut album went to number one in the US, after spending 57 weeks on the chart and selling over 5 million copies. Singles from the album, “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” and “Paradise City” were all US top ten hits. The album is the best-selling debut album of all-time in the US, beating Boston’s debut album Boston, which has gone 17x platinum.
1999, Dick Latvala died aged 56 after being in a coma caused by a heart attack. Latvala worked with The Grateful Dead since the early 80’s looking after their archives of live performances which became a series of Dick’s Picks albums.
2004, Rick James was found dead at his Los Angeles home. Known as “The King of Punk-Funk” James scored the 1981 US number three album Street Songs, and 1981 US number 16 single “Super Freak part 1.” In the late 60’s James worked as a songwriter and producer for Motown, working with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.
2009, Willy DeVille died at the age of 58 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The band he formed, Mink Deville, appeared at the legendary CBGB club in New York in the 1970s and scored the 1977 hit “Spanish Stroll.” Doctors discovered he had cancer earlier that year as he was preparing to undergo treatment for Hepatitis C.
Born on August 6: Andy Warhol, (1928); Judy Craig, singer, The Chiffons (1946); Allan Holdsworth, Soft Machine (1948); Pat McDonald, Timbuk 3 (1952); and Randy Debarge, Debarge (1958); Geri Halliwell, Spice Girls (1972)
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Abba, Aerosmith, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Fleetwood Mac, Guns N’ Roses, Mink DeVille, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Pink Floyd, Procul Harum, Rick James, Robin Trower, Steppenwolf, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Police, The Rolling Sones, The Who, Tom Petty, Van Halen.
