Rock History September 13
1965, The Paul McCartney song “Yesterday” was released as a Beatles single.
1967, The Beatles formed an electronics company called Fiftyshapes, Ltd. appointing John Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex) to be the company’s director. Alex claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine, instead of the 4-track at Abbey Road (this never materialized). One of his more outrageous plans was to replace the acoustic baffles around Ringo Starr’s drums with an invisible sonic force field. George Harrison later said that employing Mardas was “the biggest disaster of all time.”
1968, Procol Harum performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.
1968, Pink Floyd played at Mothers, Erdington, Birmingham, England.
1968, During a North American tour The Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California.
1969, This was the first day of the three-day Rugby Bag Blues Festival in Warwickshire, England with Pink Floyd, The Nice, Taste, Free, Third Ear Band, Ralph McTell, Roy Harper, King Crimson, The Strawbs, Edgar Broughton, Spirit of John Morganand John Martyn.
1969, John and Yoko flew to Canada with the Plastic Ono Band to perform at the Rock & Roll Revival Show in Toronto, Canada. The band members Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White were put together so late that they had to rehearse on the plane from England. Also making an appearance at the concert were Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Bo Diddley, The Doors, Chicago, and Alice Cooper. Lennon later released his performance as the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album.
1970, The Who performed at Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany.
1972, Pink Floyd appeared at Henry Levitt Arena in Wichita, Kansas, during their North American tour. The set included “Dark Side of the Moon,” which would not be officially released until 1973.
1973, The Rolling Stones played at City Hall, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.
1974, David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs” tour stops at the Convention Center in Tuscon, Arizona. His band includes: Mike Garson on piano and mellotron, Carlos Alomar, guitar, Earl Slick, lead guitar, Doug Raunch, bass, Greg Enrico, drums, Pablo Rosario, percussion, David Sanborn, alto sax, flute, Richard Grando, baritone sax, flute, Michael Kamen, electric piano, moog, and oboe, plus backing vocalists.
1975, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey.
1976, Electric Light Orchestra played at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.
1977, Rush performed at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada.
1978, The Grateful Dead performed a 33-minute soundcheck at the Gizah Sound and Light Theatre, in Cairo, Egypt. The instrumental Ollin Arrageed type jams, in advance of their three night engagement at the Giza plateau, took place at the footsteps of the great pyramids of Egypt.
1980, Jackson Browne scored his only chart topping album with Hold Out.
1984, U2 played the first of five nights at the Sports And Entertainment in Melbourne, Australia during their Unforgettable Fire world tour.
1985, “We Are The World” won Best Group Video and the Viewer’s Choice at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Don Henley’s “The Boys Of Summer” video won four trophies, including Best Video. Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” takes the prize for Best Male Video and Tina Turner won Best Female Video for “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”
1986, Berlin went to number one on the US singles chart with the Giorgio Moroder written and produced “Take My Breath Away.” On the B-side was The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.” Both songs were featured in the film Top Gun.
1986, The Communards were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” which had been a hit for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in 1975, and later a hit for Thelma Houston.
1991, Geffen Records threw a party to launch Nirvana’s single “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The band ended up being thrown out of their own party after starting a food fight.
1996, American rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur died after being shot six days earlier when he was driving through Las Vegas. 13 bullets were fired into his BMW. The incident was blamed on East and West Coast Gang wars. Shakur was a convicted sex offender, guilty of sexual abuse. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion “Suge” Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records.
1997, The Verve scored their first and only UK number one single with “The Drugs Don’t Work,” taken from their third album, Urban Hymns. The track became the band’s most successful single in the United Kingdom.
2005, The home where Jimi Hendrix grew up in Seattle was saved from demolition after a new location was agreed at the last minute. The James Marshall Hendrix Foundation and the City of Seattle agreed to renovate the building into a community center opposite the cemetery where the guitarist was buried in 1970.
Born on this day: Dave Quincy, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1939); David Clayton-Thomas, Blood Sweat & Tears (1941); Peter Cetera, Chicago (1944); Randy Jones, Village People (1952); Steven John Kilbey, singer, bass The Church (1954); Stephen Perkins, Jane’s Addiction, Porno For Pyros (1967); Joe Rooney, guitarist, Rascal Flatts (1975)
Go to the Today in Rock History main page
David Bowie, Electric Light Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Rush, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Nice, The Strawbs, The Verve, The Who, Tupac Shakur, U2.
