Rock History January 14
1963, Charlie Watts made his live debut with The Rolling Stones at The Flamingo Jazz Club, Soho, London. Before joining the Stones, Watts played regularly with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. The famous entourage has included Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Terry Cox, Ginger Baker, Art Wood, Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, Danny Thompson, Graham Bond, Cyril Davies and Dick Heckstall-Smith.
1966, The Who play Municipal Hall in Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom.
1966, David Bowie release his first single, “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” on Parlophone Records.
1967, Pink Floyd played at the Coming-Up Hop, held at The Great Hall, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading England.
1967, Over 25,000 people attend The Human Be-In-A Gathering Of The Tribes at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The event was a forerunner of major, outdoor rock concerts and featured The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company. Sir Douglas Quintet and Loading Zone also appear.
1969, Jimi Hendrix performed at Halle Münsterland in Muenster, Germany.
1970, Diana Ross made her last appearance with The Supremes at The Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas.
1971, Black Sabbath performed at City Hall, Sheffield, England.
1972, Yes played the first of two nights at the Rainbow Theatre, London.
1972, Jefferson Airplane landed at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1972, Stevie Wonder kicked off a 15-date UK tour at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.
1973, Pink Floyd played two shows at the Palais des Sports de la Porte de Versailles in Paris
1973, Led Zeppelin performed at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
1973, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested on drug possession charges.
1973, Elvis can still pull an audience. In fact, he can pull around a billion people. That’s how many are said to have watched the satellite transmission of his live concert in Hawaii today. The United States gets its Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii special taped.
1975, Hawkwind appeared at Gaumont, Southampton, England.
1976, The Allman Brothers Band played at Municipal Auditorium Music Hall, Kansas City, Missouri.
1977, Bob Seger performed at Cobo Arena in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
1978, The Sex Pistols perform before a sold-out crowd at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom. At the end of an epoch-defining gig, Johnny Rotten asks the audience, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” and walks out on the band. That was their first “break-up.” The band reformed in 1996.
1978, The Grateful Dead appeared at Municipal Auditorium in Bakersfield, California.
1979, Rush played at The Palladium in New York.
1980, Bob Dylan performed at the Paramount Northwest Theatre, Seattle, Washington.
1981, Roxy Music appeared at the Apollo, Manchester, England
1982, The Kinks played at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.
1984, Paul McCartney was at number one on the UK singles chart with “Pipes Of Peace.” With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a number one in a group, The Beatles, in a duo, with Stevie Wonder, in a trio, with Wings, and as a solo artist.
1992, Jerry Nolan drummer with The New York Dolls died from a fatal stroke. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973 New York Dolls and 1974 Too Much Too Soon.
1996, Oasis went to number one on the UK album chart with (What’s The Story) Morning Glory. The group’s second UK chart topper spent a total of 145 weeks on the chart.
2007, Amy Winehouse started a two week run at number one on the UK album chart with Back To Black, which went on to become the biggest-selling album of 2007 with sales over 1.5 million copies. Nas was at number one on the US album chart with Hip Hop Is Dead.
2010, The BBC admitted coverage of the launch of U2’s album No Line On The Horizon in 2009 went too far, giving “undue prominence” to the band. RadioCentre, the trade body for commercial radio companies, had made a formal complaint over the coverage saying the BBC had given U2 “the sort of publicity money can’t buy”.
Born on January 14: Alain Toussaint (1938); James Todd Smith, aka L.L. Cool J (1968); Dave Grohl (1969); and Caleb Followill, lead singer, rhythm guitarist, Kings of Leon (1982)
Today in Rock History archive.
HistoryAmy Winehouse, Black Sabbath, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Elvis Presley, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Rush, Stevie Wonder. Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, The Sex Pistols, U2, Yes.
