Rock History November 2
1965, The Who perform at The Marquee in London where they break box office records for the venue.
1966, “Mississippi” John Hurt, country blues singer and guitarist, died of a heart attack in his home state of Mississippi. Material recorded by him has been re-released by many record labels over the years and his songs have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, and David Johansen, among other notable musicians.
1967, The Beatles completed recording their next single “Hello Goodbye” at Abbey Road studios London with a second Paul McCartney bass line. The McCartney song had been selected for the A-side for The Beatles next single, the flip side to be Lennon’s “I Am the Walrus.”
1967, Tom Jones kicked off a 22-date UK tour at Finsbury Park, Astoria with Kathy Kirby and The Ted Heath Orchestra.
1968, The Doors played two shows at the Veterans Memorial Hall, Columbus, Ohio.
1968, The Jeff Beck Group appeared at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.
1969, “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies was at number one on the singles chart. The single became the longest running one hit wonder in the UK with eight week’s at the top of the charts.
1969, The Who play McDonough Gymnasium at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. 800 people crash the gate and there is much brawling between the audience and security. Pete screams at them “We know our job and we do our job and we do it right so why don’t you fucking sit down?” The Washington Post reviewer calls The Who’s show the most electrifying performance he had ever seen. It later appears as the bootleg Higher Education.
1970, Grand Funk Railroad and Black Sabbath appeared at the San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California.
1971, Pink Floyd performed at McCarter Theater, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
1972, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
1973, Queen played at Imperial College, London.
1974, Crosby Stills Nash & Young went to number one on the album chart with So Far, the group’s third US chart topper. It included material from CSN’s debut, Deja Vu, and the single release “Ohio.”
1974, George Harrison became the first Beatle to undertake a solo world tour when he played the first show of a 30-night tour in Vancouver, Canada.
1974, Stevie Wonder went to number one on the US singles chart with “You Haven’t Done Nothin,” the singers fourth US char topper. It featured The Jackson Five on backing vocals.
1975, The Who’s European Continental tour continues with two nights at the Messehalle in Sindelfingen, Germany.
1975, Bob Dylan appeared at Technical University, Lowell, Massachusetts.
1976, Black Sabbath played at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.
1977, Yes performed at New Bingley Hall, Stafford, England.
1978, Aerosmith appeared at the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1979, AC/DC played the second of three sold out nights at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, with Def Leppard supporting.
1979, Grateful Dead performed at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York.
1981, Rush played at Brighton Centre, Brighton, England.
1984, The Reverend Marvin Gaye Sr. was sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter of his son, Marvin Gaye.
1991, U2 scored their second number one single with “The Fly,” taken from their album Achtung Baby. The song was also a showcase for a persona Bono had invented called “The Fly.”
1996, Counting Crows went to number one on the US album chart with Recovering From Satellites. The album peaked at number four in the UK.
1999, Foo Fighters released their third studio album There Is Nothing Left to Lose, the album marks the first appearance of drummer Taylor Hawkins. Early pressings of the disc included a temporary tattoo, similar to the one featured on the album cover.
2004, Guitarist Eric Clapton collected his CBE from Buckingham Palace for his services to music.
2007, Led Zeppelin’s eagerly-awaited reunion concert in London was postponed for two weeks after guitarist Jimmy Page broke a finger. The tribute concert in honor of late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun scheduled for November 26th would now take place on December 10th. More than a million fans applied for the 20,000 tickets available, which cost £125 each. Profits from the show would go towards scholarships in Ertegun’s name in the UK, USA, and the country of his birth, Turkey.
Born on November 2: Jay Black, singer, Jay and the Americans (1938); Keith Emerson (1944); JD Souther (1945); Dave Pegg, Fairport Convention (1947); Carter Beauford, drummer, Dave Matthews Band (1957); kd Lang (1961); Ron McGovney, bass, Metallica (1963); Reginald Arvizu, bass, Korn (1969); Chris Walla, guitarist, Death Cab for Cutie (1975)
Link to Today in Rock History archive
AC/DC, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Bob Dylan, Counting Crows, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Eric Clapton, Foo Fighters, George Harrison, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Pink Floyd, Rush, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Who, Tom Jones, U2, Yes.
