The world was deprived of culture while a madman possessed the nuclear codes. But America has won its independence, and with that, comes the terrific news that Inside The Rock Era is back. Our re-introduction on the world stage will kick off in earnest on Monday, February 1 when we present The Top 100 Artists of the Rock Era*!
This special, long delayed by the danger to America, will begin by presenting salutes to two artists who would have been featured in The Top 100* during its scheduled airing in 2017 if not for the emergency. Then, we feature one artist per day from #100 all the way to #1...as we return to normalcy.
1957: The movieDon't Knock the Rock, starring Bill Haley & the Comets and Little Richard, premiered in Australia. Haley & his group, who were touring in Australia, attended the opening. The movie had premiered in New York City on December 12.
1961: All signs were that Connie Francis had a big hit. "Where the Boys Are" moved from 90 to 42.
1961: For the third week, Bert Kaempfert held down the #1 song with "Wonderland By Night". Ferrante & Teicher's excellent "Exodus" was second with another instrumental, "Calcutta" from Lawrence Welk close behind. The Shirelles remained fourth with the song written by Stanley, Idaho's Carole King--"Will You Love Me Tomorrow". The rest of the Top 10: "Angel Baby" from Rosie & the Originals, Elvis Presley's former #1 smash "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", the Miracles flew from 12 to 7 with "Shop Around", Neil Sedaka was up six (14-8) with "Calendar Girl", Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" bounded downstairs and Ray Peterson had #10 with "Corinna, Corinna".
1965: Herman's Hermits released the single "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat".
Can you play "The Name Game"?
1965: Beatles '65 was #1 on the Album chart for a third week with Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes second once again. Soundtracks dominated the Top 10 with "Mary Poppins" #3, "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles #5, "My Fair Lady" moving up to #6 and the "Roustabout" Soundtrack from Elvis Presley #8. 1965: Petula Clark sped "Downtown" and it reached #1, holding off "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. The Searchers were at #3 with "Love Potion Number Nine". The fastest-rising song within the Top 10 was "The Name Game" from Shirley Ellis. 1966: Stevie Wonder appeared at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
1967: Johnny Rivers released the single "Baby I Need Your Lovin'".
1969: Alan Parsons engineered his first session (as the 2nd Engineer to Glyn Johns) with the Beatles as the group recorded "Get Back". 1971: George Harrison reached #1 in the U.K. with his solo hit "My Sweet Lord". 1971: Bobby Goldsboro placed "Watching Scotty Grow" at #1 on the Adult chart for a third week. 1971: Gladys Knight & the Pips reached #1 on the R&B chart with their great song "If I Were Your Woman".
1971: Dawn topped the chart with "Knock Three Times" as "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison was second. The 5th Dimension had a strong #3 with "One Less Bell To Answer" while the Bee Gees were up to #4 with one of their biggest career hits to date--"Lonely Days". Santana was on the way down with "Black Magic Woman". The rest of the Top 10: Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End", King Floyd remained seventh with "Groove Me", Elton John's historic first Top 10--"Your Song", Lynn Anderson moved nicely from 15-9 with "Rose Garden" and Perry Como reached the Top 10 with "It's Impossible". 1973: While performing to a sellout crowd in Madison Square Garden in New York City, Neil Young was handed a message onstage and then announced that a peace accord had been reached in Vietnam. The crowd went crazy for 10 minutes. 1977: Patti Smith ("Because The Night") fell off a stage in Tampa, Florida and broke her vertebrae and required 22 stitches to her head. She quit performing live as a result.
1978: Van Halen released their first single "You Really Got Me", a remake of the Kinks' classic. (Note: some websites erroneously say the song was released on January 28, the date the song debuted on the charts. It is physically impossible for a song to be released by a record company, added to radio station playlists, reported by the radio stations to the trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers all on the same day. Typically, singles are released on the Monday or Tuesday preceding the Saturday publication of the trade papers.)
1978: Yvonne Elliman released the single "If I Can't Have You". (Note: some websites mistakenly put the date of release as December 13. The song "If I Can't Have You" released on December 13 was recorded by the Bee Gees (who wrote it) and included on the flip side of the single 'Stayin' Alive". The group gave the song to Yvonne Elliman, whose version appears on the 'Saturday Night Fever' Soundtrack and was released as a single on January 23.)
1978: Terry Kath of Chicago died after accidentally shooting himself in the head at a party with a pistol he didn't know was loaded. He died eight days shy of his 32nd birthday. 1978: Vic Ames of the Ames Brothers died in an automobile accident at the age of 52. 1979: Brian Wilson and wife Marilyn divorced. 1982: "Yesterday's Songs" by Neil Diamond was #1 for a sixth week.
1982: George Benson was the man on the R&B chart with the new #1--"Turn Your Love Around".
1984: Kenny Loggins released the single "Footloose".
1984: Michael Jackson released the single "Thriller". 1986: The first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was inducted and the selection committee went hog wild as if they couldn't invite enough people. Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holy, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, disc jockey Alan Freed and Sam Phillips, the boss at Sun Records, all were honored. 1988: Johnny Hates Jazz owned the #1 album in the U.K. with Turn Back the Clock.
INXS with the great title track from 'Kick'...
1988: Tiffany took over the #1 spot on the Album chart with her self-titled release. That ended the run of Faith by George Michael briefly while the "Dirty Dancing" Soundtrack was third. Michael Jackson remained fourth with Bad while Whitesnake's self-titled release was #5. The rest of the Top 10: The great album Kick from INXS, John Cougar Mellencamp with The Lonesome Jubilee, George Harrison moved to #8 with Cloud Nine, Whitney by Whitney Houston was #9 and Hysteria by Def Leppard was at #10.
Expose had a great new song....
1988: Michael Jackson hit #1 for the ninth time as a solo artist with "The Way You Make Me Feel". Expose had the highest new Top 10 with "Seasons Change". 1989: James Brown was sentenced to six years and six months in jail in connection with the police chase through two states.
1990: Allen Collins, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd and later the Rossington Collins Band, died at age 37 from complications of pneumonia in Jacksonville, Florida. Collins had been paralyzed from the waist down since 1986 after a car crash that also killed his girlfriend. 1993: Genesis scored a #1 album in the U.K. with Live the Way We Walk Volume II.
1993: Whitney Houston dominated the R&B chart for a ninth week at #1 with one of The Top 10 Songs of the Rock Era*--"I Will Always Love You". 1993: Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)".
1993:
Whitney Houston held on to #1 for a ninth week with "I Will Always Love You".
1997: The Spice Girls' movie Spice World was released in the United States. 1997: Richard Berry, who wrote "Louie Louie", died in his sleep in Los Angeles after suffering an aneurysm at age 61. 1998: Johnny Funches from the Dells died of pneumonia at age 62.
"Put Your Lights On" from Everlast and Carlos...
2000: Supernatural by Santana was the #1 album. 2001: Jonathan King ("Everyone's Gone To The Moon") was arrested and charged with eleven more offenses of sexually abusing children. No November 24, King was charged with three crimes. The charges dated back to the 1970's as more people came forward. (Note: some websites say King was arrested on January 24 or 25th, but those were the dates that newspaper accounts appeared. Some websites say that he was charged with 10 offenses. According to the newspaper 'The Guardian', King was charged with 11 offenses and the correct date is January 23.) 2002: We hear often that performers sign a recording contract to release albums. This is a new one. On this date, EMI announced that it would pay Mariah Carey $28 million to not put out any more music. 2003: R. Kelly was arrested on 12 more counts of child pornography. He was already facing 21 separate charges of producing child pornography and appearing in a video having sex with an underage girl. The new charges were a result of digital sex pictures being discovered at his home in Florida the previous June. 2004: One had to wonder about fans of Jethro Tull. On this date, David Palmer, who was the former keyboardist for the group, announced he had undergone a sex change and would now be known as "Dee". 2004: Then you get this news about Dave Holland, age 55, drummer of Judas Priest. An English court found Holland guilty of attempting to rape a learning-disabled teenager he was giving drum lessons to. Pretty despicable group to be connected to. 2005: Ciara had the top U.K. song with "Goodies".
Born This Day: 1940: Joe Dowell, who took "Wooden Heart" to #1 in 1961, was born in Bloomington, Indiana; died February 4, 2016 in Bloomington, Illinois after suffering a heart attack a week earlier.
1941: Buddy Buie, who wrote over 300 songs, including "Traces", "Spooky" and "Stormy" for the Classics IV and "So Into You" and "Imaginary Lover" for the Atlanta Rhythm Section while serving as manager and producer for those groups, was born in Dotham, Alabama; died July 18, 2015 of a heart attack in Dotham. Buie also wrote for Garth Brooks, Santana, Gloria Estefan, Tommy Roe, and others. (Note: Some websites report Buie was born on December 2, 1941, while others say it was December 31, 1941. According to Ancestry.com, he was born January 23, 1941.) 1944: Jerry Lawson, lead singer of the Persuasions, and also a producer and arranger, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 1948: Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters was born in Oakland, California. 1950: Danny Federici, keyboardist of the E Street Band, was born in Flemington, New Jersey; died April 17, 2008 in New York City after battling melanoma for three years. 1950: Bill Cunningham, bassist of the Box Tops, was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1953: Robin Zander, lead singer of Cheap Trick, was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. (Note: some websites claim Robin was born in Rockport, Illinois, but he was born in Beloit, according to the book 'Exploring America's Highways: Wisconsin Trip Trivia' by Michael Helm and 'MTV'.)1955: Earl Falconer, bassist of UB40, was born in Birmingham, England. 1955: Reggie Calloway, trumpeter of Midnight Star and Calloway ("I Wanna' Be Rich"), was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1975: Nick Harmer, bassist of Death Cab for Cutie, was born in Landstuhl, Germany.
1957: The movieDon't Knock the Rock, starring Bill Haley & the Comets and Little Richard, premiered in Australia. Haley & his group, who were touring in Australia, attended the opening. The movie had premiered in New York City on December 12.
1961: All signs were that Connie Francis had a big hit. "Where the Boys Are" moved from 90 to 42.
1961: For the third straight week, Bert Kaempfert held down the #1 song with "Wonderland By Night". Ferrante & Teicher's excellent "Exodus" was second with another instrumental, "Calcutta" from Lawrence Welk close behind. The Shirelles remained fourth with the song written by Stanley, Idaho's Carole King--"Will You Love Me Tomorrow". The rest of the Top 10: "Angel Baby" from Rosie & the Originals, Elvis Presley's former #1 smash "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", the Miracles flew from 12 to 7 with "Shop Around", Neil Sedaka was up six (14-8) with "Calendar Girl", Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" bounded downstairs and Ray Peterson had #10 with "Corinna, Corinna".
1965: Herman's Hermits released the single "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat".
Can you play "The Name Game"?
1965: Beatles '65 was #1 on the Album chart for a third week with Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes second once again. Soundtracks dominated the Top 10 with "Mary Poppins" #3, "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles #5, "My Fair Lady" moving up to #6 and the "Roustabout" Soundtrack from Elvis Presley #8. 1965: Petula Clark sped "Downtown" and it reached #1, holding off "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. The Searchers were at #3 with "Love Potion Number Nine". The fastest-rising song within the Top 10 was "The Name Game" from Shirley Ellis. 1966: Stevie Wonder appeared at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
1967: Johnny Rivers released the single "Baby I Need Your Lovin'".
1969: Alan Parsons engineered his first session (as the 2nd Engineer to Glyn Johns) with the Beatles as the group recorded "Get Back". 1971: George Harrison reached #1 in the U.K. with his solo hit "My Sweet Lord". 1971: Bobby Goldsboro placed "Watching Scotty Grow" at #1 on the Adult chart for a third week. 1971: Gladys Knight & the Pips reached #1 on the R&B chart with their great song "If I Were Your Woman".
1971: Dawn topped the chart with "Knock Three Times" as "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison was second. The 5th Dimension had a strong #3 with "One Less Bell To Answer" while the Bee Gees were up to #4 with one of their biggest career hits to date--"Lonely Days". Santana was on the way down with "Black Magic Woman". The rest of the Top 10: Barbra Streisand with "Stoney End", King Floyd remained seventh with "Groove Me", Elton John's historic first Top 10--"Your Song", Lynn Anderson moved nicely from 15-9 with "Rose Garden" and Perry Como reached the Top 10 with "It's Impossible". 1973: While performing to a sellout crowd in Madison Square Garden in New York City, Neil Young was handed a message onstage and then announced that a peace accord had been reached in Vietnam. The crowd went crazy for 10 minutes. 1977: Patti Smith ("Because The Night") fell off a stage in Tampa, Florida and broke her vertebrae and required 22 stitches to her head. She quit performing live as a result.
1978: Van Halen released their first single "You Really Got Me", a remake of the Kinks' classic. (Note: some websites erroneously say the song was released on January 28, the date the song debuted on the charts. It is physically impossible for a song to be released by a record company, added to radio station playlists, reported by the radio stations to the trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers all on the same day. Typically, singles are released on the Monday or Tuesday preceding the Saturday publication of the trade papers.)
1978: Yvonne Elliman released the single "If I Can't Have You". (Note: some websites mistakenly put the date of release as December 13. The song "If I Can't Have You" released on December 13 was recorded by the Bee Gees (who wrote it) and included on the flip side of the single 'Stayin' Alive". The group gave the song to Yvonne Elliman, whose version appears on the 'Saturday Night Fever' Soundtrack and was released as a single on January 23.)
1978: Vic Ames of the Ames Brothers died in an automobile accident at the age of 52. 1979: Brian Wilson and wife Marilyn divorced. 1982: "Yesterday's Songs" by Neil Diamond was #1 for a sixth week.
1982: George Benson was the man on the R&B chart with the new #1--"Turn Your Love Around".
1984: Kenny Loggins released the single "Footloose".
1984: Michael Jackson released the single "Thriller". 1986: The first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was inducted and the selection committee went hog wild as if they couldn't invite enough people. Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holy, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, disc jockey Alan Freed and Sam Phillips, the boss at Sun Records, all were honored. 1988: Johnny Hates Jazz owned the #1 album in the U.K. with Turn Back the Clock.
INXS with the great title track from 'Kick'...
1988: Tiffany took over the #1 spot on the Album chart with her self-titled release. That ended the run of Faith by George Michael briefly while the "Dirty Dancing" Soundtrack was third. Michael Jackson remained fourth with Bad while Whitesnake's self-titled release was #5. The rest of the Top 10: The great album Kick from INXS, John Cougar Mellencamp with The Lonesome Jubilee, George Harrison moved to #8 with Cloud Nine, Whitney by Whitney Houston was #9 and Hysteria by Def Leppard was at #10.
Expose had a great new song....
1988: Michael Jackson hit #1 for the ninth time as a solo artist with "The Way You Make Me Feel". Expose had the highest new Top 10 with "Seasons Change". 1989: James Brown was sentenced to six years and six months in jail in connection with the police chase through two states.
1990: Allen Collins, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd and later the Rossington Collins Band, died at age 37 from complications of pneumonia in Jacksonville, Florida. Collins had been paralyzed from the waist down since 1986 after a car crash that also killed his girlfriend. 1993: Genesis scored a #1 album in the U.K. with Live the Way We Walk Volume II.
1993: Whitney Houston dominated the R&B chart for a ninth week at #1 with one of The Top 10 Songs of the Rock Era*--"I Will Always Love You". 1993: Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)".
1993:
Whitney Houston held on to #1 for a ninth week with "I Will Always Love You".
1997: The Spice Girls' movie Spice World was released in the United States. 1997: Richard Berry, who wrote "Louie Louie", died in his sleep in Los Angeles after suffering an aneurysm at age 61. 1998: Johnny Funches from the Dells died of pneumonia at age 62.
"Put Your Lights On" from Everlast and Carlos...
2000: Supernatural by Santana was the #1 album. 2001: Jonathan King ("Everyone's Gone To The Moon") was arrested and charged with eleven more offenses of sexually abusing children. No November 24, King was charged with three crimes. The charges dated back to the 1970's as more people came forward. (Note: some websites say King was arrested on January 24 or 25th, but those were the dates that newspaper accounts appeared. Some websites say that he was charged with 10 offenses. According to the newspaper 'The Guardian', King was charged with 11 offenses and the correct date is January 23.) 2002: We hear often that performers sign a recording contract to release albums. This is a new one. On this date, EMI announced that it would pay Mariah Carey $28 million to not put out any more music. 2003: R. Kelly was arrested on 12 more counts of child pornography. He was already facing 21 separate charges of producing child pornography and appearing in a video having sex with an underage girl. The new charges were a result of digital sex pictures being discovered at his home in Florida the previous June. 2004: One had to wonder about fans of Jethro Tull. On this date, David Palmer, who was the former keyboardist for the group, announced he had undergone a sex change and would now be known as "Dee". 2004: Then you get this news about Dave Holland, age 55, drummer of Judas Priest. An English court found Holland guilty of attempting to rape a learning-disabled teenager he was giving drum lessons to. Pretty despicable group to be connected to. 2005: Ciara had the top U.K. song with "Goodies".
Born This Day: 1940: Joe Dowell, who took "Wooden Heart" to #1 in 1961, was born in Bloomington, Indiana; died February 4, 2016 in Bloomington, Illinois after suffering a heart attack a week earlier.
1941: Buddy Buie, who wrote over 300 songs, including "Traces", "Spooky" and "Stormy" for the Classics IV and "So Into You" and "Imaginary Lover" for the Atlanta Rhythm Section while serving as manager and producer for those groups, was born in Dotham, Alabama; died July 18, 2015 of a heart attack in Dotham. Buie also wrote for Garth Brooks, Santana, Gloria Estefan, Tommy Roe, and others. (Note: Some websites report Buie was born on December 2, 1941, while others say it was December 31, 1941. According to Ancestry.com, he was born January 23, 1941.) 1944: Jerry Lawson, lead singer of the Persuasions, and also a producer and arranger, was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 1948: Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters was born in Oakland, California. 1950: Danny Federici, keyboardist of the E Street Band, was born in Flemington, New Jersey; died April 17, 2008 in New York City after battling melanoma for three years. 1950: Bill Cunningham, bassist of the Box Tops, was born in Memphis, Tennessee.
1953: Robin Zander, lead singer of Cheap Trick, was born in Beloit, Wisconsin. (Note: some websites claim Robin was born in Rockport, Illinois, but he was born in Beloit, according to the book 'Exploring America's Highways: Wisconsin Trip Trivia' by Michael Helm and 'MTV'.)1955: Earl Falconer, bassist of UB40, was born in Birmingham, England. 1955: Reggie Calloway, trumpeter of Midnight Star and Calloway ("I Wanna' Be Rich"), was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1975: Nick Harmer, bassist of Death Cab for Cutie, was born in Landstuhl, Germany.
