Category: Music

Today in 1940, the first NFL championship game was broadcast nationally on Mutual radio. Before long, Mutual announcer Red Barber probably wondered why they’d bothered.

Today in 1963, Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped from a Lake Tahoe hotel. He was released two days later after his father paid $240,000 ransom. The kidnappers were arrested and sentenced to prison.

The top selling 8-track today in 1971:

The number one single today in 1984 …

… on the same day that Patrick Cavanaugh, former manager of the Coasters, was convicted of the murder of Coaster Buster Wilson, whose partially dismembered body was found in Modesto, Calif., four years earlier.

The number one British single today in 2003:

Birthdays begin with Bobby Elliot, drummer of the Hollies …

… who was born one year before Jim Morrison of the Doors:

Graham Knight of Marmalade …

… was born one year before Geoff Daking, drummer of the Blues Magoos …

… and Gregg Allman:

Dan Hartman was in the Edgar Winter Group before his solo career:

Phil Collen of Def Leppard:

Paul Rutherford of Frankie Goes to Hollywood:

Two deaths of note today: Gary Thain, bass player for Uriah Heep, today in 1975 …

… and Marty Robbins in 1982:

There is another music anniversary tonight.

The number one British album today in 1963 will be at number one for 21 weeks — “Meet the Beatles”:

The number one single here today in 1963 certainly was not a traditional pop song:

Today in 1967, Otis Redding recorded a song before heading on a concert tour that included Madison:

The number one British album today in 1968 was the Beatles’  “White Album”:

The number one British single today in 1974 was originally a country song:

See the comment from 1963 about the number one single today in 1974:

The number one song today in 1985:

The number one British song today in 1991:

The number one album today in 1991 was U2’s “Achtung Baby”:

The number one single today in 2003:

Only one birthday of note today: Tom Waits, whose voice was described as “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car” makes him better known as writing for others:

The number one British single today in 1967:

The number one single today in 1969:

On that day, a free festival in Altamont, Calif., featured the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young.

The festival, attended by 300,000, also featured one concertgoer being stabbed to death by a member of the Hell’s Angels hired for security, plus a drowning and two men dying in a hit-and-run crash.

The number one album today in 1975 was Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy after All These Years”:

The number one British single today in 1986:

Birthdays start with Dave Brubeck:

Mike Smith, lead singer of the Dave Clark Five …

… was born one year before one-hit-wonder Jonathan King:

Peter Buck of REM:

Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl:

One death of note, today in 1988: Roy Orbison:

The number one album today in 1960 was Elvis Presley’s “G.I. Blues” …

… which is probably unrelated to what Beatles Paul McCartney and Pete Best did in West Germany that day: They were arrested for pinning a condom to a brick wall and igniting it. Their sentence was deportation.

The number one single today in 1964:

The number one single today in 1965 wasn’t a single:

The number one British single today in 1981:

The number one British single today in 2004 was a remake of the original:

The number one British album today in  2004 was U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”:

So who shares a birthday with our youngest son? “Little Richard” Penniman:

Eduardo Delgado of ? and the Mysterians:

Jim Messina of Buffalo Springfield and Loggins and Messina:

Jack Russell of Great White …

… was born the same day as Les Nemes of Haircut 100:

Two deaths of note today: Doug Hopkins, cofounder of the Gin Blossoms, in 1993 …

… and in 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Imagine being a fly on the wall at Sun Studios in Memphis today in 1956, and listening to the Million Dollar Jam Session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

The number one single today in 1965:

The number one British album today in 1971 was Led Zeppelin’s ” “, alternatively known as “Four Symbols” or “IV” …

… while here it was T Rex’s “Electric Warrior”:

The number one British album today in 1982 was “The John Lennon Collection”:

Today in 1988, Roy Orbison played his final concert, in Cleveland.

Birthdays begin with Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon:

Chris Hillman of the aforementioned Byrds:

Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys:

Gary Rossington played guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Rossington–Collins Band:

One death of note, today in 1993: Frank Zappa, who was survived by his wife Adelaide and their four children, Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuuhkha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pegeen.

We begin with what is not a music anniversary: Today in 1950, Paul Harvey began his national radio broadcast.

The number one song today in 1956:

The number one British single today in 1964:

The most ironic anniversary comes today in 1969, when John Lennon, who famously said the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus,” was offered the lead role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Birthdays begin with Andy Williams:

John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne:

John Michael “Mickey” Thomas of Elvin Bishop, Jefferson Starship and (Jeffersonless) Starship:

Don Barnes of .38 Special …

… was born the same day as Duane Roland of Molly Hatchet:

Paul Gregg of Restless Heart:

Today’s subject is music without words.

The instrumental has been popular on and off throughout the history of rock music, particularly at the beginning.

As it happens, the first record I purchased was an instrumental, Rhythm Heritage’s “Theme from S.W.A.T.”:

The record, which got to number one, did better than the TV series, which was canceled after one season.

Anyone who’s played in a high school marching band has probably played all of these instrumentals:

The challenge with instrumentals is that it’s hard to find them if you don’t know the title. As far as I know, there is no software that allows you to hum the song into your computer to identify the name of the song.

A few acts were known for nothing but instrumentals:

Other groups have used instrumentals (technically different songs) as the open for better-known songs:

Some groups have used instrumentals to show off the playing skills of their members:

Movies and TV shows were the source of instrumentals that sold records as well, either in their original or adapted versions:

Billy Preston played on the Beatles’ “Get Back.” Though his biggest hit was “Nothing from Nothing,” he did two instrumentals that got radio airplay, both with an outer space theme:

These next two are from groups that did record songs with words, but they decided to extend themselves with interesting instrumentals (particularly the second one):

Many radio or TV stations used instrumentals as bumper or theme music. For instance, WLS in Chicago used these two instrumentals for, respectively, top-of-the-hour music and contest music:

CBS-TV used these as theme music for its “CBS Sports Spectacular”:

Music from within movies (that is, songs other than the themes) can make great sports music too:

This piece just scratched the surface of rock instrumentals, so we’ll end by demonstrating the heights or depths to which someone — even one person — recording an instrumental can go to:

Today’s blog is brought to you by Charter Communications and whoever severed said cable, Internet and phone provider’s fiberoptic cable, thus cutting off said cable, Internet and phone provider’s cable, Internet and phone service in Ripon for most of Thursday, thus inconveniencing said cable, Internet and phone providers’ customers.

The number one album today in 1967 was the Monkees’ “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd.,” the group’s fourth million-selling album:

The number one single today in 1978:

Today in 1984, MTV carried the entire 14 minutes of “Thriller” for the first time:

The first birthday to note is Dr. Peter Carl Goldmark, inventor of the long-playing multigroove record in 1945 — first in 78s, then in 33⅓ albums,  then in 45-rpm singles.

Tom McGuinness of Manfred Mann:

Ted Bluechel Jr. played drums for The Association:

Rick Savage played bass for Def Leppard:

Nelly Furtado:

One death of note, today in 2006: Mariska Veres, the lead singer of the Shocking Blue:

To coin a phrase, more music next hour.

The number one single today in 1958:

The number one British single today in 1966:

The number one single today in 1973:

Today in 1987, a Kentucky teacher lost her U.S. Supreme Court appeal over her firing for showing Pink Floyd’s movie “The Wall” to her class over its language and sexual content.

Birthdays begin with one-hit wonder Billy Paul:

Lou Rawls:

Drummer Sandy Nelson (who played drums on the aforementioned 1958 single):

(All those instrumentals … maybe I should write something about instrumentals …)

Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult …

… was born the same day John Densmore, the Doors drummer: