The number one British album today in 1969 was the Rolling Stones’ “Let It Bleed”:
The number one British single today in 1980 came 12 days after its singer’s death:
The number one song today in 1986:
The number one album today in 1975 for the second consecutive week was “Chicago IX,” which was actually “Chicago’s Greatest Hits”:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, such as it is, announced its newest inductees earlier this week.
Two of the acts have Wisconsin ties. Cheap Trick …
… was from Rockford, but spent considerable time in Madison (even, rumor has it, playing at a Madison high school band prom).
Steve Miller is from Milwaukee, and was a protégé of the legendary Les Paul:
Deep Purple straddled the line between ’60s psychedelic rock …
… and ’70s hard rock:
My “such as it is” comment refers to NWA, which has as much to do with rock as fellow HOF member Whitney Houston. (As opposed to such acts not in the RRHOF as Yes, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, the Moody Blues, The Cars, Bon Jovi, the Doobie Brothers, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Ozzy Osbourne, the Spinners, the B-52s, Journey, Dire Straits, Boston, Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra, Three Dog Night, and Paul Revere and the Raiders, among others.)
The biggest news, however, is that the second best selling U.S. rock act in history, whose first greatest-hits album was the number one album in the U.S. 40 years ago this week …
… FINALLY got in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, thanks apparently to the millions of Chicago fans who voted online as many times as necessary to get Chicago inducted. (It seems appropriate that a group named for a city whose reputation includes ballot-stuffing may have gotten to a hall of fame through e-ballot-stuffing.)
If you need me to explain the importance of Chicago in rock history, you haven’t been paying attention to this blog.
Suffice to say that Chicago (and others in the limited sphere of brass rock) made playing brass cool in the rock world and in the world of middle schools and high schools, for us multiple-generation band geeks. (Including our sons the trumpet, trombone and bass players.)
Terry Kath is one of the most underrated rock guitarists of the ’60s and ’70s, as noted by none other than Jimi Hendrix.
Sadly, Kath died in a gun accident in the late 1970s, so he won’t be attending the induction ceremony.
The interesting question for Chicago fans is which of the members who are no longer in the band will be attending.
The three notable names are Peter Cetera, the first bass player and one of the original three singers; Danny Seraphine, the first drummer; and Bill Champlin, who was in the band in the period to which I choose to not listen much.
It is remarkable (similar to the Rolling Stones) how many original members are still in the group, though.
Robert Lamm has moved from keyboard to keytar; he was one of the singers along with Kath and Cetera.
Walt Parazaider’s health hasn’t been good of late, but he hasn’t retired from the group as its original saxophone player.
James Pankow is Chicago’s first and only trombone player.
Lee Loughnane is Chicago’s first and only trumpet player.
As you know, I’ve seen the group three times — once at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, once at a football field in Fond du Lac (really), and once at the EAA in Oshkosh (really), where the group has played twice.
Before Chicago played in Madison in 1987, the UW Band tried to get Chicago to play with them at a Badger football game. (Which would have been the highlight of my life for about my first 27 years of life had that worked out, but sadly arrangements did not work out.)
If I ever win a big lottery jackpot, one of the things I will do with my millions (other than purchasing several Corvettes) is hire the band for an outdoor concert. (It would be cool to play with them too, but no one wants to hear me sing, and it would be an insult to Loughnane to replace him.)
To me it remains cool that a group that formed since 1967 not only continues to record and tour, but obviously enjoys continuing to perform for its fans, even the songs Chicago has played repeatedly for 48 years. (Year 49 includes a concert with Earth Wind & Fire in Milwaukee March 31.)
One amusing similarity between Chicago and Deep Purple is that each recorded songs about the creative process — “25 or 6 to 4,” which could also be about the middle of the night at the newspaper, and “Smoke on the Water,” in which recording an album at the Montreux, Switzerland, casino where Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing was thwarted by “some stupid with a flare gun” that “burned the place to the ground.”
Today in 1961, this was the first country song to sell more than $1 million:
The number one single today in 1962:
The number one single today in 1970 (which sounded like it had been recorded using 1770 technology):
The number one album today in 1975 was “Chicago IX,” which was actually “Chicago’s Greatest Hits”:
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:
The number one song today in 1957 …
… came from a just-opened movie:
The number one song today in 1967:
The number one British album today in 1973 was the Rolling Stones’ “Goats Head Soup,” despite (or perhaps because of) the BBC’s ban of one of its songs, “Star Star”:
Who shares a birthday with my brother (who celebrated his sixth birthday, on a Friday the 13th, by getting chicken pox from me)? Start with Paul Simon:
Robert Lamm plays keyboards — or more accurately, the keytar — for Chicago:
Sammy Hagar:
Craig McGregor of Foghat:
John Ford Coley, formerly a duet with England Dan Seals:
Rob Marche played guitar for the Jo Boxers, who …
One death of note: Ed Sullivan, whose Sunday night CBS-TV show showed off rock and roll (plus Topo Gigio and Senor Wences) to millions, died today in 1974:
Today in Great Britain in the first half of the 1960s was a day for oddities.
Today in 1960, a campaign began to ban the Ray Peterson song “Tell Laura I Love Her” (previously mentioned here) on the grounds that it was likely to inspire a “glorious death cult” among teens. (The song was about a love-smitten boy who decides to enter a car race to earn money to buy a wedding ring for her girlfriend. To sum up, that was his first and last race.)
The anti-“Tell Laura” campaign apparently was not based on improving traffic safety. We conclude this from the fact that three years later, Graham Nash of the Hollies leaned against a van door at 40 mph after a performance in Scotland to determine if the door was locked. Nash determined it wasn’t locked on the way to the pavement.
The number one single today in 1961 was made more popular by Elvis Presley, not its creator:
Also today in 1961, the Marvelettes released what would become their first number one song:
Today in 1964, the Beatles met Bob Dylan after a concert in Forest Hills, N.Y. Dylan reportedly introduced the Beatles to marijuana:
Today in 1965, the Rolling Stones released the song that would become their first number one hit, and yet Mick Jagger still claimed …
Today in 1967, the New York Times reported on a method of reducing the noise recording devices make during recording. The inventor, Ray Dolby, had pioneered the process for studio recordings, but the Times story mentioned its potential for home use.
Ray Dolby, by the way, is no known relation to the other Dolby …
Today in 1987, Lindsey Buckingham refused to go out on tour with Fleetwood Mac for its “Tango in the Night” album, perhaps thinking that the road would make him …
The band probably told him …
… but look who came back a few years later:
How much money would you have paid for tickets for this concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco today in 1964:
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 