Category: Music

The number one single today in 1969:

The number one single today in 1975 …

… on the day David Bowie made his U.S. TV debut on Cher’s show …

… and Elton John’s “Rock of the Westies” debuted on the album chart at number one:

The number one album today in 1980 was Bruce Springsteen’s “The River”:

The number one British album today in 1986 was the Police’s “Every Breath You Take: The Singles”:

Birthdays start with Gerald Alston of the Manhattans:

Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends:

Rickie Lee Jones:

Larry Burnette of Firefall:

Bonnie Raitt:

Terry Lee Miall played drums for Adam and the Ants:

A death of note today in 1995: Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers:

Today in 1967, DJM Publishing in London signed two young songwriting talents, Reginald Dwight and Bernie Taupin. You know Dwight better as Elton John.

The number one British album today in 1970 was “Led Zeppelin III”:

Today in 1987, Tiffany (whose shopping mall tour was beneath the dignity of two young newspaper reporters) was the youngest singer with a number-one single since 14-year-old Michael Jackson:

Birthdays start with Mary Travers of Peter Paul and Mary:

Dee Clark:

Johnny Rivers:

Joni Mitchell:

Man, it seems like it’s 7 o’clock …

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:

George Young of the Easybeats:

Glenn Frey:

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:

The number one single today in 1956:

Britain’s number one single today in 1960:

The number one single today in 1962:

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:

Wisconsinites know that the first radio station was what now is WHA in Madison. Today in 1920, the nation’s first commercial radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, went on the air.

The number one British single today in 1956 is the only number one song cowritten by a vice president, Charles Dawes:

The number one song today in 1974:

The number one British album today in 1985 was Simple Minds’ “Once Upon a Time” …

… while over here number one was the “Miami Vice” soundtrack:

Birthdays start with Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer:

Dave Pegg, who played bass for Jethro Tull …

… was born one year before Rich Gooch of Quaterflash:

Maxine Nightingale:

KD Lang:

We begin with a non-music anniversary: Today in 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau was created,  later to become the National Weather Service.

Tomorrow in 1870, the first complaints were made about the Weather Bureau’s being wrong about its forecast.

Today in 1946, two New York radio stations changed call letters. WABC, owned by CBS, became (natch) WCBS, paving the way for WJZ, owned by ABC, to become (natch) WABC seven years later. WEAF changed its call letters to WNBC.

I suspect this was the number one single today in 1969:

The number one album today in 1969 was the Beatles’ “Abbey Road”:

The number one British single today in 1970 was about an event that occurred a year earlier in the U.S., written by someone who didn’t actually attend:

The number one single today in 1975:

The number one album today in 1980 was “Hungry Heart,” Bruce Springsteen’s first number one album:

Proving yet again that there is no accounting for taste, I present the number one British single today in 1997:

Birthdays begin with U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler:

Rick Grech of Blind Faith and Traffic:

Dan Peek of America:

Ronald Bell of Kool and the Gang:

Chris Morris played guitar for Paper Lace:

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Rick Allen, the one-armed drummer of Def Leppard:

Today in 1963, Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow Airport in London just as the Beatles deplaned to a crowd of screaming fans and a mob of journalists and photographers.

Intrigued, Sullivan decided to investigate getting the Beatles onto his show.

Today in 1964, Ray Charles was arrested at Logan Airport in Boston and charged with heroin. Charles was sentenced to one year probation after he kicked the horse.

The number one British album today in 1970 was “Motown Chartbusters Volume 4,” clearly not British …

… while the number one U.S. album was “Led Zeppelin III,” clearly not American:

That same day, Michelle Phillips married Dennis Hopper. The marriage lasted eight days.

The number British album in 1987 was Fleetwood Mac’s “Tango in the Night”:

Birthdays begin with Russ Ballard of Argent and his own writing career:

Bob Siebenberg plays drums for Supertramp:

Larry Mullen plays drums for U2:

Annabella Luin of Bow Wow Wow:

Finally, what day is today?

The number one album and single today in 1971:

A low, low moment in rock history: Today in 1978, NBC-TV broadcast “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park”:

(The entire movie, believe it or don’t, can be viewed on YouTube.)

Birthdays start with Eddie Holland, part of the Motown Holland–Dozier–Holland writing team:

Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane/Starship:

Otis Williams of the Temptations:

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles: