Friday, October 10, 2008

This Date In Music History- October 10

Birthdays:

Goo Goo Dolls guitarist Mike Malinin was born in 1967.

Born on this day in 1955, David Lee Roth, vocals, Van Halen.

Birthday wishes to Country Music super star Tanya Tucker (1955).

Born on this day in 1946, John Prine, singer, songwriter.

Birthday wishes to Jerry Lacroix, Blood Sweat & Tears (1945).

History:

The real Eleanor Rigby died in her sleep of unknown causes in 1939 at the age of 44. The 1966 Beatles' song that featured her name wasn't really written about her, as Paul McCartney's first draft of the song named the character Miss Daisy Hawkins. Eleanor Rigby's tombstone was noticed in the 1980s in the graveyard of St. Peter's Parish Church in Woolton, Liverpool, just a few feet from where McCartney and Lennon had met for the first time in 1957.

The great jazz composer Thelonious Monk was born in Rocky Mount, N.C. in 1917 (died February 17, 1982).

In 1902, the Gibson Mandolin guitar company was formed. Gibson's first electric guitar the ES-150 was produced in 1936 and in 1946 Gibson introduced the P-90 single coil pickup, which was eventually used on the first Les Paul model made in 1952.

In 1956, Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" entered the Billboard chart for a 19 week stay. It was #1 for 5 of those weeks. The song, from Presley's first film of the same name, was adapted from the tune "Aura Lee", written in 1861.

In 1960, a silly novelty song called "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne was the number one single in America. The record told a story about a US cavalry trooper who tries to talk his way out of fighting the Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn in 1876. I kind of like the song.

In 1962, the BBC banned Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash" because it makes mention of potentially offensive horror movies.

The Shangri-Las released the immortal No. 1 teen drama "Leader of the Pack” in 1964.

Pink Floyd released their album Atom Heart Mother in 1970. On L.A.'s Sunset Strip, the Harvest label promoted the album with 30-foot-high billboards of the album's cover star, a cow named Lullubelle III.

In 1970, FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson responded to Vice President Spiro Agnew's charge that Rock music drives young people to drugs, by playing Rock music during a speech, saying that Agnew would do well to listen to song lyrics to understand what's happening around the US. Touche!

Also in 1970, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles' "Tears Of A Clown" was released. By December, it will top both the Billboard Pop and R&B charts as well as the Cashbox Best Sellers list.

In 1959, the Quarry Men played at the Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool. Ken Brown, suffering from a heavy cold, was unable to perform and after the show an argument started when Paul McCartney said that Brown should not get a share of the performance fee since he had not performed. Lennon and Harrison side with McCartney and Brown quits The Quarry Men. Oops, wonder if he regrets that career move.

The funeral took place of Led Zeppelin's drummer John Bonham in 1980. ‘Bonzo’ was found dead at guitarist’s Jimmy Page's house of what was described as asphyxiation, after inhaling his own vomit after excessive vodka consumption, (40 shots in 4 hours) aged 32.

A charity auction selling Elvis Presley's belongings was held at The Grand Hotel, Las Vegas in 1999. A wristwatch sold for $32,500, a cigar box $25,000, an autographed baseball sold for $19,000, and a 1956 Lincoln Continental sold for $250,000.

The Carpenters were at No.2 on the US singles chart in 1970 with 'We've Only Just Begun.' The song was originally written for a TV commercial advertising a bank.

This is timing: Twenty one years after "Frampton Comes Alive" sold over 16 million copies, Peter Frampton released "Frampton Comes Alive II".

The Supremes made the first of many appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965.

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