1950 - Gene Autrey was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s. Being an astute businessman, he cashed in on his success and was also owner of the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997, in addition to a television station and several radio stations in Southern California. This was his signature tune, performed tonight on the premiere of his CBS TV show, The Gene Autry Show. It's 60 years old - know what that feels like y'all?
1951 - She was the early fifties pin-up girl, loved by men and women alike, and exactly 60 years ago today Rosemary Clooney had the #1 hit around the world, with Come On-a My House. OK, before rock'n'roll music, this was considered pretty hip, pretty swingin', and she does have a bit of sass on this song, also a hit around the world…swing those hips, dear reader.
1955 - if you read yesterday's edition of *MUSICBACKTRACK* you'd have noticed that in my humble opinion it was Little Richard and Chuck Berry who were rock'n'roll architects, and indeed, lit the fuse for the music genre. Back on July 22, 1955, indie record label Chess Records released Maybelline, the first single by a new, young guitarist named Chuck Berry. The song went to neat-top of the charts around the world, permanently entering the rock pantheon. This is a bona fide *MUSICBACKTRACK* video discovery of a very young Berry, captured in Paris, France at a very weird gig.
1962 - It was all race and space in 1962, the Telstar satellite making it possible for the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission as mankind soared above the planet, in space. In London, there was a space-obsessed producer named Joe Meek, who wrote the chart-topping song, Telstar, in tribute to the radio transmission. Meek was a highly successful song writer and producer at the time, producing songs for British acts such as skiffle king Lonnie Donegan, Heinz, Mike Berry and others. Meek's concept album, I Hear a New World is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds. His commercial success as a producer was short-lived, though, and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murdered his landlady before turning the gun on himself. Almost 40 years after his Telstar song became a hit, this is the band who recorded it, the Tornados, performing it live.
1965 - The Kinks stormed through You Really Got Me, on the TV show, Where the Action Is, today - The Kinks are seen by some as the first real punk group...by others as the creators of riff - rock which evolved into heavy metal. What do you think? I love the Kinks, love Ray Davies and think they were, for sure, a seminal rock group.
1966 - Frank Sinatra's album Strangers in the Night arched #1 all around the world today, and to celebrate we have located this youtube rarity, also a #1 hit from Frank, at the height of Beatlemania and thew British beat boom that swept the world. Such was his magic, such was his charm, such was his following. A true show business icon, with style & class.
1977 - Seriously, dear reader, how much of a goddess is Carly Simon? This was the day her self-penned song Nobody Does It Better was released. The song was the theme soing from the James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore was Bond, Ringo's wife Barbara Bach as the principle Bond girl, music by Marvin Hamlish - and Carly Simon. Can't get much better than that.. Which Bond movie theme do you think was best?
1986 – The Bangles released their song “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Six months later, the song was #1 around the world and the Bangles were pulling huge crowds, like this one in Syria Mosque Arena, Pittsburgh, PA. And this is them. And one forgets they were actually very good.
1951 - She was the early fifties pin-up girl, loved by men and women alike, and exactly 60 years ago today Rosemary Clooney had the #1 hit around the world, with Come On-a My House. OK, before rock'n'roll music, this was considered pretty hip, pretty swingin', and she does have a bit of sass on this song, also a hit around the world…swing those hips, dear reader.
1955 - if you read yesterday's edition of *MUSICBACKTRACK* you'd have noticed that in my humble opinion it was Little Richard and Chuck Berry who were rock'n'roll architects, and indeed, lit the fuse for the music genre. Back on July 22, 1955, indie record label Chess Records released Maybelline, the first single by a new, young guitarist named Chuck Berry. The song went to neat-top of the charts around the world, permanently entering the rock pantheon. This is a bona fide *MUSICBACKTRACK* video discovery of a very young Berry, captured in Paris, France at a very weird gig.
1962 - It was all race and space in 1962, the Telstar satellite making it possible for the first trans-Atlantic radio transmission as mankind soared above the planet, in space. In London, there was a space-obsessed producer named Joe Meek, who wrote the chart-topping song, Telstar, in tribute to the radio transmission. Meek was a highly successful song writer and producer at the time, producing songs for British acts such as skiffle king Lonnie Donegan, Heinz, Mike Berry and others. Meek's concept album, I Hear a New World is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds. His commercial success as a producer was short-lived, though, and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murdered his landlady before turning the gun on himself. Almost 40 years after his Telstar song became a hit, this is the band who recorded it, the Tornados, performing it live.
1965 - The Kinks stormed through You Really Got Me, on the TV show, Where the Action Is, today - The Kinks are seen by some as the first real punk group...by others as the creators of riff - rock which evolved into heavy metal. What do you think? I love the Kinks, love Ray Davies and think they were, for sure, a seminal rock group.
1966 - Frank Sinatra's album Strangers in the Night arched #1 all around the world today, and to celebrate we have located this youtube rarity, also a #1 hit from Frank, at the height of Beatlemania and thew British beat boom that swept the world. Such was his magic, such was his charm, such was his following. A true show business icon, with style & class.
1977 - Seriously, dear reader, how much of a goddess is Carly Simon? This was the day her self-penned song Nobody Does It Better was released. The song was the theme soing from the James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore was Bond, Ringo's wife Barbara Bach as the principle Bond girl, music by Marvin Hamlish - and Carly Simon. Can't get much better than that.. Which Bond movie theme do you think was best?
1986 – The Bangles released their song “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Six months later, the song was #1 around the world and the Bangles were pulling huge crowds, like this one in Syria Mosque Arena, Pittsburgh, PA. And this is them. And one forgets they were actually very good.
