Today in 1968, Britain’s W.T. Smiths refused to carry the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Electric Ladyland” …
… with its original album cover …
… although a different cover was OK:
The number one single today in 1983:
Today in 1990, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones crashed his car on the M4 motorway near Marlborough, England. Wood got out of his car and was waving traffic around his car when another car hit Wood, breaking both his legs.
Birthdays begin with Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby and the Romantics:
Brian Hyland …
… was born the same day as John Maus of the Walker Brothers:
Booker T. Jones of Booker T and the MGs:
Neil Young of the Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash & Young and his own voluminous solo career:
Besides the end of the War to End All Wars (which didn’t end all wars but led directly to the next war) and the day Americans remember and honor those whose service and sacrifice allow me to freely write this and you to freely read this, what else happened Nov. 11?
Today in 1954, Bill Haley got his first top 10 single, “Shake Rattle and Roll,” originally a Joe Turner song. Haley had changed the name of his band, the cowboy-motif Saddlemen, to His Comets.
Imagine what the Transportation Security Administration would have done with this: Today in 1969, the FBI arrested Jim Morrison for drunk and disorderly conduct on an airplane. Morrison and actor Tom Baker had been drinking and harassing stewardesses on a flight to Phoenix. Morrison and Baker spent a night in jail and were released on $2,500 bail.
Today in 1972, an era when pretty much everything would go in rock music, listeners got to hear the first example of what might be called “yodel rock”:
Continuing our Elton John theme of the past few days, John had the number one single today in 1973:
Today in 1978, Donna Summer had the number one album, “Live and More,” and single, which counted as “more” more than “live”:
The number one British single …
… and album today in 1989:
The number one album today in 1995 was the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”:
Birthdays begin with Roger Lavern, who played keyboards for the Tornadoes:
Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods …
… was born one year before Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge …
… and Chris Dreja of the Yardbirds …
… who were born one year before Pat Daugherty of Black Oak Arkansas:
Jim Peterik of the brass-rock band The Ides of March …
… and then Survivor:
Paul Cowsill of the Cowsills:
Mike Mesaros of the Smithereens:
Andy Partridge of XTC:
One death of note: Today in 1972, Allman Brothers bass player Berry Oakley hit a bus with his motorcycle and died at the same intersection where bandmate Duane Allman had died in a motorcycle crash a year earlier.
Anyway, today in 1814, Adolph Sax was born in Belgium. Sax would fashion from brass and a clarinet reed the saxophone, a major part of early rock and jazz.
Number one in 1961:
Number one in 1965:
Number one in 1968:
The number one single …
… and album today in 1971:
Number one in 1976:
The short list of birthdays starts with Bill Henderson of Chilliwack:
Today in 1956, Nat King Cole became the first black man to host a TV show, on NBC:
The number one single today in 1966:
Today in 1971, Elvis Presley performed at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn. To get the fans to leave after repeated encore requests, announcer Al Dvorin announced, “Elvis has left the building.”
Britain’s number one single today in 1977 is …
Today in 1988, the song “Locomotion” set a record by becoming the first song to reach the top five for three different artists: Little Eva …
… Grand Funk Railroad …
… and Kylie Minogue:
Birthdays start with Art Garfunkel:
Bryan Adams:
Three death of notes: First, today in 1960, Johnny Horton:
Today in 2003, Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers, and a former Beaver Dam resident, was found dead in his hotel room:
Finally, today in 2006, Link Wray, the guitarist credited with creating fuzz guitar by punching a hole in a speaker, died at 76. Wray reached number 16 with “Rumble,” which was banned by several radio stations for allegedly encouraging juvenile delinquency.
You might ask how a song with no words encourages anything. You’ll find no answer here.
Today in 1963, John Lennon showed his ability to generate publicity at the Beatles’ performance at the Royal Variety Show at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were in attendance, so perhaps they were the target of Lennon’s comment, “In the cheaper seats you clap your hands. The rest of you, just rattle your jewelry.”
The number one single today in 1965:
The number one single today in 1972:
Today in 1990, Melissa Ethridge and her “life partner” Julie Cypher appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine for its cover story on gay parenting.
I bring this up only to point out that Etheridge and Cypher no longer are life partners, Cypher (the ex-wife of actor Lou Diamond Phillips) is now married to another man, and Etheridge became engaged to another woman, but they split before their planned California wedding. And, by the way, Cypher had two children from the “contribution” of David Crosby, and Etheridge’s second woman had children from another man. Draw your own conclusions.
Birthdays start with Ike Turner, Tina’s ex-husband, who some claim sang the first rock record:
Harry Elson was one of the Friends of Distinction:
Chuck Mangione:
Delbert McClinton:
Chris Difford played guitar for Squeeze:
James Honeyman-Scott, who played guitar for the Pretenders …
… was born the same day as Jeff Watson, who played guitar for Night Ranger:
Today in 1964, a fan at a Rolling Stones concert in Cleveland fell out of the balcony. That prompted Cleveland Mayor Ralph Locker to ban pop music concerts in the city, saying, “Such groups do not add to the community’s culture or entertainment.” Kind of ironic that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ended up in Cleveland.
Thirty-three years to the day later, Metallica reached an out-of-court settlement with one of its fans who claimed he had lost his sense of smell after he was dropped on his head at a concert four years earlier.
The number one single today in 1979 will be familiar to early viewers of MTV:
Birthdays start with British composer John Barry, who composed 11 James Bond soundtracks, won five Academy Awards, and who wrote themes for a lot of other British TV:
Nick Simper was an original member of Deep Purple:
Lulu sang not just “The Man with the Golden Gun,” but …
Who is Stuart Goddard? You know him better as Adam Ant:
One death of note: Lonnie Donegan, writer of this, uh, interesting song, died today in 2002 at 71:
The number one single today in 1983:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 