Rock History September 18
1968, The Beatles recorded twenty takes of “Birthday” while working at Abbey Road studios on new songs for their forthcoming White Album. Roadie Mal Evans added hand claps, and Yoko Ono and Pattie Harrison contributed backing vocals on the track.
1968, The Doors film a six-song set for Danish Radio Television at TV-Byen in Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen, Denmark. The program is simply called “The Doors” but it’s come to be known as the Danish Television Special. Curiously, rather than perform “Hello, I Love You” after “Texas Radio” as they had been doing in concert for much of the year, the band chooses instead to perform “Love Me Two Times.” The special was broadcast on October 30, 1968.
1969, King Crimson performed at Penthouse, Scarborough, England.
1970, Jimi Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital in London at the age of 27 after choking on his own vomit. Hendrix left the message “I need help bad man,” on his managers answer phone earlier that night. Rumors and conspiracy theories grew up around Hendrix’s death. Eric Burdon claimed Jimi had committed suicide, but that’s contradicted by reports that he was in a good frame of mind. In 2009, a former Animals roadie published a book claiming that Jimi’s manager had admitted to him that he arranged the murder of Hendrix, since the guitarist wanted out of his contract.
1970, Alice Cooper performed at Rainy Daze in Chesterfield, Missouri.
1970, Santana, Country Joe McDonald, and Bread appeared at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1971, The Who scored their first and only number one album with Who’s Next, the bands sixth release, featuring “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
1971, Pink Floyd play the first of two nights at the Festival de Musique Classique, at the Pavillion de Montreaux, Montreaux, Switzerland. The show included a performance of “Atom Heart Mother” with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and choir.
1972, The Who, Mott The Hoople, The Faces and Atomic Rooster all appeared at The Oval, London.
1972, Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull entered the last of it’s 11-week run on the Aussie album charts.
1974, KISS appeared at the Electric Ballroom, Atlanta, Georgia.
1975, The Allman Brothers Band played at The Spectrum, Philadelphia.
1976, One hit wonders Wild Cherry started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “Play That Funky Music.”
1976, Frampton Comes Alive! is number one in the US for the seventh of ten total weeks during April, July, August, September, and October.
1977, Yes performed at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, Washington.
1978, Neil Young and Crazy Horse kicked off a 23-date US tour at Cobo Hall in Detroit promoting the album Comes A Time.
1979, The Who performed at Madison Square Garden, New York.
1980, Yes appeared at the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1981, Gary Numan took off on a round the world trip in a single engine Cessna plane. The attempt ended after he was forced to land in India, where local police arrested him.
1982, The seven-minute epic by Dire Straits “Private Investigations” went to number two on the UK singles chart, held off by Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” at number one.
1982, Blue Oyster Cult performed at Weedsport Speedway, Syracuse, New York.
1983, KISS appeared without their make-up for the first time during an interview on MTV.
1987, The Grateful Dead played the third of five nights at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1993, Garth Brooks went to number one on the US album chart with In Pieces. The album spent 25 weeks on the chart and sold over six million copies. The album peaked in the second spot on the UK chart.
1996, At Sotheby’s in London, Julian Lennon successfully bid just over $39,000, for the recording notes for the song Paul McCartney wrote for him, “Hey Jude.” At the same event, John Lennon’s scribbled lyrics to “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” sold for $103,500.
2006, 73-year-old country singer Willie Nelson and four members from his band were charged with drug possession after marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms were found by police on his tour bus. Police had stopped the tour bus near Lafayette, Louisiana.
2009, Leonard Cohen collapsed on stage during a concert in Valencia, Spain and was taken to hospital. He was later discharged after doctors told him he had food poisoning. Cohen was in the middle of singing his song “Bird On The Wire” when he fainted, prompting the band to stop playing and rush to help him.
Born on this day: Jimmie Rodgers (1933); Frankie Avalon (1939); Alan King, Ace (1946); Kerry Livgren, Kansas (1947); Mike Hossack, drums, The Doobie Brothers (1950); Dee Dee Ramone (1952); and Joanne Catherall, vocals, The Human League (1962)
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Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Bread, Country Joe McDonald, Dire Straits, Garth Brooks, Gary Numan, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Kiss, Neil Young, Peter Frampton, Pink Floyd, Santana, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Wild Cherry, Yes.
