This is the week that was in matters musical…
1965, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” is released … it turns out to be his biggest hit ever, climbing to number two on the U.S. pop chart…
1968, the album In-a-Gadda-da-Vida from Iron Butterfly debuts on the U.S. charts … the title track, clocking in at a whopping 17 minutes, features one of the longest drum solos in rock history … the psychedelic, proto-metal song experiences a slight title change before release: from “In The Garden of Eden” to “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” … the switch was made to match vocalist/keyboardist Doug Ingle’s slurred phrasing and because an Atco record exec thought it sounded and looked more Eastern, a trend spurred by the Beatles’ and Rolling Stones’ flirtations with Eastern spirituality…
1974, Joey Ramone slides out from behind the drum kit and steps up to the mic to assume vocal duties for The Ramones…
1977, Judas Priest begins its first U.S. tour in Oakland, CA, as the opening act for Led Zeppelin…
1980, Back In Black, the new album from AC/DC is released … it is the band’s first album with new singer Brian Johnson … Johnson joined the band after the untimely, alcohol-driven death of singer Bon Scott, and the album is a Scott tribute of sorts … released just five months after Scott’s death the disc explodes up the charts … by 1997 it has sold 16 million copies in the U.S. alone…
1986, the film Sid and Nancy premieres at the Limelight Club in London … the film relates the mostly true biographical tale of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen … the raw, dark film culminates in the stabbing death of Nancy, Sid’s arrest on suspicion of murder, and his heroin OD shortly thereafter…
1987, Guns ‘N Roses debut album, Appetite For Destruction, is released … while it is known as a landmark album now, it won’t start moving significant units or receiving much airplay until MTV puts the video for “Sweet Child o’ Mine” into heavy rotation nearly a year later … after the ballad shoots to the top of the charts, the original lead single from the album, “Welcome to the Jungle,” is re-released and hits the Top 10 … the Top 10 hit “Paradise City” soon follows, as do sold-out arena tours, classic rock star excess, and truckloads of intra-band conflict…
1992, Bruce Springsteen opens his first U.S. tour since 1988 in New Jersey (natch) at The Meadowlands entertainment complex … he and the E-Street boys will play 11 sold-out shows in the 21,000-seat Brendan Byrne arena, with some of the shows going until one in the morning … it’s good to be the Boss…
1996, Kim Thayil of Soundgarden is arrested for assault and released the same day in North Carolina … the band had just wrapped up their day as main-stage headliners on the Lollapalooza festival stop at Rockingham Dragway … from his own mouth: “It wasn’t even a fan and it wasn’t even at our show. It was in the lobby of our hotel in North Carolina. These people heard that we were staying in the hotel so they’re sneaking out to look and they had been drinking so they were a little bit verbally abusive. I told one of them to go away with a twist of the wrist and that was it, just once. It wouldn’t have been a big deal had I not been who I am–a guy in a rock band.” … thanks for the clarification, Kim…
2003, Chino Moreno of The Deftones badly pulls his groin muscle during a particularly energetic set at the Hawthorne Racetrack in Chicago on the Summer Sanitarium tour … after consulting a doctor, the band announces they will miss the Sanitarium stop in Minnesota and two club dates in South Dakota and Montana … the hope is that a few days’ rest will allow the singer to perform at the next Sanitarium stop in Denver later that week…
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals
July 20: Buddy Knox (1933), Kim Carnes (1945), The Moody Blues’ John Lodge (1945), Carlos Santana (1947), Twisted Sister’s J.J. French (1954), Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols (1956), Simple Minds’ Mick McNeil (1958), Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell (1964), Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam (1966), Vitamin C (1972)
July 21: Floyd McDaniel (1915), Kay Starr (1922), R&B saxophonist Plas Johnson (1931), Cat Stevens AKA Yusuf Islam (1947), Al Di Meola (1954), Emerson Hart of Tonic (1969)
July 22: George Clinton (1940), Thomas Wayne (1940), Supertramp’s Richard Davies (1944), Estelle Bennett of The Ronettes (1944), Don Henley (1947), Indigo Girl Emily Saliers (1963), Pat Badger of Extreme (1967), Rufus Wainwright (1973), Daniel Jones of Savage Garden (1973)
July 23: Cleve Duncan of The Penguins (1935), Joe Santollo (1943), Tony Joe White (1943), Dino Danelli of The Young Rascals (1945), Andy Mackay of Roxy Music (1946), David Essex (1947), Keith Ferguson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1947), Blair Thornton of BTO (1950), Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore (1961), Tim Kellett of Simply Red (1964), Slash (1965), Sam Watters of Color Me Badd (1970), Alison Krauss (1971), Chad Gracey of Live (1973), Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child (1980)
July 24: Rudy Collins of The Dizzy Gillespie Quintet (1934), Pam Tillis (1957), Paul Geary of Extreme (1961), Jennifer Lopez (1970), Mecca of Digable Planets (1973)
July 25: Rudy West (1932), Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds (1943), Steve Goodman (1948), Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire (1951), Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth (1958)
July 26: Louie Bellson (1924), Sir Mick Jagger (1943), Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds (1943), Roger Taylor of Queen (1949), Gary Cherone of Extreme (1961), Headliner of Arrested Development (1967)
Departures
July 20: musician, music executive, and manager Jim Tyrrell (1998), recording engineer Gary Kellgren (1977), Roy Hamilton (1969)
July 21: gospel singer O’Landa Draper (1998), Colonel Tom Parker (1997), Frankie “Cannibal” Garcia (1996), Bert Keyes (1980)
July 22: Illinois Jacquet (2004), singer Tamara Danz (1996), keyboardist Robert Collins (1996), Jimmy Keyes (1995), Floyd McDaniel (1995), Larry Finnegan (1973)
July 23: Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers (1993), Bert Summer (1990), Keith Godchaux (1980)
July 24: Jerry Lordan (1995), Priscilla Bowman (1988), Bobby Ramirez (1972)
July 25: jazz guitarist Tal Farlow (1998), Charlie Rich (1995), Alex Sadkin (1987), Piano Red (1985), Big Mama Thornton (1984)
July 26: Sha Na Na bassist Chico Ryan (1998), composer Evelyn Levine (1996), Mary Wells (1992), Brent Mydland of the Grateful Dead (1990)