Rock History May 16
1966, The Beach Boys released the album ‘Pet Sounds.’ The album is now regarded as the masterpiece of composer-producer Brian Wilson, and is often hailed as one of the best and most influential albums in popular music.
1966, Dylan’s iconic Blonde On Blonde album was released, reaching the ninth spot in the US charts and number three in the UK. Rock’s first double album, and Dylan’s seventh studio effort, it was recorded with Al Kooper, Robbie Robertson and Nashville country music session players, and had what Dylan later called ‘that wild mercury sound’.
1967, Jeff Beck appeared at the Corn Exchange in Bristol, Manfred Mann played at the Industrial Ballroom in Norwich, and appearing on the ITV show ‘As You Like It’; Lulu, Cat Stevens, Herd, Georgie Fame and the Tremeloes.
1969, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane was arrested for possession of marijuana and received a two and a half year suspended sentence.
1969, Pete Townshend spent the night in jail for assaulting a man during a Who gig at The Fillmore East. What Townshend didn’t know was the man who jumped onto the stage was a plainclothes policeman trying to warn the audience that a fire had broken out. The Who guitarist was later fined $30 for the offense.
1970, Police burst into the Bloomington, Minnesota hotel room of Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin after neighbors complain about noise. They find Balin and friends with marijuana and teenaged girls. The singer is sentenced to a year’s hard labor and a fine, but on appeal only has to pay the fine.
1970, Randy Bachman leaves the Guess Who.
1970, Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to number one on the album chart with Deja Vu.
1970, Pink Floyd played at the Warehouse in New Orleans, with support from The Allman Brothers Band and Country Funk. The band had $40,000 worth of equipment stolen from their truck overnight. Nick Mason told Melody Maker in an later interview, “We sat at our hotel thinking – ‘Well that’s it. It’s all over.’ – We were pouring out our troubles to a girl who worked at the hotel and she said her father worked for the FBI. The police hadn’t helped us much, but the FBI got to work and four hours later it was found.”
1972, The Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72 tour stops at Theatre Hall in Luxembourg.
1974, Brian May collapsed in New York while Queen were on a US tour and was flown back to England suffering from hepatitis.
1974, Neil Young made an unannounced appearance at The Bottom Line in New York and played songs from his new album On The Beach.
1975, Chubby Checker hosts The Midnight Special, with appearances by Lesley Gore and Danny & the Juniors.
1976, Patti Smith made her UK debut at The Roundhouse, London.
1978, A David Bowie show at Deutschlandhalle in Berlin was halted during “Station to Station” when Bowie noticed security manhandling an audience member. Bowie ordered him in German to stop, which he did and the show resumed.
1987, “With Or Without You” by U2 started a three-week run at number one on the US singles chart, the group’s first US chart topper. The third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, the song was the group’s most successful single at the time.
1993, US soul singer Marv Johnson died of a stroke. He had the US top ten single “I Love The Way You Love” and the 1969 UK number ten single “I’ll Pick A Rose For My Rose”. His recording of Berry Gordy’s “Come To Me” became Motown Records first ever-single release in May 1959.
2009, Bob Dylan went to number one on the US album chart with Together Through Life, his 33rd studio album. The recording received two Grammy Award nominations in Best Americana Album category and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin”. The album also is significant as the only album by Dylan to top the US and UK charts consecutively.
2010, Ronnie James Dio, singer with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own band Dio died after a six-month battle with stomach cancer. He was 67 years old. Dio’s career began in 1957 with The Vegas Kings, which later changed to Ronnie and the Rumblers, then Ronnie and the Redcaps, then in 1961, Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. In 1967, Dio and Prophets guitarist Nick Pantas formed the Electric Elves, which shortened its name to Elf. The band’s had an opening slot for Deep Purple which exposed Dio’s voice to Deep Purple’s guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, who later recruited Dio and other members of Elf for his new band Rainbow.
Born on this day: Liberace (1919); Robert Fripp, King Crimson (1946); Darrell Sweet, Nazareth (1947); Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers (1951); and Janet Jackson (1966)
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Crosby Stills Nash & Young, David Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young, Patti Smith, Pete Townshend, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys, The Guess Who.
