March 23, 1981 - ADAM AND THE ANTS kicked off a UK tour at The City Hall, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, today, on the back of their hit song of the day. It's easy to forget how very big this band was, and what a huge influence they were at the time…and have been since.
1980 - THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS and The Teardrop Explodes appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, today. The post-punk/new wave band was founded in 1977, and led by singer Richard Butler and his brother Tim on bass guitar. The Furs were one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene, their music going through several phases, from an initially austere art rock sound, evolving into new wave and hard rock. They had several hits in their early career, but were launched to international attention in 1986 when the film director John Hughes borrowed their song title Pretty in Pink for his movie of the same name. A newly recorded version of the song became the Psychedlic Furs' biggest hit to that time. When I was managing Australia's Divinyls in 1982, the band toured USA with the Furs. Here are two of the hits from Psychedelic Furs.
1963 - THE BEACH BOYS, all dressed up in strange pants, striped shirts, with the dancers, the choreography...perfectly cool, bro...and this is how the young Beach Boys are right here, for their very first syndicated TV performance on The Red Skelton Show, as the group promoted their new single, Surfin' USA, released almost half a century ago today.
1743 - HANDEL'S MESSIAH was performed for the first time, 269 years ago today, and to celebrate here's The London Symphony Orchestra, plus Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles and the Tenebrae choir, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, as they perform their version of the piece, as it was performed for the first time in London all those years ago.
1792 - JOSEPH HAYDN'S SYMPHONY #94 IN G MAJOR was performed publicly for the first time, again in London, exactly 220 years ago today. The Symphony is the second of the twelve so-called London symphonies (numbers 93-104) written by Joseph Haydn. It is usually called by its nickname, the Surprise Symphony, although in German it is more often referred to as the Symphony 'mitt dem Paukenschlag' (with the kettledrum stroke). Haydn wrote the symphony in 1791 in London for a concert series he gave during the first of his visits to England between 1791 and 1792. The premiere took place at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on March 23, 1792, with Haydn leading the orchestra seated at a fortepiano.
1961 - FALLING IN LOVE was one of Elvis's biggest hits, written by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore for the movie, Blue Hawaii. The song is based on the classical French composition Plaisir dAmour by Giovanni Martini. Elvis recorded the song 51 years ago today at Radio Recorders. Take #29 was released as the single. The song had a 14-week stay on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2. It was #1 on the Easy-Listening chart for 6 weeks, and it was #1 in many countries around the world for 4 weeks. It was the A-side to Rock-a-Hula Baby. The song was a stable in Elvis concerts. Whilst he was recording the song, Elvis was sitting at #1 with his seventh chat topping song, Wooden Heart, a song based on an old German folk song. Here are both songs for your enjoyment.
1964 - JOHN LENNON'S first book, In His Own Write, was published 48 years ago today, and here's a special promotion - audio by the Beatles, video by the Beatles, and back-announced by Dudley Moore...and Peter Cooke drops in for a nano second.
1985 - FORMER CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL FRONT MAN, John Fogerty, went to #1 on the US album chart with Centrefield today. Without doubt, Fogerty is one of the great singers and songwriters of rock'n'roll music, and for more details and videos go to this daily blog's archives.
1999 - POPE JOHN PAUL II entered the pop music business today, with his debut album, Abba Pater being released. The 11 tracks consisted of chanting and praying with musical accompaniment. Check it out, excerpts of John Paul II reciting Psalm 27, photos of Karol Wojtyla's life before his elevation to the papacy, background music by Leonard de Amicis.
1999 - IN GIBRALTER, a set of postage stamps was released today, commemorating what would have been the 30th wedding anniversary of Yoko Ono and John Lennon's wedding at the rock. And here is Australian music television pioneer Dick Williams giving us a flash look at the couple's wedding album. For the Ballad of John & Yoko and more Beatles, go to *MUSICBACKTRACK* archives.
1980 - THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS and The Teardrop Explodes appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, today. The post-punk/new wave band was founded in 1977, and led by singer Richard Butler and his brother Tim on bass guitar. The Furs were one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene, their music going through several phases, from an initially austere art rock sound, evolving into new wave and hard rock. They had several hits in their early career, but were launched to international attention in 1986 when the film director John Hughes borrowed their song title Pretty in Pink for his movie of the same name. A newly recorded version of the song became the Psychedlic Furs' biggest hit to that time. When I was managing Australia's Divinyls in 1982, the band toured USA with the Furs. Here are two of the hits from Psychedelic Furs.
1963 - THE BEACH BOYS, all dressed up in strange pants, striped shirts, with the dancers, the choreography...perfectly cool, bro...and this is how the young Beach Boys are right here, for their very first syndicated TV performance on The Red Skelton Show, as the group promoted their new single, Surfin' USA, released almost half a century ago today.
1743 - HANDEL'S MESSIAH was performed for the first time, 269 years ago today, and to celebrate here's The London Symphony Orchestra, plus Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles and the Tenebrae choir, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, as they perform their version of the piece, as it was performed for the first time in London all those years ago.
1792 - JOSEPH HAYDN'S SYMPHONY #94 IN G MAJOR was performed publicly for the first time, again in London, exactly 220 years ago today. The Symphony is the second of the twelve so-called London symphonies (numbers 93-104) written by Joseph Haydn. It is usually called by its nickname, the Surprise Symphony, although in German it is more often referred to as the Symphony 'mitt dem Paukenschlag' (with the kettledrum stroke). Haydn wrote the symphony in 1791 in London for a concert series he gave during the first of his visits to England between 1791 and 1792. The premiere took place at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on March 23, 1792, with Haydn leading the orchestra seated at a fortepiano.
1961 - FALLING IN LOVE was one of Elvis's biggest hits, written by George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore for the movie, Blue Hawaii. The song is based on the classical French composition Plaisir dAmour by Giovanni Martini. Elvis recorded the song 51 years ago today at Radio Recorders. Take #29 was released as the single. The song had a 14-week stay on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at #2. It was #1 on the Easy-Listening chart for 6 weeks, and it was #1 in many countries around the world for 4 weeks. It was the A-side to Rock-a-Hula Baby. The song was a stable in Elvis concerts. Whilst he was recording the song, Elvis was sitting at #1 with his seventh chat topping song, Wooden Heart, a song based on an old German folk song. Here are both songs for your enjoyment.
1964 - JOHN LENNON'S first book, In His Own Write, was published 48 years ago today, and here's a special promotion - audio by the Beatles, video by the Beatles, and back-announced by Dudley Moore...and Peter Cooke drops in for a nano second.
1985 - FORMER CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL FRONT MAN, John Fogerty, went to #1 on the US album chart with Centrefield today. Without doubt, Fogerty is one of the great singers and songwriters of rock'n'roll music, and for more details and videos go to this daily blog's archives.
1999 - POPE JOHN PAUL II entered the pop music business today, with his debut album, Abba Pater being released. The 11 tracks consisted of chanting and praying with musical accompaniment. Check it out, excerpts of John Paul II reciting Psalm 27, photos of Karol Wojtyla's life before his elevation to the papacy, background music by Leonard de Amicis.
1999 - IN GIBRALTER, a set of postage stamps was released today, commemorating what would have been the 30th wedding anniversary of Yoko Ono and John Lennon's wedding at the rock. And here is Australian music television pioneer Dick Williams giving us a flash look at the couple's wedding album. For the Ballad of John & Yoko and more Beatles, go to *MUSICBACKTRACK* archives.
