Today in 1969, the Who released their rock opera “Tommy” …
… two years before Iron Butterfly disbanded over arguments over what “In a Gadda Da Vita” (which is one-third the length of all of “Tommy”) actually meant:
The number one British album today in 1970 was “McCartney,” named for you know who:
I thoroughly disagree with the number one song today in 1961:
Today in 1965, the Beatles found that “Ticket to Ride” was a ticket to the top of the charts:
The number one album today in 1971 was the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers”:
One strange anniversary in rock music: Today in 1968, Paul McCartney and Jane Asher attended a concert of … Andy Williams:
Eleven years later, not McCartney, but Elton John became the first Western artist to perform in the Soviet Union.
Four years later, David Bowie’s suggestion reached number one:
If you were born after 1958, and you are curious about the top five songs on the radio the week you were born, click here.
If you wish to make an argument one way or another about the declining quality of pop music over the years, that’s your site too.
In my case, the top in correct reverse order were …
… none of which are on my personal top five singles list.
What about the week of my high school graduation?
OK, how about my college graduation?
Apparently my life has been surrounded by sappy ballady dreck. Wedding?
Off this list of 20 top-five songs I would choose to listen to five of them … maybe. As I’ve written here before, quality and popularity are not necessarily synonymous.
There is a related website that lists the top rock, instead of pop, songs dating back to the 1980s. So let’s try (the entire year of) 1983 …
… and 1988 …
… and 1992 again:
Better.
Today in 1966, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who decided to replace for the evening the tardy drummer Keith Moon and bass player John Entwistle with the bass player and drummer of the band that played before them at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England.
When Moon and Entwistle arrived and found they had been substituted for, a fight broke out. Moon and Entwistle quit … for a week.
The number one single today in 1967:
The number-one album today in 1958, and for the next 31 weeks, was the soundtrack to the musical “South Pacific” went to number one and stayed there for 31 weeks. The film version starred Mitzi Gaynor, who looked very much like my mother a few years later.
Today in 1979, Eric Clapton married Patti Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and the muse for the song “Layla.” The song lasted much longer than the marriage.
One wonders if anyone played selections from that day’s number one British album:
The number one single today in 1963:
Another one-hit wonder had the number one single today in 1968:
The number one single today in 1974 might be the very definition of the term “novelty song”:
The number one British single today in 1975:
(Which more appropriately should have been called “Stand by Your Men,” since Tammy Wynette had had three husbands up to then, and two more thereafter.)
First, for those who believe the British are the height of sophistication and are so much more couth than us Americans: This was the number one song in the U.K. today in 1986:
The chicken is not having a birthday. Pervis Jackson of the Spinners is:
So is drummer Bill Bruford, who played for Yes, King Crimson and Genesis:
Today in 1980, Brian May of Queen collapsed while onstage. This was due to hepatitis, not, one assumes, the fact that Paul McCartney released his “McCartney II” album the same day.
Today’s rock music birthdays start with someone who will never be associated with rock music: Liberace, born in West Allis today in 1919.
Actual rock birthdays start with Isaac “Redd” Holt of Young–Holt Unlimited:
Nicky Chinn wrote this 1970s classic: It’s it’s …
Roger Earl of Foghat …
… was born one year before Barbara Lee of the Chiffons …
… and drummer Darrell Sweet of Nazareth:
William “Sputnik” Spooner played guitar for both the Grateful Dead …
… and The Tubes:
Richard Page of Mr. Mister:
Krist Novoselic of Nirvana was born one year before …
… Miss Jackson if you’re nasty:
Finally, Patrick Waite, bassist and singer for Musical Youth, which did this ’80s classic, dude:
The number one British single today in 1959:
The number one album today in 1971 was Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s “4 Way Street”:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 