February 2, 1974 - BARBRA STREISAND started a four-week run at #1 on the US singles chart, today, with the theme from the film The Way We Were, a 1973 American romantic dramatic film co-starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, and directed by Sydney Pollack. A box office success, the film was nominated for several awards and won the Film Academy Oscar Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for the The Way We Were. The soundtrack recording charted for 23 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold in excess of one million, and that was repeated around the world, solidifying Streisand's iconic superstar status for the remainder of her life.
1956 - THE COASTERS signed with Atlantic Records, and three years later - on this very same day - they released the song, Charlie Brown, written by songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Charlie Brown became a world wide hit and the American rhythm and blues/rock'n'roll vocal group had a string of hits including that included Yakety Yak (recorded in New York), featuring King Curtis on tenor saxophone, Along Came Jones, Poison Ivy (also #1 for a month on the R&B chart), and Little Egypt. The group also had hit records in their days as a r'n'b vocal group particularly Searchin' and Youngblood.
1957 - FATS DOMINO first attracted national attention with The Fat Man record in 1949 on Imperial Records, a record that was one of the first rock'n'roll records. Stylistically, the record features Fats' Professor Long Hair-tinged rolling New Orleans piano style, and domino's "wah-wah" vocalizing on top of a strong back beat. The song sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so. Fats Domino then released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with Ain't That a Shame in 1955, which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with an insipid cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino would eventually score 37 Top 40 singles. In my opinion, Fats Domino is as important as other rock pioneers such as Little Richard, Elvis and Jerry Lee and Eddie because he clearly crafted that lilting rolling back beat whilst providing a subtle, sexual connotation, an essential ingredient of true rock'n'roll music. That and the Fats Domino smile and feel-good factor. Do you know what I mean? All is clearly demonstrated in this video of Blue Monday…classic. Then another version of the song from a movie…and gals check out those whirling skirts. finally, his signature song with all its slow-dance sleaze possibilities. Timeless.
1959 - FRANKIE AVALON'S massive hit song, Venus, was released 53 years ago today and was at the forefront of the first wave hit records of the rock'n'roll teen idol era, when bluesy rock'n'roll was emerging and industry people wanted the music homogenised. Teen idols like Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Crash Craddock et al stormed the charts with melted down versions of primitive rock'n'roll music. Looking back, it was, essentially middle-of-the-road music, but some of the songs were fun. Frank Avalon's first brush with fame was as a trumpet player on a Jackie Gleason show skit. Venus became his first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it spent five weeks atop the survey. Avalon later teamed with Annette Funicello, starring in popular surfer beach comedy movies during the 1960s.
1963 - HELEN SHAPIRO was the original mop top London sixties female hit maker, with many hit songs under her belt, a great thumping voice, beaming personality, and attractive to boot. Her status was confirmed on this day in 1963 when the Beatles began their first ever English tour, as support act for Shapiro. Like most lads at the time, I thought she was a bit of a spunk. Here's a video of Helen appearing on the iconic Brit TV show Ready, Steady Go, with three real human props…you know them, can you spot them?.
1979 - SEX PISTOLS bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City, 32 years ago today. There had been a party to celebrate his release on US$50,000 bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at around midnight. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon and heroin residue were discovered near the body. He was just 21. Too sad to contemplate, but a warning to us all about over-indulgence. And this is the way America reported the death.
1980 - THE SPECIALS were at #1 on UK singles chart with The Special A.K.A. Live E.P, and the lead track, Too Much Too Young, soon became the shortest song to reach top of the charts in the 1980s at two minutes and four seconds long. For more Specials go to the daily blog archives.
1993 - WILLIE NELSON and the IRS finally settled their long-standing tax feud, today, the United States government coming out way in front. they had already seized $3.6 million of Nelson's assets, and he was ordered to pay a further $5.4 million of the outstanding $13.1 million balance! What an astounding amount of money - and this was 20 years ago. And now for something completely different, dear reader, here are Willile's thoughts on legalising pot.
2002 - BRITNEY SPEARS was the host and musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live, tonight, enhancing her credibility to a more mainstream audience. Thing i love about Britney is her determined self-belief, and her ability to self-deprecate and joke about her life…and that's not mentioning her talent. I don't care what anybody says about Ms Spears, I think she's an amaziing phenomenon whose strength to survive the insidiousness of the music industry will keep her in shape for life. Check out her appearance in Saturday Night Live. She is brilliant.
2004 - JANET JACKSON & JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE landed in trouble tonight when TV network CBS apologised for its broadcast of the American Super Bowl, after Janet Jackson was left exposed when Justin Timberlake ripped off the right side of her bra top exposing her beautiful breast. The pair had been performing a raunchy half-time duet when the breast was exposed. CBS quickly cut away from the scene but was still flooded with calls from angry viewers about the half-time entertainment, produced by MTV. Timberlake insisted it had been an accident saying "I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the half-time performance of the Super Bowl." But of course, as you will clearly see in this clip, it was no accident. I wonder if anyone complained about the murders ans rapes on news bulletins that night, or if any of the complainants actually had a life.
1949 - PS - THE 45 RPM RECORD has been in existence for around 63 years, now, first introduced on this day by RCA Records as a smaller, more durable replacement for the heavy 78 shellac-based records of the time. It was a competitive move against one of their rival record companies, Columbia, which had just introduced the new microgroove 33 1/3 rpm LP. In a dilemma not dissimilar to today's digital sound quality and doubtful storage debate record companies and consumers alike faced an uncertain future as to which format would survive - the 78rpm or the 45rpm - in what was known as the 'war of the speeds. In 1949 Capitol and Decca started issuing the new LP format and RCA relented and issued its first LP in January 1950. But the 45 rpm was gaining in popularity and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. Soon other record companies saw the mass consumer appeal the new format allowed and by 1954 more than 200 million 45s had been sold.
1956 - THE COASTERS signed with Atlantic Records, and three years later - on this very same day - they released the song, Charlie Brown, written by songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Charlie Brown became a world wide hit and the American rhythm and blues/rock'n'roll vocal group had a string of hits including that included Yakety Yak (recorded in New York), featuring King Curtis on tenor saxophone, Along Came Jones, Poison Ivy (also #1 for a month on the R&B chart), and Little Egypt. The group also had hit records in their days as a r'n'b vocal group particularly Searchin' and Youngblood.
1957 - FATS DOMINO first attracted national attention with The Fat Man record in 1949 on Imperial Records, a record that was one of the first rock'n'roll records. Stylistically, the record features Fats' Professor Long Hair-tinged rolling New Orleans piano style, and domino's "wah-wah" vocalizing on top of a strong back beat. The song sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so. Fats Domino then released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with Ain't That a Shame in 1955, which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with an insipid cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino would eventually score 37 Top 40 singles. In my opinion, Fats Domino is as important as other rock pioneers such as Little Richard, Elvis and Jerry Lee and Eddie because he clearly crafted that lilting rolling back beat whilst providing a subtle, sexual connotation, an essential ingredient of true rock'n'roll music. That and the Fats Domino smile and feel-good factor. Do you know what I mean? All is clearly demonstrated in this video of Blue Monday…classic. Then another version of the song from a movie…and gals check out those whirling skirts. finally, his signature song with all its slow-dance sleaze possibilities. Timeless.
1959 - FRANKIE AVALON'S massive hit song, Venus, was released 53 years ago today and was at the forefront of the first wave hit records of the rock'n'roll teen idol era, when bluesy rock'n'roll was emerging and industry people wanted the music homogenised. Teen idols like Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Crash Craddock et al stormed the charts with melted down versions of primitive rock'n'roll music. Looking back, it was, essentially middle-of-the-road music, but some of the songs were fun. Frank Avalon's first brush with fame was as a trumpet player on a Jackie Gleason show skit. Venus became his first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it spent five weeks atop the survey. Avalon later teamed with Annette Funicello, starring in popular surfer beach comedy movies during the 1960s.
1963 - HELEN SHAPIRO was the original mop top London sixties female hit maker, with many hit songs under her belt, a great thumping voice, beaming personality, and attractive to boot. Her status was confirmed on this day in 1963 when the Beatles began their first ever English tour, as support act for Shapiro. Like most lads at the time, I thought she was a bit of a spunk. Here's a video of Helen appearing on the iconic Brit TV show Ready, Steady Go, with three real human props…you know them, can you spot them?.
1979 - SEX PISTOLS bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York City, 32 years ago today. There had been a party to celebrate his release on US$50,000 bail pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, the previous October. Party guests, said that Vicious had taken heroin at around midnight. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious died from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs that was consistent with heroin overdose. A syringe, spoon and heroin residue were discovered near the body. He was just 21. Too sad to contemplate, but a warning to us all about over-indulgence. And this is the way America reported the death.
1980 - THE SPECIALS were at #1 on UK singles chart with The Special A.K.A. Live E.P, and the lead track, Too Much Too Young, soon became the shortest song to reach top of the charts in the 1980s at two minutes and four seconds long. For more Specials go to the daily blog archives.
1993 - WILLIE NELSON and the IRS finally settled their long-standing tax feud, today, the United States government coming out way in front. they had already seized $3.6 million of Nelson's assets, and he was ordered to pay a further $5.4 million of the outstanding $13.1 million balance! What an astounding amount of money - and this was 20 years ago. And now for something completely different, dear reader, here are Willile's thoughts on legalising pot.
2002 - BRITNEY SPEARS was the host and musical guest on NBC's Saturday Night Live, tonight, enhancing her credibility to a more mainstream audience. Thing i love about Britney is her determined self-belief, and her ability to self-deprecate and joke about her life…and that's not mentioning her talent. I don't care what anybody says about Ms Spears, I think she's an amaziing phenomenon whose strength to survive the insidiousness of the music industry will keep her in shape for life. Check out her appearance in Saturday Night Live. She is brilliant.
2004 - JANET JACKSON & JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE landed in trouble tonight when TV network CBS apologised for its broadcast of the American Super Bowl, after Janet Jackson was left exposed when Justin Timberlake ripped off the right side of her bra top exposing her beautiful breast. The pair had been performing a raunchy half-time duet when the breast was exposed. CBS quickly cut away from the scene but was still flooded with calls from angry viewers about the half-time entertainment, produced by MTV. Timberlake insisted it had been an accident saying "I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the half-time performance of the Super Bowl." But of course, as you will clearly see in this clip, it was no accident. I wonder if anyone complained about the murders ans rapes on news bulletins that night, or if any of the complainants actually had a life.
1949 - PS - THE 45 RPM RECORD has been in existence for around 63 years, now, first introduced on this day by RCA Records as a smaller, more durable replacement for the heavy 78 shellac-based records of the time. It was a competitive move against one of their rival record companies, Columbia, which had just introduced the new microgroove 33 1/3 rpm LP. In a dilemma not dissimilar to today's digital sound quality and doubtful storage debate record companies and consumers alike faced an uncertain future as to which format would survive - the 78rpm or the 45rpm - in what was known as the 'war of the speeds. In 1949 Capitol and Decca started issuing the new LP format and RCA relented and issued its first LP in January 1950. But the 45 rpm was gaining in popularity and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. Soon other record companies saw the mass consumer appeal the new format allowed and by 1954 more than 200 million 45s had been sold.
