This is the week that was in matters musical …
1960, “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong enters the Billboard Pop Chart and ultimately rises to #23 … the song will be covered successfully by The Beatles, The Kingsmen, Junior Walker and the Allstars, The Flying Lizards, and badly, in countless karaoke bars worldwide …
1963, The Beatles record their first album Please Please Me at London’s Abbey Road Studios with producer George Martin … the marathon session starts at 10 am and ends 12 hours and 10 songs later with John Lennon, fighting a cold, roaring through a single take of the Isley’s throat-ripping dance rocker “Twist and Shout” … most of the songs are recorded “live” to a two-track recorder with just a few overdubs …
1965, The Who audition for the BBC’s Light Programme … though they ultimately make the show by a vote of four to three, one of the judges intones that they are "Overall not very original and below standard" … another judge deems them "ponderous and unentertaining" … and you thought American Idol was brutal …
1967, working on a tip, British police raid a party at Redlands, the English estate of Keith Richards, searching for illegal drugs … police find amphetamine pills in singer Mick Jagger’s coat and charge him with possession … Richards is charged with allowing his home to be used for drug-taking, and a third guest is charged with heroin possession … Richards spends one night in jail, Jagger gets two … at trial four months later, both Stones are found guilty and given stiff sentences … the London Times gets behind the two rockers, questioning the severity of the sentences in a series of editorials … due to the media pressure, Richards’ conviction is quashed on appeal, and Jagger’s prison sentence is reduced to a conditional discharge …
1969, George Harrison’s tonsils are removed at University College Hospital in London … it is reported that they have been destroyed to prevent the glands from turning up in the memorabilia market … yecch …
1972, upon arriving in Singapore to kick off their first tour of the Pacific, the boys in Led Zeppelin are denied entry into the country because of their long hair … the hairstyles are viewed as a threat to the conservative government’s campaign to reduce the influence of Western culture on its citizens … the band is not permitted to exit the plane, and is forced to return to London immediately … the tour begins later in the week in Perth, Australia …
1979, Stephen Stills is the first rock act to record on digital gear at L.A.’s Record Plant … the tracks are never released, however, and guitarist Ry Cooder’s rockabilly-inflected album Bop ’Til You Drop becomes the first ones-and-zeroes pop record …
1981, Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd’s eighth LP, becomes the longest-charting album ever at 402 consecutive weeks in the Top 200 Albums chart … the album will stay on the charts for another 189 weeks, for a total of nearly 11 consecutive years in the Top 200 … rumor has it that at one point a single Capitol Records plant presses nothing but DSOTM discs … the album will enjoy a resurgence years later when someone with too much time on his hands realizes that when the CD is synced to The Wizard of Oz, there are a number of musical and lyrical coincidences … the band denies that the album and film are connected in any way whatsoever, and since VCRs and CD players had yet to become readily available when the album was recorded in 1973, it appears to be no more than coincidence …
1982, the 300-pound marble slab that marks the grave of former Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen in Orange Park, Florida … it is recovered by police two weeks later in a dried-up river bed nearby …
1997, U2 announces its upcoming Popmart Tour from where else? K-Mart, of course … the band’s press conference, held in the lingerie department of a Manhattan K-Mart, is a raucous affair, including a performance of the B-side "Holy Joe," as well as the lowdown on the high-tech tour, which will include a giant lemon mirrorball, a 12-foot stuffed olive on a 100-foot toothpick, a towering 100-foot golden arch, and the world’s largest-ever LED screen … guitarist The Edge tells reporters, "We believe in kitsch. That’s what we are up to at the moment" …
2004, a schism occurs in Queens of the Stone Age when bass player Nick Olivieri is kicked to the curb by last-man-standing Josh Homme … the pair had played together since the early ’90s, but the out-of-control Olivieri went too far at a show by winging full bottles of Corona into the crowd and insulting their fans, leaving Homme no choice but to can his main man … weeks later, Homme still gets choked up when asked about firing his BFF, “It feels almost like my kid went to jail, or I got out of jail. I can’t tell which one.” … Olivieri goes on to play with The Dwarves and Mondo Generator, while Homme soldiers on with QOTSA …
2005, Genius Loves Company by the late Ray Charles wins in two of the biggest categories, Album of the Year and Record of the Year at the 47th annual Grammy Awards … Uncle Ray is also paid tribute by Jamie Foxx and Alicia Keys, who perform “Georgia on My Mind” … Foxx is nominated for—and later in the year wins—an Oscar for playing Charles in the movie Ray … Genius Loves Company is an album of duets that—even after a career of more than 50 years—stands as Charles’ best-selling album, overtaking classics such as Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and The Genius Hits the Road …
2006, emo band Hawthorne Heights is about to release its album If Only You Were Lonely but fearing competition from Ne-Yo whose album is due to release the same day, they email the band’s mailing list and urge fans to visit record stores and sabotage sales of Ne-Yo’s In My Own Words … the message in part reads, "As for Ne-Yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a sale here. If you were to pick up a handful of Ne-Yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn’t bother to put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a few sales later in the week.” …
2007, despite being largely boycotted by country music fans and radio stations after making critical remarks about President George W. Bush’s policies in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, the Dixie Chicks decisively nail five Grammys for their unrepentant album Not Ready to Make Nice … other winners include Mary J. Blige who takes home three phonographs for her The Breakthrough album and The Red Hot Chili Peppers whose double-disc Stadium Arcadium scores four awards …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
February 7: Eubie Blake (1883), bluegrass singer Wilma Lee Cooper (1921), Sun Records artist Warren Smith (1932), king of soul sax King Curtis born Curtis Ousley (1934), Donna Stoneman of the Blue Grass Champs (1934), blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Earl King (1934), singer Sammy Johns (1946), Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog Night (1948), Alan Lancaster of Status Quo (1949), Brian Travers of UB40 (1959), Steve Bronski of Bronski Beat (1960), David Bryan of Bon Jovi (1962), Garth Brooks (1962)
February 8: blues, R&B, and jazz singer-guitarist Lonnie Johnson (1889), film composer John Williams (1932), Tom Rush (1941), Creed Bratton II of The Grass Roots (1943), Jim Capaldi of Traffic (1944), Canned Heat drummer Adolfo “Fito” De La Parra (1946), Vince Neil of Motley Crue (1961), Sam Llanas of The BoDeans (1961), Collective Soul’s Will Turpin (1971), Darren “Phoenix” Farrell of Linkin Park (1977)
February 9: country music pioneer Ernest Dale Tubb (1914), Chicago soul singer Johnny Sayles (1937), Barry Mann (1939), Carole King born Carole Klein (1942), Major Harris of The Delfonics (1947), rockabilly artist Joe Ely (1947), folkie Tom Jans (1949), Dennis Thomas of Kool & the Gang (1951), Travis Tritt (1963)
February 10: Jimmy Durante (1893), classical/jazz harmonica player Larry Adler (1914), zydeco squeezebox man Rockin’ Dopsie (1932), Don Wilson of The Ventures (1933), Roberta Flack (1939), James Merchant of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers (1940), Elvis impersonator Ral Donner (1943), Peter Allen (1944), Donovan born Donovan Phillip Leitch (1946), Robbie Neville (1961), Metallica bassist Cliff Burton (1962)
February 11: sax player for Glen Miller Tex Beneke (1914), singer-songwriter, actor, activist Josh White (1915), Gene Vincent born Eugene Vincent Craddock (1935), songwriter Gerry Goffin (1939), Bobby “Boris” Pickett (1940), Sergio Mendes (1941), keyboard man Stan Szelest (1942), blues singer Little Johnny Taylor (1948), Sheryl Crow (1962), D’Angelo (1974), Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park (1977), “Brandy” Norwood (1979), Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child (1981)
February 12: jazz and rock record producer Bob Shad (1920), singer-songwriter Gene McDaniels (1935), Ray Manzarek of The Doors (1935), Stan Knight of Black Oak Arkansas (1949), Steve Hackett of Genesis (1950), Michael McDonald (1952), Chynna Phillips of Wilson-Phillips (1968), Barenaked Lady Jim Creeggan (1970)
February 13: Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919), songwriter Boudleaux Bryant (1920), Gene Ames of The Ames Brothers (1925), Peter Tork of The Monkees (1942), Peter Gabriel (1950), New Order’s Peter Hook (1956), Henry Rollins (1961), The Cult’s Les Warner (1961)
Departures:
February 7: crooner Frankie Laine (2007), Brit reed player Elton Dean (2006), Real Kids bassist Allen “Alpo” Paulino (2006), “Ring of Fire” co-writer Merle Kilgore (2005), Dale Evans (2001), Dave Peverett of Foghat (2000), songwriter Bobby Troup of “(Get Your Kicks) On Route 66” fame (1999), crooner Matt Munro (1985), Chicago blues bassist and producer Al Smith (1974), Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones (1959)
February 8: Keith Knudsen of the Doobie Brothers (2005), pioneering organist Jimmy Smith (2005), Del Shannon (1990)
February 9: soul singer Tyrone Davis (2005), Outlaws guitarist Billy Jones (1995), Reverend James Cleveland (1991), Bill Haley (1981), jump blues bandleader Buddy Johnson (1977)
February 10: ’60s NY folkie and Dylan mentor Dave Van Ronk (2002), saxophonist Buddy Tate (2001), Brian Connolly of Sweet (1997), British promoter Tony Secunda (1995), Stooges’ bassist Dave Alexander (1975)
February 11: jazz pianist Jaki Byard (1999), New Orleans guitarist and composer Rene Hall (1988)
February 12: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (2000), Gerald “Bounce” Gregory of the Spaniels (1999), pianist Eubie Blake (1983), Mississippi Delta bluesman Ishmon Bracey (1970)
February 13: Waylon Jennings (2002)