This Day in Music

The White Album was never one of my favorite Beatles albums.

November 23rd: On this Day

1956, Sheet metal worker Louis Balint was arrested after punching Elvis Presley at a Hotel in Toledo. Balint claimed that his wife's love for Elvis had caused his marriage to break up. He was fined $19.60 but ended up being jailed because he was unable to pay the fine.

1962, The Beatles travelled to St. James' Church Hall, London, for a ten-minute audition with BBC Television. The audition came about when Beatles fan, David Smith of Preston, Lancashire wrote to the BBC asking for The Beatles to be featured on BBC television. Assuming that Smith was The Beatles' manager, the BBC wrote back to him, offering The Beatles an audition. Smith brought his letter to NEMS Enterprises, and Clive Epstein (Brian's brother) arranged for audition to take place. Four days later, Brian Epstein received a polite "thumbs-down" letter from the BBC.

1962,



1967, A 16 date UK package tour played its 7th night at the Sophia Gardens Pavilion, Cardiff. Featuring The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice, The Outer Limits, The Eire Apparent and Amen Corner, the entourage performed twice nightly. In 1974, Pink Floyd returned to the venue, which has since been demolished, to be replaced by the 'Really Welsh Pavilion'.

1974, One Hit Wonder Billy Swan started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I Can Help'. The song was a hit throughout most of Europe and also reached No.1 in Australia. It was so successful in Norway that it charted for 37 weeks on the Norwegian charts making it the 4th best-performing single of all time in that country.

1974, The Rolling Stones scored their fifth US No.1 album with 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll'. The album which was the last Stones album for guitarist Mick Taylor peaked at No.2 in the UK.

1975, Queen started a nine-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Bohemian Rhapsody. The promotional video that accompanied the song is generally acknowledged as being the first pop video and only cost £5,000 to produce. When the band wanted to release the single various record executives suggested to them that, at 5 minutes and 55 seconds, it was too long and would never be a hit.

1976, Ten hours after his last arrest, Jerry Lee Lewis was nicked again after brandishing a Derringer pistol outside Elvis Presley's Graceland's home in Memphis, demanding to see the 'King'. When police arrived they found Lewis sat in his car with the loaded Derringer pistol resting on his knee.

1979, Keith Richard's girlfriend Anita Pallenburg was cleared by a court of shooting a man found dead at her home. A 17-year-old, Scott Cantrell, had shot himself in the head with a gun owned by Keith Richards, while in Pallenberg's bed, at the South Salem, New York house shared by Richards and Pallenberg. Cantrell had been employed as a part-time groundskeeper at the estate and was involved in a sexual relationship with Pallenberg.

1979, Pink Floyd released 'Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)' which rapidly topped the charts in the UK, followed by the US and a further 9 countries. Featuring children from Islington Green School in North London, close to Floyd's Britannia Row Studios, it was the group’s first UK single since Point Me At The Sky in 1968, and their first chart hit since See Emily Play in 1967.

1985, American blues artist Big Joe Turner died of a heart attack aged 75. Wrote 'Shake Rattle and Roll', (a hit for Bill Haley and His Comets) and 'Sweet Sixteen.'

1991, Genesis scored their 5th UK No.1 album with 'We Can't Dance', featuring the singles 'Jesus He Knows Me' and 'I Can't Dance'.

1991, Michael Jackson had his fourth UK No.1 single with 'Black or White' which featured Slash on guitar. Also a No.1 hit in the US.

1992, American country music singer Roy Acuff died aged 89. Known as the "King of Country Music," he was the first living artist elected to the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Acuff started his career in 1932 working for Dr. Hauer's medicine show, hired as one of its entertainers to draw a crowd to whom Hauer could sell medicines.

1994, Tommy Boyce, singer, songwriter, committed suicide. (1968 US No. 8 single with Bobby Hart, 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite', also wrote 'Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm Not Your Stepping Stone' and 'Scooby- Doo Where Are You.' Sold over 40m records.

1995, American soul singer and saxophonist Junior Walker died of cancer aged 64. Had the 1966 US & UK Top 20 single 'How Sweet It Is', and the 1969 US No.4 single 'What Does It Take, To Win Your Love'. Walker also played sax on Foreigner's 1981 hit ‘Urgent.’

2001, Singer O.C. Smith died aged 65. Famous for his 1968 US No.1 single 'Little Green Apples' and 1968 UK No.2 single 'The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp'. Smith became pastor and founder of The City Of Angels Church in Los Angeles, California.

2002, Otis Reddings' widow and his former manager filed a lawsuit against the author of a biography written in 2001 about the R&B legend, claiming the book was filled with lies. The lawsuit, filed in Atlanta's Fulton County, sought $15 million in damages and claimed that the book detailed rumors about the singer's drug use, extramarital affairs and divorce, causing "harm to the plaintiffs." It also cites rumors that Otis' manager plotted with the Mafia to kill Otis by causing the plane to crash in order to claim $1 million in life insurance.

2005, Dan McTeague a Toronto MP tried to have 50 Cent barred from entering Canada to perform a series of concerts later this year. McTeague had sent a letter to Immigration Minister Joe Volpe claiming that the controversial rapper shouldn't be permitted to cross the border because he promotes gun violence.

2008, Leona Lewis was at No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut album 'Spirit'. The album held the record for the biggest digital album sales in a week ever for a new artist and was the 6th biggest selling of 2008 in the world. It has gone on to sell over seven million copies worldwide.

2008, 15 years after their last album, Guns N' Roses released Chinese Democracy in the US, exclusively via the electronics retailer Best Buy. Nine years previously, Geffen Records had reportedly paid Axl Rose $1 million to finish the album, with a further $1 million if he handed it in to them by March 1, 1999.

2012, According to a new list of the 200 rarest records published in Record Collector magazine, the original acetate of the pre Beatles demo by the Quarrymen of 'That'll Be The Day' was worth £200,000 ($320,630). Several other Beatles records figured in the top 20. Low-numbered copies of The Beatles The White Album was said to be worth £7,000 ($11,222 USD), though a copy of a mono White Album #0000005 sold for £19,201 ($30,782 USD) in 2009.

2015, Taylor Swift dominated the American Music Awards, winning three prizes, including album of the year and song of the year. One Direction were named favourite group and artist of the year, for the second year in a row and Ariana Grande was the surprise winner of best female, beating Taylor Swift.

2016, Joe Esposito, a close friend and aide of Elvis Presley died at the age of 78. Esposito was Presley's professional assistant and a member of his inner circle, known as the "Memphis Mafia". He was one of two best men at the star's wedding to Priscilla in 1967 and a pallbearer at his funeral in 1977.


November 23rd: Born on this day

1939, Born on this day, Betty Everett, soul singer, (1964 US No. 6 single 'The Shoop Shoop Song, It's In His Kiss', 1965 UK No. 29 single 'Getting Mighty Crowded'). She died on 19th August 2001 aged 61.

1949, Born on this day, Sandra Stevens, Brotherhood Of Man, (1976 UK No.1 single 'Save Your Kisses For Me').

1949, Born on this day, Alan Paul, singer, Manhattan Transfer, (1977 UK No.1 'Chanson D'amour', 1981 US No.7 single 'Boy From New York City').

1949, Born on this day, Marcia Griffiths, singer, also called the "Queen of Reggae". With Bob Andy as a duo (Bob and Marcia), she had the 1970 UK hit with 'Young, Gifted and Black'.

1954, Born on this day, Bruce Hornsby, keyboards, vocals, The Range, (1986 US No.1 & UK No.15 single 'The Way It Is').

1962, Born on this day, Chris Bostock, bass, Jo Boxers, (1983 UK No.3 single 'Boxer Beat').

1972, Born on this day, American drummer Chris Adler who has worked with Lamb of God, Megadeth, Burn the Priest, Testament and Protest The Hero.

1978, Born on this day, Alison Mosshart, American singer, songwriter with The Kills and blues rock band The Dead Weather with Jack White.

1978, Born on this day, American saxophone player Tommy Marth who worked with The Killers. On April 23, 2012, Marth's body was discovered in his Las Vegas, Nevada home with a gunshot wound to the head. The Clark County Coroner subsequently ruled that the gunshot wound was self-inflicted and the cause of death was suicide.

1983, Born on this day, Thomas Pridgen, American drummer with The Mars Volta from 2006 until October 2009. Also worked with The Memorials and the California hardcore band, Trash Talk.

1984, Born on this day, Lucas Stephen Grabeel, American actor and singer High School Musical, as part of the cast had the 2006 US No.1 ‘High School Musical’ album and 2007, US No.1 ‘High School Musical 2’ album. Over 17 million viewers in the United States watched the TV premier of High School Musical; making it the highest rated basic cable broadcast in U.S. history.

1992, Born on this day, Miley Ray Cyrus, (born Destiny Hope Cyrus), American actress, singer and songwriter. Miley Stewart -Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel series, Hannah Montana. Scored the 2006 US No.1 album ‘Hannah Montana’, and the 2013 US No.1 hit 'Wrecking Ball'.

Freddie: was only 45 years old & had over 40 top 40 UK singles - what a loss! he was so unique!

November 26th: On this Day

1958, Johnny Cash made his debut on the US country chart when ‘Cry! Cry! Cry!’ made it to number 14. His next seven singles would all make the country top 10, with ‘I Walk the Line’ and ‘There You Go’ both hitting number 1.

1962, The Beatles recorded their second single ‘Please Please Me’ in 18 takes and ‘Ask Me Why’ for the flip side at EMI studio’s London. When released in the US on the Vee-Jay label, the first pressings featured a typographical error: The band's name was spelled "The Beattles".

1967, The promotional film of The Beatles 'Hello, Goodbye' was aired on The Ed Sullivan show in the US. It was never shown at the time in the UK due to a musician's union ban on miming.

1967, This was the 10th date on a 16-date UK package tour that Pink Floyd played alongside The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Move, The Nice, The Eire Apparent, The Outer Limits and Amen Corner. Tonight's date was at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, and as with all of the dates, there were two shows per night.

1968, Cream played their farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Also on the bill were Yes and Taste. The concert was filmed and released as Cream's Farewell Concert which has often been criticized for both its mediocre sound and visual effects: during Ginger Baker's drum solo, he seems to change clothes at lightning speed due to careless post-editing.

1973, John Rostill former bassist with The Shadows died after being electrocuted at his home recording studio. A local newspaper ran the headline, 'Pop musician dies, guitar apparent cause'. After the break up of The Shadows Rostill worked with Tom Jones and wrote songs covered by Elvis Presley and Olivia Newton-John.

1973, The New York Dolls made their live UK debut at Biba's Rainbow Room, London. The American band who formed in New York in 1971 influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups.

1976, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme left 10cc to work as a duo and concentrate on other projects including developing 'The Gizmo', a device used to make neo- orchestral sounds on a guitar.

1976, The Sex Pistols released the single 'Anarchy In The UK'. Originally issued in a plain black sleeve, the single was the only Sex Pistols recording released by EMI, and reached No.38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on 6 January 1977.

November 30th

A block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Joey once lived with band mate Dee Dee Ramone and is near the music club CBGB, where the Ramones played their first gigs. In 2010, it was reported that "Joey Ramone Place," was New York City's most stolen sign. As of September 27, the sign has been moved to 20 feet above ground level. More on the Ramones:


Ramones

The three chord guitar riff introduction, and ‘Hey! Ho! Let's go!’ came the cry, a simple, catchy melody, and they were off. The Ramones created something that was rooted in early 1960s, rock & roll / garage band rock, but sounded revolutionary. And this is what made them the leaders of the emerging New York punk rock scene. Everything about the Ramones felt right. The look, the name, the sound, the attitude. You wanted the Ramones to be your best friends.

Based in the Forest Hills section of Queens, New York, John Cummings (Johnny Ramone), and Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone), had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets, (what a brilliant name!). They became friends with Douglas Colvin, (Dee Dee Ramone), who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman, (Joey Ramone), who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock band Sniper.



Colvin was the first to adopt the name ‘Ramone’, calling himself Dee Dee Ramone, taking inspiration from Paul McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles days. (McCartney reverted to the name when he pseudonymously contributed to Steve Miller’s My Dark Hour recording). Dee Dee convinced the rest of the group to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band The Ramones, (why don’t more bands do this?). All four dressed in torn blue jeans and leather jackets, in homage to 1950s greaser rockers.

The Ramones played before an audience for the first time in March 1974. Playing fast and loud, most songs in the set clocked in at under two minutes, and a full live set would be under 20 minutes. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York, centered around two clubs in downtown Manhattan: Max's Kansas City and, more famously, CBGBs. The Ramones made their CBGB debut a few months later in August. Legs McNeil, who cofounded Punk magazine, later described the impact of that performance: ‘They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new.’

In late 1975, Linda Stein, the then-wife of Seymour Stein, owner of Sire Records, witnessed a gig at CBGBs and became their co-manager, resulting in The Ramones signing to Sire Records.

The Ramones recorded their debut album, Ramones, in February 1976, at a cost of $6,400, with sessions taking just seven days from start to finish. Clocking in at under 30 minutes, the longest song here is I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement, (inspired by horror movies), at 2:35 and the shortest track, Judy Is A Punk, is just 1.32 seconds long.

The recording process was similar to the techniques used by The Beatles from the early 1960s: the guitars can be heard separately on the stereo channels - electric bass on the left, rhythm guitar on the right channel – while drums and vocals are mixed in the middle of the stereo mix.


The album features a number of themes, including Nazism, violence, male prostitution and drug use, as well as lighter fare such as horror movies and teenage romance. The opener, Blitzkrieg Bop, the first single lifted from the album, was released in July 1976, originally just on seven inch vinyl. The pace of the album makes you short of breath, but it’s all over too quickly. Chain Saw opens with the sound of a running circular saw: influenced by the 1974 horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, at nearly 180 beats per minute it is the fastest track on the album. Now I Want To Sniff Some Glue consists of four lines of minimalist lyrics which are about youthful boredom and inhaling the solvent vapors contained in glue. On the question of the authenticity of the text, Dee Dee said in an interview: ‘I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue. I stopped when I was eight years old.’

The Ramones originally wanted an album cover similar to the 1964 album by The Beatles’ US release, Meet The Beatles! A photo session was subsequently undertaken at a cost of $2,000, but Sire was dissatisfied with the results. The band later met up with Roberta Bayley, a photographer for Punk magazine, who noted that ‘getting the Ramones to pose was like pulling teeth’. Originally featured in an issue of Punk, Bayley’s black and white photograph on the front of the album cover was to be the defining inage of the band.


One of the first people to review the album was Robert Christgau, who, writing for Village Voice, said: ‘…my theory has always been that good rock and roll should damn well make you uneasy…just perfect, a minor classic’.

In the UK, BBC DJ John Peel made his weekly trip to the Virgin record store at Marble Arch in search of new releases. After the store manager, Tim Clark, handed him the Ramones LP, Peel threw out the running order for that evening’s show and played six tracks from the album. The inexorable rise of punk was now in place on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Ramones parted ways 20 years after the release of their debut album, and sadly, three Ramones are now gone. Joey passed away on April 15, 2001, at age 49, the victim of lymphoma. Little more than a year after Joey's death, Dee Dee was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on June 5, 2002. Two years later, Johnny died on September 15, 2004, after a long battle with cancer. But, if nothing else, their legacy lives on as the bona fide fathers of British punk rock, and as authors of pithy slogans like 'Gabba Gabba Hey!' that galvanised a generation.

December 2nd: On this Day

1957, Al Priddy a DJ on US radio station KEX in Portland was fired after playing Elvis Presley's version of 'White Christmas' The station management said, 'it's not in the spirit we associate with Christmas'.

1963, The Beatles recorded an appearance on the UK TV comedy program The Morecambe and Wise Show. The Beatles played ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and also participate in comedy sketches with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. The program was broadcast on April 18, 1964.

1966, David Bowie released 'Rubber Band', his first single on the Deram label. It was part of a three-track audition tape Bowie's new manager Kenneth Pitt used to persuade the label to sign him. Despite some good reviews in the music press, the single was a flop, once more failing to break into the UK charts.

1967, The Monkees album, ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd’ went to No.1 on the US album chart. It was their fourth album to sell over a million copies, following ‘The Monkees’, ‘More Of The Monkees’ and ‘Headquarters’.

1969, Cindy Birdsong of The Supremes was kidnapped at knifepoint by a maintenance man who worked in the building she lived in. She later escaped unharmed by jumping out of his car on the San Diego freeway. The kidnapper was arrested in Las Vegas four days later.

1976, The first day of the photo shoot for the forthcoming Pink Floyd Animals album cover took place at Battersea Power Station in London, England with a giant inflatable pig lashed between two of the structure's tall towers. A trained marksman was hired ready to fire if the inflatable escaped, but was not needed on this, the first day. Unfortunately the following day the marksman hadn't been rebooked, so when the inflatable broke free from its moorings, it was able to float away, eventually landing in Kent where it was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had ‘scared his cows.’

1978, Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy', the singers fifth UK chart topper. A plagiarism lawsuit by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor confirmed that the song had been derived from his composition 'Taj Mahal'. Stewart agreed to donate all his royalties from the song to United Nations Children's Fund.

1978, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand's ‘You Don't Bring Me Flowers’ was at No.1 on the US singles chart. A radio station engineer had spliced together Neil's version with Barbra's version and got such good response, the station added it to their playlist. When Neil Diamond was told about it, he decided to re-record the song with Streisand herself, and within weeks of its release, the single went to No.1 in the US and No.5 in the UK.

1982, US folk singer David Blue died of a heart attack aged 41 while jogging in New York's Washington Square Park. Member of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue during the late 70's. He wrote ‘Outlaw Man’ covered by The Eagles on their 1973 Desperado album.

1983, MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson's Thriller video for the first time. Now regarded as the most influential pop music video of all time, in 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive this honor, for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

December 4th: On this Day

1956, The so-called 'Million Dollar Quartet' impromptu jam session took place at Sun Studios in Memphis with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

1960, The Crickets released the single 'I Fought the Law' on Coral Records. Written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets, a remake by the Bobby Fuller Four became a top-ten hit for the band in 1966 and was also recorded by The Clash in 1979 after Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones heard the song on a jukebox in San Francisco.

1962, The Beatles made their London-area debut on television when they appeared in a live broadcast from Wembley on Tuesday Rendezvous, on ITV station Rediffusion. The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of 'Love Me Do' and 45 seconds of ‘P.S. I Love You.

1964, The Beatles released their fourth album 'Beatles For Sale'. The album featured: ‘No Reply’, ‘I'm a Loser’, ‘Baby's in Black’, ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I'll Follow the Sun’, ‘Mr. Moonlight’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’, ‘Eight Days a Week’, ‘Words of Love’, ‘Honey Don't’, ‘Every Little Thing’, ‘I Don't Want to Spoil the Party’, ‘What You're Doing’, and ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’. It spent 11 weeks as the UK No.1 album.

1965, The Byrds started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' the group's second No.1. A No.26 hit in the UK. Unlike their first chart topper, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.

1967, This was the penultimate night of a 16-date UK package tour, on which Pink Floyd joined The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Move, The Nice, The Eire Apparent, The Outer Limits and Amen Corner to play at the City Hall, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Jimi Hendrix was having equipment problems and in his frustration rammed his Gibson Flying V into his speaker cabinets. Like an enormous arrow, the guitar became stuck in the amplifier, which the audience greeted as all was part of the act.

1971, The Montreux Casino in Switzerland burnt to the ground during a gig by Frank Zappa. The incident is immortalized by Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water'. In 1967 the Casino became the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was the brainchild of music promoter Claude Nobs. On the night of the blaze, Nobs saved several young people who, thinking they would be sheltered from the flames, had hidden in the casino from the blaze. A recording of the outbreak and fire announcement can be found on a Frank Zappa Bootleg album titled Swiss Cheese / Fire.

1971, Led Zeppelin started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart with the Four Symbols album, otherwise known as Led Zeppelin IV. Featuring the 8-minute track 'Stairway To Heaven', the album stayed on the US chart for one week short of five years, selling over 23 million copies in the US alone.

1976, American guitarist Tommy Bolin died from a heroin overdose aged 25 the day after opening a show for Jeff Beck in Miami, Florida. Bolin was a member of Zephyr (1969 to 1971), The James Gang (1973 to 1974) and Deep Purple (1975 to 1976).

1976, Workers at EMI records went on strike, refusing to package The Sex Pistols single 'Anarchy In The UK.'

1979, U2 appeared at The Hope and Anchor, Islington, London. Misnamed ‘The U2s’, they played to only nine people and the show ended abruptly after The Edge broke a guitar string.

1980, Prince played the first night on his 31 date Dirty Mind North American tour at Shea’s in Buffalo, New York. After being told by his managers he couldn't wear spandex pants without any underwear, Prince began performing in a long trench coat, black high heeled boots and leggings, and bikini brief trunks.

1982, The Jam were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Beat Surrender', the group's fourth UK No.1 and final single. They split in 1983, and leader Paul Weller formed the Style Council.

1988, Roy Orbison played his final ever gig when he appeared in Cleveland, Ohio. Orbison died of a heart attack two days later.

1993, Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer. Zappa recorded many albums with The Mothers Of Invention as well a solo recordings including the 1969 album 'Hot Rats' and 1974 album 'Apostrophe'. Zappa recorded one of the first concept albums, 'Freak Out' released in 1966, it was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music (although Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde preceded it by a week). He married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, in 1967, they had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

1999, Rapper Jay-Z was released on $50,000 bail, after being accused of attacking Lance Rivera when a fight broke out at a party for rapper Q-Tip at a Manhattan Club. Police declined to say what caused the dispute.