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.
1954: Elvis Presley performed at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis, Tennessee. 1956: Brenda Lee recorded "Jambalaya" during her first recording session in Nashville, Tennessee. 1957: The Elvis Presley movie Loving You opened in theaters nationwide. 1960: Elvis Is Back was the #1 album in the U.K.
This group was one of the hottest in the world in the early to mid-70's. Here is the Discography* for the Carpenters: Studio Albums: 1969: Ticket to Ride (#150, #20 U.K., #19 Australia)
1970: Close to You (#2, #23 U.K., #1 Canada, #16 Australia) 1971: Carpenters (#2, #12 U.K., #6 Canada, #16 Australia)
1972: A Song for You (#4, #13 U.K., #5 Canada, #6 Australia) 1973: Now & Then (#2, #2 U.K., #2 Canada, #3 Australia) 1975: Horizon (#13, #1 U.K., #4 Canada, #21 Australia) 1976: A Kind of Hush (#33, #3 U.K., #22 Canada, #57 Australia) 1977: Passage (#49, #12 U.K., #57 Canada, #48 Australia)
1978: Christmas Portrait (#93, #104 U.K.) 1981: Made in America (#52, #12 U.K., #50 Australia) 1983: Voice of the Heart (#46, #6 U.K., #54 Australia) 1984: An Old-Fashioned Christmas (#190) 1989: Lovelines (#73 U.K.) 2001: As Time Goes By Live Albums: 1975: Live in Japan 1976: Live at the Palladium (#28 U.K.) Compilations: 1973: The Singles: 1969-1973 (#1, #1 U.K.) 1985: Yesterday Once More (#144, #10 U.K.) 1991: From the Top (Box Set) 1995: Interpretations (#29 U.K.) 1997: Love Songs (#106, #47 U.K.) 1998: Reflections
2000: The Singles: 1969-1981 (#45, #65 U.K.) 2002: The Essential Collection: 1965-1997 2003: Carpenters Perform Carpenter 2004: Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition (#101, #4 U.K.) 2006: The Ultimate Collection 2009: 40/40 (#21 U.K.) 2014: Icon 2015: The Complete Singles
1963: Elvis Presley had the top U.K. Song with "(You're The ) Devil In Disguise".
1965: The Beatles' movie Help! premiered at the Pavilion in London. 1966: Bob Dylan suffered a serious accident when he crashed his motorcycle near Woodstock, New York. 1966: Cream made their live debut at The Twisted Wheel in Manchester, England. 1966: The Small Faces and Spencer Davis helped usher in the National Jazz and Blues Festival in England, being held for the first time at the Royal Windsor Racecourse in Windsor. 1967: The International Love-In Festival took place at Alexandra Palace in London with Pink Floyd, the Animals and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown among others. 1967: Petula Clark's "Don't Sleep In The Subway" continued to set the pace for a third week on the Easy Listening chart. 1967: "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles moved up from #71 to #29 on this date.
1967: Another of the famous dates in the Rock Era as the Doors moved to #1 with "Light My Fire". Stevie Wonder had a nice move (6-2) with "I Was Made to Love Her". "Windy" by the Association finally relinquished its spot at #1, followed by Frankie Valli's solo hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and Procol Harum at #5 with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale". The rest of the Top 10: The Music Explosion with "Little Bit O' Soul", the Buckinghams had song #7--"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", Jefferson Airplane's first big hit "White Rabbit" reached the Top 10, the 5th Dimension were at #9 with "Up-Up and Away" and the 4 Seasons were at 10 with "C'mon Marianne".
1954: The first interview with Elvis Presley was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar. 1956: Elvis Presley appeared on television for the first time on the CBS program Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. 1956: Gene Vincent appeared on The Perry Como Show. 1957: Jerry Lee Lewis appeared on the television program The Steve Allen Show. 1960: Cliff Richard and the Shadows topped the competition in the U.K. with "Please Don't Tease".
1955: Chuck Berry released his first single on this date as "Maybellene" was sent to radio stations. 1961: The Tokens recorded "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". 1963: Judy Collins, John Lee Hooker, and the Tarriers performed on the second day of the Newport Folk Festival. 1963: The Beatles concluded a week of shows at the Odeon Cinema in Weston-Super-Mare, England. 1963: "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" by Rolf Harris was #1 for a third week on the Easy Listening chart.
1963: Another of the famous days in the Rock Era, as on this date Peter, Paul and Mary entered the Top 10 with the classic "Blowin' In The Wind". 1965: Gary Lewis & the Playboys had a rather healthy move (40-13) with "Save Your Heart For Me".
1960: "Walk - Don't Run", one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era* from the Ventures, moved from 88 to 39 on this date. 1960: Brenda Lee continued to hold on to #1 with "I'm Sorry". 1962: The Beatles performed two shows at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, then performed at the Cabaret Club (28 Duke Street) later in the evening. It was the group's only show at the Cabaret Club, which has since been demolished. 1964: The Beatles reached #1 on the U.K. Album chart with A Hard Day's Night. 1964: The Beatles moved from #12 to #1 in their second week with the album A Hard Day's Night. 1964: The great song "The Girl From Ipanema" by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto remained the top song on the Easy Listening chart.
This powerful song about the plight of the common man stalled at #30, when it should have been in the Top 10, if not #1:
They Don't Care About Us
Michael Jackson
Lyrics and Music by Michael Jackson
Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Situation, aggravation Everybody allegation In the suite, on the news Everybody dog food Bang bang, shot dead Everybody's gone mad
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
Beat me, hate me You can never break me Will me, thrill me You can never kill me Jew me, sue me Everybody do me Kick me, kike me Don't you black or white me
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
Tell me what has become of my life I have a wife and two children who love me I am the victim of police brutality, now I'm tired of being the victim of hate You're ripping me off my pride Oh, for God's sake I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy... Set me free
Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Trepidation, speculation Everybody allegation In the suite, on the news Everybody dog food Black man, blackmail Throw your brother in jail
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
Tell me what has become of my rights Am I invisible because you ignore me? Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now I'm tired of being the victim of shame They're throwing me in a class with a bad name I can't believe this is the land from which I came You know I really do hate to say it The government don't wanna see But if Roosevelt was living He wouldn't let this be, no, no
Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Situation, speculation Everybody litigation Beat me, bash me You can never trash me Hit me, kick me You can never get me
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
Some things in life they just don't wanna see But if Martin Luther was living He wouldn't let this be, no, no
Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Situation, segregation Everybody allegation In the suite, on the news Everybody dog food Kick me, kike me Don't you wrong or right me
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us All I wanna say is that They don't really care about All I wanna say is that they don't really care about All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us
Inside The Rock Era, as many disc jockeys and Rock Era fans know, has the most accurate reporting of music news items in our Calendar*. It doesn't take long to realize that, as nearly daily, we point out all the mistakes of our competition in the history of music news. So before you go on your show to report "This happened on this day....", do yourself a favor and check out the Inside The Rock EraCalendar* first.
