September 10th, 2018

1962, The BBC banned Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and the Crypt Kickers single ‘Monster Mash’ saying it was offensive. The single went on to be a UK No.3 hit in 1973.

1963, During a chance meeting between The Rolling Stones at Studio 51 Jazz Club in London with Paul McCartney and John Lennon, the two played the Stones a partly finished song ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ which the Stones later record.

1963, The Daily Mirror published a two-page article about The Beatles. Written by Donald Zec, the feature is entitled ‘Four Frenzied Little Lord Fauntleroys Who Are Earning 5,000 Pounds A Week’ Zec, who had attended a Beatles concert in Luton on Sept. 6 and then invited them to his home to complete the interview, referred to The Beatles’ haircuts as ‘A stone-age hair style’. The article provided a major boost to their career.

1964, The Kinks third single ‘You Really Got Me’, was at No.1 on the UK singles chart. Future Led Zeppelin founder and guitarist Jimmy Page played tambourine on the track.

1964, Rod Stewart recorded his first single, a version of Willie Dixon’s ‘Good Morning Little School Girl.’ Future Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones played on the session.

1965, The Byrds begin recording ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’. Unlike their first hit, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, members of the group itself were permitted to play instead of session musicians.

1966, The Beatles started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Revolver the group’s ninth US chart topper. The title ‘Revolver’, like Rubber Soul before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the “revolving” motion of the record as it is played on a turntable.

1966, The Supremes started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, the group’s sixth US No.1. It made No.3 in the UK and gave Phil Collins a UK No.1 in 1982.

1967, Elvis Presley recorded ‘Guitar Man’ at RCA studio, Nashville, Tennessee. The Jerry Reed song became the last of eleven number one country hits for Presley.

1968, The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hey Jude’, the group’s 15th UK No.1 and the longest chart topper ever at seven minutes and ten seconds. The single was the first release on the group’s Apple records label.

1973, The BBC banned The Rolling Stones single ‘Star Star’, from their Goat’s Head Soup album because it contained the word “Star-fucker” in the chorus a dozen times.

1974, The New York Dolls spit up. The influential American band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, the 1973 ‘New York Dolls’ and 1974 ‘Too Much Too Soon’.

1977, Meat Loaf released his second studio album Bat Out of Hell. His first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren, it is one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide (and still sells over 200,000 copies per year). The first single released from the album ‘You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth’ failed to chart when first released.

1983, Former Stevie Wonder guitarist Michael Sembello, started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Maniac’. The track was featured in the film ‘Flashdance’. A No.43 hit in the UK.

1988, Guns N’ Roses started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, the group’s first US No.1, a No.24 hit in the UK.

1988, Phil Collins was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Groovy Kind Of Love.’ Taken from his film ‘Buster’ the song had been a No.2 hit for The Mindbenders in 1966.

1991, Nirvana’s single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was released in the US. The unexpected success of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ in late 1991 propelled Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream.

1994, REM were at No.9 on the UK singles chart with ‘What’s The Frequency Kenneth’. The song’s title refers to an incident in 1986 when two unknown assailants attacked journalist Dan Rather while repeating “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”

1996, Music journalist Ray Coleman died of cancer. Coleman had worked with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and had been the editor of the UK music weekly Melody Maker throughout the heyday of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones into the era of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

1997, An electric chair, which was used in Alcatraz and once owned by Andy Warhol, sold for £4,800 at an auction in Bristol. Warhol used to sit in the chair and watch horror movies.

1999, Paul McCartney made headline news after being seen at a New York City party minus one of his front teeth after a crown broke off when he was eating. He’d lost the tooth in a motorcycle accident in 1967.

2001, Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay pleaded not guilty to assault charges after being accused of hitting a photographer and destroying camera equipment outside London night-club. Photographer, Dennis Gill, alleged that on April 14, Jay Kay punched him and destroyed camera equipment worth £250 outside the Attica night-club in London’s West End, the case was adjourned until October 22.

2002, Chris Cowey the man behind the UK’s longest running music TV show Top Of The Pops accused record bosses of controlling the singles chart with marketing scams and as a result the chart lacked credibility and was ‘full of crap records.’

2005, The 1967 Beatles track ‘A Day In The Life’ from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was voted the best British song of all time by music experts. The survey by Q magazine called the track “the ultimate sonic rendition of what it means to be British”. The Kinks’ song ‘Waterloo Sunset’ came second in the poll and ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis was voted in third place.

2005, Grammy-award winning guitarist and singer Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown died in Texas at the age of 81. Recorded with Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder and Frank Zappa during a career that spanned 50 years.

2006, Scissor Sisters were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, the American’s band first UK No.1. The song was co-
written with Elton John, who also played piano on the song.

2007, Girls Aloud broke the record for most consecutive top 10 hits in the U.K. singles chart by a female act. Their latest single ‘Sexy! No No No’ entered the chart at number five giving them a run of 16 top 10 hits.

2007, Pamela Anderson’s ex-husband Kid Rock was involved in an alleged assault on drummer Tommy Lee, (who was also married to the actress up until 1998). Police interviewed witnesses to a tussle involving the pair at the MTV Music Video Awards in Las Vegas. Lee was removed from the ceremony while Rock, was allowed to stay.

2009, A harmonica owned by Bob Dylan sold for £2,700 at auction in Norfolk, England, more than four times the guide price. The singer-songwriter had presented the chromonica harmonica, made by Hohner, to a member of his wardrobe department in 1974. Lifetime Dylan fan John Fellas, of Gorleston, Norfolk, who wore Dylan-style sunglasses while bidding, outbid fans from across the world for the instrument. The inside of the harmonica case was signed and dedicated by Dylan. It had is expected to fetch more than £600 at the sale by Barnes Auctioneers. Fellas told reporters he was still plucking up the courage to tell his wife about what he had done.

2015, American guitarist Don Griffin was killed in a car accident in Denver, Colorado. He was 60 years old. Griffin appeared on The Miracles 1976 No.1 hit, ‘Love Machine’ and had also worked with Anita Baker. Griffin’s dance band Madagascar was signed by Clive Davis to Arista Records in 1981 and released the single ‘Baby Not Tonight.

(This Day in History)