1938 - This is the day that blues legend Robert Johnson played a very special, fateful show at a roadhouse outside Greenwood, Mississippi. It has been speculated and mythologised that Johnson was poisoned by the bar owner, Johnson dying three days later. Legend has it that the man who poisoned him was the jealous husband of a woman he began seeing during a stint at the Three Forks juke joint in Greenwood. So...first up one of his most famous songs, and after that Eric Clapton speaks about the man they say was a genius guitar player. For more Robert Johnson information, go to our archive search engine.
1952 - The original version of Hound Dog was recorded today by Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton, an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song Hound Dog in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks. The single recorded by Ms. Thornton sold almost two million copies. Four years later, Elvis Presley recorded his version, based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. That, too, was a world hit for Elvis. To see both versions, go to our archive search engine. In, 1984, Ms. Thornton performed this self-penned song, Ball 'n' Chain, which had became a hit for her three decades earlier. Janis Joplin recorded the following version of Mama's hit in the late sixties. Watch both versions.1965 - Acid rock group, The Jefferson Airplane, made its stage debut at the Matrix Club in San Francisco, today, the same day The Beatles' album, Help! was released in the United States, and the same day a year later when the Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love was released, the gospel-tinged song not quite R&B, not quite soul music. The Supremes grew up musically in public, progressing from their earlier teen-pop hits into more mature music with themes and musical arrangements that suite their own personal growth. The recording of You Can't Hurry Love and You Keep Me Hangin' On was simultaneously completed, both songs written and produced by Motown's principle production team, Holland, Dozier & Holland. You Can't Hurry Love became one of the signature Supremes songs, and also one of Motown's signature releases. The single became The Supremes' seventh #1 hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from September 4, 1966, to September 17, 1966. It also topped R&B charts for two weeks. The girlie trio performed the hit on American TV show, The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, September 25, 1966.
1967 - How about female politicos, Daughters of the American Revolution? It's now 44 years to the day since the DAR group of female war descendants refused to allow Joan Baez to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. because of her opposition to the Vietnam War. One the same day in 1971, cute Melanie Safka hit #1 all over the world with her song, Brand New Key. A year earlier, Melanie was the only artist to defy the court injunction banning the Powder Ridge Rock Festival, playing for the crowd, as she did, on a homemade stage, powered by Mister Softee trucks. Shortly following this performance, the singer songwriter played at the Strawberry Fields Festival, then the Isle of Wight Festival where she was introduced by Keith Moon, and received four standing ovations - she also appeared 40 years later at the 2010 Isle of Wight festival. Melanie, too, was the artist who sang to herald in the summer solstice at Glastonbury Fayre, later the Glastonbury Festival in England in June 1971. She is due to perform again at Glastonbury in 2011 which is the fortieth anniversary of the original festival. When this song was first released, it was banned by some radio stations because some saw sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Beats me what some people think, frankly; I love this song, and I love the spirit of Melanie Safka, more power to her.
1971 - Aged just 37, King Curtis was brutally stabbed to death, right outside his home in New York. Curtis and his band, The Kingpins, were fairly pumping on the heels of studio soul-funk kings, Booker T and the MGs, at the time. King Curtis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 6, 2000. So now, dear reader, we need a pound of fat back drums..."
1982 - Another fireball soul-shaker who died too young was soul star, Joe Tex, who died of a heart attack on this day, aged just 49. Three of his songs hit top of world charts. The southern soul singer song writer had a certain style, speaking over his music, rythmically, in a srtyle he dubbed rap. One of his songs, I Gotcha, is used in both the film and soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Just as a matter of interest, an ongoing feud between Tex and fellow recording labelmate, James Brown, began (according to rocklore) when Brown - who Tex felt copied his stage moves - began dating Tex's wife, Bea Ford. In response, Tex wrote a song called You Keep Her. They played a few more shows together until Tex mocked James Brown's act of throwing a cape over his shoulder and screamed, "please - get me out of this cape". Brown later fired a gun at Tex in a nightclub. On August 13, 1982, Joe Tex died at his home in Navasota, Texas, following a heart attack, just five days after his 49th birthday.
1980 - This was the fateful day Todd Rundgren's home in Woodstock, New York was invaded by four masked men. Rundgren, his girlfriend and three houseguests were bound and gagged while the masked men stripped the house of valuables. Rudgren had come to prominence eight years earlier, receiving critical and commercial acclaims with his solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, He produced diverse recordings as a solo artist, and, during the seventies and eighties, with the band Utopia. Rundgren been a prolific producer and engineer, with acts such as Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the fifth biggest-selling album of all time), and Skylarking by XTC. Perhaps his best-known songs include Hello It's Me and I Saw the Light while Bang the Drum All Day has featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.
1990 - Funk-soul man, Curtis Mayfield, was paralyzed 21 years ago after a light rack fell on him just minutes before a concert, held today in Brooklyn, New York. Mayfield was one of the great funk-masters and was instrumental in bringing funk to the masses. The American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer was best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions, and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly. Funk pioneer, Mayfield made politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist, and competently played guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums. The man was winner of both the Grammy Legend Award in 1994, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award a year later. Mayfield, was also a double inductee into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted as a member of The Impressions in 1991, then again in 1999 as a solo artist. He is also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.
1995 - This was four days after Jerry Garcia’s death, and 20,000 fans flocked to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where there was one of many memorials held for the former Grateful Dead leader. Same day in 2004, when Bjork performed at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Athens. And on this day in 2009, Les Paul, who invented the solid-body electric guitar (later wielded by a legion of rock ‘n’ roll greats) died exactly two years ago, of complications from pneumonia. He was 94. As an inventor, Mr. Paul helped bring about the rise of rock ‘n’ roll with multitrack recording, which enabled artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording. He also helped the use of electric guitar come into prominence, and propelled its popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s. "Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Les Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."
A tinkerer and musician since childhood, Paul experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up, in 1941, with what he called The Log - a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings. "I went into a nightclub and played it, and of course, everybody had me labelled as a nut. He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape. In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar, the guitar of choice for such legendary rock guitarists as Keith Richard, Eric Clapton, Slash and Angus Young, to name but a few. Make no mistake, in terms of electric guitar, Les Paul was THE man.
1980 - This was the fateful day Todd Rundgren's home in Woodstock, New York was invaded by four masked men. Rundgren, his girlfriend and three houseguests were bound and gagged while the masked men stripped the house of valuables. Rudgren had come to prominence eight years earlier, receiving critical and commercial acclaims with his solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, He produced diverse recordings as a solo artist, and, during the seventies and eighties, with the band Utopia. Rundgren been a prolific producer and engineer, with acts such as Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the fifth biggest-selling album of all time), and Skylarking by XTC. Perhaps his best-known songs include Hello It's Me and I Saw the Light while Bang the Drum All Day has featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.
1990 - Funk-soul man, Curtis Mayfield, was paralyzed 21 years ago after a light rack fell on him just minutes before a concert, held today in Brooklyn, New York. Mayfield was one of the great funk-masters and was instrumental in bringing funk to the masses. The American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer was best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions, and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly. Funk pioneer, Mayfield made politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist, and competently played guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums. The man was winner of both the Grammy Legend Award in 1994, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award a year later. Mayfield, was also a double inductee into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted as a member of The Impressions in 1991, then again in 1999 as a solo artist. He is also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.
1995 - This was four days after Jerry Garcia’s death, and 20,000 fans flocked to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where there was one of many memorials held for the former Grateful Dead leader. Same day in 2004, when Bjork performed at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Athens. And on this day in 2009, Les Paul, who invented the solid-body electric guitar (later wielded by a legion of rock ‘n’ roll greats) died exactly two years ago, of complications from pneumonia. He was 94. As an inventor, Mr. Paul helped bring about the rise of rock ‘n’ roll with multitrack recording, which enabled artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the tracks in the finished recording. He also helped the use of electric guitar come into prominence, and propelled its popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s. "Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music," Les Paul once said. "To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system."
A tinkerer and musician since childhood, Paul experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up, in 1941, with what he called The Log - a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings. "I went into a nightclub and played it, and of course, everybody had me labelled as a nut. He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape. In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar, the guitar of choice for such legendary rock guitarists as Keith Richard, Eric Clapton, Slash and Angus Young, to name but a few. Make no mistake, in terms of electric guitar, Les Paul was THE man.
