Rock History September 4
1968, The Beatles recorded promotional videos for “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” at Twickenham Film Studios. The vocals are recorded live over the pre-recorded instrumental tracks to get round the current British Musicians Union ban on lip-sync performances. For “Hey Jude,” The Beatles were accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans and other assorted extras who join in singing the long refrain.
1968, Pink Floyd played at Middle Earth, The Club House, Richmond Athletic Club, Richmond, England.
1969, The film Easy Rider starring Jack Nicholson Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper opened at The Classic in London. The soundtrack included music from Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Electric Prunes, Steppenwolf and others.
1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at The Scene, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1971, Taken from the album Ram, Paul and Linda McCartney went to number one on the singles chart with “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey.” The song was McCartney’s first solo chart topper.
1971, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada.
1972, Concessionaire Francisco Caruso was killed during a Wishbone Ash concert in Texas after refusing to give a fan a free sandwich.
1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis’ Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Show on US television.
1973, The Rolling Stones performed at Sporthalle, Cologne, Germany.
1974, David Bowie performed at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City, California.
1975, Hawkwind played at Olympen, Lund, Sweden.
1976, Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled album after being on the charts for over a year. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies in the US and was the first of three number one albums for the group.
1976, The Bee Gees went to number one on the singles chart with “You Should Be Dancing,” the group’s third chart topper.
1976, The Sex Pistols made their television debut when they appeared on the Manchester based Granada TV program So It Goes.
1978, AC/DC appeared at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado.
1979, The Grateful Dead played the first of three nights at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1980, A new version of Yes, with Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn played the first of three sold out nights at Madison Square Garden.
1981, Van Halen played at the Mississippi Coliseum, Jackson, Mississippi.
1982, Survivor were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the theme from the film Rocky III, “Eye Of The Tiger,” their only chart topper. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.
1982, The Steve Miller Band started a two week run at No.2 on the US singles chart with “Abracadabra,” the group’s third US No.1, and a No.2 hit in the UK. The song is said to have been inspired by Diana Ross with whom Miller had met while performing together on Hullabaloo in the 1960s.
1995, Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Manic St Preachers and The Stone Roses all recorded tracks for the War Child charity album, which was released five days later. All profits went to children caught up in the current war in former Yugoslavia.
1996, Oasis created outrage at the MTV awards held at New York’s Radio City Hall. During the band’s performance of “Champagne Supernova,” singer Liam Gallagher spat on stage and threw a beer into the crowd.
2006, Mike Gibbins drummer with Badfinger died in his sleep at his Florida home aged 56. Badfinger had the 1970 UK number four and US number seven single “Come And Get It,” written by Paul McCartney. He had also been a member of The Iveys during the 60s.
2008, The first guitar torched on stage by Jimi Hendrix sold for £280,000 at an auction of rock memorabilia. The Fender Stratocaster was burned at the end of a show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in 1967. The sale held in London also included the Beatles’ first management contract, signed in 1962 by all four members of the group and manager Brian Epstein, sold for £240,000.
2009, Friends and family of Michael Jackson paid their last respects to the singer at a funeral held at Glendale’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Macaulay Culkin, Berry Gordy and Lisa Marie Presley were among the two-hundred invited guests. The singer’s family arrived in a motorcade of thirty-one vehicles, Jackson’s brothers Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon acted as pallbearers carrying Jackson’s gold-plated coffin.
Born on September 4: Ronald Lepread, The Commodores (1946); Gary Duncan guitar, Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946); Martin Chambers, The Pretenders (1951); and Kim Thayil, Soundgarden (1960)
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AC/DC, David Bowie, Hawkwind, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Bee Gees, The Byrds, The Electric Prunes, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, The Stone Roses, Van Halen, Yes.
