Tuesday, March 4, 2008

This Day In Music History- March 4

In 1968, 'We’re Only in It for the Money,' by the Mothers of Invention, was released. Composed by bandleader Frank Zappa, it satirizes of hippie culture and the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper.'

Chris Rea ("Fool If You Think It's Over") turns 57.

Bobby Womack ("Looking For A Love") is 64.

Lyricist Howard Greenfield died in Los Angeles in 1986. With Neil Sedaka, he wrote Brill Building standards such as "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Stupid Cupid."

In 2001, Glenn Hughes of the Village People ("Macho Man") died of lung cancer and was buried in his leather biker outfit.

John Lennon caused a major stir in the United States in 1966 when London's Evening Standard newspaper published an interview with him in which he remarks, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue that. I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus right now." Lennon would later apologize, explaining that what he meant was "the way some people carry on, (screaming at their concerts) you'd think we were more popular than Jesus Christ". Thousands of Beatle records were smashed at mass rallies and some radio stations quit playing their songs altogether. John's apology was eventually accepted by most and time has healed the wounds.

In 1970, Janis Joplin was fined $200 for onstage profanity by a Tampa, Florida judge.

An icy car crash sent Temptations members Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams to a Sommerset, Pennsylvania hospital in 1968.

Jason Newsted (from Metallica) was born in 1963.

Today in 1989, the song "Lost in Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson topped the charts and stayed there for 3 weeks.

The Band pianist and vocalist Richard Manuel hanged himself following a gig at the Cheek to Cheek nightclub in Winter Park, Fla. He was 41.

Guitarist Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top was born in Houston in 1950.

Yes founding bass player Chris Squire was born in London in 1948.

Happy birthday to Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, who entered the world in 1967.

The Rolling Stones hit #1 with “Ruby Tuesday” in 1967. But censorship efforts swirling around the classic “Let’s Spend The Night Together” (on the flip side) cause that song to stall at #55.

Steve (then known as Stevie) Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic in 1967.

Badfinger received a gold record for "Day after Day" in 1972.

The Bee Gees were the hottest act around in 1978, when they helped their younger brother Andy to the top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 by writing his hit, "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water". Their own tune, "Stayin' Alive" was pushed back to number 2, while another of their compositions, "Emotion" by Samantha Sang, sat at number 4 and "Night Fever" was number 5.

Also in 1978, the US internal Revenue Service carried out a dawn raid at the home of Jerry Lee Lewis and removed cars worth over $170,000, to pay off his back taxes.

In 1999, Cher had her first Billboard number one single in 25 years with "Believe." The last time she topped the chart was with 1974's "Dark Lady."