MAY 21
1968 - Rolling Stones founding member, Brian Jones, was arrested in his London apartment for possession of cannabis, 43 years ago today - his second arrest for pot. Jones was a gifted multi-instrumentalist, and known for the use of non-traditional instruments such as the sitar and marimba and to experiment with the slide guitar in the work of The Rolling Stones. It's fair to say, I think, too, that Jones was a dandy; fashionable clothes, flamboyant flair and style, with a lifestyle to match, including recreational drug use during this dawn of a new youth culture that centered, essentially, around sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Former associates say that when he was slowly pushed out of the band's importance by new manager Andrew Loog Oldham, together with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the make-up, the sound and attention of the band moved away from Jones, who eventually left the band. Jones was a charismatic character, as this newsreel focus documents.
Brian Jones is considered by many Stones stalwarts to be the Rolling Stones genesis and their visionary, the man thought to be the soul of the group, with Mick Jagger and teenage chum Keith Richards the mind and body. Sadly, Jones now belongs to the famed 27 club, and this short video is focuses on Jones, who navigated the band's direction on its first massive footstep into the hall of fame. From their big break in 1963, to the start of his personal descent; his fatherhood to more than five children from five different women; the drugs, the 1969 announcement of leaving the band, and finally being found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool at the tragic rock symbol age 27. This is a video of the funeral for Jones, held at London's Hyde Park.
Like many groups of this era, the Rolling Stones covered a Buddy Holly song and this was there attempt at covering Holly's Not Fade Away, with Brian Jones playing some classic harmonica.
1969 - This is the day, way back then, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their famous ten-day "bed-in", in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. This is must-see news footage about their stance against violence.
1970 - Four dead in Ohio, goes the sad refrain, recording forever, part of the civil unrest in America as the sixties ended and the seventies loomed. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded Ohio, Neil Young writng the lyrics, pulling no punches, after seeing the photos of the incident in Life Magazine. On the evening that CSN&Y entered Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartet with their regular rhythm section, recorded it live in just a few takes. During the same session they recorded the single's equally direct b-side, Stephen Stills's ode to the war's dead, Find the Cost of Freedom. The record was rush released in a couple of weeks. They were already on the charts with their classic song, Teach Your Children. This is a total bootleg from 10 years ago, bootlegged in Canada, at the Air Centre, Torronto.
For those of you unfamiliar with the incident, this is a mini doco to explain the killings of the four students at Kent State University in Ohio. Those killed and wounded would have been in their late teens, early twenties, so it was a tragedy.
1971 - It was exactly 40 years ago today that Paul McCartney released his solo album, Ram, and on the same day four years later, Elton John became the first Western pop star to play in the U.S.S.R. Again on the same day, almost a decade later, in 1980, Joe Strummer from the Clash was arrested at a Hamburg, West Germany show after smashing his guitar over the head of an audience member. Don't mess with Joe.
1985 - It's May 21, 26 years ago, and the final album for music supremo, Marvin Gaye was released. It was entitled Dream of a Lifetime. It was the last album for the American songwriter and instrumentalist, with a three-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, Gaye ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties. Because of solo hits such as How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), Ain't That Peculiar, I Heard It Through the Grapevine and his duet recordings with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". Marvin Gaye's mid-1970s work included the classic Let's Get It On and I Want You albums, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, Sexual Healing and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was tragically shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and 11 years later, American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Let's have a look at these two great vids from 'the man...first up, What's Going On, followed by Heard It Through The Grapevine.
1968 - Rolling Stones founding member, Brian Jones, was arrested in his London apartment for possession of cannabis, 43 years ago today - his second arrest for pot. Jones was a gifted multi-instrumentalist, and known for the use of non-traditional instruments such as the sitar and marimba and to experiment with the slide guitar in the work of The Rolling Stones. It's fair to say, I think, too, that Jones was a dandy; fashionable clothes, flamboyant flair and style, with a lifestyle to match, including recreational drug use during this dawn of a new youth culture that centered, essentially, around sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Former associates say that when he was slowly pushed out of the band's importance by new manager Andrew Loog Oldham, together with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the make-up, the sound and attention of the band moved away from Jones, who eventually left the band. Jones was a charismatic character, as this newsreel focus documents.
Brian Jones is considered by many Stones stalwarts to be the Rolling Stones genesis and their visionary, the man thought to be the soul of the group, with Mick Jagger and teenage chum Keith Richards the mind and body. Sadly, Jones now belongs to the famed 27 club, and this short video is focuses on Jones, who navigated the band's direction on its first massive footstep into the hall of fame. From their big break in 1963, to the start of his personal descent; his fatherhood to more than five children from five different women; the drugs, the 1969 announcement of leaving the band, and finally being found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool at the tragic rock symbol age 27. This is a video of the funeral for Jones, held at London's Hyde Park.
Like many groups of this era, the Rolling Stones covered a Buddy Holly song and this was there attempt at covering Holly's Not Fade Away, with Brian Jones playing some classic harmonica.
1969 - This is the day, way back then, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their famous ten-day "bed-in", in Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel. This is must-see news footage about their stance against violence.
1970 - Four dead in Ohio, goes the sad refrain, recording forever, part of the civil unrest in America as the sixties ended and the seventies loomed. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded Ohio, Neil Young writng the lyrics, pulling no punches, after seeing the photos of the incident in Life Magazine. On the evening that CSN&Y entered Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, the song had already been rehearsed, and the quartet with their regular rhythm section, recorded it live in just a few takes. During the same session they recorded the single's equally direct b-side, Stephen Stills's ode to the war's dead, Find the Cost of Freedom. The record was rush released in a couple of weeks. They were already on the charts with their classic song, Teach Your Children. This is a total bootleg from 10 years ago, bootlegged in Canada, at the Air Centre, Torronto.
For those of you unfamiliar with the incident, this is a mini doco to explain the killings of the four students at Kent State University in Ohio. Those killed and wounded would have been in their late teens, early twenties, so it was a tragedy.
1971 - It was exactly 40 years ago today that Paul McCartney released his solo album, Ram, and on the same day four years later, Elton John became the first Western pop star to play in the U.S.S.R. Again on the same day, almost a decade later, in 1980, Joe Strummer from the Clash was arrested at a Hamburg, West Germany show after smashing his guitar over the head of an audience member. Don't mess with Joe.
1985 - It's May 21, 26 years ago, and the final album for music supremo, Marvin Gaye was released. It was entitled Dream of a Lifetime. It was the last album for the American songwriter and instrumentalist, with a three-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, Gaye ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties. Because of solo hits such as How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), Ain't That Peculiar, I Heard It Through the Grapevine and his duet recordings with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". Marvin Gaye's mid-1970s work included the classic Let's Get It On and I Want You albums, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, Sexual Healing and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was tragically shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and 11 years later, American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Let's have a look at these two great vids from 'the man...first up, What's Going On, followed by Heard It Through The Grapevine.
