Today In Rock & Roll History

The late Jake Carey (bass vocals with The Flamingos – ‘I Only Have Eyes For You‘) was born in 1926

The late Joe Negroni (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers – ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love‘) was born in 1940

The late Otis Redding (‘Dock Of The Bay‘) was born in 1941

The late Bruce Palmer (bass guitar with Buffalo Springfield – ‘For What It’s Worth’) was born in 1946

Dave Stewart (guitarist/songwriter with The Eurythmics – ‘Sweet Dreams‘) is 62

Freddy Weller (guitarist with Paul Revere & The Raiders – ‘I Had A Dream’) is 67

Doug Ingle (keyboards and lead vocals with Iron Butterfly – ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’) is 69

Dee Dee Sharp (born Dione LaRue – ‘Mashed Potato Time’ and ‘Slow Twistin’ with Chubby Checker) is 69

Inez Foxx (‘Mockingbird’ with brother Charlie Foxx) is 72

The Radio Corporation of America, later known as RCA, launched its new radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (later known as NBC)—1926

The V200-X Jukebox was introduced by the J.P. Seeburg Corporation. It was the first jukebox to hold two-hundred singles—1955

Actor Charles Laughton was the fill-in host as Elvis Presley made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show—1956
Rock Factoid: Presley was filming Love Me Tender in Hollywood and was unable to travel to New York City. His appearance was simulcast from CBS Television City in Los Angeles.
Rock Factoid #2: 60,000,000 viewers (82.6 percent of the U.S. television audience) tuned in.

Sam & Dave released ‘Soul Man’—1967

Although they had already recorded three takes of ‘Helter Skelter’ in July (one lasting over 27 minutes), the Beatles fulfilled Paul McCartney’s desire “to make a very loud, raunchy rock & roll record” when they re-recorded the song –1968
Rock Factoid: “They were completely out of their heads that night. But, as usual, a blind eye was turned to what the Beatles did in the studio. Everyone knew what substances they were taking but they were really a law unto themselves in the studio.” … Brian Gibson, engineer

John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ album was released in the U.S.—1971
Rock Factoid: The album may be fondly remembered for its iconic title song but it also contained some of Lennon’s darker side, most notably ‘How Do You Sleep?’, an undisguised attack on Paul McCartney.
Rock Factoid #2: The song was written in response to various coded messages Lennon claimed were on Paul and Linda McCartney’s 1971 album ‘Ram’, particularly in the songs ‘Too Many People,’ ‘Dear Boy,’ ‘Three Legs’ and ‘The Back Seat Of My Car’.
Rock Factoid #3: “I heard Paul’s messages in Ram – yes there are dear reader! Too many people going where? Missed our lucky what? What was our first mistake? Can’t be wrong? Huh! I mean Yoko, me, and other friends can’t all be hearing things. So to have some fun, I must thank Allen Klein publicly for the line ‘just another day’. A real poet! Some people don’t see the funny side of it. Too bad. What am I supposed to do, make you laugh? It’s what you might call an ‘angry letter’, sung – get it?” … John Lennon

The Eagles released ‘Witchy Woman’—1972

Paul McCartney & Wings began their historic 13-month ‘Wings Over The World’ tour—1975

A relatively unknown Irish group called U2 opened for The Stranglers at Dublin’s Top Hat Ballroom—1978

Sting and Phil Collins made their first live solo appearances at Amnesty International’s Secret Policeman’s Other Ball in London—1981

Al Green and Patti Labelle debuted on Broadway in Your Arm’s Too Short To Box With God—1982

Pink Floyd kicked off their first tour without Roger Waters at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, ON in support of their ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’ album—1987

Nirvana played the song ‘Lithium’ to a raucous crowd at the 1992 Video Music Awards—1992
Rock Factoid: Toward the end of the performance, bassist Krist Novoselic’s amplifier began to fail and he decided to perform a “sensational bass toss, I bet I hit over 25 feet, easy!”
The stunt ended in a sensational bass-catching epic failure. Novoselic managed to nail himself in the head with his bass, knocking him flat on the stage. He stumbled offstage and frontman Kurt Cobain, unaware of Novoselic’s predicament, kicked him in the ass for good measure.

Helen O’Connell (singer with the Jimmy Dorsey Band – ‘Green Eyes’) died (cancer)—1993

Bill Monroe (‘The Father of Bluegrass’ – ‘Blue Moon Of Kentucky’) died (complications from a stroke)—1996

Simon & Garfunkel made it official, announcing plans to reunite and tour for the first time in 20 years. Their ticket price of $136.90 was higher than any other tour that year but they did donate $1 million to The Children’s Health Fund at the end—2003

Hughie Thomasson (singer/songwriter/guitarist with the Outlaws and later a guitarist with Lynyrd Skynyrd) died (heart attack)—2007

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