1929 - Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby recorded Great Day, today, May 16. American bandleader and orchestral director, Whitman scored 28 #1 hits during the twenties, and leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s. His recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz." Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced Rhapsody In Blue. For videos and information of Whitman, please go to our search engine, where he figures prominently in archives, as does Bing Crosby, whose inclusion in Whiteman's troupe was as part of the sensational vocal trio, Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, which also included vocalists Al Rinker and Harry Barris.
1946 - This was the day when the Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, opened at New York's Imperial Theatre for the first of 1,147 performances. For more details of this musical, and Irving Berlin, go to our search engine.
1965 - It's the mid sixties, and the Rolling Stones appeared live with the man whose guitar licks they borrowed, Chuck Berry. Both rock acts appeared on the television show Hollywood A-Go-Go, Sooo long ago. There would have been no Rolling Stones or no AC/DC or no Status Quo in the style that made them all famous and earning a shit load of money, had it not been for Chuck Berry, a true innovator and shape-shifter of rock'n'roll.
1965 - Same year, same day, and another future music legend, The Beach Boys, appeared live on the the Ed Sullivan Show, performing Help Me Rhonda. Unfortunately embedding this version is restricted for some reason, so here's a version from the same year, but the show is Shindig, yet another music TV Show of the day.
1966 - And a year later, The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was released. Amazingly Pet Sounds was the eleventh studio album by this west coast American rock band, and released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released in pop music and has been ranked at #1 in several music magazines' lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. In 2003, it was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Pet Sounds was created several months after Brian Wilson had quit touring with the band in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. In it, he wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, the Electro-Theremin, and dog whistles, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars.
Beatle Paul McCartney said this of Pet Sounds: "It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life. I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album. I love the orchestra, the arrangements - it may be going overboard to say it's the classic of the century, but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways. I've often played Pet Sounds and cried. I played it to John (Lennon) so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence - it was the record of the time. The thing that really made me sit up and take notice was the bass lines, and, also, putting melodies in the bass line. That I think was probably the big influence that set me thinking when we recorded Sergeant Pepper. It set me off on a period I had then for a couple of years of nearly always writing quite melodic bass lines. God Only Knows is a big favourite of mine; very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. You Still Believe in Me, I love that melody - that kills me, that's my favourite, I think. It's so beautiful right at the end, comes surging back in these multi-coloured harmonies, sends shivers up my spine."
Another song from Pet Sounds is Wouldn't It Be Nice, and here's a version, live at LIVE AID.
1968 - Tony Joe White recorded Polk Salad Annie. This is an awesome song from southern swamp rock singer, guitar player, Tony Joe White, still working live all these years later, clearly demonstrating he is the real deal. Love this song...'gator's got ya granny...chomp chomp!!!
1969 - This was the day when Jefferson Airship's Jack Cassady was arrested for possession of marijuana at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, and on the same day, same year, it was the turn of The Who's Pete Townsend, arrested onstage after mistakenly kicking a New York police officer. Quite an historic day, really, because a year latter Randy Bachman left the Guess Who to help form Bachman, Turner Overdrive. And if that wasn't enough, 12 months later on the same day in 1970, former Jefferson Airplane member, Marty Balin, was arrested for marijuana possession and for contributing to the deliquency of minors. More drugs, and in 1980, on May 16, Dr. George C. Nichopoulous was indicted in Memphis on 14 counts of overprescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and nine other patients.
1983 - It's 28 years ago, May 16, and the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever went to air. This was the first time that Michael Jackson performed the moon walk for a live audience. It was an absolutely stunning performance from Jackson. His moon walking was brilliant, yes, but moon walking was not his. It was created long, long before Michael Jackson. You wanna see the history of moon walking? And where Michael got some of his dance ideas from? Sometimes one has to look back to move forward, and the great acts all have done this...look back for inspiration. Look at the videos following Jackson's performance for the history of the moon walking. But first up, one of the best performances of all time.
So now the origins of the moonwalk. Thanks, respect and gratitude go to youtuber AbejaMariposaJr for allowing us to use this video. The following dancers feature in the following video: Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs (only the feet), Tip Tap and Toe (feat. Ray Winfield), Earl Snakehips Tucker.
1992 - This is the day that satirist singer Weird Al Yankovic's Smell Like Nirvana hit #35 in the U.S. Dear reader, this is a parody beyond all parodies. Beautiful.
2000 - The Britney Spears album "Oops!..I Did It Again" was released today, and to celebrate its 11th birthday, here are two special versions for you, dear reader; the first, LIVE, a combo of the Stones' I Can't Get No Satisfaction, then Oops.
1946 - This was the day when the Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, opened at New York's Imperial Theatre for the first of 1,147 performances. For more details of this musical, and Irving Berlin, go to our search engine.
1965 - It's the mid sixties, and the Rolling Stones appeared live with the man whose guitar licks they borrowed, Chuck Berry. Both rock acts appeared on the television show Hollywood A-Go-Go, Sooo long ago. There would have been no Rolling Stones or no AC/DC or no Status Quo in the style that made them all famous and earning a shit load of money, had it not been for Chuck Berry, a true innovator and shape-shifter of rock'n'roll.
1965 - Same year, same day, and another future music legend, The Beach Boys, appeared live on the the Ed Sullivan Show, performing Help Me Rhonda. Unfortunately embedding this version is restricted for some reason, so here's a version from the same year, but the show is Shindig, yet another music TV Show of the day.
1966 - And a year later, The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was released. Amazingly Pet Sounds was the eleventh studio album by this west coast American rock band, and released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released in pop music and has been ranked at #1 in several music magazines' lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. In 2003, it was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Pet Sounds was created several months after Brian Wilson had quit touring with the band in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. In it, he wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, the Electro-Theremin, and dog whistles, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars.
Beatle Paul McCartney said this of Pet Sounds: "It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life. I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album. I love the orchestra, the arrangements - it may be going overboard to say it's the classic of the century, but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways. I've often played Pet Sounds and cried. I played it to John (Lennon) so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence - it was the record of the time. The thing that really made me sit up and take notice was the bass lines, and, also, putting melodies in the bass line. That I think was probably the big influence that set me thinking when we recorded Sergeant Pepper. It set me off on a period I had then for a couple of years of nearly always writing quite melodic bass lines. God Only Knows is a big favourite of mine; very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. You Still Believe in Me, I love that melody - that kills me, that's my favourite, I think. It's so beautiful right at the end, comes surging back in these multi-coloured harmonies, sends shivers up my spine."
Another song from Pet Sounds is Wouldn't It Be Nice, and here's a version, live at LIVE AID.
1968 - Tony Joe White recorded Polk Salad Annie. This is an awesome song from southern swamp rock singer, guitar player, Tony Joe White, still working live all these years later, clearly demonstrating he is the real deal. Love this song...'gator's got ya granny...chomp chomp!!!
1969 - This was the day when Jefferson Airship's Jack Cassady was arrested for possession of marijuana at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, and on the same day, same year, it was the turn of The Who's Pete Townsend, arrested onstage after mistakenly kicking a New York police officer. Quite an historic day, really, because a year latter Randy Bachman left the Guess Who to help form Bachman, Turner Overdrive. And if that wasn't enough, 12 months later on the same day in 1970, former Jefferson Airplane member, Marty Balin, was arrested for marijuana possession and for contributing to the deliquency of minors. More drugs, and in 1980, on May 16, Dr. George C. Nichopoulous was indicted in Memphis on 14 counts of overprescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and nine other patients.
1983 - It's 28 years ago, May 16, and the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever went to air. This was the first time that Michael Jackson performed the moon walk for a live audience. It was an absolutely stunning performance from Jackson. His moon walking was brilliant, yes, but moon walking was not his. It was created long, long before Michael Jackson. You wanna see the history of moon walking? And where Michael got some of his dance ideas from? Sometimes one has to look back to move forward, and the great acts all have done this...look back for inspiration. Look at the videos following Jackson's performance for the history of the moon walking. But first up, one of the best performances of all time.
So now the origins of the moonwalk. Thanks, respect and gratitude go to youtuber AbejaMariposaJr for allowing us to use this video. The following dancers feature in the following video: Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs (only the feet), Tip Tap and Toe (feat. Ray Winfield), Earl Snakehips Tucker.
1992 - This is the day that satirist singer Weird Al Yankovic's Smell Like Nirvana hit #35 in the U.S. Dear reader, this is a parody beyond all parodies. Beautiful.
2000 - The Britney Spears album "Oops!..I Did It Again" was released today, and to celebrate its 11th birthday, here are two special versions for you, dear reader; the first, LIVE, a combo of the Stones' I Can't Get No Satisfaction, then Oops.
