Rock History July 11
1964, The Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program Lucky Stars (Summer Spin,) performing “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Things We Said Today,” and “You Can’t Do That.” To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames.
1965, The Who performed two shows on this Sunday, first at St. George’s Ballroom in Hinkley, and later at the Savoy Ballroom, South Parade, Southsea, Portsmouth. The second show was supported by the Crow and promoted by Rikki Farr of the Birdcage Club Portsmouth.
1967, Having left the New Christy Minstrels the day before, Kenny Rogers forms the First Edition with fellow ex-Minstrels Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle, and Terry Williams.
1968, Fleetwood Mac appeared at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.
1969, The Velvet Underground performed at the Boston Tea Party in Boston.
1969, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie was released in the UK for the first time. It was timed to coincide with the Apollo moon landing but had to be re-released before it became a hit, later in the year in the UK, and not until 1973 in the US.
1969, The Grateful Dead appeared at the New York State Pavilion, Flushing Meadows, New York.
1969, Led Zeppelin performs at The Laurel Pop Festival along with Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Al Kooper, Buddy Guy, and the Edwin Hawkins Singers at the Laurel Race Couse on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland. Ticket prices ranged from $4.75 – $10 (£3 – £6.75).
1970, The soundtrack album Woodstock started a four-week run at number one on the album chart.
1970, Three Dog Night started a two-week run at number one in the with their cover of the Randy Newman song “Mama Told Me Not To Come.”
1971, Creedence Clearwater Revival played at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.
1971, The Bruce Springsteen Band opened for Humble Pie at the Sunshine Inn, Asbury Park, New Jersey. After the show an impressed Peter Frampton from Humble Pie, tells Springsteen and the band he’d like to have them open for them on a national basis. Frampton also said he would be happy to get the band an audition with his record label, A&M Records.
1972, The Rolling Stones played at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio.
1973, Brownsville Station performed at Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland.
1974, KISS was at the West Palm Beach Auditorium, West Palm Beach, Florida.
1974, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The site is now a parking lot for the new baseball and football stadiums in Pittsburgh.
1975, Fleetwood Mac release their self titled tenth album under the Fleetwood Mac name. It was the first to feature Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 over a year after entering the chart, spent 37 weeks within the top 10, and more, than fifteen months within the top 40. It launched three top twenty singles, “Over My Head,” “Rhiannon,” and “Say You Love Me,” the last two falling just short of the top ten, both at number eleven.
1975, Yes performed at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio.
1976, Frank Sinatra marries Barbara Marx, his fourth and final wife. She had been married to Zeppo Marx.
1976, ZZ Top played at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri.
1977, This was opening night of a new punk venue, The Vortex Club, on Wardour Street, London, with Siouxise, Adam And The Ants, The Slits and Sham 69.
1978, Bob Dylan performed at Scandinavium, Göteborg, Sweden.
1979, Van Halen played at the Music Hall, Houston, Texas.
1981, Def Leppard releases High ‘n’ Dry, their second album. It was the last to feature Pete Willis as a full member. He was sacked during the “Pyromania” sessions in July 1982. It featured the title track, plus “Let It Go”, “Another Hit and Run,” and “Switch 625.”
1981, The Specials had their second and final UK number one single with “Ghost Town.” Despite being a song about Coventry, the band chose to film the video of themselves driving a Vauxhall Cresta around some empty London streets.
1982, The Rolling Stones played at Stadio Comunale, Turin, Italy.
1983, Robert Plant releases The Principle Of Moments, scoring big with his second solo album. His supporting players include Robbie Blunt, Paul Martinez, Jezz Woodroffe, Phil Collins and Barrimore Barlow. It featured the hits “Big Log” and “In The Mood”.
1984, David Gilmour appeared at the Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1992, A range of eight men’s ties designed by Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead went on sale in the US. President Bill Clinton bought a set. The collection grossed millions in the US by the end of the year.
1994, The Rolling Stones release Voodoo Lounge, their 20th British and 22nd American studio album. The Stones recapturing some of their classic mojo and swagger. Voodoo Lounge is also the Stones’ first album without long-time bassist Bill Wyman, who left the band in early 1993.
1996, Jonathan Melvoin, keyboard player with the Smashing Pumpkins, died from a drug overdose in New York City aged 34. Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin who was with Melvoin tried, but failed to revive him after Chamberlin was allegedly advised by 911 operators to put Melvoin’s head in the shower. Several songs were inspired by his death, including Sarah McLachlan’s hit single “Angel.” He was the brother of Susannah and Wendy Melvoin of Prince and the Revolution. Melvoin had also been a member of The Dickies.
1999, Limp Bizkit started a three week run at number one on the US album chart with Significant Other, the band’s first US chart topper.
2002, The funeral of The Who’s bass player John Entwistle took place at a church in The Cotswolds. More than 200 mourners filed into the 12th century church of St Edward in Stow-on-the-wold.
2009,“I Gotta Feeling” by the The Black Eyes Peas started a 14-week run at number one on the US singles chart ending the 12-week run of the band’s previous single “Boom Boom Pow.” It made the band only the fourth to replace themselves at the top spot in chart history, following The Beatles, Boyz II Men, and OutKast.
2014, Producer and drummer Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi), from the influential punk rock band the Ramones died at his home in New York aged 65, following unsuccessful treatment for bile duct cancer. He was the last surviving original member of the Ramones before his death. In 1970, Erdelyi was an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.
Born on July 11: Jeff Hana, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1949); Bonnie Pointer, singer, The Pointer Sisters (1951); Pete Murphy, vocals, Bauhaus (1957); Richie Sambora, guitarist Bon Jovi; (1959) Suzanne Vega (1959); and Kimberly Jones, aka Lil’ Kim (1975)
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Black Eyed Peas, Bob Dylan, Brownsville Station, Bruce Springsteen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, David Bowie, David Gilmour, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Sinatra, Humble Pie, Kenny Rogers, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Limp Bizkit, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Smashing Pumpkins, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Three Dog Night, Van Halen, Yes, ZZ Top.
