Rock History November 28
1963, “She Loves You” by The Beatles returned to number one for the second time on the UK singles chart.
1964, The Shangri-Las went to number one on the singles chart with the teen death song “Leader Of The Pack.”
1967, The Beatles recorded their last fan club record as a group, “Christmas Time Is Here Again!” The Beatles’ Christmas records were spoken and musical messages from the group that were mailed out on flexi disc at Christmas time to members of their official fan-clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States.
1968, Deep Purple played the first of four nights at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, on their first North American tour.
1968, John Lennon pleads guilty to possession of cannabis following his arrest in October. He’s fined £150 ($240). Lennon and Yoko Ono are found not guilty of obstructing the police.
1969, Pink Floyd performed at the Brunel University Arts Festival Weekend at Refrectory Hall, Brunel University, Uxbridge, England.
1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young played at Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas.
1969, Ringo Starr records tracks for his Sentimental Journey LP.
1970, Dave Edmunds was at number one on the singles chart with his version of the 1955 Smiley Lewis hit “I Hear You Knocking.” Also the first release on the new MAM record label.
1970, The Who play Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry. The Who plan to leave on a high note but after cutting down Tommy and losing “Summertime Blues,” and “Shakin’ All Over,” they realize they’ve only played 45 minutes. Pete Townshend later declares the show a “disaster.”
1970, Bob Dylan’s 11th studio album New Morning was on the UK charts, his sixth UK number one. The album featured “If Not For You,” which was recorded by both George Harrison on his 1970 album All Things Must Pass, and became the title track for Olivia Newton-John’s 1971 debut album.
1971, Pink Floyd perform at Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
1971, The Who played at Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. Keith Moon caused $1400 (£1000) worth of damage to his hotel room.
1972, Genesis appeared at Imperial College, London.
1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd played at St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri.
1974, John Lennon made his last ever concert appearance when he joined Elton John on stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lennon performed three songs, “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”
1974, Eric Clapton played at Friedrich-Ebert Halle, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
1975, Rush played at the Civic Center, Asheville, North Carolina.
1976, The Sex Pistols appeared on BBC TV’s Nationwide and ITV’s London Weekend Show.
1977, Yes performed at Deutschlandhalle, West Berlin, Germany.
1978, Bob Dylan headlined at the Mississippi Coliseum, Jackson, Mississippi.
1979, Aerosmith played at Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.
1980, The Grateful Dead performed at the Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida.
1987, David Bowie played the second of four sold-out nights during his Glass Spider Tour in Australia and New Zealand at the Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne.
1987, The Jennifer Warnes’ duet with Bill Medley “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life,” taken from the film Dirty Dancing, went to number one on the US singles chart. In the UK the song had two chart outings. In November 1987, after the film’s initial release, the song peaked at number six, and in January 1991, after the film was shown on mainstream television, the song reached the eighth spot.
1991, Nirvana recorded a performance for BBC TV music show Top Of The Pops in London. When asked to lip-sync “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to a pre-recorded tape, Kurt Cobain protested by singing an octave lower (he later confirmed he was imitating Morrissey from The Smiths), and attempted to eat his microphone at one point. He also changed some of the lyrics, changing the opening line “load up on guns, bring your friends,” to “load up on drugs, kill your friends.”
1992, Whitney Houston started a record-breaking fourteen-week run atop the US singles chart with “I Will Always Love You,” taken from the Bodyguard soundtrack. The song was written by Dolly Parton.
1993, Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton was killed in a car crash not far from his Santa Barbara, California home. He was 47.
1999, Rage Against The Machine were at number one on the US album chart with The Battle Of Los Angeles, the band’s second US chart topper.
2004, Metallica played the last show on their 137-date Madly in Anger with the World Tour at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It became the fourth-highest grossing tour of 2004, reaping $60,500,000 in ticket sales.
Born on November 28: Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records (1929); Randy Newman (1943); Beeb Birtles, Little River Band (1948); Matt Cameron, drummer, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam (1962); Matt Cheslin, bass, Neds Atomic Dustbin (1970); Rostam Batmanglij, Vampire Weekend (1983)
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Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Deep Purple, Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Rage Against The Machine, Rush, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Sex Pistols, The Shangri-Las.
