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Friday, September 16, 2011

This Date in Rock Music History: September 17

1931:  RCA Records demonstrated the first players to play 33 1/3 records at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York City.
1955:  Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded "Sixteen Tons" at the Capitol Records Melrose Avenue Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.
1955:  "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry logged week #7 at the top of the R&B chart.
1962:  The Beatles, Billy Kramer, and the Coasters played the last of three Monday night gigs at the Queen's Hall in Widnes, Lancashire, England.  (Note:  Some sources claim that Rory Storm and the Hurricanes also played this night, when they only played the first two Beatles shows (September 3 and September 10, according to the websites 'Beatles Bible' and 'Liverpool Beat'.  Some sources also say the Beatles played in Widnes, Cheshire, England.  Widnes did not become part of the county of Cheshire until 1974, 12 years after the concert, so it is physically impossible for the Beatles to have played in Widnes, Cheshire.)  

1964:  The Supremes released the single "Baby Love" on Motown Records.  
1964:  The Beatles were in concert at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, an event promoted by Charles Finley, owner of the Kansas City Athletics baseball team.  Finley first offered Beatles manager Brian Epstein $50,000 and was turned down, then $100,000 with a similar result, and finally $150,000.  It was the most money ever offered for one performance at that time.  Other acts on the bill included Jackie DeShannon, the Exciters, and the Bill Black Combo. 
1966:  Wilson Pickett boogied up to #1 with "Land Of 1000 Dances".
1966:  "Born Free" by Roger Williams was #1 on the Easy Listening chart.






                                         The Sandpipers scored a Top 10 hit...

1966:  The Supremes spent a second week at #1 with the original version of "You Can't Hurry Love".  The Beatles moved up to challenge with "Yellow Submarine", swapping places with "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan.  The Association were on the move (14-4) with "Cherish" while the Hollies' big hit "Bus Stop" stopped off at #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  "See You In September" from the Happenings, Wilson Pickett was at position #7 with "Land Of 1000 Dances", the Beach Boys entered the list with "Wouldn't It Be Nice", the Sandpipers were up to 9 with "Guantanamera" and Bobby Hebb had "Sunny".
1967:  The Doors performed "Light My Fire" and "People are Strange" on The Ed Sullivan Show.






1967:  The Who performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.  But that's just part of the story.  Drummer Keith Moon rigged his drum set to explode at the conclusion of "My Generation", which he did for every show during the period.  Only this time, the jokester rigged several times the normal amount of explosives, and didn't tell the rest of the group.  The result of the stunt was a massive explosion on stage.  One of Moon's drum cymbals shattered, causing cuts to Moon's leg and arms was cut.  Guitarist Pete Townshend was closest to the blast, which singed his hair. 
1968:  Diana Ross recorded the vocal for "Love Child" without the other Supremes.  The Andantes performed backing vocals on the song, which was completed September 20.
1972:  The Eagles were in concert at Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida.




1973:  Billy Joel began recording "Piano Man" in the first of five sessions at Devonshire Sound in Los Angeles.











1973:  The Carpenters released their single "Top Of The World".








1975:  Silver Convention released the single "Fly, Robin, Fly".
1975:  The mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada declared today "Guess Who Day" in honor of Canada's all-time top band.
1977:  20 Golden Greats by Diana Ross and the Supremes was the #1 album in the U.K.
1977:  Carly Simon remained at #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "Nobody Does it Better".






1977:  Ronnie McDowell gave us a touching instant tribute to Elvis Presley who died in August.  He moved from 89 to 40 with "The King Is Gone".









1977:  Andy Gibb reached #1 with his first single "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", holding off the Floaters and "Float On".  The four-week #1 "Best Of My Love" from the Emotions was at #3 and James Taylor peaked at 4 with "Handy Man".  The rest of the Top 10:  Fleetwood Mac with the third hit from Rumours--"Don't Stop", K.C. and the Sunshine Band and "Keep It Comin' Love", the Brothers Johnson were up to 7 with "Strawberry Letter 23", ELO and "Telephone Line", the Sanford/Townsend Band had #9--"Smoke From A Distant Fire" and the London Symphony Orchestra reached #10 with the main title from the legendary movie Star Wars.







1977:  Rumours by Fleetwood Mac broke the all-time record for weeks at #1 on the Album chart with 19 on this date.  The blockbuster went on to record its 31st non-consecutive week at #1 on January 14, 1978, a mark that held until March 10, 1984, when Michael Jackson's Thriller scored its 32nd week at #1.  Thriller eventually racked up its 37th week at #1 on April 14, 1984.
1980:  The Bette Midler concert movie Divine Madness premiered in Los Angeles.  (Note:  some websites claim the movie premiered at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California.  Those sites have their facts wrong--Midler recorded the performances featured in the movie during four shows at the Civic Auditorium in February, but the movie premiered in Los Angeles on September 17, according to 'Turner Classic Movies'.)
1983:  Vanessa Williams (Miss New York) was crowned Miss America.
1983:  Here's a good show--Def Leppard, Eddie Money, Motley Crue and Uriah Heap in front of 55,000 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California.
1983:  Paul Young topped the U.K. Album chart with No Parlez.
1983:  Prince had a hot song that moved from 55 to 37 on this date--"Delirious".





                                                    Newcomers Men Without Hats...


1983:  Michael Sembello remained at #1 with "Maniac" with Billy Joel climbing up with "Tell Her About It".  Men Without Hats were up to #3 with "The Safety Dance" and Bonnie Tyler's great song "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was going to be a serious factor in the weeks to come.  The rest of the Top 10:  two former 1's--the Eurythmics and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" and "Every Break You Take" from the Police, Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" at #7, Taco with "Puttin' On The Ritz", Air Supply roared up from 15 to 9 with "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" and Asia cracked the Top 10 with "Don't Cry".
1983:  Synchronicity returned to #1 for the Police on the Album chart, temporarily derailing Thriller by Michael Jackson.  The Soundtrack to "Flashdance" was third with Pyromania by Def Leppard logging a 33rd week on the chart.
1988:  Peter Cetera from Sun Valley, Idaho owned the #1 Adult Contemporary song for a third week with "One Good Woman".
1988:  Michael Jackson had the #1 R&B song with "Another Part of Me".
1988:  Hysteria sent a sixth week at #1 on the Album chart for Def Leppard. 

1989:  Paula Abdul won an Emmy Award for Best Choreography for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show.
1991:  Guns N' Roses released the albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.
1994:  Boyz II Men made it five weeks at #1 on the R&B chart with "I'll Make Love To You".






1994:  Boyz II Men owned the top song with "I'll Make Love To You", Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories were at #2 with "Stay (I Missed You)" and Changing Faces were going to "Stroke You Up".  Babyface was stuck at 4 with "When Can I See You" while John Mellencamp and Me'Shell Ndegeocello dropped with the remake of the Van Morrison song "Wild Night".  The rest of the Top 10:  Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey had a good remake of "Endless Love" that climbed from 31-6, Coolio's "Fantastic Voyage" was on its way down, Elton John was still in the Top 10 after 18 weeks with "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", Sheryl Crow's first big hit "All I Wanna' Do" joined the Top 10 and Warren G had "This D.J.". 




1995:  The Eagles performed at the Arrowhead Pond (now the Honda Center) in Anaheim, California.
1997:  Fleetwood Mac began a reunion tour at the Meadows Music Theater in Hartford, Connecticut.







2002:  Bono of U2 met with U.S. President George W. Bush to discuss giving more money towards AIDS initiatives.  Afterwards, Bono said "I'm not peddling a cause.  Seven thousand people dying per day is not a cause.  It's an emergency."  Bush did not increase funding.
2003:  David Lee Roth tried to be cute on stage at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania and it cost him.  He attempted a 15th-century samurai move and the microphone stand he was using swung around and him in the face.  Roth required 21 stitches and had to cancel the remainder of his tour, but no word on if it knocked some sense into him.
2005:  Kanye West had the top album with Late Registration.



2005:  Joel Hirschhorn, who won Academy Awards for Song of the Year for "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure and "We May Never Love This Way Again" from The Towering Inferno, died at the age of 67.  Hirschhorn also wrote songs for many artists including Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and the Osmonds.  (Note:  several sources incorrectly report the death as September 18, 2005 but as you can clearly see from his tombstone pictured above, it was the 17th.)
2006:  The Scissor Sisters owned the #1 song in the U.K. with "I Don't Feel Like Dancing".

2004:  Israeli police arrested two Madonna bodyguards after they assaulted photographers waiting for Madonna at her hotel.  Hooray for Israel!!
2008:  The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the late Isaac Hayes ("Theme From 'Shaft'") as a "passionate humanitarian".
2009:  John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival was given a Lifetime Award for Songwriting at the Americana Music Association Awards.



Born This Day:
1926:  Bill Black (right, with guitarist Scotty Moore (left) and Elvis Presley (center)), famed bassist for Elvis and leader of the Bill Black Combo, was born in Memphis, Tennessee; died of a brain tumor in Memphis October 21, 1965.









1939:  Lamonte McLemore, founder and vocalist with the Fifth Dimension, was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
1950:  John Waldo "Fee" Waybill, vocalist of the Tubes ("She's A Beauty") was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1962:  BeBe Winans was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1962:  Baz Luhrmann ("Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen") was born in Sydney, Australia.
1968:  Anastacia was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1970:  Vincent Brown of Naughty By Nature, who went by the stage name of Vin Rock, was born in East Orange, New Jersey.
1976:  Maile Misajon of Eden's Crush was born in Long Beach, California.
1979:  Chuck Comeau, drummer of Simple Plan, was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
1985:  Jonathan Jacob Walker, bassist of Panic at the Disco, was born in Chicago, Illinois.

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