Today In Rock & Roll History

The late Bernie Dwyer (drummer with Freddie & The Dreamers – ‘You Were Made For Me’) was born in 1940

The late John Martyn (British singer/guitarist – ‘Angeline’) was born in 1948

Jon Moss (drummer with Culture Club – ‘Karma Chameleon’) is 57

Tommy Shaw (guitarist with Styx – ‘Come Sail Away’ and later with Damn Yankees – ‘High Enough’) is 61

Dennis Tufano (vocalist/guitarist with The Buckinghams – ‘Kind Of A Drag’) is 68

Leo Kottke (acoustic guitarist – ‘Twilight Property’) is 69

Mickey Hart (drummer with The Grateful Dead – ‘Uncle John’s Band’) is 71

British police were called to break up a crowd of rowdy teenagers following the showing of the film Rock Around The Clock at the Trocadero Cinema in London. The following day, The Times printed a reader’s letter which said, “The hypnotic rhythm and the wild gestures have a maddening effect on a rhythm loving age group and the result of its impact is the relaxing of all self control.” The film was quickly banned in several English cities—1956

Scotty and Bill went off on Elvis Presley—1957
Rock Factoid: Four days after they had quit working with Elvis Presley (over money), Presley offered Scotty Moore and Bill Black a fifty dollar raise. They turned down his offer and then exposed their “dirt” on Elvis in a newspaper interview which ripped Elvis for paying them virtually nothing.
Rock Factoid #2: Elvis in return did his own interview in which he says, “Scotty, Bill I hope everything works out for you. I will recommend you to anyone who is interested. If you had come to me first we would have sorted this thing out ourselves. I would always have cared for you. But you had to go the papers and throw dirt at me instead of talking to me. All I can say is Good luck.”
Rock Factoid #3: The trio reunited two weeks later. Instead of being paid a weekly wage, Moore and Black were hired to work per studio session and concert, with the freedom to pursue other work.

Lloyd Price recorded the original (uncensored) version of ‘Stagger Lee’—1958

Elvis Presley met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, at a party at his house in Germany, where he was serving in the U.S. Army.—1959

Nancy Sinatra married singer Tommy Sands. The bliss lasted five years—1960

The Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios to record another version of ‘Love Me Do’ with session drummer Andy White taking over on drums and Ringo Starr playing tambourine—1962
Rock Factoid: The version of ‘Love Me Do’ with Ringo playing drums was used on the early British pressings of the single. The version with Andy White playing drums was used on the first American pressings of the single in 1964, all later releases of the single, and on The Beatles’ debut British album, ‘Please Please Me’ in 1963. There’s an easy way to distinguish between the two versions of the song. If you hear a tambourine, then you’re listening to the version with White playing drums.
Rock Factoid #2: The group recorded ‘P.S. I Love You’ at the same session. Again, Andy White played the drums with Ringo relegated to maracas.

The Beatles recorded ‘All I’ve Got To Do’ and ‘Not A Second Time’—1963

Peter & Gordon released ‘I Don’t Want To See You Again’—1964

Frank Sinatra, who was playing at The Sands Casino in Las Vegas, got into a fight when he was denied credit as part of a policy put in by the new owners. He broke two teeth in the altercation and within a week, he was singing at Caesar’s Palace—1967

Elvis Presley recorded ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘We Call On Him’—1967

The Beach Boys recorded ‘Never Learn Not To Love’—1968
Rock Factoid: The song – released as the b-side of the ‘Bluebirds Over The Mountain’ single and on the band’s ’20/20′ album – was notable for one reason. It was written by Charles Manson (yes, that Charles Manson) under the title of ‘Cease To Exist’.
The Beach Boys changed the key phrase to “cease to resist”, but otherwise left the melody essentially unchanged. Dennis Wilson – not Manson – was credited as the writer of the song.
Rock Factoid #2: A recording of Charlie’s version was released on his ‘Lie’album in 1970 while Manson was on trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders.
Rock Factoid #3: Neil Young had encountered Manson, and recalled, “He had this kind of music that nobody else was doing. I thought he really had something crazy, something great. He was like a living poet.”
Rock Factoid #4: John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas was much less impressed; when urged by hippie friends to record Manson, Phillips said, “I’d just shudder every time. I’d say no, I think I’ll pass.”

Borrowing an idea from The Beatles Saturday morning cartoon television show, ABC premiered The Jackson 5 animated series—1971

Bing Crosby and David Bowie filmed a scene for Bing’s last Christmas TV special, singing a medley of ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Peace On Earth’—1977

Foreigner released their ‘Head Games’ album—1979

During the fourth annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, Peter Gabriel won nine awards for ‘Sledgehammer’ including Video of the Year, Best Male Video and Best Concept Video. Gabriel also received the Video Vanguard Award—1987

Peter Tosh (guitarist in the original Wailing Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers, and later became a solo artist – ‘Legalize It’) died (shot to death)—1987

Lorne Greene (‘Ringo’) died (pneumonia)—1987

In what has to be the worst case of timing in music history, Dream Theater released their ‘Live Scenes From New York’ album—2001
Rock Factoid: The cover artwork featured an apple (as in the Big Apple) on fire (notice the Twin Towers and the Statue of Liberty on top of the apple) and wrapped in barbed wire. The band quickly announced the album would be released with new artwork.
Rock Factoid #2: The album was recorded live on August 30, 2000, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. The logo was based on a previous album cover which had depicted a heart in flames.
Rock Factoid #3: “The record came out on the morning of September 11 by sheer coincidence. Due to what happened we decided to pull the cover and change it. We did not want the live record to be something people remembered September 11 by. We wanted it to be something that people remembered August 30, 2000 by. The label just wanted to put a sticker on the cover, but we insisted on changing it.” … Mike Portnoy, Dream Theatre drummer

Bob Dylan released his ‘Love And Theft‘ album—2001

Wilson ‘Willie Tee’ Turbinton (keyboardist, songwriter, singer and producer) died (colon cancer)—2007

Jim Carroll (singer/songwriter – ‘People Who Died’ – but perhaps best known for his 1978 autobiographical The Basketball Diaries which was made into the film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll) died (heart attack)—2009

Homer Joy (songwriter – wrote Buck Owens’ ‘Streets Of Bakersfield’) died (complications following a heart transplant)—2012

Johnny Perez (drummer with the Sir Douglas Quintet – ‘She’s About A Mover’) died (cirrhosis of the liver)—2012

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