Monday, July 30, 2018

This Date in Rock Music History: July 31

1959:  Neil Sedaka recorded four takes of the song "Oh Carol!" that he had written for Carole King.
1959:  Cliff Richard ruled the U.K. chart with "Living Doll".
1961:  "The Boll Weevil Song" by Brook Benton was #1 on the Easy Listening chart for the third week.




1961:  Bobby Lewis made it four weeks in a row at #1 with "Tossin' And Turnin'".  Chris Kenner's "I Like It Like That" was #2 with "The Boll Weevil Song" from Brook Benton trailing.  Brenda Lee had #4 with "Dum Dum".  The rest of the Top 10:  Del Shannon moved up with "Hats Off To Larry", Gary, "U.S." Bonds dropped with "Quarter To Three", the Mar-Keys moved from 12-7 with their great instrumental "Last Night", Connie Francis had the #8 song--"Together", Chubby Checker had song #9 with "Let's Twist Again" and another instrumental, "Yellow Bird" by the Arthur Lyman Group, was #10.












1964:  Martha & the Vandellas released the single "Dancing In The Street".
1964:  The Rolling Stones' concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was stopped after 12 minutes when violence broke out in the crowd.  But they're such a calming influence.
1964:  Jim Reeves died at the age of 40 when his light plane, a single-engine Beechcrafter, crashed outside of Nashville, Tennessee.











1965:  The Yardbirds performed at the Cleethorpes Jazz Festival in England.
1965:  The Who were at Wilton Hall in Bletchley, England.
1965:  Sonny & Cher had a healthy move with "I Got You Babe", which moved from #57 to #22.
1965:  The Four Tops had one of the top R&B songs of All-Time with "I Can't Help Myself", which on this date topped the chart for the ninth consecutive week.
1966:  Cream played their first major concert in Windsor, England, at the sixth annual National Jazz and Blues Festival.  Georgie Fame and Bluesology, featuring a young Elton John, also performed on the closing night.  It is no longer called that, and has since moved to its permanent home in Leeds and Reading, but the Festival has always been amazing.
1966:  The Doors opened for the Turtles for a second night at the Fifth Estate in Phoenix, Arizona.  (Note:  some websites say the performances were in Tempe, Arizona while others say they were in Scottsdale, both of which are suburbs of Phoenix.  According to the official Doors website, the shows were in Phoenix.)







1967:  Another special time in the Rock Era as on this date, Bobbie Gentry released "Ode To Billie Joe".










1968:  There must have been magic in the air.  After two session spent rehearsing, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" on this date at Trident Studios in London.
1968:  Tommy James & the Shondells rocked the U.K. with the #1 song "Mony Mony".
1969:  Elvis Presley played a private concert in Las Vegas for the press and friends including Dick Clark, Burt Bacharach and Wayne Newton before kicking off his four-week, $1.5 million run at Las Vegas International Hotel.
1971:  The documentary film Gimme Shelter, which includes footage of the disastrous concert at Altamont, California, premiered at the Rialto Cinema in London.
1971:  Pink Floyd left London for a tour of the Far East that took them to Japan and Australia.







1971:  James Taylor had the #1 Easy Listening song with "You've Got A Friend".
1971:  "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight remained the top R&B song for a fifth week.











                                                  It's not the haters but the good people whose story lives...

1971:  James Taylor reached #1 for the first time with "You've Got A Friend", bumping "Indian Reservation" by Paul Revere & the Raiders from Boise Idaho.  Stanley, Idaho's Carole King was still in the top three with "It's Too Late", Jean Knight climbed up with "Mr. Big Stuff and Tommy James had #5 with "Draggin' The Line".  The rest of the Top 10:  The Bee Gees were at 6 with "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were on their way down with "Don't Pull Your Love", John Denver had song #8 with his first hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads", the Grass Roots were up one with "Sooner Or Later" while Tom Clay exploded up the chart from 26-10 with "What The World Needs Now Is Love/Abraham, Martin And John".








                                                  Jethro Tull had a Top 10 album...


1971:  Tapestry by Carole King was #1 for the seventh week, holding off Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon by James Taylor.  Here's two opposites:  Sticky Fingers from the Rolling Stones at #3 and Jesus Christ Superstar at #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  Ram from Paul & Linda McCartney at #4, What's Going On by Marvin Gaye at #6, the self-titled Carpenters album, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, Stephen Stills 2 moving up to #9 and the third solo release from Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story, at #10.










1972:  Monday fell on this date and of course that meant new releases.  Chicago sent "Saturday In The Park" for consideration.













 
1972:  Elton John released the single "Honky Cat" on Uni Records.















1973:  Stevie Wonder released the single "Higher Ground".  (Note:  some websites naively say the single was released August 3.  "Higher Ground" debuted on the charts on August 5, 1973.  Since the deadline for reporting new additions to radio station playlists is Wednesday, which would have been on August 2 in 1973, it is physically impossible for the single to be released on August 3 in time to debut on the Singles chart on August 5.) 













1976:  Breezin' by George Benson made it to #1 on the Album chart, dethroning Frampton Comes Alive...briefly.  Wings at the Speed of Sound was the #3 album, followed by Chicago X and Jefferson Starship's Spitfire.  The rest of the Top 10:  Beautiful Noise by Neil Diamond, the self-titled Fleetwood Mac still in the Top 10 after 53 weeks, Rock 'N' Roll Music by the Beatles at #8 six years after their breakup, Fly Like An Eagle from Steve Miller Band and people were discovering there was much more to the album The Dream Weaver by Gary Wright than its #1 title song--it moved from 16-10.
1976:  "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" from Lou Rawls set the pace on the R&B chart for the second straight week.







1976:  Lou Rawls had a lot of fans that liked his "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", taking it to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1977:  Starland Vocal Band began their summer replacement television series on CBS.
1979:  Donny Osmond and his wife celebrated the birth of Donny Jr.
1979:  James Taylor gave a free concert before 250,000 in New York City's Central Park to benefit the city's campaign to restore the park's Sheep Meadow.
1980:  John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas was arrested for possession of cocaine and sentenced to five years in prison.

1981:  Debbie Harry released her solo album Koo Koo(Note:  some websites claim the album was released July 27, and others say it was released August 8, but according to the book 'Punk Diary:  The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock:  1970-1982' by George Gimarc, it was released July 31.)









1982:  Survivor stayed tough at #1 with "Eye Of The Tiger" while "Rosanna" by Toto endured a fifth week at #2.  John Cougar (Mellencamp) was still at #3 with "Hurts So Good", Fleetwood Mac had #4 with "Hold Me" and the Steve Miller Band had their first Top 10 in five years with "Abracadabra".  The rest of the Top 10:  Chicago moved from 11 to 6 with one of their biggest hits, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", the Human League was at #7 with "Don't You Want Me", Air Supply was still on a roll with another Top 10--"Even The Nights Are Better", the Motels were steady at 9 with "Only the Lonely" and REO Speedwagon had #10--"Keep The Fire Burnin'".











1984:  Bruce Springsteen released his single "Cover Me".
1984:  Something didn't click...Eric Clapton left Roger Waters' tour in Canada after just two weeks.  Venues were undersold until Waters did the tour in 1985 without Clapton.
1985:  The Eurythmics rose to #1 in the U.K. with "There Must Be An Angel".
1991:  Bryan Adams topped the U.K. Charts with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", a song that would break all records with 16 weeks at #1.
1993:  Janet Jackson moved from 57 to 20 with "If".
1995:  Aerosmith fired their manager Tim Collins.
1999:  Christina Aguilera reached #1 with "Genie In A Bottle".
2003:  In today's segment of "Inmates Run Rap Music" we have not a rapper but the actual founder of Death Row rap records, Suge Knight, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison for punching a parking valet while already being on probation.
2004:  Lubbock, Texas celebrated "Mac Davis Day" and named a street in his honor.







2004:  Simon & Garfunkel closed out their European reunion tour with a free concert at the historic Colosseum in Rome in front of 600,000 fans.
2010:  Mitch Miller ("The Yellow Rose Of Texas" in 1955) died after a short illness at the age of 99 in Manhattan, New York.  (Note:  some websites report Mitch died in the more general New York City, but according to the newspaper 'The New York Times', he died in Manhattan.)



Born This Day:

1923:  Ahmet Ertegun, founder and president of Atlantic Records and the Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was born in Istanbul, Turkey ; died December 14, 2006 in Manhattan, New York after falling and slipping into a coma.
1932:  Morey Carr of the Playmates was born in Waterbury, Connecticut; died of lung cancer in 1997.











1934:  Barry DeVorzon who co-wrote "Nadia's Theme", "Bless The Beasts And The Children" and many others, was born in New York City.
1937:  Bonnie Brown of the Browns ("The Three Bells" from 1956) was born in Sparkman, Arkansas.
1939:  John West, keyboard player of Gary Lewis & the Playboys
1942:  Daniel Boone (real name Peter Lee Stirling), who did "Beautiful Sunday" in 1972, was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.







1943:  Lobo (Roland Kent Lavoie) was born in Tallahassee, Florida.






 
Gary Lewis (2)
1946:  Gary Lewis (Gary Lewis & the Playboys), son of Jerry Lewis, was born in Los Angeles, California.  (Note:  some websites claim Lewis was born in Los Angeles, while others say he was born in Newark, New Jersey, and one says he was born in 1945.  According to the book "Billboard Book of Number One Hits' by Fred Bronson, Lewis was born July 31, 1945 in New York City.)
1946:  Bob Welch, a one-time member of Fleetwood Mac and later a solo performer, was born in Los Angeles, California; committed suicide June 7, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee.  (Note:  some websites show he was born in 1945, but the newspaper 'The Washington Post" reported that he was born in 1946, and a post from Welch's MySpace page in 2009 confirmed that he was born in 1946. 
1947:  Karl Green, guitarist of Herman's Hermits, was born in Davyhulme, Manchester, England.  (Note:  some websites report Karl was born in Salford, England.  While is family lived there, he was born in a hospital in Davyhulme, Manchester, the official place of birth.)
1951:  Carlo Karges, guitarist and songwriter of Nena ("99 Luftballoons" from 1984), was born in Hamburg, Germany; died January 30, 2002 in Hamburg of liver failure. 








1953:  Hugh McDowell, cello player of ELO, was born in Hampstead, London.
1957:  Daniel Ash, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and founding member of Love & Rockets, was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England.












1958:  Bill Berry, drummer of R.E.M., was born in Duluth, Minnesota.
1963:  Norman Cook, rapper of the Housemartins and record producer, was born in Bromley, Kent, England.
1964:  Jim Corr, singer, songwriter and guitarist of the Corrs ("Breathless" from 2000) was born in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.
1978:  Will Champion, drummer of Coldplay, was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England.

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