Today in Rock n' Roll History

[Koala]

1956 Julia, John Lennon's mother, bought him his first guitar through a mail order ad. His incessant playing prompts John's Aunt Mimi to say, "The guitar's all very well as a hobby, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." John forms his first group, the Quarrymen.

1964 The Beatles made their live concert debut in the US at the Washington Coliseum. Over 350 police surrounded the stage to keep the 8,000 plus screaming fans in control. One police officer who found the noise so loud, stuck a bullet in each ear as ear plugs. The Beatles had to stop three times and turn Ringo's drum kit around and re-position their microphones so that they faced a different part of the audience. The set list: ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Twist and Shout’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.

1969 The Monkees set a new record when their second album, 'More Of The Monkees' jumped from No.122 to the top of the US chart. The album then stayed in pole position for eighteen weeks.

1972 America hits #1 with "A Horse With No Name".

1975 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers form from the seeds of the disbanded Mudcrutch. The lineup: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar), Mike Campbell (guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Ron Blair (bass), Stan Lynch (drums).
1984Genesis hits #6 in the US with "That's All!"

1998 The hand-written lyrics to ‘Candle in the Wind’ by Bernie Taupin were auctioned off at Christie's in LA for £278,512.

[Koala]

1956 Dean Martin was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Memories Are Made Of This'. The American actor, comedian, singer and TV hosts biggest hit. Also covered by The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and The Driffters.

1966 Pink Floyd performs at a series of Sunday afternoon multimedia happenings at London's Marquee Club, dubbed the "Spontaneous Underground."

1970 John Lennon performed 'Instant Karma', on BBC TV's 'Top Of The Pops', becoming the first Beatle to have appeared on the show since 1966.

1977 Barbra Streisand started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'A Star Is Born.'

1995 Van Halen, scored their first US No.1 album with ‘Balance.’
　

[Koala]

1974 Genesis hits #70 in the US with 'Selling England By the Pound'.

1961 Frank Sinatra launched his own record label. Reprise Records, later the home of Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys.

1967 The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' on Capitol Records in the US. The single spent 10 weeks on the chart peaking at No.1.

1973 After becoming ill during a concert in Las Vegas Elvis Presley presented Doctor Sidney Bowers with a Lincoln Continental to show his appreciation for all his work.

1976 Genesis released their first album since the departure of Peter Gabriel, 'A Trick Of The Tail' featuring eight new tracks with drummer Phill Collins taking on the role of lead vocalist.

1977 Julie Covington was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina', taken from the Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Evita. Covington had been in the 1977 UK TV series based on an all female group called Rock Follies. Madonna had a hit with her version of the song in 1996.

1989 This year’s Brit Awards was hosted by Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood in which just about everything went wrong - lines were fluffed and bands mis-cued onto the stage. Winners included Phil Collins who won British Male Solo Artist, British Female Solo Artist was Annie Lennox, Erasure won Best British Group, Best British Album went to Fairground Attraction for ‘First Of A Million Kisses’, British Breakthrough Act was Bros, Michael Jackson won International Male, International Female went to Tracey Chapman and U2 won Best International Group. This was the last year the show was broadcast live.

1996 Take That split up, the biggest band of the 90s announced their demise in front of the world's press at The Hilton in Manchester, the band had achieved 7 No.1 singles & 2 No.1 albums. They released one more single and a Greatest Hits album.

2004 Led Zeppelin were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Grammys. Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham all attended. Robert Plant did not, since he was working on a new album and tour.
　
　

[MikeA]

The Biz was sure different "back then" wasn't it? I'm talking about the releasing of music. First comes the 45's with a lot of to-do made over the "sides" content. Usually there was one really good song on side "A" and a mediocre one on Side "B".

Now THAT might make for a good research project....which Single releases produced a bigger hit from the "B" side than the "A" side? Or did any?

Then came the album which would seem like a 'Greatest Hits" by todays standard (at least with the Beatles since just about everything they released went to #1). And the release of a Greatest Hits was something like a "best of the Best" and usually signaled the demise of another Rock Group.

That's probably not at all true, but that is the way it seemed to me.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Now THAT might make for a good research project....which Single releases produced a bigger hit from the "B" side than the "A" side? Or did any?

Hmmm - that is an interesting thought, Mike. Wonder if there were any? I can't think of any off the top of my head, but that ain't saying much.

[MikeA]

Just did a quick Google and found in Wikipedia

On a few occasions, the B-side became the more popular song. This was usually because a DJ preferred the B-side to its A-side and played it instead. Examples include "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor (originally the B-side of "Substitute"), "I'll Be Around" by The Spinners (originally the B-side of "How Could I Let You Get Away"), "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart (originally the B-side of "Reason To Believe"), "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" by Beyoncé (originally the B-side of "If I Were a Boy"), and Reddish -Diva Version- by D'espairsRay (B-side of their single "Gemini"). More rarely, both sides of the single would become hits, such as Queen's "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You".

The entire entry in Wikipedia is an interesting read

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-side_and_B-side

[Koala]

1959 Cliff Richard was voted the best new singer in the annual NME awards.

1961 The Beatles perform at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool, and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool where they play a special Valentine's Day show. Paul McCartney sang Elvis Presley's "Wooden Heart", wearing wooden heart pinned to his coat, covered with satin and embroidered with the names "John", "Paul", "George", and "Pete". The heart was raffled off, and the winner also won a kiss from Paul.

1972 John Lennon and Yoko Ono started a week long run as co-hosts on 'Mike Douglas' US TV show.

1978 Dire Straits began recording their first album at Basing Street Studios, London. The whole project cost £12,500 ($21,250) to produce.

1986 Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of the television series Miami Vice. Zappa portrayed a crime boss named 'Mr. Frankie.'

1987 Bon Jovi started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Livin' On A Prayer', the group's second US No.1, a No.4 hit in the UK.

1990 The Rolling Stones played the first of ten nights at the Korakuen
Dome, Tokyo, Japan. The shows were seen by over 500,000 fans, making the band $20 million (£11.76 million).

1998 Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' set a new recorded for the most radio plays in the US with 116 million plays in one week.

2002 Mick Tucker, drummer with glam rock band Sweet died of leukaemia. Had the 1973 UK No.1 single 'Blockbuster', plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles.

[TimothyBFan]

2002 Mick Tucker, drummer with glam rock band Sweet died of leukaemia. Had the 1973 UK No.1 single 'Blockbuster', plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles.

Very, very sad. His and Brian's dates of death are only 5 days apart. He was nicknamed the man with the golden arm for a reason. What a talent.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGwd3o0rc6k[/ame]

[Freypower]

1978 Dire Straits began recording their first album at Basing Street Studios, London. The whole project cost £12,500 ($21,250) to produce.

1986 Frank Zappa appeared on an episode of the television series Miami Vice. Zappa portrayed a crime boss named 'Mr. Frankie.'

1. What a waste of money!!!

2. I honestly didn't know FZ was in Miami Vice. I will now tell hubby that he & Glenn had something in common.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPVjXgw4sUU[/ame]

[Koala]

1964 The Beatles scored their first US No.1 album with 'Meet The Beatles!' The album stayed at No.1 for eleven weeks.

1965 American singer and pianist Nat King Cole died of lung cancer. First hit was the 1943 'Straighten Up and Fly Right', had the 1955 US No.2 single 'A Blossom Fell' and 1957 UK No.2 single 'When I Fall In Love' plus over 20 other US & UK Top 40 singles. Father of singer Natalie Cole. In 1956 he became the first black American to host a television variety show.

1969 The hotly anticipated, self-titled debut album by Led Zeppelin enters the album charts, ultimately reaching #10.

1972 With the expiration of John Lennon's U.S. non-immigrant visa, deportation proceedings begin. Lennon will wage a four-year battle with the federal government to remain in the U.S.

1975 Linda Ronstadt went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'You're No Good', the singers only solo chart topper out of 12 other top 40 hits. Also today Ronstadt went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Heart Like A Wheel.'