This Date In Music History - August 17

Birthdays:

John Seiter - Spanky And Our Gang (1944)

Gary Talley - Box Tops (1947)

Sib Hashian - Boston (1949)

Kevin Rowland - Dexy's Midnight Runners (1953)

Grammy Award winning guitarist, Eric Johnson (1954)

Colin Moulding - XTC (1955)

Belinda Carlisle - Go-Go's and solo (1958) (I always loved this video):



Gilby Clarke - Guns N' Roses (1962)

Maria Mckee - Lone Justice, solo (1964)

Steve Gorman - Black Crowes (1965)

Jill Cunniff - Luscious Jackson (1966)

Donnie Wahlberg - New Kids On The Block (1969)

Kelvin Mercer - De La Soul (1969)

Mike Lewis - Lostprophets (1979)


They Are Missed:

The late Mark Dinning ("Teen Angel") was born in 1933.



In 1973, former Temptations singer Paul Williams was found dead in his car, after shooting himself. He owed $80,000 in taxes and his celebrity boutique business had failed.

Session drummer Gary Chester died of cancer in 1987. He had been a member of The Coasters and played on many major hits for other acts including: "Brown Eyed Girl," "Under The Boardwalk," "Walk On By," "It's My Party.'

Bass guitarist Bertrand Odom died of kidney failure in 2004. He had worked with James Brown.


History:

Elvis Presley released his first number 1 hit, "I Forgot to Remember to Forget / Mystery Train" in 1955. It hit the top of the country charts several months later and stayed there for 5 weeks.

In 1960, after going through several names (including their most recent - Silver Beetles), John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, along with then-drummer Pete Best, settle on The Beatles. They begin their first Hamburg engagement at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, West Germany, playing the first of 48 nights at the Club. The owner, Bruno Koschmider, asked The Beatles to "Mach Shau", or really put on a show, which led to the band screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage and sometimes playing lying on the floor. John Lennon once appeared wearing only his underwear and on another occasion, wearing a toilet seat around his neck. The Beatles lodged in a single room behind the screen of a nearby movie house. It’s their first engagement outside England.

A riot broke out at a Gary "U.S." Bonds concert in Boston in 1962.

The Kinks "You Really Got Me" was released in 1964.



In 1964, Glasgow council in Scotland announced that all boys and men with Beatle styled haircuts would have to wear bathing caps after a committee was told that hair from ‘Beatle-cuts’ was clogging the pools filters.

The Byrds were forced to cancel a concert during their UK tour at The Guildhall, Portsmouth in 1965 when only 250 of the 4,000 tickets had been sold.

During a North American tour in 1965, the Beatles played two shows at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada. The attendance for each show was 18,000.

The Hollies recorded "Stop, Stop, Stop" in 1966.

Gary Puckett & the Union Gap recorded "Woman Woman" in 1967.

The Hunter Davies’ biography of The Beatles was released in 1968. John Lennon later complained the book glosses over what the group was really like.

Deep Purple's "Hush" was released in 1968.

The Doors started a four-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1968 with 'Waiting For The Sun.'

The Rascals (formally the Young Rascals), started a five week run at #1 on the US singles chart in 1968 with "People Got To Be Free." The group had thirteen US top 40 hits.



In 1969, the final day of the three day Woodstock festival took place at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. Acts who appeared included Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, The Band, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Over 186,000 tickets had been sold but on the first day the flimsy fences and ticket barriers had come down. Organisers announced the concert would be a free event, prompting thousands more to head for the concert. There were two deaths - a teenager was killed by a tractor as he lay in his sleeping bag and another died from a drugs overdose.

In 1971, Allman Brothers Band guitarist, Duane Allman, played at the funeral of Soul legend, King Curtis, who was murdered in New York.

Gladys Knight appeared on ABC-TV's "Dating Game" in 1972.

Bad Company's "Can't Get Enough" was released in 1974.



Eric Clapton started a four-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1974 with '461 Ocean Boulevard.'

UK group Paper Lace scored their only US #1 single in 1974 with "The Night Chicago Died," it made #3 in the UK.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter eulogized Elvis Presley (who died the day before) saying he “permanently changed the face of American popular culture." Not surprisingly, Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that in one day the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland had surpassed the number for any other event in the company's history.

In 1979, the New York Post reported that Anita Pallenberg (the wife of Keith Richards) was linked to a witches coven in South Salem, New York where Richards owned a house. A policeman claimed he was attacked by a flock of black-hooded, caped people and a local youth claimed he had been invited by Pallenburg to take part in ‘pot smoking sex orgies’. Locals also claimed they found ‘ritualistic stakes’ and small animals that had been ‘sacrificed’ near the house. Cool....

John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas was arrested as part of a drug ring in 1980.

Prince's song "Delirious" was released in 1983.

Motley Crue gave its performance debut at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England in 1984.

In 1986, Rick Allen (Def Leppard) played his first concert with his band since losing his left arm in a car accident.

42 people were beaten or stabbed at a Run D.M.C. concert in Long Beach, CA in 1986.

In 1991, Nirvana shot the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at GMT Studios in Culver City, California, costing less than $50,000 to make, the shoot features real Nirvana fans as the audience.



In 1995, Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after an apparent suicide attempt. Police had found him at his Los Angeles home with a two-inch laceration on his wrist.

Security guards carried Courtney Love offstagein 1995 after she began fighting with Hole fans because they weren't cheering loud enough during the last night of the Lollapalooza tour in Mountain View, CA. Cool again.....

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony started a three-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1997.

In 1999, Led Zeppelin topped a chart of Britain's most bootlegged musicians, compiled by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), after identifying 384 bootleg titles featuring Led Zeppelin performances. The bootleg chart was complied from the BPI's archive of some 10,000 recordings seized over the past 25 years. The Beatles, came in second with 320 entries, other acts listed included The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd.

Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland held the #1 position on the US singles chart in 2002 with "Dilemma." The UK #1 album was 'By The Way' by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the US #1 album was 'The Rising' by Bruce Springsteen.

Marilyn O'Grady, a Republican candidate for the New York Senate, launched a "Boycott the Boss" television commercial in 2004. Springsteen has been vocal about the ousting President Bush in the upcoming election. The conservative candidate says Springsteen "thinks making millions with a song-and-dance routine allows him to tell you how to vote. Here`s my vote - boycott the Boss. If you don`t buy his politics, don`t buy his music." Bitch.....

Hollywood Records released an updated version of Queen's "Greatest Hits" in 2004. This set features live recordings of "Under Pressure" and "Tie Your Mother Down," plus an unreleased version of "I'm in Love With My Car." The package also includes unreleased photos by Mick Rock. The original "Greatest Hits" came out in '81.

The ownership rights to Nine Inch Nails' 1991 debut album went on the block with other items in 2005 to payback a defaulted loan. TVT Records, who held the rights to "Pretty Hate Machine" took out a $32 million loan in 1999 using part of the label's catalog as collateral.

High School Musical 2 premiered on the US Disney Channel and Family Channel in 2007. Watched by a total of 17.2 million viewers in the United States, making it the highest rated basic cable broadcast in U.S. history.

In 2008, Jackson Browne was suing US Republican presidential candidate John McCain for using one of his songs without permission. Browne claimed the use of his song Running on Empty in an advert was an infringement of copyright and would lead people to conclude he endorses McCain. Browne was seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

Today, Iron Maiden unleashes “The Final Frontier,” the band's 15th studio album. It was cut at Compass Point Studios where Iron Maiden recorded “Piece Of Mind,” “Powerslave” and “Somewhere In Time.” "The studio had the same vibe and it was exactly as it had been in 1983,” says frontman Bruce Dickinson. “We felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment.”

John Mellencamp’s “No Better Than This” drops today as well. The "roots" album was recorded, with the help of T-Bone Burnett, at historic locations, including Sun Studios in Memphis.