Tuesday, May 1, 2012

This Date in Rock Music History: May 2

1956:  For the first time in chart history, five songs were in both the popular and the R&B Top 10.  They were Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel", "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins, "Long Tall Sally" from Little Richard, "Magic Touch" by the Platters and "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
1960 - Production began on Elvis Presley's G.I. Blues.  It was his first post-Army movie. 


                                                 King went his own way...


1960:  Ben E. King left the Drifters and signed with ATCO Records.
1960:  The Everly Brothers had the ninth-fastest rising song in rock history (74-15) with "Cathy's Clown".  
1961:  The Beatles played at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany.
1963:  The Beatles were #1 in the U.K. with the first of 11 consecutive #1's--"From Me To You".







1964:  The Beatles had already invaded America, setting the stage for a huge invasion of talented British acts.  On this date, we were introduced to another.  They first appeared on the chart with a version of the Buddy Holly hit "Not Fade Away".  And the career of the Rolling Stones was underway.
1964:  The debut album from the Rolling Stones spent the first of 12 weeks at the top in the U.K.








1964:  The Beatles' Second Album reached #1 in its second week, the first LP to achieve the feat.  The Beatles also had the #2 album with Meet the Beatles!, while the Soundtrack to "Hello, Dolly!" was #3, Introducing...the Beatles was #4 and Al Hirt's Honey in the Horn was in the #5 spot.
1964:  One smash hit after another in succession--the Beatles moved from 67 to 32 with "Love Me Do".









1964:  The Beatles held on to #1 for a fifth week with "Can't Buy Me Love".  Even more impressive, it was the 14th week in a row that the Beatles had owned the #1 song (from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "She Loves You" to "Can't Buy Me Love").
1965:  The Rolling Stones performed on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1966:  Frank Sinatra released the single "Strangers in the Night".  (Note:  some websites report the single was released May 6.  "Strangers In The Night" debuted on the charts on May 7.  It is physically impossible for a song to be released by a record company, listened to and added to radio station playlists, reported by the radio stations to the trade papers, and the trade papers printed and published, in two days.)







1966:  Simon & Garfunkel released the single "I Am a Rock".













1966:  Dusty Springfield released the single "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me".
1967:  The Beach Boys abandoned recording sessions for the proposed album Smile(Note:  One website says the sessions were abandoned on May 18.    According to the book 'Heroes and Villains:  Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Television' by Steven S. Gaines, the Beach Boys made the announcement on May 2 via a press release.) 


 








1967:  The Beach Boys appeared at the Adelphi Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.
1969:  Elvis Presley finished filming his last movie, Change of Habit.
1969:  The Beatles continued recording "Something", written by George Harrison for his wife Patti Boyd.  No vocals were recorded yet, but the group did 36 takes of the song, with John Lennon on piano and Billy Preston on organ.
1969:  Pink Floyd appeared at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce in England.
1969:  Popular session drummer Benny Benjamin died of a stroke brought on by alcoholism and drugs, at age 43.  Benjamin played for Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and the Four Tops.




1969:  Norman Greenbaum had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Spirit In The Sky".
1970:  Tyrone Davis moved to #1 on the R&B chart with "Turn Back The Hands Of Time".









1970:  One of the hottest new songs was "My Baby Loves Lovin'" by White Plains, which shot up from 87 to 62 on this date.










                              The Guess Who were moving up with "American Woman"...


  1970:  "ABC" by the Jackson 5 remained at #1 while the Beatles held steady at #2 with "Let It Be".  Norman Greenbaum was #3 with "Spirit In The Sky".  The rest of the Top 10:  Guess Who's double-sided hit "American Woman"/"No Sugar Tonight" was #4, John Lennon's "Instant Karma" slid to #5, the Friends of Distinction moved up to 6 with "Love Or Let Me Be Lonely", Edison Lighthouse remained in the Top 10 with "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)", Badfinger dropped with "Come And Get It", the Ides of March rocketed from 19-9 with "Vehicle" and Tyrone Davis was at 10 with "Turn Back The Hands Of Time".








1970:  Make it nine weeks in a row at #1 for Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel.  The album had spent all but three weeks at #1.  Deja Vu, the great album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, hung in there at #2 with the Beatles' Hey Jude at 3.  The rest of the Top 10:  Santana at #4, Chicago II at 5, Led Zeppelin II at #6, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 was #7, Steppenwolf 'Live' was #8, Psychedelic Shack from the Temptations came in at #9 and American Woman by the Guess Who was #10.
1972:  Bruce Springsteen played a brief set for John Hammond of CBS Records in New York.  Hammond was so impressed that he arranged a full-fledged audition for Springsteen at the Gaslight Club in New York for other executives from CBS.  Obviously, Springsteen met with their approval as well.
1977:  Eric Clapton recorded "Wonderful Tonight".




1977:  Barry Manilow released the single "Looks Like We Made It".
1979:  The Who appeared in concert for the first time following the death of drummer Keith Moon at the Rainbow Theatre in London.  Kenney Jones was the group's new drummer.
1981:  Smokey Robinson owned the top R&B song for a fifth week with "Being with You".







1981:  Sheena Easton's debut song "Morning Train" reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart on this date.
1981:  Easton pulled off a double feat with the #1 song on the popular music chart as well.  Kim Carnes made an 18-7 move up with "Bette Davis Eyes".








Come Dancing by The Kinks on Grooveshark
1983:  The Kinks released their comeback single "Come Dancing".










                                           Spandau Ballet had a worldwide smash...


1983:  Spandau Ballet hit #1 in the U.K. with "True".
1987:  The Cutting Crew owned the new #1 song--"(I Just) Died in Your Arms".








1987:  "The Finer Things" by Steve Winwood remained at #1 for a second week on the Adult Contemporary chart.












1991:  Paula Abdul released the single "Rush, Rush".
1991:  On a budget of $61,000, Nirvana reserved 16 days at the Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California to begin recording the album Nevermind.
1992:  The Cure reached #1 in the U.K. with their album Wish.
1992:  Bonnie Raitt received an honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music.







1994:  Lisa Loeb released the single "Stay (I Missed You)".
2000:  Bobbi Martin ("For The Love Of Him" from 1970) died of cancer at the age of 56 in Baltimore, Maryland.









1997:  The Wallflowers performed in the parking lot of the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Florida to raise money for Kids for the World.  (Note:  several websites inaccurately report that the concert occurred on May 3.  It was on May 2, according to the newspaper 'The Orlando Sentinel'.)
2005:  The members of Cream got together to perform four concerts (May 2, 3, 5 & 6) at London's Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had broken up.  
2006:  Donna D'Errico from Baywatch filed for divorce from Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx.  (Note:  some websites report that D'Errico filed the divorce on May 3.  It was May 2, according to 'CBS News'.) 








2007:  Organizers in Wroclaw, Poland were trying to get 1,876 guitarists to the city's square to set a Guinness World Record for the biggest guitar ensemble in history.  The guitarists would all play "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix.
2008:  Chad Kroeger of Nickelback was banned from driving for one year following his conviction of drunk driving.  Kroger had almost twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
2008:  Ringo Starr:  Off the Record debuted on HBO.
2014:  Jessica Cleaves, singer with the Friends of Distinction, died in Los Angeles at the age of 65.


Born This Day:

1929:  Link Wray, groundbreaking guitarist who pioneered the distorted guitar sound and invented the power chord, was born in Dunn, North Carolina; died November 5, 2005 of heart failure in Copenhagen at the age of 76.
1933:  Bunk Gardner, who played woodwinds and tenor sax 
for Mothers of Invention, was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1936: Engelbert Humperdinck (real name Arnold George Dorsey) was born in Madras (now Chennai), India.
1945: Randy Cain, founding member of the Delfonics ("La-La (Means I Love You)" from 1968), was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died April 9, 2009 in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey.






1945:  Goldy McJohn, keyboardist of Steppenwolf
1946:  Bob Henrit, drummer of Argent and the Kinks, was born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England.










1946:  Lesley Gore was born in Brooklyn, New York; died of lung cancer in Manhattan February 16, 2015.  (Note:  some websites claim Gore was born in New York City, but she was born in Brooklyn, according to the newspaper 'The New York Times'.)







1950:  Lou Gramm, great lead singer of Foreigner and a solo performer, was born in Rochester, New York.
1951:  Jo Callis, keyboardist, lead guitarist and songwriter for the Human League, was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.
1954:  Prescott Niles, bassist of the Knack, was born in New York City.
1956:  David Rhodes, guitarist for Peter Gabriel and later a producer, was born in London.
1961:  Dr. Robert (real name Bruce Robert Howard), singer/songwriter of the Blow Monkeys ("Digging Your Scene" from 1986), was born in Haddington, Scotland.
1985:  Lily Allen was born in Hammersmith, London.

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