Friday, April 27, 2012

This Date in Rock Music History: April 28

1956:  Little Richard earned a third week at #1 on the R&B chart with "Long Tall Sally".
1958:  The Big Beat Show, Alan Freed's rock and roll show, had two performances at Central High School Auditorium in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  The tour featured Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Lymon, the 
Diamonds, the Chantels, Danny & the Juniors and others.
1958:  The Platters took over at #1 on the R&B chart with "Twilight Time".
1962:  Dee Dee Sharp had the new #1 R&B song with "Mashed Potato Time".
1964:  The Beatles recorded their television special "Around the Beatles" at Wembley studios in England.  
1965:  Barbra Streisand hosted her first television show My Name Is Barbra on CBS-TV.
1966:  The Kinks appeared at the Mecca Ballroom in Nottingham, England.
1968:  The Seeds ("Pushin' Too Hard") were the guests on The Mothers-In-Law on NBC-TV.










1969:  The album Chicago Transit Authority was released to debut the career of the classic supergroup.  They shortened their name to Chicago after the Transit Authority in the Windy City filed suit against the use of their name.  (Note:  some websites say the album was released May 17, but numerous sources, including 'Billboard' and the book 'The Emergence of Rock and Roll:  Music and the Rise of American Youth Culture' by Mitchell K. Hall, state that the album was released in April.  'MTV' reports that it was issued April 1; however, the official Chicago website and 'Mojo' magazine state that the album was released April 28.) 







1969:  Three Dog Night released the single "One".
1973:  Faces had the #1 album in the U.K. with Ooh La La.
1973:  Sylvia owned the top R&B song with "Pillow Talk".













                                           "The Cisco Kid" was a friend of mine...

1973:  Tony Orlando & Dawn remained at #1 with "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree".  War had their biggest hit with "The Cisco Kid" while the Carpenters held steady at 3 with "Sing".  Vicki Lawrence saw her former #1 "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" drop but Sweet reached #5 with "Little Willy".  The rest of the Top 10:  Stevie Wonder had his 31st hit and 14th career Top 10 song with "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", the Temptations were back with "Masterpiece", Donny Osmond found himself at #8 with "The Twelfth Of Never", although few stations played it, Stealers Wheel scored their only Top 10 song with "Stuck In The Middle With You" and the Four Tops finished the list with "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)".





                                 "Us and Them" helped Pink Floyd have a #1 album...

1973:  The album Dark Side of the Moon rose to #1 for Pink Floyd.  It would be the only week the album would top the charts.  Aloha from Hawai'i via Satellite by Elvis Presley would knock the Floyd off the following week but on this day settled for #2.  Billion Dollar Babies from Alice Cooper fell from 1-3 with the Best of Bread landing at #4.  The rest of the Top 10:  Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin at #5, War's The World Is a Ghetto, Masterpiece from the Temptations at 7, the Soundtrack to "Lady Sings the Blues" by Diana Ross falling to #8, the Beatles/1962-1966 moving from 23-9 and the Beatles/1967-1970 jumping from 24-10.











1974:  Olivia Newton-John released the single that would jump-start her career--"I Honestly Love You".
1975:  John Lennon was a guest on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
1975:  Ringo Starr sang "No No Song" on The Smothers Brothers Show.
1978:  Blue Oyster Cult began a 14-date U.K. tour at the Apollo Theatre in Manchester, England.  (Note:  some websites list the opening date as April 27, but according to the group's official website, the correct date is April 28.)
1978:  Mike Oldfield played the first of three shows at Wembley Arena in London.  (Note:  some websites show that Oldfield only played two nights at Wembley, but according to his official website, he played on April 28 and 29th and May 2.)
1979:  The Very Best of Leo Sayer topped the U.K. Album chart.
1979:  Peaches & Herb climbed to #1 on the R&B chart with their great song "Reunited".







1979:  Donna Summer titled her new song right as "Hot Stuff" was up from #79 to #29 on this date.
1979:  Blondie had their first #1 song with "Heart Of Glass", although Peaches & Herb were right there with "Reunited".  Amii Stewart's former #1 "Knock On Wood" fell to #3 while Frank Mills remained at #4 with one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era*, "Music Box Dancer".








                                  George Benson had another smash album...


1979:  Minute By Minute by the Doobie Brothers took over from the Bee Gees' Spirits Having Flown on the Album chart.  2 Hot! from Peaches & Herb came in at #3 while Dire Straits' debut was at 4.  The rest of the Top 10:  Desolation Angels from Bad Company, Parallel Lines by Blondie was #6, George Benson had #7 with Livin' Inside Your Love, Supertramp's landmark Breakfast in America landed inside the 10 for the first time, the Allman Brothers Band had #9 with Enlightened Rouges and Rod Stewart fell to 10 with Blondes Have More Fun.





1980:  Elton John released the single "Little Jeannie".  (Note:  some websites naively say the song was released May 1.  "Little Jeannie" debuted on the Singles chart on May 3, and the Tuesday deadline for reporting new adds by radio stations in 1980 was April 29, making a claim of May 3 impossible.)











Against the Wind by Bo Seger on Grooveshark
1980:  Bob Seger released the single "Against The Wind".
1980:  Tommy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band died at age 30 of head injuries sustained in an April 22 car crash near his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina.  
1981:  Steve Currie, former bassist of T Rex, was killed in a car crash returning to his home near Vale de Parra, Algarve, Portugal.  He was 33.
1983:  U2 appeared at the Rochester Institute of Technology Ice Rink in New York.







You Might Think by The Cars on Grooveshark                                                                        The Cars' first single from 'Heartbeat City'...

1984:  Phil Collins continued to set the pace at #1 with "Against All Odds".  Lionel Richie had another great song making a challenge--"Hello".  The Cars had the top new song in the Top 10 with "You Might Think".
1987:  Ray Charles encouraged the United States Congress to increase funding for hearing research.  "My eyes may be my handicap," he said, "but my ears are my opportunity."
1988:  Pink Floyd was in concert at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas.
1988:  B.W. Stevenson ("My Maria") died after heart valve surgery in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 38.
1989:  Jon Bon Jovi married high school sweetheart Dorothea Hurley in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1990:  Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses married Erin Everly.  The marriage lasted for 27 days before Erin finally woke up.  (Note:  some websites report the date of the marriage as April 27, but as you can see from the copy of the marriage certificate above, the correct date is April 28.  This date is confirmed by the book 'Watch You Bleed:  The Saga of Guns N' Roses' by Stephen Davis.)   







How Can We Be Lovers by Michael Bolton on Grooveshark                                                                                   Bolton's new song...

1990:  Sinead O'Connor remained at #1 with "Nothing Compares 2 (sic) U (sic)".  Jane Child had the #2 song "Don't Wanna' Fall In Love", Calloway edged up to 3 with "I Wanna' Be Rich", Lisa Stansfield had #4 with "All Around The World" and Michael Bolton moved up to #5 with "How Can We Be Lovers".
1991:  Bonnie Raitt married Michael O'Keefe in Tarrytown, New York.  (Note:  some websites report the marriage as April 27, but according to both 'The New York Times' and 'The Chicago Tribune', the correct date is April 28.)
1998:  The Dave Matthews Band released the album Before These Crowded Streets.
1998:  Stevie Nicks released the boxed set Enchanted.





1999:  Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999:  The Verve announced that they had split up for a second time.  (Note:  some websites report that the group broke up on April 27.  The band's management company released a statement announcing the group's breakup on April 28, according to 'MTV'.)
2002:  Sugababes had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Freak Like Me".
2004:  The Recording Industry Association of America sued 477 people, accusing them of illegally swapping MP3's.  
2004:  George Michael was named as the most-played artist on British radio over the previous two decades.
2007:  Amelle Berrabah of Sugababes was arrested for assaulting an 18-year-old woman in a Guildford, Surrey, England bar.  What kind of people are we giving our money to these days?





Born This Day:
1943:  Fantastic Johnny C ("Boogaloo Down Broadway") was born in Greenwood, South Carolina.
1945:  John Wolters, drummer for Dr. Hook, was born in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; died of liver cancer in San Francisco, California on June 16, 1997.
1953:  Kim Gordon, bass player of Sonic Youth, was born in Rochester, New York.
1955:  Eddie Jobson, keyboardist and violinist with Roxy Music, Jethro Tull and Mothers of Invention, was born in Billingham, County Durham, England.
1961:  Roland Gift, lead vocalist of the Fine Young Cannibals, was born in Birmingham, England.
1968:  Howard Donald of Take That was born in Droylsden, Lancashire, England.  (Note:  websites which don't know their history mistakenly say Donald was born in Droylsden, Manchester, England.  Droylsden did not become part of Manchester until the Local Government Act of 1972, four years after Donald was born.  Thus, it is impossible for Donald to have been born in Droylsden, Manchester.) 

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