It’s Thursday and that means it time to look back on music history to discover what happened On This Day. This week we kick off in 1958 with Elvis Presley along with appearances from the usual suspects.
On This Day…
1958
🎙 After receiving special permission from the US Army, Elvis Presley gave one last press conference at the Military Ocean Terminal in Brooklyn. He then joined the rest of the 3rd Armored Division on the USS General Randall for a voyage to Bremerhaven, Germany.
1962
🎙 The Springfields (Dusty Springfield her brother Tom Springfield and their friend, Tim Field) had ‘Silver Threads and Golden Needles‘, enter the US Top 20 and became the first British vocal group to chart that high in America.
1964
🎙 Hurman’s Hermits were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Carole King & Gerry Goffin song ‘I’m Into Something Good‘, the group’s only UK No.1.
1965
🎙 San Francisco band The Great Society, featuring Grace Slick and her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, made their live debut at The Coffee Gallery, North Beach, California.
1967
🎙 The Doors appeared on the Murry the K Show on WPIX-TV in New York City performing ‘People Are Strange‘ and ‘Light My Fire‘.
1969
🎙 A new weekly TV show ‘The Music Scene‘ aired on ABC in the US for the first time. Stevie Wonder, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Tom Jones, Cass Elliot, James Brown, Janis Joplin and Sly and the Family Stone were all booked to appear on the show.
🎙 The Band released their first self-titled album, which peaked at No.9 on the US chart, and included ‘Rag Mama Rag‘, ‘Up on Cripple Creek‘ and ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down‘. In 2009, the album ‘The Band‘ was preserved into the National Recording Registry because the album was “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and reflects life in the United States”.
1972
🎙 David Bowie kicked off the North American leg of his Ziggy Stardust World Tour at the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio.
1973
🎙 The Rolling Stones scored their eighth UK No.1 album when ‘Goats Head Soup‘ started a two-week run at the top of the charts, also an US No.1.
1979
🎙 Gary Numan had his second and final UK No.1 single with ‘Cars‘. Also on this day he went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Pleasure Principle‘.
🎙 Def Leppard had their first major live review when UK music weekly Melody Maker reviewed a gig the band had played in Wolverhampton. With a 15-year-old drummer the band had just released their debut 3-track single ‘The Def Leppard E.P.‘.
1981
🎙 American composer Harry Warren died aged 88. He wrote over 800 songs including ‘I Only Have Eyes For You‘, (a hit for The Flamingos and Art Garfunkel), ‘You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby‘, ‘Jeepers Creepers‘, ‘That’s Amore‘ and ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo‘. Warren’s songs have been featured in over 300 films.
1984
🎙 Former lead singer of the Babies, John Waite went to No.1 on the US chart with ‘Missing You‘.
1985
🎙 The first Farm Aid Benefit concert was held before a crowd of 80,000 people at the Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Organised by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, the event been spurred on by Bob Dylan’s comments at Live Aid earlier in that year, that he had hoped some of the money would help American farmers. The star-studded lineup of country stars included: Alabama, Hoyt Axton, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels Band, John Denver, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Rogers.
1990
🎙 Garth Brooks album ‘No Fences‘ entered the US album chart. It went on to become the biggest selling country album of all time and sold over 13 million copies in the first five years of release.
🎙 Nirvana played their biggest gig to date when they appeared at the Motor Sports International Garage in Seattle. Drummer Dave Grohl who would audition for the band in a few days later, was in the audience of 15,000 people.
1991
🎙 Bryan Adams made chart history when ‘(Everything I Do), I Do It For You‘, has it twelfth consecutive week as the UK No.1 single.
1992
🎙 Def Leppard were forced to cancel two US shows after their sound-equpiment truck was found abandoned, after one of the bands driver’s had attempted to rob a store. The driver was later charged of possessing drugs and criminal damage.
1999
🎙 Diana Ross was arrested on Concorde after an incident at Heathrow Airport. The singer claimed that a female security guard had touched her breasts when being frisked: Ross retaliated by rubbing her hands down the security guard.
🎙Screaming Lord Sutch’s Official Monster Raving Loony Party honoured his memory with a two-minute scream at a pub in Ashburton, Devon.
2001
🎙 ‘A Tribute to Heroes‘ was aired commercial-free on most of the major US TV networks. The live program was organised to raise money following the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and New York’s World Trade Center. Neil Young, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, U2, Limp Bizkit, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam all performed. Manning the telephones to take pledges were celebrities including Jack Nicholson, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Robin Williams, Meg Ryan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kurt Russell, Adam Sandler and many more.
2004
🎙 Britney Spears admitted she had not married Kevin Federline, saying she had not yet sent off their marriage licence and until they did, they were not married in the eyes of Californian law.
🎙 Cat Stevens, who now went by the name Yusuf Islam, was escorted from a diverted transatlantic flight and refused entry into America by FBI agents. His name showed up on an US watch list after United Airlines Flight 919 had taken off from London. The flight landed in maine where Islam, who was traveling with his 21-year-old daughter, was detained and questioned.
2005
🎙 Jimmy Page was made an honorary citizen of Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro for his work helping the street children. The Led Zeppelin guitarist had opened Casa Jimmy (Jimmy’s House) in 1998 which had so far supported more than 300 children.
2007
🎙 The Game was given a conditional discharge at Manhattan’s Criminal Court after being charged with impersonating a police officer. Police said the star told a cab driver he was an undercover officer, ordering him to run several red lights. The rapper (real name Jayceon Taylor), claimed the cab driver noticed they were being followed and asked who was in the car, he said he told the driver they were the hip-hop police, and the driver decided on his own to run the red lights.
🎙 Britney Spears was charged with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid licence after she was accused of hitting a parked car and driving away from a los Angeles car park on 6th August. The owner of the car filed an accident report on 9th August at the North Hollywood Community Police Station. The city attorney’s office did not know whether Ms Spears’ car had been damaged, nor did he know the extent of the damage to the other car.
2011
🎙 Research conducted by car maker SEAT found Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ was the song most likely to be found on British iPods, with more than 40% of owners having the hit on their players. The Beatles had four songs in the list, a feat also matched by Coldplay. Other favourites included U2, The Killers and Rihanna.
Well that concludes this weeks On This Day, make sure you check out this weeks OTD Spotify playlist.
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