1956, Elvis Presley scored his first US No.1 single and album when ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ went to the top of the charts. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ became his first million-seller, and was the best-selling single of 1956. The lyrics were based on a newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window.
1962, The soundtrack to West Side Story went to No.1 on the US album chart. It went on to spend a total of 54 weeks at the No.1 position.
1963, On a recommendation by George Harrison Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records, (and the man who turned down The Beatles) went to see The Rolling Stones play at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week.
1966, Manfred Mann were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pretty Flamingo’. The recording features future Cream bassist Jack Bruce, who briefly joined the band in 1965. On their Top Of The Pops appearance, singer Paul Jones performed whilst standing on one leg.
1967, The Kinks released Waterloo Sunset as a single which went on to peak at No.2 on the UK chart. Songwriter and Kinks singer Ray Davies later stated that the song was originally entitled ‘Liverpool Sunset’, after his love for Liverpool and Merseybeat.
1968, Buffalo Springfield split up. Richie Furay formed Poco and Stephen Stills teamed up with David Crosby and Graham Nash in Crosby Stills & Nash.
1969, The Beatles single ‘Get Back’ was released in the US. John Lennon claimed in 1980 that “there’s some underlying thing about Yoko in there”, claiming that Paul McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang “Get back to where you once belonged.”
1972, Blind blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis died of a heart attack aged 76. His unique finger-picking style influenced many other artists.
1972, The first day of the three day Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, England, with The Grateful Dead, Dr John, Donovan, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, America, Family, Country Joe MacDonald, Wishbone Ash, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Brinsley Schwarz and the Flamin Groovies.
1973, David Bowie scored his first UK No.1 album when ‘Aladdin Sane’ started a five-week run at the top, featuring the single ‘Drive In Saturday’. The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the name of the album is a pun on “A Lad Insane”.
1973, Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite’.
1974, Television appeared at CBGB’s in New York City, supported by the Stillettoes (later to become Blondie who were playing their first show at CBGB).
1978, The Buzzcocks, The Slits and Penetration all appeared at Liverpool University, Liverpool, England.
1979, Peaches and Herb started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Reunited’, it made No.4 in the UK.
1983, The Stranglers ‘Golden Brown’ was named most performed work of 1982 at the 28th Ivor Novello Awards. The single had become a UK hit after the comparatively conservative BBC Radio Two made it ‘single of the week’, a surprising step considering the band were almost as notorious as Sex Pistols only a few short years before.
1984, Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr married Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde in a horse drawn carriage in Central Park, New York City.
1984, Duran Duran were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Reflex’, the group’s second and last No.1. The song which was taken from their third album Seven and the Ragged Tiger was also a US No.1.
1990, The John Lennon tribute concert was held at the Pier Head Arena in Merseyside, featuring Lenny Kravitz, Al Green, Joe Cocker, The Christians, Kylie Minogue, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Deacon Blue, Lou Reed, Joe Walsh and Wet Wet Wet.
1990, During a North American tour Nirvana appeared at the Einstein-A-Go-Go in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
1992, Radiohead released ‘The Drill EP’, their first record in the UK. The band were still called “On a Friday” when the songs for this EP were recorded; they changed their name to Radiohead the following month.
1995, Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler was arrested on a felony count of possession of heroin, as well as two misdemeanour drug charges.
1996, Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan received both a public apology and a donation of £7,500 ($12,750) to the Warchild charity from The Sport newspaper after they ran a story claiming she had performed a gig in Hamburg without wearing any underwear.
1996, Rage Against The Machine went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Evil Empire’. The album’s title is taken from the phrase “evil empire”, which was used by former US President Ronald Reagan and many conservatives in describing the former Soviet Union. The album won the 1996 Grammy award for Best Metal Performance.
1997, Management company Ignition sent emails to over 100 Oasis unofficial websites threatening legal action over their alleged unlawful breach of copyright over Oasis music featured on the sites.
2000, Rod Stewart had a one-hour throat operation at Cedar Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles to remove a growth on his thyroid. The growth turns out to be benign.
2002, Australian actress & singer Holly Valance went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Kiss Kiss.’ The third “Neighbours” TV star to score a UK No 1.
2002, Two disc jockeys from Denver’s KRFX-FM, Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, stopped a live radio interview with Detroit rocker Ted Nugent after he used derogatory racial terms for Asians and Blacks. The station received dozens of complaints.
2003, UK Holiday camp operator Butlins introduced a new system of rhyming slang at bingo halls in an attempt to bring the game up-to-date. Pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Gareth Gates became new catchphrases for the callers, ‘Gareth Gates’ (8) and ‘J-Lo’s bum’ (71). Other additions include ‘stroppy teen’ (15) and ‘feng shui’ (53).
2005, Justin Timberlake underwent an operation at Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Hospital to remove nodules from his throat.
2015, American rock bassist Craig Gruber died of prostate cancer in Florida aged 63. He is best known as the original bassist in Rainbow and also played in Elf with vocalist Ronnie James Dio and worked with guitarist Gary Moore.
(This Day in Music)
