1864 - He became one of the world's most acclaimed composers, conductors, musicians, Richard George Strauss was born 147 years ago today. For those that know this is probably not his best piece, but it is certainly his best-known piece, due mainly in part that it was the theme music for the movie 2001: Space Oddity. Strauss was a leading German composer from the late Romantic and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Together with Gustav Mahler he represents the extraordinary late flowering of German Romanticism, after Wagner, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style. Strauss's music had a profound influence on the development of music in the twentieth century. Like Mahler, Strauss was also a prominent conductor.
1940 - The Ink Spots were a popular vocal group that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm & blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre of doo-wop. It was mainly they and the Mills Brothers, another black vocal group of the 1930s and 1940s, who gained much cross-racial acceptance in the white community. Their songs usually began with a guitar riff, followed by the tenor, who sang the whole song through. After the tenor finished singing, the bass would either recite the first half, or the bridge of the song, or would speak the words, almost in a free form, that were not part of the song, commonly using the words Honey Child, or Honey Babe, expressing his love for the opposite sex in the song. This was followed by the tenor, who finished up singing the last refrain or the last half of the song. Here is this brilliant group doing one of their best-known songs, If I Didn't Care, followed by another of their hits, also showing their incredible sense of humour in the lyrics. This is the Ink Spots.
1965 - This is the day The Rolling Stones released their debut live album in the USA, Got Live If You Want It. At the time, it was not released officially in the UK because the group's base British market had the 1965 EP release Got Live If You Want It!, from which the album's name derived. The album had been compiled as a result of a contractual obligation with US distributor London Records, and the band themselves were not happy with it. They consequently disowned it, arguing that Get Yer Ya-Yas Out was their true live album debut. Got Live If You Want It! was deemed a lacklustre and ragged live document on its release. Here's a clever piece of vintage footage with a medley of two songs from this historic album - lacklustre or not.
1966 - There are jusy not enough adjectives to describe the brilliance of Janis Joplin, and not enough tears to cry for her sad personal demise. She remains, and always will, one of the greats to me. This is the day when Janis debuted on stage at the Avalon ballroom in San Francisco. This video is a little bit later than '66, but it's for all the cynis who said she didn't know how to entertain. This is Janis at her peak with the audience from on stage. How good is she here? This is Another Piece of my Heart.
1969 - To coincide with the first lunar landing, David Bowie's single, Space Oddity, was released today. OK, dear reader, this is the original promotional video for the original recording of this break-through #1 song...very, very different from the version later released.
1990 - This is the day Olivia Newton-John became a United Nations environmental ambassador. today I wonder what Olivia did during that period. Three years later, same day, and the Tina Turner biography movie, What's Love Got To Do With It opened on movie screens around the world, giving Ms. Turner yet some more stretch in her career. The song was written by Australian Terry Britten, a one-time member of the Twilights. He has written songs for Turner, Michael Jackson and many more.
1995 - Courtney Love (Hole) was hospitalized after having a reaction to a prescription medicine, as she always seemed to do, and a year later saw the ego-driven Metallica play concert at a small club in San Francisco and broadcast live via the Internet. Same day in 1999 and Ricky Martin performed on NBC's Today show in New York City. You all remember Ricky Martin, don't you? This is the very heterosexual Shake Your Bon-Bon.
1940 - The Ink Spots were a popular vocal group that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm & blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre of doo-wop. It was mainly they and the Mills Brothers, another black vocal group of the 1930s and 1940s, who gained much cross-racial acceptance in the white community. Their songs usually began with a guitar riff, followed by the tenor, who sang the whole song through. After the tenor finished singing, the bass would either recite the first half, or the bridge of the song, or would speak the words, almost in a free form, that were not part of the song, commonly using the words Honey Child, or Honey Babe, expressing his love for the opposite sex in the song. This was followed by the tenor, who finished up singing the last refrain or the last half of the song. Here is this brilliant group doing one of their best-known songs, If I Didn't Care, followed by another of their hits, also showing their incredible sense of humour in the lyrics. This is the Ink Spots.
1965 - This is the day The Rolling Stones released their debut live album in the USA, Got Live If You Want It. At the time, it was not released officially in the UK because the group's base British market had the 1965 EP release Got Live If You Want It!, from which the album's name derived. The album had been compiled as a result of a contractual obligation with US distributor London Records, and the band themselves were not happy with it. They consequently disowned it, arguing that Get Yer Ya-Yas Out was their true live album debut. Got Live If You Want It! was deemed a lacklustre and ragged live document on its release. Here's a clever piece of vintage footage with a medley of two songs from this historic album - lacklustre or not.
1966 - There are jusy not enough adjectives to describe the brilliance of Janis Joplin, and not enough tears to cry for her sad personal demise. She remains, and always will, one of the greats to me. This is the day when Janis debuted on stage at the Avalon ballroom in San Francisco. This video is a little bit later than '66, but it's for all the cynis who said she didn't know how to entertain. This is Janis at her peak with the audience from on stage. How good is she here? This is Another Piece of my Heart.
1969 - To coincide with the first lunar landing, David Bowie's single, Space Oddity, was released today. OK, dear reader, this is the original promotional video for the original recording of this break-through #1 song...very, very different from the version later released.
1990 - This is the day Olivia Newton-John became a United Nations environmental ambassador. today I wonder what Olivia did during that period. Three years later, same day, and the Tina Turner biography movie, What's Love Got To Do With It opened on movie screens around the world, giving Ms. Turner yet some more stretch in her career. The song was written by Australian Terry Britten, a one-time member of the Twilights. He has written songs for Turner, Michael Jackson and many more.
1995 - Courtney Love (Hole) was hospitalized after having a reaction to a prescription medicine, as she always seemed to do, and a year later saw the ego-driven Metallica play concert at a small club in San Francisco and broadcast live via the Internet. Same day in 1999 and Ricky Martin performed on NBC's Today show in New York City. You all remember Ricky Martin, don't you? This is the very heterosexual Shake Your Bon-Bon.
