This is the week that was in matters musical …
1878, the original DJ, Thomas Edison, receives a patent for the phonograph …
1954, blues shouter Joe Turner cuts "Shake, Rattle & Roll" six months before Bill Haley’s version is released … the white cover version balloons into a giant hit …
1958, Gibson releases its Modernistic line of electric guitars … the Flying V and Explorer are shipped from Gibson’s factory in Kalamazoo … a third futuristic design, the Moderne, is not produced …
1963, teen idol Paul Anka marries fashion model Anne de Zogheb in Paris … Anka’s “Having My Baby” would later earn the distinction of number 1 worst song of all time (as voted by CNN.com users) …
1966, The Beach Boys’ mastermind Brian Wilson enters Gold Star Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood to lay down the first tracks of "Good Vibrations" using the best session players available … the tracks weren’t used … it takes 16 more sessions between April 9 and September 1 at Gold Star, Sunset Sound, Western, and Columbia studios before Wilson achieves his master recording at a reported cost of between $50,000 and $75,000 … at the time an astronomical sum for a single, but worth it given the result …
1967, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers go into Decca Recording Studios without John Mayall … guitarist Peter Green, bassist John McVie, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar record four tracks and—inspired by Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience—briefly consider going out on their own as a power trio … Aretha Franklin records her hit single "Respect" at New York’s Atlantic Studios … written by Otis Redding, the record will sell over a million copies and top the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks on its way to becoming both an American classic and Aretha’s biggest hit …
1968, the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco hosts a "Valentine’s Day Dance" featuring The Grateful Dead and Country Joe and the Fish …
1969, singer Vicky Jones is arrested on fraud charges after impersonating Aretha Franklin at a concert in Fort Meyers, Florida … apparently the charade was impressive … no one in the audience asked for their money back … Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash enter a Nashville recording studio together for a session which yields the duet “Girl from the North Country” …
1972, Pink Floyd premieres the album Dark Side of the Moon live in London during a four-day gig a full year prior to the album’s release …
1976, at the Marquee Club, The Sex Pistols play their first London gig … it’s a destructive affair as Johnny Rotten smashes a mic stand through an onstage monitor that’s not turned on … he also jumps into the audience to join the fighting already in progress … not much gear is left for the headliners Eddie and the Hot Rods … no punk poseurs these Pistols … Fleetwood Mac begins recording Rumours in Sausalito, California … beset by relationship problems between John and Christine McVie as well as Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the group manages to funnel their personal angst into song and onto tape … one year later, between the alleged instances of drug abuse, navel-gazing, and general mucking about—for example, taking a whole month to record a bass drum track—the group finally releases the album … it eventually goes platinum 20 times over …
1977, Valentine’s Day gives birth to a bunch of musical misfits gathered at a house party in Athens, Georgia … over backing tapes recorded by the drummer and guitarist, the two sisters, sporting shaggy wigs and kitschy ’60s styles, sing, cavort, and generally raise the roof of that love shack … tunes such as "Rock Lobster" and "Planet Claire" would appear two years later on their first album as the B-52s …
1987, The Residents, from San Francisco, release a limited-edition EP Duck Stab … the group members’ identities are kept secret as they appear only in costume and do not list credits on their albums …
1980, soon after reaching stardom, the life force of Bon Scott of AC/DC short circuits in the back of a friend’s car after a long night of very heavy drinking … the 33-year-old singer passes out and dies by choking on his own vomit … The Ramones release their new album End of the Century … it’s produced by Phil Spector who has guitarist Johnny Ramone play the opening chord to "Rock and Roll High School" over and over until "Mr. Wall of Sound" is happy …
1981, Depeche Mode releases its debut single "Dreaming of Me" …
1984, federal authorities take Jerry Lee Lewis into custody when he surrenders on charges of tax evasion … Lewis will later be acquitted …
1990, Aerosmith appear as themselves on SNL’s “Wayne’s World” … they play the “Wayne’s World” theme with Garth (Dana Carvey) sitting in on drums … host Tom Hanks plays the roadie making a mic check: "sibilance, sibilance" …
1995, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee puts his 1986 marriage with the lovely Heather Locklear behind him and marries Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson on a beach in Cancun … according to onlookers, Anderson, clad only in a formal white bikini, could barely contain her increasingly buoyant spirits …
1997, to maintain their market share among the jam-band demographic, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream follows up their Cherry Garcia with a new flavor—Phish Food …
2003, a fire triggered by pyrotechnics used by the band Great White during its first song at the Station nightclub in Warwick, Rhode Island, quickly spreads through the club killing 100 including Great White’s guitarist Ty Longley, and injuring nearly 200 … in the disaster’s wake, the band’s former manager who set off the pyrotechnics along with the club’s owners are criminally indicted …
2006, with fallout from Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines’ criticism of George W. Bush in 2003 still dogging them, the band drops 14 dates including Memphis, Houston, and Jacksonville, FL, from its Accidents and Accusations tour … so-called red-state hostility has resulted in poor ticket sales in the South and the Chicks continue to get the cold shoulder from country radio … a trove of tapes recorded by Johnny Cash in 1973 singing accompanied by a single guitar is unearthed … the recordings cover a broad range of music from Tin Pan Alley chestnuts, gospel, folk, and country … the tapes also include Cash reminiscing about his youth, avidly listening to country stars on the radio and working as a water boy for a river-dredging outfit …
2007, guitarist Mary Kaye, known by many as the "first lady of rock ’n’ roll" and widely credited as an influential originator of the Las Vegas "lounge" phenomenon, passes away in Las Vegas at age 83 … in 1956, Mary appeared in an ad with her trio for the then new Fender Statocaster … in 1987, Fender introduced the limited run Mary Kaye Stratocaster in her honor … Western Swing guitarist Bill Carson dies … he helped Leo Fender develop the Stratocaster … one of the features Bill suggested was a more comfortable guitar body that resulted in the Comfort Contour of the Stratocaster … showing off her own comfort contour body, bikini-clad R&B singer Beyonce is chosen by Sports Illustrated to grace its annual swimsuit issue … researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrate a comparator-based switched capacitor circuit that is smaller and less costly than current circuitry used in operational amplifiers … this advance will result in devices that produce analog output such as MP3 players and digital cameras being less costly, smaller, and more accurate … Sirius Satellite Radio announces a plan to buy its larger rival XM for $4.6 billion in stock … a federal regulator says the deal would be a tough sell with the feds concerned over a potential monopoly …
And that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
February 14: Beatles-supporting DJ Murray The K (1922), keyboardist Merl Saunders (1934), Magic Sam born Sam Maghett (1937), Eric Anderson (1937), Vic Briggs of The Animals (1945), Tim Buckley (1947), Roger Fisher of Heart (1950), Ice-T (1959), Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas (1972)
February 15: Mick Avory of the Kinks (1944), Denny Zager of Zager & Evans (1944), John Helliwell of Supertramp (1945), David Brown of Santana (1947), Melissa Manchester (1951), Mikey Craig of Culture Club (1960), Ali Campbell of UB40 (1969), Brandon Boyd of Incubus (1976)
February 16: Bill Doggett (1916), Sonny Bono (1935), James Ingram (1956), Andy Taylor of Duran Duran (1961)
February 17: Bobby “Tossin’ and Turnin’” Lewis (1933), Gene Pitney (1941), Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day (1972)
February 18: Yoko Ono (1933), Herman Santiago of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (1941), Dennis DeYoung of Styx (1947), Mark Andes of Spirit (1948), Juice Newton (1952), Robbie Bachman of BTO (1953), Dr. Dre (1965)
February 19: Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers, both of the Miracles (1940), Tommie Iommi (1948), Francis Buckholz of the Scorpions (1950), Seal aka Sealhenry Samuel (1963), Phish drummer John “Fish” Fishman (1965)
February 20: pianist Jimmy Yancey (1898), jazz songstress Nancy Wilson (1937), Barbara Ellis of The Fleetwoods (1939), Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941), Lew Soloff of Blood, Sweat, and Tears (1944), Alan Hull of Lindisfarne (1945), Jerome “J.” Geils (1946), Walter Becker of Steely Dan (1950), Randy California of Spirit (1951), Jon Brant of Cheap Trick (1954), Ian Brown of The Stone Roses (1963), Kurt Cobain (1967), Brian Littrell of Backstreet Boys (1975)
February 21: Andres Segovia (1893), Guy Mitchell aka Al Cernik (1927), Nina Simone (1933), Bobby Charles (1938), David Geffen (1943), Talking Head Jerry Harrison (1949), Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958), Ranking Roger aka Roger Charlery of The English Beat (1961), Sublime’s Eric Wilson (1970), Charlotte Church (1986)
Departures:
February 14th: Sweet drummer Mick Tucker (2002), Buddy Knox of “Party Doll” fame (1999), Doug Weston, operator of The Troubadour in L.A. (1999), Pioneer Son Roy Lanham (1991)
February 15: Bill Carson (2007), songwriter Ray Evans (2007), George Suranovich, drummer for LA rock band Love (1990), Jimmy Holiday, singer and songwriter for Ray Charles (1987), Ethel Merman (1984), Mike Bloomfield (1981), blues harp player Little Walter (1968), Nat “King” Cole (1965)
February 16: Sid Feller, producer-arranger with Ray Charles (2006), soul singer Doris Troy (2004), folk-blues guitarist Walter “Brownie” McGhee (1996), Hombres drummer John Hunter (1976)
February 17: Mary Kaye (2007), percussionist and bandleader Ray Barretto (2006), Bill Cowsill, lead singer of the Cowsills (2005), Thelonious Monk (1982), Zenon DeFleur, guitarist with punk group Count Bishops (1979)
February 18: Miss Toni Fisher (1999), Eddie Williams, bassist for Johnny Moore and The Three Blazers (1995), Bob Stinson of The Replacements (1995), Ollie McLaughlin, producer for Del Shannon (1984)
February 19: Ty Longley of Great White (2003), Hee-Haw’s Grandpa Jones (1998), Bon Scott of AC/DC (1980)
February 20: Lighthouse vocalist Bob McBride (1998), composer Toru Takemitsu (1996), Hal Worthington, leader of the soul band The Unifics (1990), Cornelius “Tenoo” Coleman, drummer for Fats Domino (1973)
February 21: Mud singer Les Gray (2004), rockabilly singer Malcolm Yelvington (2001), English vocalist Ronnie Hilton (2001), Musical Youth bassist Patrick Waite (1993), DJ Murray “The K” Kaufman (1982), reggae singer Jacob Miller (1980), Janet Vogel, singer with The Skyliners (1980), Nolan Strong of The Diablos (1977)