Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.
~Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
1923 – The late Otis Dewey ‘Slim’ Whitman (‘I Remember You’) was born.
Rock Factoid: His 1955 single ‘Rose Marie’ spent 11 weeks at #1 on the UK Singles Chart and held the Guinness World Record for the longest time at #1 on the UK Singles Chart for 36 years.
Rock Factoid #2: Whitman did not have the same success in the U.S. Although he had several country hits, he holds the unique record of having sold the most records (over 70 million) without ever having a song in the Billboard Top 40.
1933 – The late Ron Townson (The 5th Dimension – ‘Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In’) was born.
1943 – Rick Evans (singer/songwriter with Zager & Evans – ‘In The Year 2525’) was born. He’s 73 today.
1945 – Eric Stewart (lead guitarist with The Mindbenders – ‘Game Of Love’, lead guitar and vocalist with Hotlegs – ‘Neanderthal Man’), 10CC – ‘I’m Not In Love’), and lead guitarist for Paul McCartney from 1981-85 – ‘No More Lonely Nights’) is 71 today.
1952 – Paul Stanley (lead singer with KISS – ‘I Was Made For Loving You’) was born. He is 64 today.
1958 – KWK, a radio station in St. Louis, wrapped up their “Record Breaking Week”. After the station manager Robert Convey decided rock and roll should be banned from their airwaves, DJs were allowed to play every rock record in their library once on the air and then smash it to pieces. Convey described the stunt as “a simple weeding out of undesirable music.”
1964 – Capitol Records released ‘Meet The Beatles’ in the U.S.
And all hell broke loose
1965 – Alan Freed (Radio DJ who coined the term “rock & roll”) died of uremia and cirrhosis of the liver.
1965 – The Byrds recorded ‘I Knew I’d Want You’ and ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’.
Rock Factoid: The only member of the band who actually played an instrument on the two songs was lead guitarist Jim (later Roger) McGuinn. The rest of the music was supplied by members of the legendary professional sessions men known as The Wrecking Crew – Hal Blaine (drums), Leon Russell (electric piano), Larry Knetchel (bass guitar), and Jerry Cole (rhythm guitar).
1965 – The Miracles recorded ‘The Tracks Of My Tears’.
1966 – Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler released ‘The Ballad Of The Green Berets’ / ‘Letter From Vietnam’ .
Rock Factoid: ‘Ballad…’ was one of the very few songs of the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light and became a major hit, reaching #1 for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a crossover smash, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart and #2 on Billboard’s Country survey.
Rock Factoid #2: Later in 1966, the Beach Bums, a Michigan group featuring a young Bob Seger, recorded ‘The Ballad of The Yellow Beret’. The song was a send-up of Sadler’s song, chronicling the adventures of a draft dodger. It was actually a rare case of a novelty record that took aim at those who protested the Vietnam War. The record was withdrawn after a cease and desist letter from Sadler.
1967 – Arthur Conley recorded ‘Sweet Soul Music’.
1967 – The Rolling Stones released ‘Between The Buttons’ in England.
Rock Factoid: The next time you hear an artist rave about their new recording, consider Mick Jagger’s interpretation of ‘Between The Buttons’ over the years.
“Our new album is a pretty good indication of where we are going.” … 1967
“I don’t like that album much. I don’t know, it just isn’t any good.” … 1968
“It’s my least favorite Stones album. I can’t even remember doing it.” … 1969
“It’s a terrible album.” … 1974
1968 – Bob Dylan made his first public appearance in nearly two years performing with The Band at a memorial concert for Woody Guthrie at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1969 – The Cowsills recorded ‘Hair’ at RCA Studios in New York City.
1969 – Elvis Presley recorded ‘Rubberneckin’ at American Sound Studio in Memphis.
1973 – Jerry Lee Lewis made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he promised to only perform country music and refrain from using obscenities. He broke both promises.
Rock Factoid: He also disregarded all curtain cues, commercial breaks and “it’s time to wrap it up” signs. In fact, Lewis played for 40 minutes even though the average Opry performance was two songs, for about eight maximum minutes of stage time.
1982 – During a Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw an unconscious bat onto the stage. Thinking it was a rubber fake, Osbourne picked it up and bit off its head. He was hospitalized and underwent a series of rabies shots.
1983 – Def Leppard released the ‘Pyromania’ album. It went on to sell over 10 million copies in the U.S. and included three Billboard Top 40 singles.
1988 – The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Drifters, and The Supremes were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Rock Factoid: Berry Gordy, Jr. (Non-Performer), Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and Les Paul (Early Influences) were also inducted.
Rock Factoid #2: Considering who the inductees were, the event itself should have been memorable enough but it became infamous for a speech by Mike Love of The Beach Boys. In a rambling, often incoherent statement, Love managed to insult The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen.
1996 – Twenty-six years after their breakup, The Beatles once again had a solid hold on the Billboard album charts.
Rock Factoid: ‘Anthology 1’ sat at #11 in the Top 200. Meanwhile, Billboard’s Pop Catalog Chart contained five albums from the Fab Four: ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (#3), ‘Abbey Road’ (#4), ‘The Beatles/1967-1970’ (#6), ‘The Beatles {White Album}’ (#10) and ‘The Beatles/1962-1966’ (#11).
1997 – Ben and Jerry’s introduced Phish Food, a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.
1999 – Bill Albaugh (drummer with The Lemon Pipers – ‘Green Tambourine’) died of a heart attack. He was 53.
2000 – Ray Jones (bass guitar with Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas – ‘Bad To Me’) died of a heart attack at the age of 60.
Rock Factoid: In addition to backing Kramer on his hits, the Dakotas are best known for their instrumental single called ‘The Cruel Sea’ that reached #18 in the UK charts in July 1963.
2002 – George Harrison posthumously topped the UK Singles Chart with ‘My Sweet Lord’. Harrison’s single replaced Aaliyah’s ‘More Than A Woman’, the only time in chart history that one deceased artist had taken over from another at #1.
2012 – Etta James (‘At Last’) died from leukemia at the age of 73.
2012 – Larry Butler (keyboards/songwriter with The Gentrys – ‘Keep On Dancin’) died from natural causes at the age of 69.
Rock Factoid: Butler co-wrote B.J. Thomas’ ‘Hey, Won’t You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ and produced Kenny Rogers’ ‘The Gambler’ and ‘Lucille’.
2013 – Bob Engemann (The Lettermen – ‘When I Fall In Love’) died of complications following heart bypass surgery. He was 77.
Compiled by Ray Lemire ©2016 RayLemire.com. All Rights Reserved.