Rock History January 17
1964, The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, “You Better Move On,” “Poison Ivy,” “Bye Bye Johnny,” and “Money.” It peaked at number 15 on the UK chart.
1966, NBC-TV bought The Monkees series, placing it on their 1966 autumn schedule.
1967, The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon’s famous contribution to The Beatles song “A Day In The Life.”
1967, Big Brother and the Holding Company played at the Matrix in San Francisco.
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded a session for Radio Luxembourg’s Ready Steady Radio. The band ran up a bar bill of £2.5 shillings, ($6.21), which they were unable to pay.
1967, 40-year-old David Mason recorded the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” at Abbey Road Studios in London. He was paid £27, 10 shillings for his performance. In August, 1987, the trumpet he used was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $10,846.
1968, Pink Floyd were in recording sessions for Saucerful of Secrets at Studio 2, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, St. Johns Wood, in London.
1969, In an interview, John Lennon warns that Apple will soon tank due to its enormous financial losses.
1969, Led Zeppelin I, the band’s debut album, was released in the US, coinciding with the band’s first headlining US concert tour. It was to peak at number ten in the US chart, and at number six in the UK. The RIAA in the US has now certified it as having sold over 10 million copies in the US alone. The band played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit on this night.
1969, The Who performed at King’s College in London.
1970, R&B singer Billy Stewart and three of his band were killed when the car they were traveling in crashed off a bridge. He had the 1966 US number ten single “Summertime.”
1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
1970, The Doors played the first of four shows at the Felt Forum in New York City. The shows were recorded for the bands forthcoming Absolutely Live album.
Rock History January 17
1971, Neil Young performed at the Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit, Michigan.
1972, a section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road kept its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church.
1973, Genesis appeared at Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst, Frankfurt, Germany.
1974, Hawkwind played at Town Hall, Cheltenham, England.
1975, Bob Dylan releases Blood on the Tracks, arguably his most important album of the seventies.
1975, KISS played at Long Beach Civic Arena, Long Beach, California.
1977, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band performed at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.
1980, Rush appeared at Aitken University Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
1981, Motley Crue formed when bass guitarist Nikki Sixx left the band London and began rehearsing with drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist, guitarist Greg Leon, who later left. Sixx and Lee then added guitarist Bob “Mick Mars” Deal. Vince Neil accepted an offer to join three months later, after initially turning them down.
1983, Van Halen played at the Caracas Polyhedron, Caracas, Venezuela.
1986, David Bowie, Tom Donahue, The Jefferson Airplane, Gladys Knight And The Pips, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, Pete Seeger, The Shirelles and The Velvet Underground were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2003, A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger was set to spark a biding war at a London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song ‘Too Many Cooks” and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been released because the two artists were both signed to different record companies.
2008, The Police played the first nine dates in Australian and New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, on their 152-date Reunion tour.
2011, Don Kirshner, the songwriter, manager, publisher and music executive who helped launch the careers of Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, The Monkees, The Archies and Kansas, died of heart failure at the age of 76.
2023, Van Conner, a co-founder of Screaming Trees , died after a long battle with pneumonia. The bassist started the Northwest alternative band with his brother Gary Lee and singer Mark Lanegan.
Born on January 17: Eartha Kitt (1927); Mick Taylor (1948); Steve Earle (1955); Paul Young, singer (1956); Susanna Hoffs, guitar vocals, The Bangles (1959); Andy Rourke, bass, The Smiths (1963); Robert James Ritchie, aka Kid Rock (1971)
Read more at Today in Rock History.
Billy Stewart, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Genesis, Hawkwind, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Mötley Crue, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Rush, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Doors, The Monkees, The Police, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen.
