Today in Rock n' Roll History

[Koala]

1964 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Love Me Do', the group's fourth US No.1 in five months. The version released in America had Andy White playing drums while Ringo played the tambourine. The British single was a take on which Ringo played the drums.

1969 Supertramp forms.

1969 Led Zeppelin played the first of two nights at The Fillmore East in New York City.

1974 Bernadette Whelan a 14 year-old David Cassidy fan died of heart failure four days after attending a concert of his. Over 1,000 other fans had to be given first aid during the White City Stadium show.

2008 Green Day went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘21st Century Breakdown’ the bands eighth studio album.

2009 Mick Jagger offered to buy an ice cream van but was turned down by its owner - who'd promised his daughter he would drive her to her wedding in it. Guiseppe Della Camera, had spent ten years restoring the rusting van to perfection after he spotted it on a farm - being used as a chicken shed. The restoration was such a success Sir Mick offered to buy the vehicle when he saw it at a show on Wandsworth Common. Camera said, 'Jagger told me he'd really fallen in love with my van and asked me if I would consider selling it. I was stunned when he offered me £100,000.

[Koala]

1948 John Bonham is Born.

1966 "The Monkees" series debut on NBC-TV.

1971 36 Grateful Dead fans were medically treated after unknowingly drinking L.S.D. laced cider, at a gig in the US.

1975 Freddy Fender went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls', his only US No.1.

1976 The Who gave themselves a place in the Guinness book of Records as the loudest performance of a rock band at 120 decibels, when they played at Charlton Athletic Football ground.

1980 The Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless), by Mash was at No.1 on the UK singles chart, 10 years after it was first recorded after being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ Noel Edmonds. Mike Altman the son of the original film's director, Robert Altman, was 14 years old when he composed the song's lyrics.

1986 Peter Gabriel scored his second solo UK No.1 album with 'So' featuring the singles 'Sledgehammer' and a duet with Kate Bush 'Don't Give Up'.
　

[Koala]

1947 Ron Wood was born.

1959 The first edition of Juke Box Jury aired on the BBC. The show's host, David Jacobs, lead a revolving panel of guests in critiquing the week's top record releases. Although the songs were never played in their entirety, the four judges gave a verdict on whether each would be a "hit" or a "miss".

1959 ‘The Battle Of New Orleans’ by Johnny Horton went to No.1 on both the Country and Pop charts in the US, where it will stay for two months. The song was originally a poem written by high school teacher James Morriss in 1936, which he put to the music of an old fiddle tune known as ‘The Eighth Of January’. Horton later won a Grammy Award for the song.
1964 The Rolling Stones begin their first U.S. tour.

1968 Simon and Garfunkel went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Mrs Robinson'. Featured in the Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft film 'The Graduate', the song was also a UK hit for the Lemonheads in 1992.

1975 The Rolling Stones kicked off their biggest ever US tour at Louisiana State University. The tour would take in 45 shows in 26 cities. Guitarist Ron Wood joined The Stones on tour for the first time, replacing Mick Taylor.

1982 Madness were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'House Of Fun'. The group's only No.1 from 27 UK Top 40 hits.

1996 'Three Lions', (the official song of the England Football team) by Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds went to No.1 on the UK singles chart.

2005 Crazy Frog was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Axel F'. It started as a mobile phone ring tone, the single is based on Harold Faltermeyer's film theme, which reached No.2 in 1985.

2006 The 1994 debut album by Oasis, Definitely Maybe, was voted the greatest album of all time in a survey to mark 50 years of the Official UK Albums Chart. The Beatles came in second and third place with ‘Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Revolver’, ‘OK Computer’ by Radiohead was fourth and ‘(What's the Story) Morning Glory?’ by Oasis was voted fifth.

　

[Freypower]

1947
2006 The 1994 debut album by Oasis, Definitely Maybe, was voted the greatest album of all time in a survey to mark 50 years of the Official UK Albums Chart. The Beatles came in second and third place with ‘Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Revolver’, ‘OK Computer’ by Radiohead was fourth and ‘(What's the Story) Morning Glory?’ by Oasis was voted fifth.

Well, I am SO GLAD that the people surveyed thought Sgt Pepper & Revolver were worthy of 2nd & 3rd. As for Definitely Maybe: no way. First, Morning Glory is a better album. Second, while both are good they are NOWHERE NEAR 'greatest' & 'fifth' of all time. I haven't heard OK Computer. I have, however, heard all the usual critics rave about it to the point of nausea. If anyone seriously thinks it's better than Led Zeppelin IV or Sticky Fingers....

NB because it's a UK survey there wouldn't be any American albums; I doubt there would be any in the Top 20.

[Koala]

1941 Charlie Watts is born.

1964 The Rolling Stones made their US TV debut on 'The Les Crane Show'.

1973 Paul McCartney had both the No.1 positions on the US charts when 'Red Rose Speedway', went to the top of the album chart and 'My Love', started a four week run as the No.1 single.

1984 Wham! had their first UK No.1 with 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.' Written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo. Inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew's parents, originally intended to read "wake me up before you go" but with "up" accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote "go" twice on purpose.

2003 A painting of Kylie Minogue wearing gold hot pants caused tempers to fray among drivers in Brighton. Artist Simon Etheridge, put up the almost life-size picture in his own Art Asylum gallery, as part of a Festival and since then motorists had caused regular traffic hold-ups as they stopped to take a second look.

[Koala]

1967 The Doors ‘Light My Fire’ was released in the US, it went on to be No.1 on the singles chart two months later.

1974 Boots record dept advertised 69p off top selling albums, 'Quo' by Status Quo was £2.75, offer price £2.02, David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs', was £2.38, now £1.69 and 'Sweet Fanny Adams' by Sweet was £2.31 and now £1.69. All Top 50 singles were priced at 40p.

1983 US session drummer Jim Gordon murdered his mother by pounding her head with a hammer. A diagnosed schizophrenic, it was not until his trial in 1984 that he was properly diagnosed. Due to the fact that his attorney was unable to use the insanity defense, Gordon was sentenced to sixteen years-to-life in prison in 1984. A Grammy Award winner for co-writing Layla with Eric Clapton, Gordon worked with The Beach Boys, John Lennon, George Harrison Frank Zappa and many other artists.

1989 Queen scored their sixth UK No.1 album with 'The Miracle'.

1995 Bryan Adams started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman' Taken from the film 'Don Juan De Marco' it became Adams third US solo No.1, a No.4 hit in the UK.

[Koala]

1969 Hundreds of people in Glenrowan, Australia signed a petition protesting against the casting of Mick Jagger in the role of the Australian folk hero, Ned Kelly.

1975 The Rolling Stones became the first rock band to receive royalties for sales of their records in Russia.

1977 Sweet hits #151 in the US with 'Off the Record'.

1983 The Police started a four week run at No.1 in the UK with 'Every Breath You Take' the group's fifth and final No.1 single. Taken from the bands album Synchronicity, Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance for the song at the 1984 Grammy Awards.

1984 Bruce Springsteen released the album, ‘Born In The USA’, which went on to top the US chart for seven weeks and featured seven Top 10 singles.

1994 Wet Wet Wet started a fifteen-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Love Is All Around', from the film 'Four Weddings & A Funeral'. The song was written by Reg Presley of The Troggs and a former Top 10 for his band in 1967.

1996 Crowded House announced they had split up. Brothers Neil and Tim Finn from the group were both awarded OBE's in 1993 for their service to their native New Zealand.
　

[Koala]

1964 The Rolling Stones played their first-ever live date in the US when they appeared at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California.


1965 The soundtrack album to 'The Sound of Music' started a 10-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. It returned to the top of the charts on no less than 11 other occasions spending over 380 weeks on the chart.

1975 During recording sessions for Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road Studios, London, England, Syd Barrett turned up out of the blue as Pink Floyd were listening to playbacks of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, (a tribute to former band member Barrett). This was the last time any member of Pink Floyd saw Barrett.

1977 Alice Cooper's boa constrictor, a co-star of his live act suffered a fatal bite from a rat it was being fed for breakfast. Cooper held auditions for a replacement and a snake named 'Angel' got the gig.

1988 The Pet Shop Boys played their debut live show when they appeared at London's Piccadilly Theatre as part of an Anti Section 28 Benefit concert.

2001 Officials in Singapore threw out an appeal against a ban on Janet Jackson's latest album, ‘All For You’. They decided that the lyrics of the album, particularly one song, ‘Would You Mind’, were "not acceptable to our society". The record was initially outlawed because of its "sexually explicit lyrics", including "I just wanna touch you, tease you, lick you, please you, love you, make love to you." EMI were attempting a compromise by trying to persuade Jackson's management to delete ‘Would You Mind’ from the album.

2002 Dee Dee Ramone dies of an apparent overdose.

2010 Led Zeppelin were officially voted the nation’s favourite band by the BBC’s ‘I’m In A Rock ‘N` Roll Band’, Zeppelin coming ahead of both The Beatles and Queen in a phone-in vote. The show also featured Best Singer, Guitarist, and Drummer live phone-in votes which saw Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham all nominated in their categories. John Bonham was crowned top drummer ahead of Dave Grohl and Keith Moon, whilst Jimmy and Robert were runners up to Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury respectively.

[Koala]

1960 Bing Crosby was presented with a Platinum disc to commemorate his 200 millionth record sold. The sales figures were a combined total of 2,600 recorded singles and 125 albums. Crosby's global lifetime sales on 179 labels in 28 countries totaled 400 million records.

1971 John & Yoko jammed live on stage with Frank Zappa at The Filmore East in New York.

1971 Queen gives its first performance at Hornsey Town Hall in London.

1982 Tom Petty, Crosby Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks and Jackson Browne all appeared at The Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California to a crowd of 85,000 fans.

1987 Whitney Houston had her second UK No.1 single with 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)'. It reached No.1 in over a dozen other countries and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1988.

1987 Michael Jackson announced that he was breaking all ties with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Jackson had been raised as a Jehovah's Witness and would don disguises and go door to door with the Watchtower message in cities where he was performing.

2006 Billy Preston died of kidney failure. The Grammy-winning keyboard player collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.
　

[Koala]

1964 During their first ever US tour The Rolling Stones were booed off stage at a gig in San Antonio, Texas. Some performing Monkeys who had been the act on before the Stones were brought back on stage for another performance.

1969 Supergroup Blind Faith, featuring Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood made their live debut at a free concert in London's Hyde Park.

1969 The Who's 'Tommy', a double-album rock opera, debuts on U.S. charts.

1975 Elton John's album 'Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboys', went to No.1 on the US album chart, the first album ever to enter the US chart at No.1.

1977 Led Zeppelin played the first of six sold out nights at Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

1997 Hanson started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'MMMbop'. Originally called The Hanson Brothers, lead singer Zak Hanson was just 13-years-old at the time of the hit. One of the biggest debut singles of all time; reaching No.1 in 27 countries.

2009 Paolo Nutini went to No.1 on the UK album charts with ‘Sunny Side Up’ the Scottish singers second album.

2010 Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh was granted a restraining order against an elderly neighbor who allegedly threatened to kill him. The man was also ordered to pay more than $1,500 in legal fees.