Rock History October 21
1965, Wanting to improve on a previous recording session The Beatles started from scratch on a new song called “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown,”) finishing recordings in three takes. They also begin working on a new John Lennon song “Nowhere Man.”
1965, The Kingsmen perform “Louie Louie” on the ABC television variety show Shindig! Also guesting were the Dave Clark Five.
1965, The Spencer Davis Group recorded “Keep On Running” at Pye Studios in London, England. The track went on to top the UK chart the following January.
1966, Pink Floyd appeared at the London Free School, held at the All Saints Church Hall, Powis Gardens, London.
1967, Scottish singer Lulu started a five-week run at number one on the US singles chart with the theme from the film To Sir With Love.
1967, Pink Floyd performed at Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon.
1970, Pink Floyd’s show at the Fillmore West in San Francisco included a brass and choir for the performance of “Atom Heart Mother.” The choir came back on for an encore of “Ave Maria.” Tickets were $3.
1971, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger became a father when his wife Bianca gave birth to daughter Jade in a Paris hospital.
1972, Pink Floyd performed at a benefit show for War on Want, The Albany Trust Deptford, and Save The Children Fund. The show was held at the Empire Pool, Wembley, London.
1972, Chuck Berry started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “My Ding-A- Ling,” his first and only US and UK chart topper, 17 years after his first chart hit.
1972, Pete Townshend’s solo album Who Came First hits the British charts. Although it has Pete on the cover and is marketed as a solo album, it is more a compilation of the privately released Meher Baba albums. For instance, the single released from the album, “Forever’s No Time At All” (backed with “This Song Is Green,”) features a lead vocal by Billy Nicholls. The album reaches #30 in the British charts. The single does not chart.
1972, Curtis Mayfield started a four-week run at number one on the album chart with soundtrack to Superfly.
1973, The Grateful Dead played at the Omaha Civic Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
1973, Elton John, Sutherland Brothers, and Quiver performed at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida.
1974, Roxy Music appeared at the Odeon in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1975, The soundtrack to the film Lisztomania is released. The movie stars Roger Daltrey and was helmed by Tommy director Ken Russell. Rick Wakeman’s planned “concept album” version of the soundtrack is turned down for a simple collection of songs and performances. The result does not chart in the U.K. and peaks at number 145 in the US. Wakeman’s version of the soundtrack is not released until 2002.
1975, Elton John is the latest addition to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1975, The Doobie Brothers played at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.
1976, Los Angeles’ Fox Wilshire Theatre hosts the west coast premiere of Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same.” It was attended by the band. Jimmy Page said, “(The premieres were) held apart by a few days so we could check the cinemas out. It’s not as easy a job as you’d think getting the sound right for cinemas. The first time in New York was great, the first time one had sat in an audience. Every time I had seen the film before was with technicians, people with a really critical eye. Then the film really lived for the first time and you could see people getting off on things, applauding and laughing at the right time, generally vibing. Other charity premieres are held in various major cities including: Toronto, Boston and Dallas, San Francisco and Chicago, but not attended by the band.
1976, Keith Moon played his last show with The Who at the end of a North American tour at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. On September 7, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal.
1976, Aerosmith appeared at the Stadthalle, Erlangen,Germany.
1977, Rush performed at Will Rogers Auditorium, Fort Worth, Texas.
1978, The Clash sacked manager Bernie Rhodes, saying the band and record company “found him hard to deal with.” Melody Maker journalist Caroline Coon took his place.
1980, Van Halen played at the Hulman Center, Terre Haute, Indiana.
1981, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas.
1983, The Grateful Dead appeared at The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1989, Jive Bunny And The Mastermixes had their second UK number one single with “That’s What I Like.” The Theme from Hawaii Five-O was the recurring hook in the record which also included “Lets Twist Again,” “Lets Dance,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “The Twist.”
1992, George Michael took Sony Records to court in a fight over his contract with the company. He lost the case in 1994. Michael worked with Sony again less than 10 years later.
1995, Shannon Hoon, lead singer for Blind Mellon dies of a suspected cocaine overdose after an all-night drug binge following a “disappointing performance” the night before in Houston, Texas. The band is best known for the song “No Rain.”
1997, Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind 97” was declared by the Guinness Book Of Records as the biggest selling single record of all time, with 31.8 million sales in less than 40 days and raising more than £20 ($32)million for charity.
2001, Concerts at Madison Square Garden and the RFK stadium in Washington were expected to raise millions in funds for the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Stars who appeared included Michael Jackson, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, *NSYNC, P-Diddy, James Brown, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, The Who, and Elton John.
2006, American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer Sandy West died from lung cancer. She was a founding member, with Joan Jett, of the all-girl group The Runaways. Cherie Currie, the initial lead singer of The Runaways, said, “Sandy West was by far, the greatest female drummer in the history of rock and roll. No one could compete or even come close to her, but the most important was her heart.”
2006, Evanescence were at number one on the US album chart with their second album The Open Door. It became the 700th top album in Billboard since the chart became a weekly feature in 1956.
2007, Stereophonics went to number one on the UK album chart with Pull The Pin, the bands sixth studio album.
2013, Sid Bernstein, the concert promoter who staged early US shows by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, died at age 95. Bernstein booked The Beatles for their legendary show at Shea Stadium in New York in 1965, which was the first concert to be staged in a large stadium. Bernstein also promoted The Beatles’ performance at Carnegie Hall in New York on their first US tour in 1964. He also arranged the first five American dates for the Rolling Stones, as well as shows for Judy Garland, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett.
Born on October 21: Manfred Mann (1940); Steve Cropper, Booker T & the MG’s (1941); Elvin Bishop (1942); Ron Elliott, The Beau Brummels (1943);Lee Loughnane, trumpet, Chicago (1946); Lux Interior, singer-songwriter, The Cramps (1946); Brent Mydland, keyboards, The Grateful Dead (1952); Charlotte Caffey, The Go- Go’s (1953); Eric Faulkner, singer, Bay City Rollers, (1954) Julian Cope, Teardrop Explodes (1957); and Steve Lukather, Toto (1957); Nick Oliveri, bass, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age (1971)
Link to Today in Rock History archive.
Aerosmith, Blind Mellon, Curtis Mayfield, Elton John, keith Moon, Led Zeppelin, Lulu, Mick Jagger, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Rush, Sandy West, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Doobie Brothers, The Grateful Dead, The Spencer Davis Group, Van Halen.
