Rock History March 5
1965, The Rolling Stones kicked off their fifth UK tour at The Regal Theatre, Edmonton, London. A 14-date package tour with The Hollies, The Konrads and Dave Berry and the Cruisers.
1966, Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass went to number one on the album chart with Going Places.
1966, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler started a five week run at number one on the singles chart with “Ballad Of The Green Berets,” it made number 24 in the UK.
1967, The Lovin’ Spoonful appeared at the Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia.
1967, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, The Ryan Brothers and Lee Dorsey all appeared at the Saville Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, England. Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles leased the theatre in 1965, presenting both plays and music shows. The venue became notorious for its Sunday night concerts.
1969, Yes played at the Marquee Club, London.
1970, John Lennon and Yoko Ono check into the London Clinic. Later in the month the couple begin a primal-scream course led by therapist Dr. Arthur Janov. Lennon starts writing songs, such as “Mother” and “Isolation” – that will appear on Plastic Ono Band.
1971, Led Zeppelin started a 12-date Thank You tour for British fans appearing at the clubs from their early days and charging the admission price from 1968. The first show was at The Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the first public performance of “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” “Going To California,” and “Stairway to Heaven” from the forthcoming Zoso album.
1972, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the Long Beach Civic Arena, Long Beach, California.
1972, The Grateful Dead played at San Francisco’s Winterland Arena.
1973, Michael Jeffrey, the former US manager of Jimi Hendrix, was one of sixty-eight people killed in a plane crash in France. Jeffery was en-route to a court appearance in London related to Hendrix.
1975, Rod Stewart met Swedish actress, Britt Ekland at a party in Los Angeles, the couple went on to have a high profile love affair.
1975, Rush played at the Electric Ballroom, Atlanta, Georgia.
1976, David Bowie appeared at Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri.
1977, AC/DC performed at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton, England.
1977, Barbra Streisand started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Love Theme From A Star Is Born,” her second chart topper. The Eagles were at number two with “New Kid In Town” and The Steve Miller Band was third with “Fly Like An Eagle.”
1981, The Grateful Dead played at Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1982, actor and singer John Belushi died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Belushi was one of the original cast members on Saturday Night Live, played “Joliet” Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers and also appeared in the film Animal House. His tombstone reads “I may be gone, but rock n roll lives on.”
1983, Aerosmith appeared at the Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
1985, Eric Clapton performed at the Wembley Arena, London.
1992, R.E.M. cleaned up in The Rolling Stone Music Awards winning Album of the year, for Out Of Time, Artist of the year, Best Single for “Losing My Religion,” Best Video for “Losing My Religion,” and Best Band, Best Guitarist and Best Songwriter awards.
1995, Viv Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band was killed in a house fire. The English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, and poet is best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.
2002, The first episode of The Osbournes TV show was aired on MTV in the US. Focusing on the madman and his wife Sharon, and two of their three children. Oblivious to the camera, they bicker, squabble, curse and hang out backstage at Ozzy shows.
2005, A commemorative plaque for the The Jimi Hendrix Experience was unveiled in Loisin-sous-Lens. Hendrix had appeared at The Twenty Club when it opened in 1967. It was his first European tour where he was totally unknown. Club owner Rikki Stein stated: “The place was packed and at the end of ’Wild Thing’, his first number, there was total silence. The entire audience just stood there, open-mouthed. They’d never seen or heard anything like it in their life.”
2023, Guitarist and songwriter Gary Rossington, the last surviving founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, died at the age of 71. Rossington had several close calls with death over the years, famously surviving the 1977 plane crash that killed the Florida rock band’s lead vocalist, Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines and several members of their road and flight crews.
Born on March 5: Richard Bell, pianist, Full Tilt Boogie Band, The Band (1948); Eddy Grant, The Equals (1948); Alan Clark, keyboards, Dire Straits (1952); Andy Gibb (1958); John Frusciante, guitarist, Red Hot Chili Peppers (1970)
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AC/DC, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Herb Alpert, John Belushi, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Rod Stewart, Rush, The Allman Brothers Band, The Hollies, The Lovin Spoonful, The Rolling Stones, Yes.
