This is the week that was in matters musical…
1949, future Dead Boys leader Stiv Bators is born Stivan John Bator in Youngstown, Ohio …
1954, The Penguins record the doo-wop classic “Earth Angel” … the song will choreograph a million back-seat couplings …
1956, “Love Me Tender” is the first single to enter the pop charts at #1 … Elvis’ recording, based on the sentimental Civil War ballad “Aura Lee,” also appears on the country and western and R&B charts …
1957, Paul McCartney makes his live debut with the Quarry Men at New Clubmoor Hall Conservative Club in Liverpool …
1958, Tommy Facenda, a backup vocalist for Gene Vincent, charts with a single called “High School U.S.A.” … the tune is released in 28 versions, each name-dropping a different major high school across the country … the combined sales get the single to #28 on the pop chart …
1961, The Beatles join forces with Gerry & The Pacemakers for a one-off show … the combine is billed as The Beatmakers …
1962, “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … cannily released to coincide with Halloween, the novelty tune with a Boris Karloff-like spoken vocal reappears on the charts in 1970 and 1973 …
1965, a San Francisco collective calling itself The Family Dog presents a rock ‘n’ roll dance and concert at the Longshoremen’s Hall … on the bill for “A Tribute to Dr. Strange” are The Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, The Marbles, and The Great Society …
1966, Joan Baez is arrested along with 124 others at an anti-draft demonstration outside an induction center in Oakland, California …
1967, the “tribal rock” musical Hair opens off-Broadway … Jimi Hendrix sits in with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers at a club in northwest London … Jimi borrows Mick Taylor’s Les Paul sunburst and manages to burn some incredible blues even while playing lefty with a guitar strung for a right-handed guitarist, that is, upside-down with low E string nearest the floor …
1968, RCA releases Jose Feliciano’s groundbreaking, bluesy rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” … the blind singer had been roundly booed for his performance of the song at a World Series game earlier that month … Led Zeppelin make their live debut appearing at University of Surrey, England … John and Yoko are busted for possessing pot at their London apartment … a month later, they plead guilty and are fined $150 … this would later cause problems with the U.S. immigration office and the FBI …
1969, with about a year’s worth of practice, practice, practice, under their belts, Led Zeppelin kicks off their third U.S. tour at New York’s Carnegie Hall … also in The Big Apple, The Who start a six-night stand at the Fillmore East with a two-hour show featuring their new rock opera Tommy … Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, dies of a heart attack at age 52 … one-hit-wonders the Crazy World of Arthur Brown reach #2 on the pop charts with “Fire” co-written by lead singer Brown and organist Vincent Crane … Brown’s stage act is highlighted by his wearing a crown that’s on—wait for it—fire …
1971, a crowd expecting ’50s teen idol Rick Nelson to play all his old hits at a Madison Square Garden show turns surly when he insists on performing new material … the hostile reception is later memorialized in his song “Garden Party” that becomes a hit the following year … a line from the song goes, “If memories are all I’d sing, I’d rather drive a truck” … Creedence Clearwater Revival is sued by a music publisher claiming that John Fogerty’s song “Travelin’ Band” is a ripoff of “Good Golly, Miss Molly” … the suit is later dropped …
1972, in the wake of weak sales of their latest album Mardi Gras, and dissension by band members over John Fogerty’s lock on writing and publishing of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music, the band calls it quits … leader Fogerty goes on to a robust solo career while rhythm section Stu Cook and Doug Clifford eventually form Creedence Clearwater Revisited over the opposition of Fogerty … Chuck Berry scores his first and only #1 Pop Chart hit with “My Ding-a-Ling,” an ever-so-slightly salacious bit of silliness …
1973, The Stones’ “Angie” is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … supposedly a paean to David Bowie’s missus, the song is covered by Tori Amos in the ’90s …
… the Supreme Court refuses to review a Federal Communications Commission directive ordering broadcasters to censor songs with drug-oriented lyrics before airing them … it will be another three decades before the FCC becomes concerned over breasts … seriously, FCC dudes, you need to lighten up …
1974, soul singer Al Green is seriously burned when a disturbed girlfriend tosses a pot of boiling grits on him … the incident results in Green becoming a minister … it will be 2003 before he releases another recording of secular music …
… the Sex Pistols sign to EMI records for $68,000 … Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots reach #1 on the U.S. hit parade with “Disco Duck” …
1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd fans are stunned this week when they learn that band members Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and Ronnie Van Zant have died along with three members of their entourage in a plane crash in a swamp near Gillsburg, Mississippi …
1978, Keith Richards receives a suspended one-year sentence after pleading guilty to heroin possession in Toronto … he’s also ordered to play a charity concert for the blind … The Police make their U.S. debut at CBGB’s in NYC … the tour consists of 23 gigs in 27 days across the U.S. in a station wagon packed with their gear …
1979, Swedish popsters ABBA appear in Vancouver for their first North American concert … The Buggles top the U.K. pop chart with “Video Killed The Radio Star” …
1980, The Dead Kennedys unleash their latest 45rpm vinyl assault “Kill The Poor” … the picture sleeve shows a bulldozer with a scoop full of dead bodies …
1985, A-Ha becomes the first Norwegian group to score a #1 U.S. hit with “Take On Me” …
1986, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards rock out at an affair honoring Chuck Berry on his 60th birthday captured on film for the movie Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll …
… former Tubes singer Jane Dornacker, who had gone on to a new career as a traffic reporter, dies in a New York helicopter crash … this week also marks the first time ever that three femme popsters hold down the first three positions on the pop chart … in order they are: Janet Jackson with “When I Think of You,” “Typical Male” by Tina Turner, and Cyndi Lauper with “True Colors” …
1991, John Mellencamp is hospitalized in Seattle after suffering a dizzy spell … a doctor later attributes his malady to “too much coffee, stress, and not enough breakfast” …
1992, the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Tribute concert in Madison Square Garden includes guest George Harrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn, and Tom Petty … Sinead O’Connor is booed off the stage by the hostile crowd reacting to the singer’s appearance two weeks earlier on Saturday Night Live when she tore up a picture of the Pope …
1993, Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” video is ranked No. 1 in video history by Rolling Stone … it had also racked up a record-setting nine MTV awards … Nirvana’s In Utero debuts in the top slot on the U.S. album chart …
1995, Generation X loses another distinctive voice when Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon is found dead of a cocaine overdose on the band’s tour bus in New Orleans … Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde makes a return trip to her hometown of Cleveland to sing the national anthem at game three of the World Series …
1997, Elton John’s loving tribute to Princess Diana, a remix of “Candle In The Wind,” is declared by the Guinness Book of Records to have become the biggest-selling single of all time, having sold 31.8 million copies in less than 40 days and raising $34 million for charity …
1998, the publisher of Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” files suit against Cooper’s primary makeup-rock competitors KISS, claiming they ripped off his song “Eighteen” for their song “Dreamin'” … Cooper has nothing to do with it and hasn’t even heard the KISS tune … asked about the outcome years later, Cooper says, “I think we all forgot to show up at court. Paul Stanley bought me a cheeseburger to make up for the whole thing” …
2001, VH1 hosts its Concert for New York, which raises over $30 million for victims of 9/11 with performances by such heavy hitters as The Who, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, and Bon Jovi …
2003, singer-songwriter Elliot Smith takes his life in Los Angeles … a hero of the Portland, Oregon, indie-rock scene in the ’90s, Smith gained national prominence after director Gus Van Sant tapped him for the soundtrack to the 1997 film Good Will Hunting … Smith’s song “Miss Misery” was nominated for an Oscar the following year … a posthumous release, From A Basement On A Hill, includes material the singer was working on when he died …
2005, Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton is arrested in connection with the beating of six gay men in June 2004 … Banton had a hit with the song “Boom Bye Bye,” whose lyrics refer to burning and shooting gays … Rivers Cuomo, frontman for Weezer, announces he’ll return to Harvard University to complete his last semester for a bachelor’s degree … Cuomo’s higher education had been interrupted a couple of times by touring and recording in the College of Musical Knowledge … Paul McCartney joins forces with the co-sponsor of his 2005 tour, Fidelity Investments, to establish the Music Lives Foundation … the non-profit will fund music programs and provide students with instruments in the U.S. and U.K… . observing what would have been John Lennon’s 65th birthday, Yoko Ono plants a tree at England’s Coventry Cathederal … school children sing “Imagine” during the ceremony …
2006, New Zealand country singer Keith Urban checks into rehab to deal with an alcohol addiction, causing him to miss the Country Music Association Awards show where he is nominated in four categories … Neil Young’s 20th Bridge School acoustic concerts host an array of unusual performances including Trent Reznor playing unplugged in front of a string quartet … other headliners include Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, and Brian Wilson … Young sits in with, and energizes, many of the sets … after completing the first leg of a North American tour, Who leader Pete Townshend reveals a new, curmudgeonly persona in an interview with Rolling Stone … the aging rocker disses aging rockers proclaiming that he doesn’t want to witness “old guys in their self-congratulatory mode” … rambling on, he says, “I don’t want to go out and see Bob Dylan. I don’t want to go out and see The Stones. I wouldn’t pay money to go see The Who, not even with new songs.” … leading some old-time Who fans to wonder if going out to see the latest incarnation of the Moon-less, Entwistle-less band could result in them being fooled again …
2007, former member of The Smiths and current Modest Mouse multi-instrumentalist Johnny Marr is appointed visiting professor at Salford University, near Marr’s home town of Manchester, England … he’ll teach classes about recording and pop music …
…and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
October 14: R&B guitarist and bandleader Jimmy Liggins (1922), monster picker Mickey “Guitar” Baker of Mickey & Sylvia (1925), rockabilly pioneer Bill Justis (1927), Robert “Barefootin” Parker (1930), Barry McGuire of The New Christy Minstrels (1935), pop vocalist Marv Johnson (1938), British rocker and leader of The Shadows Cliff Richard (1940), Colin Hodgkinson of Whitesnake (1945), Moody Blues vocalist Justin Hayward (1946), English musician-producer Thomas Dolby (1958), A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister (1959), R&B singer Karyn White (1965), Natalie Maines of Dixie Chicks (1974), Shaznay Lewis of All Saints (1975), R&B artist Usher (1978)
October 15: blues singer Victoria Spivey (1906), orchestra leader Bobby Gimby (1918), R&B singer Marv Johnson (1938), Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters (1946), Chris De Burgh of “Lady in Red” fame (1948), Tito Jackson of The Jackson Five (1953), R&B singer Ginuwine, born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (1975)
October 16: Mississippi bluesman Big Joe Williams (1903), songwriter-producer Burt Kaempfert (1923), Nico of the Velvet Underground (1938), Fred Turner of BTO (1943), Bob Weir (1947), Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1959), Michael Balzary, better known as Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips (1969), Chad Gray, lead vocalist for Mudvayne and Hellyeah (1971), pop/blues-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist John Mayer (1977)
October 17: jazz drummer Cozy Cole (1909), British record executive Louis Benjamin (1922), noted classical music recording engineer and audio technology developer John Mosley (1933), trombonist Rico Rodriguez of The Specials (1934), Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts (1941), pop singer Gary Puckett (1942), Jim Tucker of The Turtles (1946), Mike Hossack, 2nd drummer of the Doobie Bros. (1946), country singer Alan Jackson (1958), Rene Dif of Aqua (1967), reggae singer Ziggy Marley, son of Bob Marley (1968), Chris Kirkpatrick of ‘N Sync (1971), Eminem born Marshall Bruce Mathers (1972), hip hop/reggae musician Wyclef Jean (1972)
October 18: Chuck Berry (1926), Ronnie Bright of the Coasters (1938), The Association’s Russ Giguere (1943), singer-songwriter Laura Nyro (1947), Joe Egan of Stealers Wheel (1946), Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon (1949), Doobie Brother Keith Knudsen (1948), trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1961), Dan Lilker, bassist for Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, and Brutal Truth (1964), Peter Svensson of The Cardigans (1974)
October 19: barrelhouse blues pianist Piano Red, born William Lee Perryman (1911), Kings of Rhythm drummer Billy Gayles (1931), Dave Guard of The Kingston Trio (1934), Peter Tosh of The Wailers (1944), soul singer George McCrae who had the hit “Rock Your Baby” (1944), Jeannie C. Riley “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1945), Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid (1946), Wilbert Hart of The Delfonics (1947), Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers (1948), Nino DeFranco, singer and guitarist with The DeFranco Family (1956), Karl Wallinger of World Party (1957), singer/Broadway actress Jennifer Holliday (1960), Dan “Woody” Woodgate of Madness (1960), Pras Michel of The Fugees (1972)
October 20: jazz innovator Jelly Roll Morton, born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe (1890), Johnny Moore of The Blazers (1906), master producer Tom Dowd (1925), electric sax man Eddie Harris (1934), rockabilly-ette Wanda Jackson (1937), Jay Siegel of The Tokens (1939), Ric Lee of Ten Years After (1945), Al Greenwood of Foreigner (1951), rocker Tom Petty (1950), Mark King of Level 42 (1958), James George “Soni” Sonefeld of Hootie and The Blowfish (1964), rapper Snoop Dogg born Cordazar Calvin Broadus (1971)
Departures:
October 14: Tex-Mex star Freddy Fender, born Baldemar Huerta (2006), conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein (1990), crooner-actor Bing Crosby (1977)
October 15: Canadian punk rocker Frank Kerr (2008), songwriter Terry Gilkyson (1999), singer-songwriter-actor Tasha Thomas (1984), Bobby Lester of The Moonglows (1980), pop songwriting giant Cole Porter (1964)
October 16: jazz vocalist Etta Jones (2001), singer Ella Mae Morse of “Cow Cow Boogie” fame (1999), Santana keyboardist Rich Kermode (1996), jazz drummer Art Blakey (1990), jazz drummer Gene Krupa (1973), Leonard Chess, co-founder of Chess Records (1969)
October 17: pop songstress Teresa Brewer (2007), composer Berthold Goldschmidt (1996), Chris Acland of Lush (1996), Criss Oliva of Savatage (1993), country-pop singer Tennessee Ernie Ford (1991), blues singer-songwriter Alberta Hunter (1984), New Orleans guitarist Edgar V. Blanchard (1972)
October 18: soul singer Dee Dee Warwick (2008), reggae star Lucky Dube (2007), singer-actress Julie London (2000), Broadway singer-dancer Gwen Verdon (2000), New Orleans sax man Lee Allen (1994), songwriter Ed Labunski (1980), Houston bluesman L.C. Williams (1960)
October 19: actor-singer-comedian Rudy Ray Moore (2008), harmonica great James “Snooky” Prior (2006), rock journalist Greg Shaw (2004), Alice Cooper lead guitarist Glen Buxton (1997), Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy (1989), Delta bluesman Son House (1988)
October 20: bassist Paul Raven of Killing Joke and Ministry (2007), jazz pianist and vocalist Shirley Horn (2005), country and western singer-songwriter Merle Travis (1983), Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines—all of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1977)