Wednesday, October 12, 2011

This Date in Rock Music History: October 12

1957:  Buddy Holly & the Crickets, the Drifters and Chuck Berry were in concert at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego, California.
1962:  The Beatles opened for Little Richard with Billy J. Kramer also appearing at the Tower Ballroom in Wallasey, Merseyside, England. 
1963:  For the sixth consecutive week, "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton topped the chart.
1963:  Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs first moved into the #1 slot on this date with "Sugar Shack".  
1964:  The 45 "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles had 750,000 advance orders in the U.K. alone.
1965:  The Beatles recorded "This Bird Has Flown", later renamed "Norwegian Wood", with George Harrison on sitar for the first time.  They also recorded "Run for Your Life" in five takes.  Both tracks were recorded at Abbey Road studios and would appear on the Rubber Soul album.
1966:  The Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed in London, with Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Miller combining their talents.
1966:  Sammy Davis, Jr. did a cameo appearance on the popular television series Batman.
1967:  The Doors were in concert at the Surf Club in Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts.
1968:  The Hollies had the top U.K. album with their Greatest Hits package.

1968:  Cheap Thrills by Big Brother & the Holding Company moved into the #1 position on the Album chart.  Waiting for the Sun from the Doors dropped and Feliciano! by Jose Feliciano was #3.  The Rascals were at #4 with Time Peace, their Greatest Hits album, and Glen Campbell moved up to #5 with Gentle On My Mind.  The rest of the Top 10:  In-A-Gadda-Da Vida by Iron Butterfly, containing the memorable title track, Realization by Johnny Rivers, The Time Has Come by the Chambers Brothers moved from 13 to 8, Crown of Creation by Jefferson Airplane entered the Top 10 and the self-titled Steppenwolf was #10.
1968:  "The Fool On The Hill", the remake by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, spent a sixth week at #1 on the Easy Listening chart.







1968:  A song that sounds every bit as good today as it did when it moved from #54 to #18--"Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin.








    
      Another of those great 60's groups--the Grass Roots...

1968:  The count had reached three for weeks at #1 for "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.  Jeannie C. Riley was a distant second with "Harper Valley P.T.A." and "Fire" from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown was third.  O.C. Smith remained at 4 with "Little Green Apples".  The rest of the Top 10:  "Girl Watcher" from the O'Kaysions, the Grass Roots had their biggest song move from 17 to 6--"Midnight Confessions", the Vogues climbed into the Top 10 with "My Special Angel", the Bee Gees were at 8 with "I've Gotta' Get A Message To You", Gary Puckett from Twin Falls, Idaho & the Union Gap moved from 25-9 with "Over You" and Clarence Carter dropped with "Slip Away".
1969:  Russ Gibb, a Detroit, Michigan DJ received a call alerting him that if you play the song "Strawberry Fields Forever", at the very end you hear the words "I buried Paul."  This started a worldwide rumor that Paul McCartney was dead.











1970:  Badfinger released the single "No Matter What" on Apple Records.  (Note:  one naive website claims the song was released November 6.  "No Matter What" debuted on the Singles chart on October 17.  It is physically impossible for a song to be included on the Singles chart if it has not been released as a single.)










1970:  The 5th Dimension released the single "One Less Bell To Answer".
1970:  Promoter Bill Graham auctioned off rock memorabilia, including a guitar that was smashed by Pete Townshend, at the Fillmore East in New York City to benefit peace campaigns.
1971:  Gene Vincent ("A Town Without Pity") died of a perforated ulcer in Newhall, California at age 36.
1974:  The Bay City Rollers' album Rollin' topped the U.K. chart.






      The First Class had this winner from the great year of 1974...

1974:  Olivia Newton-John remained at #1 with "I Honestly Love You".  Billy Preston waited behind with "Nothing From Nothing" while Dionne Warwick & the Spinners came in third with "Then Came You", the First Class was at 4 with "Beach Baby" and Stevie Wonder held strong at #5 with "You Haven't Done Nothin'".  The rest of the Top 10:  Cat Stevens and "Another Saturday Night", Elton John's 15th career hit was on fire--"The Bitch Is Back", which moved from 18 to 7, Blue Swede's remake of the Association classic "Never My Love", "Earache My Eye" by Cheech & Chong was #9 and Bad Company's first big hit was "Can't Get Enough".
1975:  The Eagles performed at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana.
1975:  The group Faces played their final concert at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York.






1976:  Helen Reddy posted her eighth #1 song and 12th consecutive Top 5 song on the Easy Listening chart with "I Can't Hear You No More".
1978:  Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark debuted at Eric's in Liverpool, England.
1978:  Sid Vicious, bassist and singer with the Sex Pistols, was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.  Vicious died of drugs before his murder trial began.
1979:  The Human League played their last live performance with their original lineup in London.
1979:  Fleetwood Mac released their great double album Tusk.
1982:  The Clash opened for the Who on the first of two nights at Shea Stadium in New York City.









1983:  Don Henley released the single "Dirty Laundry".











1983:  The Carpenters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1985:  Ricky Wilson of the B-52's died from AIDS at age 32.
1985:  Jennifer Rush owned the #1 song in the U.K. with "The Power of Love".  Celine Dion would enjoy one of her biggest career hits with a remake and Air Supply covered the song as well.












1988:  Poison released the single "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" on Capitol Records.
1991:  Metallica kicked off a tour at the Oakland-Alameda County Stadium in Oakland, California.  (Note:  several websites falsely say the tour began September 29 in Peoria, Illinois.  Metallica played in Peoria, but it was October 29, and the tour started 17 days before their Peoria date in Oakland.)
1991:  Simply Red topped the U.K. Album chart with Stars, which would be the top seller in both 1991 and 1992 and go on to spend 134 weeks on the chart.
1991:  Some good albums in here--Use Your Illusion II was #1 with Use Your Illusion I #2, both by Guns N' Roses.  Garth Brooks remained at 3 with one of The Top 15 Albums of the Rock Era*, Ropin' the Wind, Mariah Carey's Emotions was #4 and Metallica's debut remained fifth.  The rest of the Top 10: Bryan Adams debuted at #6 with Waking Up the Neighbours, Natalie Cole was on the way down--Unforgettable With Love, "The Commitments" Soundtrack came in at position #8, Bonnie Raitt remained at #9 with Luck of the Draw and Boyz II Men climbed into the Top 10 with Cooleyhighharmoney.

  
        Color Me Badd with their huge hit "I Adore Mi Amor"...

1991:  "Emotions" became Mariah Carey's fifth consecutive #1 song to begin her career.  "Good Vibrations" from Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch was #2.  Natural Selection's "Do Anything", Color Me Badd with "I Adore Mi Amor" and Karyn White's "Romantic" trailed.  The rest of the Top 10:  "Something To Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt at #6, Extreme's follow-up to "More Than Words"--"Hole Hearted" was #7, Firehouse slowed things down with "Love Of A Lifetime", Boyz II Men were on their way down with "Motownphilly" and Aaron Neville's remake of the Main Ingredient hit "Everybody Plays The Fool" was at #10.
1992:  Ray Conniff, famous band leader and arranger of the Ray Conniff Singers ("Somewhere My Love" and some of the greatest Christmas arrangements ever recorded) died at the age of 85 in Escondido, California after falling and hitting his head.
1994:  On the first night of a planned 15-show series at Earls Court in London, Pink Floyd had to cancel the show.  Less than a minute after they began playing, a scaffolding stand holding 1,200 fans collapsed, throwing people 20 feet to the ground.  96 people were injured and another 36 needed hospital treatment.
1996:  The Chemical Brothers topped the U.K. chart with "Setting Sun".

1996:  Falling Into You by Celine Dion was #1 for the second week on the Album chart.
1996:  "Macarena" spent an 11th week at #1 for Los Del Rio and amazingly, Donna Lewis logged week eight at #2--one of the top #2 songs of the Rock Era.






1997:  Beloved John Denver died at the age of 53 when his small plane crashed into Monterey Bay, California.
1999:  Adrian Young, drummer of No Doubt, proposed to his girlfriend before the group's encore for a show in San Francisco, California.






1999:  The Isle of Man issued six postage stamps honoring the Bee Gees.
2003:  Jose Feliciano sang the U.S. national anthem before a World Series game for the first time in 35 years.  In 1968, Feliciano's slow-moving version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" led some to call for Feliciano to be deported.
2005:  Live Aid co-founder Midge Ure received an honorary degree from the University of Abertay in Dundee, England.
2008:  Dig Out Your Soul, the final studio album from Oasis, rose to #1 in the U.K.
2009:  Dickie Peterson, lead singer and bass guitarist with Blue Cheer ("Summertime Blues") died of cancer in Erkelenz, Germany, at age 63.


Born This Day:
1935:  Sam Moore of the duo Sam & Dave was born in Miami, Florida.

1942:  Melvin Franklin, one of the original members of the great Temptations and the guy with the amazing bass voice, was born in Montgomery, Alabama; died of a brain seizure February 23, 1995 in Los Angeles.
1948:  Rick Parfitt, guitarist for Status Quo, was born in Woking, Surrey, England; died December 24, 2016 in Marbella, Spain of a severe infection after a shoulder injury sustained in a recent fall.
1955:  Pat DiNizio, lead singer and songwriter of the Smithereens, was born in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
1966:  Brian Kennedy, an Irish singer who worked with Van Morrison, was born in Belfast, Ireland.
1969:  Martie Maguire, national fiddling champion and multi-instrumentalist of the Dixie Chicks was born in York, Pennsylvania.
1969:  Garfield Bright of Shai

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