1960 - Eddie Cochran died in Bath, England, from severe brain injuries sustained in a car crash near Chippenham, Wiltshire. Gene Vincent was seriously injured in the accident, too, as was Cochran's girlfriend. Also in the vehicle with Eddie was Sharon Sheeley who had become his fiancee prior to his tragic death. Sharon was a songwriter in her own right having penned such numbers as Poor Little Fool for Ricky Nelson, Something Else for Eddie and later Dum Dum and Heart In Hand (written with Jackie DeShannon) for Brenda Lee. On the day of Eddie's fatal car crash, Sharon had just recently joined him in London while he was on tour with Gene Vincent. All three were in the rented taxi that crashed, and both Sharon and Gene suffered severe injuries. Eddie Cochran died that day at the age of 21. Sheeley also wrote hits for Ricky Nelson, PJ Proby, Richie Valens, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell, Mac Davis, Jeff Beck, Delaney Bramlett, Larry Colins and this song from Cochran. The video is followed by Gene Vincent Be Bop A Lula.
1964 - This day in 1964 was a special day, with the release of The Rolling Stones' debut album, The Rolling Stones. Same day, same year and the FBI lab reported that it could not determine the lyrics to Louie Louie, which had been banned for so-called pornographic lyrics. So the FBI were called in to determine whether or not they were lewd lyrics. For more Stones videos, the full story and video on Louie Louie, so to our search engine. On the same day, same year in London beat group Them made their first concert appearance. This is a bona fide classic gem of a clip, Van Morrison with his band from Belfast, Them, from 1964 performing/miming Baby Please Don't Go on TV. Sullen even way back then, brilliant voice, even way back then.
1965 - The Beach Boys' classic song Help Me Rhonda was released today and four years later, 1969, The Band played its first concert as an independent group, away from Bob Dylan. Here they are at the Isle of Wight Festival in '69, as the backup band for Dylan. Forgive the sound and vision here, black and white and all, filmed by a fan at the front of stage, poor wuality but absolute classic footage.
1970 - Can you believe President Richard Nixon invited Johnny Cash performed to perform at the White House, 41 years ago today. And what song would you play in front of the president of the United States? This one of course! Sung here by Cash and the guy who wrote the song, the multi-talented Shel Silverstein, who then goes on to sing another of his hit songs. Silvertsein wrote hits for Dr. Hook, New Christy Minstrels, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jenning, Belinda Carlisle, Cash, and he also wrote Marianne Faithful's biggest hit, The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan.
1980 - Bob Marley and the Wailers performed as the official guests of State at Zimbabwe's Independence festival. Marley was beyond his years, to be sure. This is he, live, April 17, 1980, and his song Zimbabwe.
1982 - From Marley's peace to Iron Maiden's album, The Number of the Beast which hit #1 on the British albums chart today. And again, same day 16 years ago and Courtney Love and her band Hole performed on the sixth season premiere of MTV's Unplugged. This was supposedly at Hole's peak, and I think it shows quite conclusively that Love was all talk, makeup and publicity.