Today in Rock n' Roll History

1968 The Beatles begin recording their "White Album"

1969 Supertramp forms.

1974 Excerpts from Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' are included in 'The Exorcist' soundtrack.

1999 A bomb threat forces the evacuation of more than 3,000 people at a Kenny Rogers concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. No bomb is found and no injuries are reported. I’m extremely disappointed, Rogers states. “I don’t understand who benefits from this. It’s an unpolitical gathering of people who are out for a night of good fun.”

2000 During their first gig without guitarist Noel Gallagher, in Milan, singer Liam tells the audience, “Oasis are a f*cking band, not just one person.”

2005 Coldplay's new album was illegally put on the internet a week before its UK and US release. The leak took place on the day copies were sent to UK radio stations and the day before it went on sale in Japan. Security measures around the release included hosting album playbacks at Abbey Road studios for journalists instead of sending them copies of the album, any CDs that were sent out were labelled with a false name - The Fir Trees - to throw would-be pirates off the scent.

2007 a leaked copy of the new White Stripes album ‘Icky Thump’ was played completely on Chicago’s radio station Q101-WKQX. Jack White personally called the US radio station from Spain, where he was touring, to voice his displeasure.

1948 John Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin is born.

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

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.

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'.

1989 At New York's International Rock Awards, Keith Richards is given the Living Legend Award. The Rolling Stones guitarist joins in the all-star jam with Eric Clapton and Tina Turner.

1947 Ron Wood is born.

1964 The Rolling Stones visit the U.S. for the first time. Their arrival at Kennedy Airport is commemorated in the song "Flight 505."

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.

1985 Bruce Springsteen kicked off the European leg of his Born in the USA world tour at Slane Castle in Dublin, Ireland.

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.

1997 Kenny Rogers marries his production assistant Wanda Miller at their farm in Athens. It is the fifth marriage for Rogers, 58, and the second for Miller, 30.

2004 U2 frontman Bono tries to persuade European Union ministers to extend debt relief programs for the world’s poorest countries when he addresses a special meeting in Dublin.

2007 contemporary musicians recorded their own versions of songs from the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's album to mark 40 years since it was released. Acts including Oasis, Travis, The Fray, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Bryan Adams and The Magic Numbers all worked with Geoff Emerick - the engineer in charge of the original 1967 sessions, using the original analogue 4-track equipment to demonstrates the techniques employed for the recording at Abbey Road studios in 1967.

1941 Charlie Watts is born.

1964 The first U.S. Rolling Stones concert is held, at a high school in Lynn, Massachusetts.

1973 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham settles an argument with promoter Bill Graham at a San Francisco gig by emptying a bucket of water over him.

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.

1995 Country star Travis Tritt spends the night in a Nashville hospital after collapsing in a recording studio. He is treated for severe exhaustion and dehydration.

1997 Bob Dylan is released from the hospital, where he was treated for pericarditis brought on by histoplasmosis. He says, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just glad to be feeling better. I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon."

2003 Following a dispute over songwriting credits with John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney agrees to let "Lennon-McCartney" be. McCartney outraged many Beatles fans by demanding "Yesterday" and other McCartney songs be credited to "McCartney-Lennon."

1972 Jethro Tull hits #1 in the US with 'Thick as a Brick'.

1972 Pink Floyd released Obscured By Clouds in the UK. The album which was recorded in Paris France in less than two weeks peaked at No.6 on the UK chart and No.46 on the US chart.

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.

1984 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) was a hit.

1993 U2 re-sign with Island, guaranteeing six albums over the next 10 years. The deal nets them $60 million and a royalty rate of 25 percent on their recordings. Very nice.

1998 Alex Van Halen bruises his arm after a chunk of plaster falls from the ceiling of Hamburg's Docks club. Van Halen cancel their concert as a result.

2000 Allman Brother Dickey Betts is arrested after threatening his wife with a knife, destroying his living room in Florida, and disappearing. When discovered by police after a helicopter search, he is sent to a psychiatric unit.

2002 Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Cliff Richard, Ozzy Osbourne, The Corrs, Will Young, Atomic Kitten and S Club 7 all appeared at The Queen's Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace, London.

1942 Glenn Wallichs launched Capitol Records in the US. The label became home to such artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller, Dr. Hook, Bob Seger, Tina Turner, Heart and countless others. Wallichs was the man who invented the art of record promotion by sending copies of new releases to disc jockeys.

1966 James Brown hits #8 with "It's A Man's Man's Man's World".

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.

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

1984 Bruce Springsteen released the album, ‘Born In The USA’, which went on to top the US chart for 7 weeks and spawn 7 Top 10 singles.

1992 The US Postal Service announced the results of a poll conducted to see which picture of Elvis Presley should be used on a commemorative stamp. The young Elvis beat the (older and larger) Vegas Elvis.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Koala

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

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That makes me angry!! Why didn't the US ever embrace this band like the European countries did?

The U.S. didn't get any of the 'glam rock' acts - not Slade, not T. Rex and not even that period of David Bowie. The costumes may have been a bit too 'camp' for some people. Slade's songs, great as they are, were probably too British. Sweet did have a couple of minor hits when they moved closer to 'rock' with Fox On The Run.

It works both ways. By the time punk and New Wave arrived in Britain American 'arena' bands like Journey, Kansas, Styx and so on didn't have a hope there because they were seen as 'dinosaurs'.

1940 Tom Jones is born.

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.

1970 The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles) was a hit.

1975 Elton John's "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" album LP becomes the first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard chart.

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 Elton John's stage musical "Billy Elliot" wins ten Tony awards, including Best Musical.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Koala

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.

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And this was about the same time I had a major revelation - I was getting old! :hilarious: