December 22, 2002 - JOE Strummer, former Clash singer and guitarist, died of a suspected heart attack aged 50 today. The Clash remain one of rock's spiritual giants, and scored hits such as London Calling, Rock The Casbah, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles. The Clash's London Calling album was voted best album of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine. Strummer was also a member of the The Mescaleros, and recorded a brilliant version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song.
1962 - THE TORNADOES started a three week run at #1 in the UK, Australia, and quickly became a big hit around the world with this instrumental space song, Telstar. Produced and written by Brit record producer extraordinaire, Joe Meek, it was the first major hit from a UK act on the American charts.
1962 - BOB Dylan performed his second UK gig at the Singers Club in London today, during his first visit to the UK. And on the same day, 1962, Acker Bilk's instrumental, Stranger On The Shore, finally dropped from Brit charts after record-breaking 55 weeks. That record stood until 1968 when Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me stayed on top for 56 weeks. Stranger on the Shore is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk and originally named Jenny, after his young daughter. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV drama serial for young people entitled Stranger on the Shore. Bilk earned the nickname Acker from Somerset slang for friend or mate. He lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which Bilk has claimed impacted his eventual clarinet style. He eventually learned the clarinet while serving in the British Army, and by the mid-1950s he was playing professionally. This was his biggest hit.
1963 - DAVE Clark Five scored their only US #1 single with the stomping song, Over And Over. The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group, whose single Glad All Over knocked the Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964. The group was also the second group of the so-called British Invasion, after The Beatles, to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and for some time were more popular in the US than in their native UK. The group disbanded in late 1970, and here's that #1 hit record, plus another of their most popular hits.
1967 - JIMI Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Who, Keith West and Tomorrow, Eric Burdon & The Animals, 1984 (featuring future Queen guitarist Brian May) and Soft Machine all appeared tonight at The Olympia, London, at an all night festival, 'Christmas On Earth Continued'. The DJ was John Peel, and the venue featured a paddling pool, light shows and a movie theatre, with tickets just GBP£1. It was five years later when Little Jimmy Osmond was on top of the UK music popularity chart with Long Haired Lover From Liverpool. At nine years and eight months old, Osmond was the youngest person to have a #1 record, and it was also the the biggest selling record of 1972.
1984 - MADONNA had a hit all over the world with her song Like A Virgin, and on this day was #1 in thew USA. Here's a version with Madge and Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, & Missy Elliott.
1988 - SMITHS performed on their final gig tonight, the show doubling as the debut solo performance of Morrissey. The farewell/hello gig was held at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, without mainstay guitarist Johnny Marr. To gain entrance to the gig fans had to wear a Smiths or Morrissey T- shirt. Following are two songs from that night's show.
1962 - THE TORNADOES started a three week run at #1 in the UK, Australia, and quickly became a big hit around the world with this instrumental space song, Telstar. Produced and written by Brit record producer extraordinaire, Joe Meek, it was the first major hit from a UK act on the American charts.
1962 - BOB Dylan performed his second UK gig at the Singers Club in London today, during his first visit to the UK. And on the same day, 1962, Acker Bilk's instrumental, Stranger On The Shore, finally dropped from Brit charts after record-breaking 55 weeks. That record stood until 1968 when Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me stayed on top for 56 weeks. Stranger on the Shore is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk and originally named Jenny, after his young daughter. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV drama serial for young people entitled Stranger on the Shore. Bilk earned the nickname Acker from Somerset slang for friend or mate. He lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which Bilk has claimed impacted his eventual clarinet style. He eventually learned the clarinet while serving in the British Army, and by the mid-1950s he was playing professionally. This was his biggest hit.
1963 - DAVE Clark Five scored their only US #1 single with the stomping song, Over And Over. The Dave Clark Five were an English pop rock group, whose single Glad All Over knocked the Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964. The group was also the second group of the so-called British Invasion, after The Beatles, to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and for some time were more popular in the US than in their native UK. The group disbanded in late 1970, and here's that #1 hit record, plus another of their most popular hits.
1967 - JIMI Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Who, Keith West and Tomorrow, Eric Burdon & The Animals, 1984 (featuring future Queen guitarist Brian May) and Soft Machine all appeared tonight at The Olympia, London, at an all night festival, 'Christmas On Earth Continued'. The DJ was John Peel, and the venue featured a paddling pool, light shows and a movie theatre, with tickets just GBP£1. It was five years later when Little Jimmy Osmond was on top of the UK music popularity chart with Long Haired Lover From Liverpool. At nine years and eight months old, Osmond was the youngest person to have a #1 record, and it was also the the biggest selling record of 1972.
1984 - MADONNA had a hit all over the world with her song Like A Virgin, and on this day was #1 in thew USA. Here's a version with Madge and Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, & Missy Elliott.
1988 - SMITHS performed on their final gig tonight, the show doubling as the debut solo performance of Morrissey. The farewell/hello gig was held at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, without mainstay guitarist Johnny Marr. To gain entrance to the gig fans had to wear a Smiths or Morrissey T- shirt. Following are two songs from that night's show.
