Rock History October 28
1964, the first of two nights billed as the “T.A.M.I. Show” took place at the Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, and The Rolling Stones all performed. The best footage from each of the two concert dates was edited into a 123-minute film, which was released on December 29, 1964. Jan and Dean emceed the event and performed its theme song, “Here They Come (From All Over the World).”
1964, The Who, still using their former name, The High Numbers performed at Town Hall in Greenwich, England.
1965, The first mono mix of The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out” was made for a television show, The Music of Lennon and McCartney. However, when the band heard the mix the next day, they decided to overdub more vocals.
1967, Pink Floyd played at Dunelm House, Durham University Students’ Centre, Durham University, Durham, England.
1967, The Who make their last appearance on BBC radio’s Saturday Club. They follow it by beginning a package tour of the U.K. with supporting acts Traffic, The Herd, The Marmalade and The Tremeloes. The Who play twelve songs during their first set at City Hall in Sheffield but, after the first show runs long, The Who’s second set is cut short when the stage manager orders them offstage after three songs. Pete Townshend goes ballistic, smashing two speakers and The Herd’s lighting gear. Roger Daltrey tries to stop him and they begin to scuffle. When the stage manager tries to break it up, Pete grabs him by the throat and drags him offstage where he continues smashing things backstage.
1967, Simon and Garfunkel performed at Assembly Hall at The University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois.
1968, Neil Young appeared solo at the Bitter End in New York City.
1969, Yes played at Theatre 140, Brussles, Belgium.
1970, Hawkwind appeared at Barnet College, Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe.)
1970, The Who performed at Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
1971, Black Sabbath headlined at Community War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, New York.
1972, The United States Council for World Affairs announced it was adopting The Who song “Join Together” as it’s official theme tune.
1972, Led Zeppelin play the first of two nights at the Pavillion in Montreux, Switzerland. Melody Maker writes about the gigs, “They will reshape your values about what is genuine and what isn’t. They just have to be the best heavy band this country has produced.”
1973, King Crimson played at Town Hall, Birmingham, England.
1973, David Cassidy was at number one on the UK singles chart with “Daydreamer / The Puppy Song,” the singer’s second chart topper. “The Puppy Song” was Cassidy’s version of the Harry Nilsson song.
1974, Jamaican reggae artist Ken Boothe was at number one on the UK singles chart with his version of a song by David Gates, from Bread, “Everything I Own.” Boy George also took the song to the the top in 1987.
1974, Three Dog Night appeared at the Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts.
1974, David Bowie played the first of seven sold-out nights on his Diamond Dogs Tour at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
1975, Rush performed at Randy’s Rodeo, San Antonio, Texas.
1976, Aerosmith appeared at Eberthalle, Ludwigshafen, Germany.
1977, Kansas played at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.
1978, Nick Gilder went to number one on the singles chart with “Hot Child In The City.”
1978, Queen played the first night on their 79-date Jazz tour at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas.
1978, The animated cartoon, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, was shown on NBC-TV in the U.S. The four rock stars had to deal with a mad scientist who went crazy in an amusement park. All four members of Kiss had just released their individual solo albums.
1978, Bob Dylan played at Southern Illinois University Stadium, in Carbondale, Illinois.
1980, Dire Straits appeared at the Roxy in Los Angeles.
1981, ZZ Top played at The Astrodome, Houston, Texas.
1983, Blue Oyster Cult performed at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1985, Bob Dylan releases Biograph, one of the first major box sets.
1985, The Grateful Dead played at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.
1989, Janet Jackson started a four week run at number one on the US album chart with Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. It is only one of three albums to produce seven Top-ten US singles, the other two being Thriller by Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA.
1997, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years, becoming a farmer.
2001, The various artists album God Bless America went to number one on the US chart, featuring tracks from Bruce Springsteen, Bill Withers, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Bob Dylan and Frank Sinatra.
2008, A statue honoring AC/DC’s Bon Scott was unveiled at the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour in Western Australia. Although born in Scotland, Scott grew up in Fremantle after his family emigrated to Australia in 1952. Bon started out his newfound Australian life in Melbourne, his family lived in the suburb of Sunshine for four years before moving to Fremantle. Scott died on February 20, 1980. He is buried in Fremantle cemetery.
2011, The organizers of a planned Metallica concert in India were arrested after the show was called off, leading fans of the band to destroy the stage and vandalize equipment. Metallica had been booked to play in Delhi on Friday, but they postponed the show after a security barrier in front of the stage collapsed. The four promoters of the gig, were arrested on fraud charges after they refused to refund tickets. Around 25,000 people had purchased tickets to see what would have been Metallica’s first-ever concert in India.
2013, New Zealand singer Lorde, 16, topped the UK singles chart with her debut single, “Royals,” making her the youngest solo artist to score a UK chart topper since 15-year-old Billie Piper’s “Because We Want To” in 1998. Lorde was signed to Universal on a development deal at just 13 years old, after a friend’s father sent them home recordings of her singing Duffy and Pixie Lott tracks.
2022, Jerry Lee Lewis, an American pianist, singer and songwriter died after battling illness and injury at age 87. A pioneer of rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly music, his biggest hits were “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”.
Born on October 28: Charlie Daniels (1936); Graham Bond, keyboards, sax, The Graham Bond Organisation (1937); Wayne Fontana (1940); Elton Dean, sax, keyboards, Soft Machine (1945); Thelma Hopkins, singer, Dawn (1948); Stephen Morris, drums, Joy Division, New Order (1957); William Reid, The Jesus and Mary Chain (1958); Neville Henry, The Blow Monkeys (1959); Caitlin Cary, singer and violinist, Whiskeytown (1968); Ben Harper (1969); Frank Ocean (1987)
Link to Today in Rock History archive.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, Yes, Blue Oyster Cult, Janet Jackson, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Three Dog Night, Queen, Kansas, Aerosmith.