MAY 4 – MAY 10 – THIS WEEK IN ROCK
This week’s Trivia Answer – MAY 4 – MAY 10
The Doors audition to be the house band at Los Angeles’s Whisky A Go Go. If The Doors audition to be your house band, you say, “Yes.”
MAY 4 – MAY 10 This Week in Rock – Birthdays
5/04/1951 – Bruce Day (Pablo Cruise – American Bassist, Vocalist)
5/05/1898 – Blind Willie McTell (Piedmont blues, ragtime singer & guitarist)
5/05/1948 – Bill Ward (Black Sabbath, drums)
5/06/1945 – Bob Seger (Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band)
5/07/1946 – Bill Kreutzmann (Drums, Grateful Dead)
5/07/1905 – Bumble Bee Slim (Piedmont Blues Guitarist)
5/07/1961 – Phil “Lizzo” Campbell (Guitar, Motorhead)
5/08/1911 – Robert Johnson (Delta Blues Singer-Songwriter & Guitarist)
5/08/1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith (Bass, The Yardbirds)
5/08/1943 – Danny Whitten (Guitar, Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
5/08/1951 – Philip Bailey (Lead Singer, Earth, Wind, & Fire)
5/08/1953 – Alex Van Halen (Drums, Van Halen)
5/08/1977 – Joe Bonamassa (Blues Titan)
5/08/1942 – Jim Sherwood (sax, Frank Zappa)
5/09/1949 – Billy Joel (Rock Singer-Songwriter, Pianist)
5/09/1950 – Tom Petersson (Bass, Guitar, Cheap Trick)
5/09/1935 – Nokie Edwards (guitar, The Ventures)
5/09/1944 – Richie Furay (guitar, Buffalo Springfield)
5/10/1957 – Sid Vicious (Bass, The Sex Pistols)
5/10/1946 – Dave Mason (Guitar, Traffic)
MAY 4 – MAY 10 – Died This Week in Rock
5/04/1987 – Paul Butterfield (Paul Butterfield Blues Band)
5/05/1972 – Rev. Gary Davis (Blues/Gospel Singer/Musician)
5/06/2002 – Otis Blackwell (Rock & Roll Songwriter, Pianist)
5/08/1974 – Graham Bond (Vocals & Keyboards, Graham Bond Organization)
5/09/1989 – Keith Whitley (Country Music Singer)
5/10/1989 – Woody Shaw (American Jazz Musician)
Music releases and the top of the charts
5/04/1963 – The Beach Boys’ LP Surfin’ USA enters the charts.
5/05/1969 – Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Bad Moon Rising” was released.
5/06/1971 – Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” is certified gold
5/06/1972 – Elton John’s, “Rocket Man” was released
5/06/1984 – Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With it” is released
5/07/1973 – George Harrison “Give Me Love” is released
5/07/1977 – The Eagles’ “Hotel California” hits #1
5/08/1970 – The Beatles release their final album, Let It Be
5/08/1976 – The Steve Miller Band’s “Take The Money And Run” was released
5/08/1984 – Roger Waters releases debut solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
5/08/1993 – Aerosmith’s Get A Grip debuts on the charts at #1
5/08/2005 – Bruce Springsteen’s Devils and Dust tops the Billboard Albums chart
5/09/1964 – Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly!” hits #1
5/09/1970 – The Guess Who’s “American Woman” hits #1
5/10/1988 – Prince releases 10th album “Lovesexy”
MAY 4 – MAY 10 – This Week in Rock History
5/04/1970 – The US National Guard opens fire on a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Killing four students while wounding eleven more. Shortly after, Neil Young writes the song “Ohio,” which Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young record the next day. Twenty-five years later, Peter Paul and Mary play a concert at the university, performing Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
5/05/1963 – George Harrison tells the head of A&R at Decca Records, Dick Rowe, who had previously turned down Harrison’s own band The Beatles, to go see another band called The Rolling Stones, and Mr. Rowe goes. The band is signed to Decca.
5/05/1968 – Buffalo Springfield breaks up.
5/05/1973 – Led Zeppelin breaks all previous concert records when they pack Tampa Stadium full of 56,800 fans.
5/6/1965 – While on tour and preparing to go to sleep in his hotel room in Clearwater, FL. Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards fools around with his new Gibson “fuzz box” amp and discovers a new guitar riff. Furthermore, he likes so much that he starts his tape recorder and plays it over and over until he passes out.
When he awakens, he finds a tape full of one guitar riff and about twenty minutes of snoring. Bringing the riff to Mick Jagger at the hotel pool, the two compose their hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Ironically, the song brings The Rolling Stones great satisfaction.
5/7/1967 – Jimi Hendrix plays the Saville Theatre in London, with Brian Jones, Ringo Starr and members of The Moody Blues and The Beach Boys in attendance.
5/7/1968 – Singer-songwriter Reginald Dwight changes his name legally to Elton Hercules John, the first and last names taken from his former bandmates in Bluesology, Elton Dean and Long John Baldry. Hercules is taken from a Greek mythological hero with god-like strength who performed amazing feats while wearing crazy-looking glasses.
5/7/1978 – Bob Dylan’s upcoming series of concerts at London’s Wembley Empire sell out all 90,000 tickets in just eight hours.
5/8/1967 – During filming of what becomes the documentary Don’t Look Back, Bob Dylan gets the idea to make a short film. Its of his single “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” featuring him standing in an alley next to London’s Savoy Hotel.
Dylan surrounded by Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth flipping giant cue cards with the lyrics of the song on them. The clip is one of the first “music videos” and becomes an iconic rock moment.
5/8/1972 – Following promoter Sid Bernstein’s decision to reinvent Radio City Music Hall in New York as a rock venue. Billy Preston is the first rock performer to headline at the famous landmark.
5/9/1965 – Bob Dylan gives a major performance in the UK, opening at London’s Royal Albert Hall for an audience that includes The Beatles, The Stones, Donovan, and Marianne Faithfull.
5/9/1966 – The Doors audition to be the house band at Los Angeles’s Whisky A Go Go. If The Doors audition to be your house band, you say, “Yes.” They did.
5/9/1974 – Opening for Bonnie Raitt at her Boston Arena show, Bruce Springsteen gives the most important performance of his career. Furthermore, he plays his full two-hour set at Raitt’s insistence, Bruce delivers an impressive show. So impressive that Rolling Stone’s Jon Landau writes in Boston’s The Real Paper. “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Later, Landau becomes Springsteen’s manager and producer.
5/9/1979 – Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr attend Eric Clapton’s marriage to George’s ex-wife, Patti (whom a love struck Clapton wrote “Layla” for), with the “Threetles” performing some old rock and roll songs at Clapton’s country manor. Attending the ceremony is Mick Jagger, Elton John, Denny Laine, David Bowie, and Lonnie Donegan. The couple would divorce in 1988. We find everything happening here extremely awkward.
5/9/1998 – Sean “Puffy” Combs and Jimmy Page play together on Saturday Night Live, performing the song “Come With Me.” The studio version of the song samples the Kashmir guitar riff.
5/10/1966 – While singer Janis Joplin is home in her native Texas, she gets an invite back out San Francisco. Furthermore, it’s her friend Chet Helms, who invites her to audition with a group he’s managing. They’re called “Big Brother and the Holding Company”.
5/10/1968 – Reacting to alleged abuse of audience members by policemen. Jim Morrison incites a riot at a Doors concert at the Chicago Coliseum.
5/10/1974 –Swan Song Records launches by the British Rock group Led Zeppelin. After five years and five albums with Atlantic Records, Led Zeppelin takes over production and recording for their own albums. Break out on their own proves to be beneficial.
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