November 8th, 2018

1952, The first ever UK pop chart was published by the New Musical Express after staff asked 53 record shops to divulge their sales returns. ‘Here In My Heart’ by Al Martino was the first No.1. The song stayed at No.1 for nine weeks.

1958, The soundtrack to South Pacific went to No.1 on the UK album chart. It became the longest running No.1 album of all time spending a total of 115 weeks at the No.1 position.

1965, The Beatles worked on a new George Harrison song ‘Think For Yourself’ at Abbey Road for their forthcoming Rubber Soul album. After rehearsing the song, they recorded the basic instrumental track in one take.

1968, The Who, Joe Cocker and The Grease Band, The Mindbenders and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown all appeared at The Walthamstow Granada Theatre, England.

1969, ‘Something’ the first Beatles A-side composed by George Harrison entered the UK singles chart, it peaked at No.4 in the UK and went on to be a No.1 on the US chart. The song has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after ‘Yesterday’.

1971, Led Zeppelin released their fourth album. With no title printed on the album, and generally referred to as Four Symbols, The Fourth Album or Led Zeppelin IV it has gone on to sell over 37 million copies worldwide. The 19th century rustic oil painting on the front of the album was purchased by Robert Plant from an antique shop in Reading, Berkshire, England. The 20th century urban tower block on the back of the full gatefold LP cover is Butterfield Court in Eves Hill, Dudley, England.

1975, David Bowie made his US TV debut performing ‘Fame’, on the Cher CBS-TV show. Bowie who was living in New York at the time had written the song with John Lennon during a jamming session.

1980, KISS kicked off their 11 date Unmasked Tour of Australia and New Zealand laying two nights at Perth Entertainment Centre.

1986, Berlin started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Take Your Breath Away’. The song which was featured in the film Top Gun, was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1986.

1998, Robbie Williams scored his second UK No.1 album with ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’. The album which featured his UK No.1 hit ‘Millennium’, went on to become the UK’s best selling album for that year with sales now over 2.5m.

1999, American jazz trumpet player and composer Lester Bowie died of liver cancer aged 58. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1993, he played on the David Bowie album Black Tie White Noise, including the song ‘Looking for Lester’, which was named after him.

2001, Winners at the MTV Europe Awards included Robbie Williams who won Best male and Best song for ‘Rock DJ’, Craig David won Best R&B act and Best UK & Ireland act, Dido won Best new act and Anastacia won Best pop act. Gorillaz won Best song for ‘Clint Eastwood’ and Best Dance act and Eminem won the Best Hip Hop award.

2007, Four men were arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice after Police raided a house in Camden, London belonging to singer Amy Winehouse. The arrests were in connection of a court case involving Ms Winehouse’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who faced charges of causing grievous bodily harm.

2008, AC/DC started a two-week run at #1 on the US album chart with ‘Black Ice’ the bands fifteenth studio album and the second-best selling album of 2008. Black Ice went to #1 in 29 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US.

2009, Former Smiths frontman Morrissey stopped a concert halfway through his second song after being hit by a beer bottle. The 50-year-old singer who was hit in the eye by a plastic bottle of beer, said goodnight to the 8,000 strong crowd in Liverpool, England before walking off.

2012, Reports surfaced that Jermaine Jackson had filed legal papers at Los Angeles County Superior Court asking to have the spelling of his surname altered to Jacksun for “artistic reasons.” The request would be granted in February, 2013.

2016, Adele more than doubled how much she’s worth to be crowned the richest British celebrity under 30. She knocked One Direction off the top spot after their three-year run in first place and was now reported to have an estimated £92m in the bank. Last year the 28-year-old was in fourth place on Heat’s list of the 30 richest British stars under 30.

(This Day in Music)