The number one song today in 1966:
Today in 1983, Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” spent its 491st week on the charts, surpassing the previous record set by Johnny Mathis’ “Johnny’s Greatest Hits.” “Dark Side of the Moon” finally departed the charts in October 1988, after 741 weeks on the charts.
Today in 1956, Elvis Presley made his second appearance on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show, with Sullivan presenting Presley a gold record for …
One year later, Presley’s appearance at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles prompted police to tell Presley he was not allowed to wiggle his hips onstage. The next night’s performance was filmed by the LAPD vice squad.
One year later, Buddy Holly filmed ABC-TV’s “American Bandstand”:
It would be Holly’s last TV appearance.
Four days before Halloween was the world premiere of the more recognizable version of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”:
The song was an appropriate theme for the Friday-bad-horror-flick-show “The Inferno” on WMTV in Madison:
Britain’s number one song today in 1957:
The number one song today in 1963 was the Four Tops’ only number one:
Britishers with taste bought this single when it hit the charts today in 1961:
Today in 1965, the four Beatles were named Members of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. The Beatles’ visit reportedly began when they smoked marijuana in a Buckingham Palace bathroom to calm their nerves.
The Beatles’ receiving their MBEs prompted a number of MBE recipients to return theirs. “Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war — for killing people,” said John Lennon, previewing the public relations skills he’d show a year later when he would compare the Beatles to Jesus Christ. “We received ours for entertaining other people. I’d say we deserve ours more.”
Lennon returned his MBE in 1969 as part of his peace protests.
Today in 1963, the Beatles played two shows in Sundstavagen, Sweden, to begin their first tour of Sweden. The local music critic was less than impressed, claiming the Beatles should have been happy for their fans’ screaming to drown out the group’s “terrible” performance, asserting that the Beatles “were of no musical importance whatsoever,” and furthermore claiming their local opening act, the Phantoms, “decidedly outshone them.”
Three thoughts: Perhaps the Beatles did have a bad night. But have you heard a Phantoms song recently? It is also unknown whether the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” was intended as revenge against the Swedes.
One year later, a demonstration of why the phrase “never say never” holds validity: Today in 1964, the Rolling Stones made their first appearance on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show.
A riot broke out in the CBS studio, which prompted Sullivan to say, “I promise you they’ll never be back on our show again.” “Never” turned out to be May 2, 1965, when the Stones made the second of their six performances on the rilly big shew.
As a second-generation (out of three, as you know) musician (if that’s what you want to call it in my case), I had to post this, from MainStreet:
The band geeks are having the last laugh. Considering all forms of music education – whether it was being in a choir, taking formal instrument lessons, or playing gigs in a garage band – American adults say such early experiences pay off later in life.
Seven in ten (71%) adults responding to a Harris poll say that the lessons and habits gained from music education equip people to be better team players in their careers. More than two-thirds say the “Glee” factor provides people with a disciplined approach to solving problems (67%) and prepares someone to manage the tasks of their job more successfully (66%).
And it wasn’t just about being in the marching band. Over three-quarters of Americans (76%) have had some sort of music education during school – half (49%) were in a chorus and more than two in five (43%) took formal instrument lessons. Many (39%) played in a school orchestra or band, while some played in an informal group, such as a garage band (14%) or took formal vocal lessons (13%).
The benefits of a music education may be even more tangible. The U.S. Department of Education compiled data on more than 25,000 secondary school students and found that students with high levels of involvement in instrumental music in their middle and high school years had “significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12.”
A 2007 study from the University of Kansas reported that students in elementary schools with top-quality music education programs scored 19% higher in English than students in schools without a music program – and 17% higher in mathematics.
Those who are looking to relocate, particularly with children, might want to consider somewhere named one of the Best Communities for Music Education. (We moved from one to another one.)
The number one song today in 1961:
A horrible irony today in 1964: A plane carrying all four members of the group Buddy and the Kings crashed, killing everyone on board. Buddy and the Kings was led by Harold Box, who replaced Buddy Holly with the Crickets after Holly died in a plane crash in 1959:
Today in 1976, Chicago had its first number one single, which some would consider the start of its downward slope to sappy ballads:
Today in 1964, EMI Records rejected a group called the Hi-Numbers after its audition. Who? That’s the group’s current name:
The number one song today in 1957 …
… came from a just-opened movie:
The number one song today in 1967:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 