1969 - It was 42 years yesterday since Neil Armstrong became the first earthling to set foot on the moon, and the day afterwards, music maestro Duke Ellington, along with a portion of his band, performed a 10-minute composition on American ABC-TV entitled, Moon Maiden. Here is a very rare colour video of that performance, 'the Duke', and his orchestra, doing one of his most famous and endurable hits, Take The A Train. This became Ellington's signature tune, and is a 1939 jazz standard written by Billy Strayhorn. We have two versions here, one, the black and white original from 1949, the second, the colour print, 20 years later, taken from the aforementioned '69 session. This is pure class, style and swinging music that is just magnetic magic. For more details and vids of 'the Duke', go to our archive search engine.
1979 - This was the day Robert Palmer's smash international hit, Bad Case Of Loving You, was released. Palmer was a minor star in the UK long before this hit, his first major break coming with the departure of singer Jess Roden from the British band The Alan Bown Set in 1969. Palmer was invited to sing on the band's single Gypsy Girl. Vocals for the album were originally recorded by Roden, but re-recorded by Palmer after the success of the single. Then in 1970, Palmer joined the 12-piece jazz-rock fusion band Dada, which also featured singer Elkie Brooks. The band lasted only a year, after which Brooks and Palmer formed the critically acclaimed, but commercially unsuccessful rhythm and blues group, Vinegar Joe; Palmer sang and played rhythm guitar. Signed to the Island Records label, they released three albums, after which Palmer then went solo - and the rest is history. I can remember producing a television show in Mellbourne, Australia, called The Don Lane Show. They supposedly hired me to transform the show with contemporary music, and my short two-year stint there is a book on its own. However, that is where I first met Palmer on set, after hiring him for the show, just after this song became a world hit. He didn't want to use the house band, led by the brilliant Grahame Lyle, but instead, a backing tape. I successfully talked him into using the house band as they were a damned fine band. Palmer succumbed after I forced him to sit down and listen to the band rehearsing. This is Robert Palmer, live at the Budokan in Tokyo, 1986.
1987 - You either hate or love Guns 'n Roses, and the first time they were globally known outside Los Angeles was 24 years ago today, when they released their debut album, Appetite For Destruction. Following the release the band did a promo world tour, from which this performance of their song Night Train was filmed. The song is a tribute to an infamous brand of cheap Californian wine, Night Train Express, which was extremely popular with the band during their early days because of its low price and high alcohol content. The song was ranked eighth on Guitar World's list of the Top 10 Drinking Songs. Check out Axl's hot pants and bovver boots, and Slash with no hat.
1989 - One of music's best satirist is Weird Al Yankovic, and this is the day he moved into taking his unique brand of satire into the movie industry, when his debut movie, UHF, was released. These two videos are absolutely awesome. Funny as.
1990 - With the support of an all-star cast, Pink Floyd member Roger Waters staged a production of Floyds break-through LP, The Wall, at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany. Feature acts included Sinead O'Connor, Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and Cyndi Lauper among others. Regular readers of *MUSICBACKTRACK* will know I love Cyndi Lauper, and this is just an amazing performance from her on that occasion - Lauper's hair, like her voice and performance here, is near-perfect.
1990 - BBC's Radio One felt it necessary, for some reason, to apologise to listeners after Madonna repeatedly swore during a live concert broadcast. Before giving birth to children, before she became the icon she now is, indeed 21 years ago, Madonna was the icon of a new generation of upfront, in-your-face women.
1997 - C. Delores Tucker filed a suit against the estate of late rapper Tupac Shakur today, alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, slander, and invasion of privacy due to derogatory lyrics about Tucker. Tucker is a lobbyist against gangsta rap lyrics, and the lyrics to which she referred were on Shakur's final album, All Eyez On Me. No videos seem to be available for anything from All Eyes, so here's one of his best songs. It's dirty, and may be interpreted as sexually exploitative, and chauvinist, but it had a great groove. If you are easily offended, I suggest you don't watch this video.
1998 - Speaking of sex, The Beastie Boys began a world tour today for their LP, Hello Nasty, their fifth music release. Here are two women, sprouting about the versatile advantages of vegetables, during this shopping infotel commercial to help promote the album.
1999 - Country music legend, Charley Pride, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, the 2,140th star to be dedicated at that time. He was also voted best country artist, so to celebrate here's a video of Charley appearing on the Johnny Cash show, with a tribute to country music king, Hank Williams.
