1948 - Columbia Records publicly unveiled its new long-playing phonograph record, the 33 1/3, in New York City today - hard to believe, I know, in this day of advance recording technology. Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, actualy dating back to 1888. Columbia was originally the local company distributing and selling Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Delaware. Columbia began selling disc records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901. For a decade Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in recorded sound. In 1908, Columbia introduced mass production of Double Sided disc records, with recordings stamped, or pressed, into both sides of the disc. The Columbia label was bought by Columbia Broadcasting System in 1938 for US$ 700,000. Since 1988 Columbia Records has been owned by Sony, who re-christened this division Sony Music Entertainment, although they continue to issue records under the Columbia brand name. Uploaded by NEWbobofhollywood, who had this to say: "Here I demonstrate the earliest model Columbia LP changer - which I believe may be from 1948 or 1949. It has a brown bakelite base, a dark blue flocked turntable, and a gold tone arm with the big LP emblem near the playing end. This is a one speed player designed to do only one thing - play a stack of the brand new LP records. I recently bought this on ebay and much to my surprise it works as new and is in all original completely un-restored condition. Truly - this is a museum piece and I am pleased to be presenting it to you today." The two songs here are
Pauline Alpert withPaderewski's Minuet, and and Frankie Yankovic singing Just Because.
1959 - R&B and rock'n'roll super legend, Fats Domino, recorded I Want to Walk You Home in New Orleans today. By the time I Want To Walk You Home was released in 1959, Fats found himself in a groove that very few recording artists ever experience, in which everything he/she touches turns to gold. Accordingly, this song reached Top Ten for Fats in August of that year. My personal Fats Domino mantra is that he's the man who put the roll into rock with that lazy, New Orleans back beat. Domino first attracted national attention with a song called The Fat Man, in 1949, on Imperial Records. The song is an early rock and roll record featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so. Some say it was the first rock'n'roll record. Here's a version of the song he recorded today, circa seventies - the original not on the internet - I could not find it if it is. Also here is Honey Chile.
1965 - It's 46 years ago, June 18, and the #1 hit is I Can’t Help Myself by the Four Tops, an amazing American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes. Founded in Detroit, Michigan as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, cousin of Jackie Wilson, along with group mates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, remained together for a little more than four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a single change in personnel. Among a number of groups who helped define the Motown Sound of the 1960s, including The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, and The Supremes, the Four Tops were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer; most groups at the time were fronted by a tenor. The group was the main male vocal group for the songwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who crafted a stream of hit singles, including two Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits: I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and Reach Out I'll Be There.
1967 - This is the day, during the summer of love, The Jimi Hendrix Experience made its debut performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in California. Following an argument between Hendrix and Brit rock group, the Who, over who was going to close the Monterey festival, Hendrix and the Who's Pete Townsend tossed a coin and Hendrix lost, thus playing after The Who - neither act wanted to follow the other, both having planned an instrument-demolishing conclusion to their respective sets. At the end of their Who's frenetic performance of My Generation, the audience was stunned as guitarist Peter Townshend began smashing his guitar, amid smoke bombs and frightened concert staff rushing onstage to scurry expensive microphones to safety. At the end of the mayhem, drummer Keith Moon kicked over his drum kit as the band exits the stage. Hendrix followed, a couple of acts later, and played an incendiary and blistering set, ending his performance with an unpredictable version of Wild Thing, which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pretended to make love to it, then poured lighter fluid over it, setting it aflame, and then he smashed it, and threw pieces of the guitar into the audience. This produced unforeseen sounds and these actions contributed to his rising popularity in the USA. Incidentally, just for interest sake, the man who wrote Wild Thing, Chip Taylor, and also wrote Angel of the Morning, is the brother of actor Jon Voight, making him the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven. How's that for gossip. So, here's Hendrix, burning his guitar at Monterey.
1976 - On the eve of the Royal Wedding between Sweden's King and his Queen-to-be ABBA performed at The Royal Swedish Opera, today. Their performance for the Royal Marriage between King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden saw ABBA donning traditional 18th Century costumes, and we are very proud to be bringing you this performance, dear reader.
1977 - The Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten was slashed on his face and hands by some kids armed with knives, today, and to demonstrate clearly the music mix of the time, on the same day 34 years ago, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were supported by The Boomtown Rats as they appeared at Friars, Aylesbury, England. For details and videos and more information about John Lydon (nee Rotten), The Sex Pistols and Tom Petty - even the Boomtown Rats, just go to our archive search engine, it's all there. Just three years later, and in New York City, June 18, we saw the world premiere of The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the deadpan R&B team on a mission from God. The movie, in the 31 years since the premiere, has become one of the great music movies. And this performance from Aretha Franklin doing her hit song, Think, is one of the reasons why. First up we have a bootleg from Japanese TV showing that part of the movie that dramatically, but in a comedy sense, sets the scene for the song's performance. Then the performance, and what a great performance it is - a different version of the song than was the hit version, and you won't find this performance on youtube. This is from one of the various other video outlets now seeping on to the net.
1994 - This was the day when The Beastie Boys entered the US album chart at #1 with III Communication, and one year later, 16 years ago, Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was arrested in Camden, New Jersey, USA, on robbery and aggravated assault charges. We fast forward two years to June 18, 1996, when Beck's fourth album Odelay was released. With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being amongst the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock. And I could not agree more. Here is Beck in concert, in Seattle, circa 2000, with a fabulous performance.
2004 - Today was the day of Ray Charles’ funeral, held at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. Among the performers at the service are Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, and B.B. King. Also in attendance are Little Richard, Berry Gordy Jr. and Jesse Jackson. If you aint shed a tear today, shed this.
And, dear reader, if that performance did not make you cry for Ray boy, how about this?
Pauline Alpert withPaderewski's Minuet, and and Frankie Yankovic singing Just Because.
1959 - R&B and rock'n'roll super legend, Fats Domino, recorded I Want to Walk You Home in New Orleans today. By the time I Want To Walk You Home was released in 1959, Fats found himself in a groove that very few recording artists ever experience, in which everything he/she touches turns to gold. Accordingly, this song reached Top Ten for Fats in August of that year. My personal Fats Domino mantra is that he's the man who put the roll into rock with that lazy, New Orleans back beat. Domino first attracted national attention with a song called The Fat Man, in 1949, on Imperial Records. The song is an early rock and roll record featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so. Some say it was the first rock'n'roll record. Here's a version of the song he recorded today, circa seventies - the original not on the internet - I could not find it if it is. Also here is Honey Chile.
1965 - It's 46 years ago, June 18, and the #1 hit is I Can’t Help Myself by the Four Tops, an amazing American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes. Founded in Detroit, Michigan as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, cousin of Jackie Wilson, along with group mates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton, remained together for a little more than four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a single change in personnel. Among a number of groups who helped define the Motown Sound of the 1960s, including The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, and The Supremes, the Four Tops were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer; most groups at the time were fronted by a tenor. The group was the main male vocal group for the songwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who crafted a stream of hit singles, including two Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits: I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and Reach Out I'll Be There.
1967 - This is the day, during the summer of love, The Jimi Hendrix Experience made its debut performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in California. Following an argument between Hendrix and Brit rock group, the Who, over who was going to close the Monterey festival, Hendrix and the Who's Pete Townsend tossed a coin and Hendrix lost, thus playing after The Who - neither act wanted to follow the other, both having planned an instrument-demolishing conclusion to their respective sets. At the end of their Who's frenetic performance of My Generation, the audience was stunned as guitarist Peter Townshend began smashing his guitar, amid smoke bombs and frightened concert staff rushing onstage to scurry expensive microphones to safety. At the end of the mayhem, drummer Keith Moon kicked over his drum kit as the band exits the stage. Hendrix followed, a couple of acts later, and played an incendiary and blistering set, ending his performance with an unpredictable version of Wild Thing, which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pretended to make love to it, then poured lighter fluid over it, setting it aflame, and then he smashed it, and threw pieces of the guitar into the audience. This produced unforeseen sounds and these actions contributed to his rising popularity in the USA. Incidentally, just for interest sake, the man who wrote Wild Thing, Chip Taylor, and also wrote Angel of the Morning, is the brother of actor Jon Voight, making him the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven. How's that for gossip. So, here's Hendrix, burning his guitar at Monterey.
1976 - On the eve of the Royal Wedding between Sweden's King and his Queen-to-be ABBA performed at The Royal Swedish Opera, today. Their performance for the Royal Marriage between King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden saw ABBA donning traditional 18th Century costumes, and we are very proud to be bringing you this performance, dear reader.
1977 - The Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten was slashed on his face and hands by some kids armed with knives, today, and to demonstrate clearly the music mix of the time, on the same day 34 years ago, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were supported by The Boomtown Rats as they appeared at Friars, Aylesbury, England. For details and videos and more information about John Lydon (nee Rotten), The Sex Pistols and Tom Petty - even the Boomtown Rats, just go to our archive search engine, it's all there. Just three years later, and in New York City, June 18, we saw the world premiere of The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the deadpan R&B team on a mission from God. The movie, in the 31 years since the premiere, has become one of the great music movies. And this performance from Aretha Franklin doing her hit song, Think, is one of the reasons why. First up we have a bootleg from Japanese TV showing that part of the movie that dramatically, but in a comedy sense, sets the scene for the song's performance. Then the performance, and what a great performance it is - a different version of the song than was the hit version, and you won't find this performance on youtube. This is from one of the various other video outlets now seeping on to the net.
1994 - This was the day when The Beastie Boys entered the US album chart at #1 with III Communication, and one year later, 16 years ago, Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was arrested in Camden, New Jersey, USA, on robbery and aggravated assault charges. We fast forward two years to June 18, 1996, when Beck's fourth album Odelay was released. With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being amongst the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock. And I could not agree more. Here is Beck in concert, in Seattle, circa 2000, with a fabulous performance.
2004 - Today was the day of Ray Charles’ funeral, held at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. Among the performers at the service are Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, and B.B. King. Also in attendance are Little Richard, Berry Gordy Jr. and Jesse Jackson. If you aint shed a tear today, shed this.
And, dear reader, if that performance did not make you cry for Ray boy, how about this?
