Rock History December 26
1964, The Beatles started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “I Feel Fine.” It was the group’s sixth chart topper of the year in which they had thirty entries on the chart, giving them a total of eighteen weeks at the top of the charts.
1964, The Rolling Stones placed an advertisement in the music paper New Musical Express, wishing starving hairdressers and their families a Happy Christmas.
1965, While spending Christmas at his father’s home in Cheshire, Paul McCartney crashed from the moped he was riding and suffered a five-inch cut to his mouth.
1966, John Lennon appeared as a men’s room attendant in Peter Cook’s and Dudley Moore’s BBC TV show Not only… But also.
1966, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played an afternoon show at The Uppercut Club, London. Hendrix also wrote the lyrics to “Purple Haze” in the dressing room on the same day.
1967, BBC Television broadcast The Beatles’ movie Magical Mystery Tour in black and white. The next day, the British press and the viewing public pronounce the film an utter disaster. The negative reaction was so strong that a US television deal for broadcasting the movie was cancelled.
1967, The Doors performed at Winterland Arena in San Francisco.
1968, Led Zeppelin started their first North American tour supporting Vanilla Fudge and Spirit at Denver Auditorium, Colorado. Tickets for this Sunday night gig cost $5. Denver music man Barry Fey nearly became famous for being the guy who refused to book Led Zeppelin. “About ten days before the show, I got a call from the agent saying, ‘Barry, I want to add an act to our show,’ ” Fey said. “I said, ‘all the tickets are sold.’ “He said, ‘You’ve got to do this for me, Barry, this is a big, big act. Their name is Led Zeppelin.’ I thought it was a joke.” Fey turned Terry down, until the agent showed Fey the money. “Ten minutes later Ron called back and said ‘Vanilla Fudge is going to give you $750, and if you give $750 of your own money, we still can put Led Zeppelin on the show.’ ” Fey caved in. “I got up on the stage and said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, give a warm Denver welcome to Led Zeppelin,’ ” Fey said. “They started playing, and it was incredible. It was an unbelievable show; people were gasping.”
1969, Yes played at the Marquee Club, London.
1969, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Fillmore East, New York.
1970, George Harrison started a four week run at number one on the singles chart with “My Sweet Lord,” making him the first Beatle to score a number one hit. The song was originally intended for Billy Preston.
1972, Roxy Music played at Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa Bay, Florida.
1973, Alice Cooper performed at New Haven Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut.
1974, KISS appeared at the Civic Auditorium, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1976, The Sex Pistols recorded “God Save The Queen” at Wessex Studios London, England.
1978, Rush played at the Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada.
1979, The first night of a series of concerts were held at The Hammersmith Odeon in London, for the People of Kampuchea, featuring Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and many more artists. The events which were organized by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim were aimed to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia.
1979, Pink Floyd’s The Wall was at number one on the album chart. The album spent a total of fifteen weeks at the top, during a 35-week stay on the chart.
1980, Blue Oyster Cult played at Cumberland County Memorial, Fayetteville, North Carolina.
1981, AC/DC started a three-week run at number one on the US album chart with For Those About To Rock We Salute You, the follow-up to their highly successful album Back In Black. The name of the album was inspired by a book Angus Young read, entitled For Those About to Die, We Salute You, about Roman gladiators.
1982, Aerosmith appeared at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas.
1983, Blue Oyster Cult played at Memorial Coliseum, Portland., Oregon.
1999, American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter Curtis Mayfield died aged 57. He was a member of The Impressions, who had the 1965 US number seven single “Lilies Of The Field,” and as a solo artist, with the 1971 UK number 12 single “Move On Up,” and 1972 US number four single “Freddie’s Dead” from the soundtrack album to the movie Superfly.
2007, Amy Winehouse’s second album Back to Black was named as the biggest-selling album of the year. Released at the end of 2006 the album has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the UK, achieving five platinum sales awards. Winehouse was also nominated for six Grammys including “Song of the Year”.
2012, Fontella Bass, the US female singer, pianist, who had the 1965 US number four and UK number 11 single “Rescue Me” died of complications following a heart attack aged 72.
Born on December 26: Steve Allen (1921); Abdul “Duke” Fakir, The Four Tops (1935); Phil Spector (1940); John Scofield (1951); Henning Schmitz, drummer,Kraftwerk (1953); Lars Ulrich, Metallica (1955); Jay Farrar, singer-songwriter, guitarist, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt (1966); James Mercer, guitarist, The Shins, Broken Bells (1970); Zach Blair, guitarist Hagfish, Gwar, Rise Against (1973)
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AC/DC, Aerosmith, Amy Winehouse, Blue Oyster Cult, Curtis Mayfield, Elvis Costello, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Roxy Music, Rush, The Beatles, The Clash, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Yes.
