Thursday, December 17, 2015

This Date in Rock Music History: December 18


1957:  Tom & Jerry released the first single of their career, called "Hey, Schoolgirl".  We now know them as Simon & Garfunkel.  (Note:  some websites mistakenly show the name of the song as "Hey School Girl"; the correct title is "Hey, Schoolgirl", as shown on the 45 above.)


 
1961:  "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, a perennial fast mover this time of year on the chart, was up from 66 to 33.
1961:  "The Twist" by Chubby Checker set a Rock Era record at the time with 23 weeks on the chart.








1961:  The great song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens moved to #1.
1962:  The Beatles performed at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, the start of their final run of concerts at the Star that would go through December 31.
1964:  Funeral services for Sam Cooke took place in Chicago, Illinois.  Over 200,000 went to the A.R. Leak Funeral Home to view him in his glass-topped coffin. 
1965:  U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler recorded "Ballad Of The Green Berets".

1965:  The Byrds ruled with "Turn!  Turn!  Turn! for a third week.  The Dave Clark Five moved into position with "Over And Over".
1966:  Pink Floyd performed at the Blarney Club in London.  A week later, the business changed its name to the UFO Club and Pink Floyd signed a deal to become the house band.
1968:  Janis Joplin held auditions for her Kozmic Blues Band in San Francisco, California.
1969:  John Lennon and Yoko Ono took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times saying "War is Over!  If You Want It."
1969:  A new report indicated that 75% of the $1 billion in music sales came from youths.  That's a far cry from today when adults account for most music sales and where, not coincidentally, the same people that bought the music back then buy it today.  Of course, you have to have music worth buying, a considerable handicap to the youth of today.
1971:  Jerry Lee Lewis and his cousin Myra Brown divorced.
1971:  "Family Affair" by Sly & the Family Stone was the #1 R&B song for a third week.

  
  "Rock and Roll", a great reason Zeppelin was up to #2...

1971:  Sly & the Family Stone took over at #1 on the Album chart with There's a Riot Goin' On.  Led Zeppelin IV moved to 2 while Santana III was third.  Teaser and the Firecat slipped for Cat Stevens but the new Chicago At Carnegie Hall was on an upward trend at #5.  The rest of the Top 10:  E Pluribus Funk from Grand Funk Railroad, the "Shaft" Soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, Stanley, Idaho's Carole King moved from 91 to 8 with her new album Music, Imagine from John Lennon, and Carole King's Tapestry was #10 after 37 weeks of release.






                         One of the best from TDN...

1971:  "Family Affair" by Sly & the Family Stone held on to #1 for a third week.  Melanie was up from 9 to 2 with "Brand New Key", leaping over "Have You Seen Her" from the Chi-Lites and Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song". The rest of the Top 10:  Michael Jackson's "Got To Be There", the "Theme From 'Shaft'" from Isaac Hayes, Bread dropped with "Baby I'm-A Want You", Sonny & Cher were stuck on 8 with "All I Ever Need Is You", Don McLean was up from 25 to 9 in just his fourth week with "American Pie" and David Cassidy's version of "Cherish" reached #10.

















1972:  The Spinners released the single "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love".  (Note:  some websites say the song debuted on the chart on December 24.  There was no chart on the 24th--they were published on Saturdays, and the 24th was on a Sunday that year.  The song debuted on both the Popular and R&B charts on Saturday, December 30.)










1972:  Lobo released the single "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend".
1975:  Rod Stewart announced that he was leaving the group Faces to begin a solo career.
1976:  Elton John rose to #1 on the Adult chart with "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word".










       "Hitch a Ride", from Boston's unparalleled debut...

1976:  Stevie Wonder made it 10 weeks at #1 on the Album chart with the amazing Songs In the Key of Life.  Rod Stewart was outdone with A Night on the Town but the debut Boston certainly wasn't finished yet.  Spirit by Earth, Wind & Fire was fourth while Jackson Browne climbed to #5 with The Pretender.  The rest of the Top 10:  "The Song Remains the Same" Soundtrack from Led Zeppelin, ELO was up to 7 with A New World Record, Elton John's reign as the dominant superstar was over with Blue Moves falling after just six weeks, the Best of the Doobies from the Doobie Brothers jumped into the Top 10 and Peter Frampton's great double album Frampton Comes Alive!  was #10 after 47 weeks.




1976:  One of the hottest songs was "Blinded By The Light" from Manfred Mann's Earth Band.  Meanwhile, listeners were still trying to figure out what the heck they were saying in that song.
1976:  "Tonight's the Night" by Rod Stewart was #1 for a sixth week.





"Hot Dog", the new Led Zeppelin album would be out soon!

1978:  Led Zeppelin finished recording what would prove to be their final album, In Through the Out Door.
1978:  Rod Stewart released the single "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy".
1978:  Les Kummel, bass guitarist for New Colony Six ("Things I'd Like To Say" from 1969), died in a severe car accident in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 33.  
1981:  An estimated 35 million people in 23 countries watched a Rod Stewart concert at the Los Angeles Forum on satellite.
1982:  Janet Jackson first appeared on the chart with her first career single "Young Love".


1982:  "Maneater" moved to #1 for Hall & Oates.
1983:  Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones, married Patti Hansen in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Mick Jagger, lead singer for the group, was best man.








1983:  Jimmy Nolen, elite guitarist for James Brown, died of a heart attack in Atlanta at the age of 49.










1983:  Dionne Warwick's great song "Heartbreaker" was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1993:  The body of Douglas Hopkins was discovered in Arizona.  The songwriter of the Gin Blossoms had killed himself December 5 at age 32.








1993:  Michael Bolton's 18th career hit moved into the Top 10 on this date and "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" became one of his biggest.
1997:  Tori Amos offered 14 music videos for viewing on the Internet.  Users could have access to the clips in exchange for a donation of $5 to the charity Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Born This Day:
1931:  Allen Klein, who managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, was born in Newark, New Jersey; died of complications of Alzheimer's disease July 5, 2009 in New York City. (Note:  some websites incorrectly report Allen's date of death as July 5--he died on July 4, according to the newspapers 'The New York Times', 'The Independent', 'The Guardian' as well as 'Huffington Post'.)
1938:  Chas Chandler, bassist for the Animals and manager of Jimi Hendrix, was born in Heaton, Newcastle, England.
1941:  Sam Andrew of Big Brother & the Holding Company was born in Taft, California.

1941:  Jimmy West, session guitarist for Wierd Al Yankovic, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1942:  Les Cauchi of Brooklyn Bridge ("Worst That Could Happen") 


1943:  Keith Richards, guitarist of the Rolling Stones, was born in Dartford, England.









1953:  Elliot Easton, lead guitarist of the Cars, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1963:  Greg D'Angelo, drummer of White Lion, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1970:  DMX (Earl Simmons) was born in Mount Vernon, New York. ('MTV' states that Simmons was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  They are wrong however; according to Simmons himself, in 'E.A.R.L.:  The Autobiography of DMX', he was born in Mount Vernon.)
1972:  DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit was born in Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR.


1980:  Christina Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York.

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