“We were discussing something in the office and Paul was saying to do something, and I kept saying, ‘No, no, no’ to everything he said. So it came to a point that I had to say something. So I said, ‘The group’s over, I’m leaving.'”
~John Lennon
September 20, 1969

ROCK & ROLL HISTORY


1957 – Coral Records released Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue.
The song was originally entitled ‘Cindy Lou’ after Holly’s niece, but was changed to ‘Peggy Sue’ in reference to Peggy Sue Gerron the girlfriend (and future wife) of Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, after the couple had temporarily broken up.
Rock Factoid: Holly and the Crickets had a unique recording contract. Recordings credited to the Crickets were issued on the Brunswick label, while recordings under Holly’s name – including those which included the Crickets providing the backing – were always released on Coral.


1968 – Led Zeppelin began recording their first album at Olympic Studios in London.
The sessions took place before the group had secured a recording contract and totaled only 36 hours (over a span of a few weeks).
Released in January 1969, the album was immediately commercially successful in both the UK and U.S., reaching the top 10 on album charts in both countries.


1969 – During a meeting at Apple’s headquarters in London, John Lennon – fresh from his successful solo appearance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival a week earlier – announced he was leaving the Beatles.
The timing was a little strange. John’s announcement came on the same day the group (shown above, minus George Harrison who was out of town) signed an extension on their recording contract with EMI and Capitol.
At a meeting two weeks earlier, Lennon and Harrison had expressed frustration with having to compete with Paul McCartney to get their songs recorded. Lennon proposed a different approach to songwriting by ending the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Ringo Starr.
McCartney argued that “before Abbey Road, George’s songs weren’t that good” – which indicated he thought earlier Harrison songs such as Think For Yourself, The Inner Light, I Need You, Taxman, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps “weren’t that good” – and dismissed the new songwriting plan, saying it “wasn’t the right balance” and was “too democratic for its own good.”
At the September 20 meeting, John was convinced by manager Allen Klein to refrain from making a public statement at the time. Fans weren’t told about it until McCartney announced his decision to leave in April 1970.


1970 – Jim Morrison of The Doors was acquitted on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, but was found guilty of exposing himself during a concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami a year and a half earlier.
Morrison was sentenced to six months of hard labor and a $500 fine for public exposure and sixty days of hard labor for profanity. He remained free on $50,000 bond while the conviction was appealed but his death eight months later made the appeal a moot point.
Postscript: In 2010, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the state clemency board unanimously signed a complete posthumous pardon for Morrison.


1973 – Singer-Songwriter Jim Croce died at the age of 30 when his chartered Beechcraft E18S crashed into a tree while taking off from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Croce had several enduring hit songs during his too short career: You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Time In A Bottle, I Got A Name, and Operator
The pilot and four other passengers also died in the crash, including Croce’s 24-year old extraordinary guitarist, Maury Muehleisen.


1976 – AC/DC released Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap in Australia.
It was commercially successful in their native country but the album was not released in the U.S. until 1981 … one year after lead singer Bon Scott’s death.
By that time, the group had successfully reinvented itself with a new singer, Brian Johnson.
Rock Factoid: The album cover shown above was the Australian version. When it was released in the U.S., it looked like this…

MOVIE/TV HISTORY


1984 – The Cosby Show premiered on NBC.
It spent all eight of its seasons in the top 20, including five consecutive seasons as the #1 rated show on television.


1988 – British character actor Roy Kinnear died at the age of 54 from a heart attack, one day after falling from a horse during the making of The Return of the Musketeers.
He was best known for his roles in The Beatles’ Help!, How I Won The War, The Three Musketeers, The Hill, and Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.


2015 – Actor Jack Larson, forever remembered for playing the role of Daily Planet photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the television series Adventures of Superman, died at the age of 87.

SPORTS HISTORY


1953 – Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks hit his major league home run. It came off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Gerry Staley. The future Hall of Famer would hit 511 more before he was finished.


1968 – New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle hit the last home run of his illustrious career. It was his 536th and it came off Boston Red Sox hurler Jim Lonborg.


1973 – In a highly publicized “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, top women’s player Billie Jean King, 29, met Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men’s player.
Riggs had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn’t handle the pressure of the game and that even at his age he could beat any female player.
The match was a huge media event, witnessed in person by over 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome and by another 50 million TV viewers worldwide.
King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.


1980 – Spectacular Bid concluded his career with a victory in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont.
The win was technically called a walkover, a race in which the other contestants had dropped out, meaning the winning horse has to at least “walk over” the course before being awarded victory.
Spectacular Bid did more than “walk over” the course. He ran the 1 ¼ miles in 2:02.2.
In a racing career which lasted from 1978 through 1980, Spectacular Bid won 26 of 30 races.


1980 – A plaque dedicated to Thurman Munson’s memory was placed in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.
The beloved Yankees catcher and captain had died in a plane crash on August 2, 1979.


2009 – The first game at Cowboys Stadium (now known as AT&T Stadium) in Arlington, TX set an NFL regular-season attendance record with a crowd of 105,121.
Most of them went home disappointed after the New York Giants defeated the Cowboys, 33-31.

Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2005-2020 RayLemire.com / Streamingoldies.com. All Rights Reserved.