Category: Music

The number one British single today in 1957 gave a name to a genre of music between country and rock (even though the song sounds as much like the genre as Kay Starr’s “Rock and Roll Waltz” sounds like rock and roll):

The number one single today in 1967:

The number one British album today in 1967 promised “More of the Monkees”:

(Interesting aside: “More of the Monkees” was one of only four albums to reach the British number one all year. The other three were the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the soundtrack to “The Sound of Music,” and “The Monkees.”)

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The number one single today in 1958:

Today in 1963, the producers of CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Shew told Bob Dylan he couldn’t perform his “Talking John Birch Society Blues” because it mocked the U.S. military.

So he didn’t. He walked out of rehearsals and didn’t appear on the show.

The number one album today in 1973 was Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy,” which probably didn’t make Zeppelin mad mad mad or sad sad sad:

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The number one British single today in 1958 was a cover of a song written in 1923:

The number one British album today in 1963 was the Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” which was number one for 30 weeks:

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You may remember a couple weeks ago I noted the first known meeting of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Today in 1963, upon the advice of George Harrison, Decca Records signed the Rolling Stones to a contract.

Four years to the day later, Stones Keith Richard, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones celebrated by … getting arrested for drug possession.

I noted the 62nd anniversary May 2 of WLS in Chicago going to Top 40. Today in 1982, WABC in New York (also owned by ABC, as one could conclude from their call letters) played its last record, which was …

Four years later, the number one song in America was, well, inspired by, though not based on, a popular movie of the day:

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The number one single today in 1964 was performed by the oldest number one artist to date:

The number one single today in 1970, sides A …

… and B:

The number one British single today in 1981:

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Today in 1954, the BBC banned Johnny Ray’s “Such a Night” after complaints about its “suggestiveness.”

The Brits had yet to see Elvis Presley or Jerry Lee Lewis.

The number one British single today in 1955:

Today in 1965, what would now be called a “video” was shot in London:

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The number one single today in 1966 was presumably played on the radio on days other than Mondays:

Today is the anniversary of the last Beatles U.S. single release, “Long and Winding Road” (the theme music of the Schenk Middle School eighth-grade Dessert Dance about this time in 1979):

The number one album today in 1977 was the Eagles’ “Hotel California”:

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The number one British album today in 1972 was a Tyrannosaurus Rex double album, the complete title of which is “My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair … But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows”/”Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages.” Really.

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Today is Cinco de Mayo, so some Mexican rock would be appropriate:

The number one single today in 1962:

I’m unaware of whether the soundtrack of “West Side Story” got any radio airplay, but since I played it in both the La Follette and UW marching bands, I note that today in 1962 the soundtrack hit number one and stayed there for 54 weeks:

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This is 5/4 Day, so …

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