Rock History May 31
1966, Filming began on The Monkees first TV series.
1968, Jimi Hendrix appeared at Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland.
1968, Working on what will become the White Album, The Beatles add overdubs of bass and vocals on “Revolution.” After numerous overdubs have been added, the final six minutes of the song evolved into chaotic, jamming, with Lennon repeatedly shouting “alright” and Yoko Ono speaking random phrases. The jam becomes the basis for “Revolution 9,” and this session is the first that Yoko attends.
1968, Love appeared at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan
1969, Jimi Hendrix was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 cents.
1969, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts.
1969, During their Montreal bed-in, John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance.”
1969, Led Zeppelin headlined at the Fillmore East in New York. Also on the bill were Woody Herman & his Orchestra as well as Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Tickets were priced from $3 to $5.
1969, The Rolling Stones record “Honky Tonk Women.”
1969, Pink Floyd appeared at the “Eight Weeks Ball” held at the Main Marquee, Pembroke College, Oxford, England.
1971, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Piedmont Music Festival, Atlanta, Georgia.
1972, Roxy Music appeared at the Marquee Club, London.
1973, To celebrate John Bonham’s 25th birthday, Robert Plant leads an audience at the Felt Forum in Los Angeles in a rendition of “Happy Birthday.” Later that night Bonham celebrates with George Harrison, who ends up throwing his birthday cake at the drummer. Bonham tosses Harrison into the hotel pool.
1973, Deep Purple performed at the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1974, Roxy Music appeared at Painter’s Mill Music Fair, Owings Mills, Maryland.
1975, During a press conference held at the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York City to announce The Rolling Stones forthcoming American tour, the Stones themselves came down the street playing live from the back of a flat-bed truck.
1976, Yes played at Freedom Hall Civic Center, Johnson City, Tennessee.
1976, The Who start a three-date tour of the UK at the Charlton Football Ground in London. Since all three dates are at football stadiums, the tour is known as the “Who Put the Boot In” tour. This show also puts The Who in the Guinness Book of World Records as “The World’s Loudest Pop Group” as their output registers 120 decibels at 50 meters. Supporting acts are The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Little Feat, The Outlaws and Streetwalkers.
1977, The Patti Smith group started a nine night residency at New York’s CBGB’s.
1977, The BBC announced a ban on the new Sex Pistols single “God Save The Queen” saying it’s, “in gross bad taste”. And the IBA issued a warning to all radio stations saying the playing the single would be in breach of Section 4:1:A of the Broadcasting act. The single reached number two on the UK chart.
1977, The Police appeared at The Railway Hotel, Putney, London.
1977, Emerson, Lake & Palmer kick off an American tour accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra. It costs the band $200,000 a week to keep the circus on the road.
1978, David Bowie performed at the Falkoner Theater, Copenhagen, Denmark.
1979, Dire Straits played at Rhein-Neckar Halle, Heidelberg, Germany.
1980, Lipps Inc went to number one on the US singles chart with “Funkytown.” The disco hit was also a chart topper in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and The Netherlands. It reached the second spot in the UK.
1981, ZZ Top appeared at Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.
1982, R.E.M. signed a five-album deal with IRS Records, an independent label based in California.
1984, Bob Dylan performed at St. Pauli Stadion, Hamburg, Germany.
1986, Peter Gabriel notched his second solo UK number one album with So, featuring the singles “Sledgehammer” and a duet with Kate Bush “Don’t Give Up.”
1989, David Bowie’s Tin Machine made their live debut at the International Music Awards, New York.
1992, The Grateful Dead played at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in Las Vegas.
2000, US soul singer Johnnie Taylor died of a heart attack in a Texas hospital shortly after his 62nd birthday. Taylor had been a member of The Highway QCs and The Five Echoes and in 1957 Taylor replaced Sam Cooke in The Soul Stirrers. He scored the 1976 US number one”Disco Lady.”
2004, American guitarist Robert Quine was found dead of a heroin overdose in his New York City home. Worked with Richard Hell And The Voidoids, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Lloyd Cole, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits, and They Might Be Giants
2008, Death Cab For Cutie were at number one on the US album chart with their sixth release Narrow Stairs.
2019, American singer, songwriter Roky Erickson died age 71. Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators in late 1965, who released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators the following year. In 1968, while performing at HemisFair, Erickson began speaking gibberish. He was soon diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital. Erickson released his eponymous debut as Roky Erickson and the Aliens in 1980. He recorded a steady stream of releases up until 2004.
Born on May 31: Peter Yarrow, Peter Paul and Mary (1938); John Bonham (1948); and Karl Bartos, Kraftwerk (1952)
Get more Today in Rock History
David Bowie, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Lipps Inc, Love, Patti Smith, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Roxy Music, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Monkees, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, The Who, ZZ Top.
