1956 - In the delivery room at the birth of rock'n'roll, this is the day, 55 years ago, when Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps, recorded Be-Bop-A Lula. Here are two versions of the same song; the first was in 1956 when the song was a hit, the second was after he had two accidents. The first accident was on his Triumph motorcyle, his mangled leg injured so badly that it was almost amputated. Then later in the car crash when Eddie Cochran so tragically died, and Vincent's leg was damaged again. This accident was in England, during a tour. Still, you could have tied Gene Vincent to a post and he still would have more raw energy and visible emotion while performing than most. Damn, he was possessed when he sang! Still one of my very favourites...sweet Gene Vincent.
1957 - This was the day when rock'n'roll began its first real step towards mainstream television media exposure, as The Alan Freed Show premiered on ABC-TV in the USA. It was the first prime-time network TV rock'n'roll show show. Also known as Moondog, Freed was an American disc-jockey who became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe, and he called it rock and roll. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in America during the early 1960s. While Freed called himself the "father of rock and roll", he was not the first to play r'n'r on the airwaves, but certainly amongst the first wave. He also pro-actively promoted the new genre of music, particularly giving headline status to African American exponents. There is no doubt that it was he who first used the term "rock and roll" to describe the style of music.
While the term "rock and roll" went back at least as far as Trixie Smith's 1923 recording of My Man Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll) and The Boswell Sisters' 1934 pop hit Rock and Roll, and dates back to at least 1938 with Rock it for Me, written by Kay and Sue Werner and performed by Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald and Mildred Bailey, it was Freed who introduced the term as a new genre of music, thus introducing it to a much larger audience. Many of the top African-American performers of the 1950s have given public credit to Freed for pioneering racial integration among the youth of America at a time when adults were still promoting racial strife. Little Richard has given the credit to Freed that others have denied him. An example of Freed's non-racist attitude is preserved in the motion pictures starring many of the leading African-American acts of the day in which he played a part as himself. For example, in the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed, as himself, tells the audience that "rock and roll" is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."
Alan Freed made it possible for white audiences to hear African-American music stylings. He arranged live concerts and played black music on his radio station. Here was one of his 'very white' acts, Diamonds, singing their number one hit, Little Darlin' on his first TV show.
1959 - The winners of the first annual Grammy Awards were announced. And the 1959 Grammy Award Winners were:
Record of the Year: Mack the Knife, Bobby Darin...Album of the Year: Come Dance With Me, Frank Sinatra...Song of the Year: The Battle of New Orleans, Jimmy Driftwood, songwriter: Bobby Darin...Best Performance By a Top 40 Artist: Midnight Flyer, Nat King Cole...Best Vocal Performance, Male: Come Dance With Me, Frank Sinatra: Best Vocal Performance, Female:
But Not for Me, Ella Fitzgerald: Best Rhythm and Blues Performance: What a Difference a Day Makes, Dinah Washington: Best Jazz Performance, Soloist: Ella Swings Lightly, Ella Fitzgerald: Best Performance By a Dance Band: Anatomy of a Murder, Duke Ellington. How about Ella Fitzgerald singing one of the first songs about the term rock'n'roll, with Fred Astaire doing a dance...not just any old dance.
1964 - The Moody Blues formed today in Birmingham, England by Ray Thomas, John Lodge, and Michael Pinder, all of whom had been members of El Riot & the Rebels. They disbanded when Lodge, the youngest member, went to technical college and Michael Pinder joined the army. Michael Pinder then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats. The pair recruited guitarist/vocalist Denny Laine, band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, and bassist Clint Warwick. The five appeared as the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964. The name developed from a hoped-for sponsorship from the M&B Brewery which failed to materialise, the band calling themselves both The M B's and The M B Five and was also a subtle reference to the Duke Ellington song, Mood Indigo. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed. The band has sold in excess of 50 million albums worldwide and have been awarded 14 platinum and gold discs. As of 2010 they remain active. First song is LIVE version of Tuesday Afternoon, four years after their formation. Second song is Nights In White Satin, their signature song. Watch for guitar player Denny Laine, who later joined Paul McCartney's Wings.
1976 - Rock group KISS performed their first concert in hometown of New York City. OK, dear reader, couldn't find this one...BUT...we found this one from two months later, same year, lost tape, in New Jersey.
1987 - This was the day that complications from a drug overdose was the reason given for the death, at the age of 44, of Paul Butterfield, who was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player. Butterfield founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival. He died of drug related heart failure. A month earlier, he was featured on B.B. King & Friends, a filmed concert that also included Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Etta James, Gladys Knight and Eric Clapton. Its subsequent release was dedicated to Butterfield in memoriam. In 2005, the Paul Butterfield Fund and Society was founded; one of their aims is to petition for Butterfield's inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
