Grateful Dead - Feature

Psychedelic pioneers, the Grateful Dead were the most improvisatory of all major rock groups. From the late 1960's until the 1995 death of guitarist, singer/songwriter Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead played roughly 2,300 long, freeform concerts that touched down on their own country-, blues-, and folk-tinged rock songs, and on a similarly wide range of cover versions. Though Grateful Dead albums tended to sell a dependable 250,000 copies and the group had one Top Ten single in "Touch of Grey," the Dead's approach to music emphasized live performance, community, and the fungibility of recorded music over album sales and radio airplay. The band also spawned the jam band movement, which would come to include bands like Phish, String Cheese Incident, and Blues Traveler who carried the psych-noodling torch to subsequent generations.

Nearly as famous as the band itself were the legions of "Deadheads" — predominantly white 18- to 24-year-olds who have lovingly preserved the era that spawned the Dead by emulating their Summer of Love predecessors' philosophy and that period's accoutrements: tie-dye clothing, hallucinogenic drugs, and the Dead's music. These fans supported the band with an almost religious fervor, following the group around the country, trading tapes of live concerts (something the band allowed as long as it wasn't for profit, providing prime spots for tapers at shows), and providing a synergy between band and audience that was unique in rock. In true psychedelic style, the Grateful Dead preferred the moment to the artifact — but to keep those moments coming, the Dead evolved into a far-flung and smoothly run corporate enterprise that, for all its hippie trimmings, drew admiring profiles in the financial and mainstream press.


Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia took up guitar at 15, spent nine months in the Army in 1959, then moved to Palo Alto, where he began his long-standing friendship with Robert Hunter, who late became the Dead's lyricist. In 1962 he bought a banjo and began playing in folk and bluegrass bands, and by 1964 he was a member of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, along with Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and longtime associates Bob Matthews (who engineered Dead albums and formed the Alembic Electronics equipment company) and John Dawson (later of New Riders of the Purple Sage).

In 1965 the band became the Warlocks: Garcia, Weir, Pigpen, Bill Kreutzmann, and Phil Lesh, a former electronic-music composer. With electric instruments, the Warlocks debuted in July 1965 and soon became the house band at Ken Kesey's Acid Tests, a series of public LSD parties and multimedia events held before the drug had been outlawed. LSD chemist Owsley Stanley bankrolled the Grateful Dead — a name from an Egyptian prayer that Garcia spotted in a dictionary — and later supervised construction of the band's massive, state-of-the-art sound system. The Dead lived communally at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco in 1966–67 and played numerous free concerts; by 1967's Summer of Love, they were regulars at the Avalon and Carousel ballrooms and the Fillmore West. MGM signed the band in 1966, and it made some mediocre recordings. The Dead's legitimate recording career began when Warner Bros. signed the band. While its self-titled 1967 debut album featured zippy three-minute songs, Anthem of the Sun (Number 87, 1968) and Aoxomoxoa (Number 73, 1969) featured extended suites and studio experiments that left the band $100,000 in debt to Warner Bros., mostly for studio time, by the end of the 1960s. Meanwhile, the Dead's reputation had spread, and they appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969.


As the '70s began, the Dead recouped its Warner debt with three comparatively inexpensive albums — Live/Dead (Number 64, 1969) (recorded in concert at San Francisco's Fillmore West in February and March of 1969), Workingman's Dead (Number 27, 1970), and American Beauty (Number 30, 1970). The former featured extended psychedelic explorations, such as the classic "Dark Star," while in sharp contrast the latter two found the Dead writing concise country-ish songs and working out clear-cut, well-rehearsed arrangements. Workingman's Dead (including "Uncle John's Band" [Number 69, 1970] and "Casey Jones") and American Beauty (including "Truckin'" [Number 64, 1971], "Ripple," and "Box of Rain") received considerable FM radio airplay, sold respectably, and provided much of the Dead's concert repertoire.


With a nationwide following, the Dead expanded its touring schedule and started various solo and side projects (aside from the band members' own works, many Dead members also appeared on the half-dozen-plus albums Dead lyricist Robert Hunter began releasing in 1973). The group worked its way up to a 23-ton sound system and a large traveling entourage of road crew, family, friends, and hangers-on — most of whom would later become staff employees complete with health-insurance and other benefits, as the Dead evolved into an efficient and highly profitable corporation. The Dead finished out its Warners contract with a string of live albums including 1971's Grateful Dead, a.k.a. "Skull and Roses" (#25), which introduced more concert staples such as "Bertha" and "Wharf Rat." In 1973 the Dead played for over half a million people in Watkins Glen, New York, on a bill with the Band and the Allman Brothers. By then the group had formed its own Grateful Dead Records and a subsidiary, Round, for non-band efforts.

Europe '72 (Number 24, 1972) was the last album to feature keyboardist Pigpen, a heavy drinker who died in 1973 of liver disease. Keith Godchaux, who had played piano with Dave Mason, joined the band and brought along his wife, Donna, as background vocalist. The pair toured and recorded with the Dead until 1979, when they were asked to leave and were replaced by pianist Brent Mydland. The following year, Keith Godchaux was killed in a car crash in Marin County.


In 1974 the Dead temporarily disbanded while members pursued outside projects, but the group resumed touring in 1976. After signing with Arista, the group began to use non-Dead producers for the first time: Keith Olsen (Fleetwood Mac) for Terrapin Station (Number 28, 1977) and Little Feat's Lowell George for Shakedown Street (Number 41, 1978). In 1978 the band played three concerts at the foot of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, which were recorded but not released. Go to Heaven (Number 23, 1980) yielded "Alabama Getaway" (Number 68, 1980), like "Truckin'" and "Uncle John's Band," a minor hit single. The Dead's main support continued to be its touring six months out of each year. The band celebrated its 15th anniversary with the release of two more live albums, including the mostly acoustic Reckoning (Number 43, 1981).


The band took a hiatus from recording until 1987, during which time the Dead toured with Bob Dylan (one tour was recorded for the album Dylan and the Dead [Number 37, 1989]), while Garcia's health and personal habits made disturbing headlines: In January 1985 he was arrested for heroin possession in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park; in July 1986, 15 months after being in a drug treatment program and while touring with Dylan, Garcia collapsed into a five-day, near-fatal diabetic coma brought on by drug use. Once he recovered, the Dead made a triumphant return with In the Dark (Number Six, 1987), their first Top Ten album, yielding "Touch of Grey" (Number Nine, 1987), their first (and only) Top Ten single.

Two years later, however, trouble suddenly began following the Dead and its normally mellow army of Deadheads on tour. In April 1989 there were 55 arrests (mostly for drugs and disturbing the peace) and violent encounters with police at two Pittsburgh shows; and 70 arrests and reports of vandalism by Dead fans at three Irvine, California, shows. In October 1989 a college student died of a broken neck outside a Dead show at the New Jersey Meadowlands (his death was never explained, but an investigation cleared security guards of guilt); in December of that year a 19-year-old fan high on LSD died while in police custody for public intoxication at the L.A. Forum (the autopsy reported neck-compression during restraint, but police were cleared of any wrongdoing). As a result, the Dead recorded public service announcements imploring fans to act responsibly.

In July 1990 Mydland died of an overdose of injected cocaine and morphine. He was replaced by Vince Welnick, formerly of San Francisco's the Tubes; Bruce Hornsby, a Dead fan, sometimes sat in on piano during concerts as well. Welnick was not on the first two From the Vault albums, which issued old tapes of legendary Dead shows (from 1968 in L.A. and San Francisco, and from the latter in 1974). In September 1992 the bearish, chain-smoking Garcia was hospitalized with diabetes, an enlarged heart, and fluid in the lungs. The Dead was forced to postpone a tour until the end of the year; doctors put Garcia on a strict diet, exercise, and no-smoking regimen. The Dead returned to the road with a slimmer, fitter Garcia in mid-December 1992 with a series of Bay Area concerts.

That same year Garcia — whose paintings, often pastel watercolors, had been exhibited internationally — unveiled a line of designer silk neckties bearing his artwork. By then the massive catalogue of Dead merchandise also included skis and snowboards as well as T-shirts and even a line of toddler wear, as well as a burgeoning line of CD reissues of vintage live concerts. The Dead's tours in 1994–95 earned the band $52 million. In 1995 the Dead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



On July 9, 1995, Jerry Garcia played his last show with the Grateful Dead. One month later, he died in his sleep at Serenity Knolls, a rehabilitation center where he'd been combating his long-standing heroin addiction. The cause of death was reported as a heart attack. Shortly thereafter, flags flew at half-mast at the San Francisco City Hall to mark the passing of an era. Garcia is survived by four daughters and his third wife, Deborah Koons Garcia, whom he had married the year before. Four months later, the band officially retired.

The music, however, continued. After Garcia's death, archival material, notably in the form of Dick's Picks, live sets chosen initially by super-fan Dick Latvala, was released in abundance. And the band's members, in various conglomerations, resumed playing: Bob Weir with his band, Ratdog, Phil Lesh with Phil Lesh and Friends. In 1998, as the Other Ones, Weir, Lesh, Hart, and Hornsby headlined the Furthur Festival, reviving for many fans the Deadhead spirit. In 2003, the Other Ones changed its name to the Dead (leaving off the Grateful in deference to Garcia's passing), adding keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarist Jimmy Herring, and guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes to the tour lineup.

During their tenure with the Dead, the main members had worked at a number of side projects. Garcia's included session work with Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. He formed New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1969 as a side project [see entry]. From 1970 to 1973 he played occasional gigs with Bay Area keyboardist Merl Saunders (captured on the Keystone albums), and he kept up his bluegrass banjo skills with Old & In the Way, which also featured Peter Rowan (Sectarian), Vassar Clements, and David Grisman. Garcia recorded his first solo album, Garcia, in 1972; the cover shows his right hand, which has been missing its third finger since a childhood accident. Garcia joined organist Howard Wales on the album Hooteroll, and he toured and recorded with various Jerry Garcia bands in the 1970s and 1980s, before recording with David Grisman (who'd played mandolin on American Beauty) for two acoustic albums. His last finished project was an album of children's music, Not for Kids Only (Acoustic Disc), released in 1993.


Weir's first solo effort was 1972's Ace, which featured most of the Dead backing him. During the Dead's sabbatical he formed Kingfish with ex–New Rider Dave Torbert; in the early 1980s Weir toured and recorded with Bobby and the Midnites, including drummer Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra), bassist Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report), and guitarist Bobby Cochran (Steppenwolf). In 1991 Weir and his sister Wendy published Panther Dream, a children's book and companion audiocassette aimed at raising awareness of endangered rainforests — a cause the Dead had been supporting for several years through its Rex Foundation. In 1999 Weir completed a musical on the life of baseball legend Satchel Paige and continued working on digitizing the Dead song archives.


Phil Lesh teamed with electronic music composer Ned Lagin to record the atonal, aleatoric Seastones. Dead drummer Mickey Hart explored world music through his solo albums, with the Diga Rhythm Band, the Rhythm Devils (Hart and Kreutzmann composed incidental percussion music for the soundtrack of the film Apocalypse Now), and by producing albums by musicians from Africa, Asia, and South and Central America on Rykodisc. In 1991 Hart helped arrange a U.S. tour by the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. He also toured with his band, Planet Drum. By 2000, he'd written a book, Spirit Into Sound: The Magic of Music, and formed a new ensemble, the Mickey Hart Band.


Video Of The Grateful Dead Columbia Revolt 05-03-1968



Video Of The Grateful Dead At Woodstock 8-16-69 Part 1



Video Of The Grateful Dead At Woodstock 8-16-69 Part 2



The Grateful Dead - Dark Star - 08/27/72




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Jan 15 - This Day In Rock Music History

Happy Birthday Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart



No. 1

1972 Don MacLean: American Pie US 45
1977 Leo Sayer; You Make Me Feel like Dancing US 45
1977 David Soul: Don't Give Up on Us UK 45
1977 Eagles: Hotel California US LP
1977 Abba: Arrival UK LP
1983 Phil Collins: You Can't Hurry Love UK 45
1983 Men at Work: Down Under US 45
1996 George Michael : Jesus To A Child : UK single
1993 Bryan Adams : So Far So Good : UK LP

Births

1909 Gene Krupa (jazz drummer)
1930 Earl Hooker (blues singer/guitarist)
1941 Captain Beefheart (Don van Vliet) (….. and His Magic Band)
1947 Pete Waterman (record producer)
1949 Ronnie Van Zandt (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
1951 Martha Davis (The Motels)
1952 Melvyn Gale (ELO)
1959 Pete Trenavas (Marillion)
1967 Lisa Velez (Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam)

Deaths

1992 Dee Murray (bassist for Elton John)



Various

1955 Billboard reports, "music with an R&B beat is no longer regarded as a passing phase by major recording firms."

1961 Motown Records signs The Supremes.

1964 Capitol Records obtains an injuction restraining Vee Jay Records from further invovement with recordings by the Beatles.

1965 The Who release I Can't Explain in UK, their first hit.

1967 US television censorship hits Rolling Stones when they appear on Ed Sullivan show singing Let's Spend Some Time Together.

1967 – Donovan appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, Paul McCartney and George Harrison both attended the show.

1968 John Fred and the Playboy Band go gold with Judy in Disguise (With glasses)

1968 Cream's White Room hits UK chart.

1971 George Harrison releases "My Sweet Lord".

1972 Elvis Presley draws biggest-ever TV audience with live worldwide concert telecast from Honolulu.

1973 The Rolling Stones announce a benefit concert for Managua, Nicaragua. The hometown of Bianca Jagger was recently devastated by an earthquake.

1977 David Bowie releases Low LP in US

1980 The Ramones appeared live on UK BBC TV music show The Old Grey Whistle Test.

1982 Harry Wayne Casey(KC of the Sunshine Band) is seriously injured in an automobile accident in Miami.

1983 First broadcast of Gastank, new TV rock show, on Channel 4 in UK.

1984 Madonna enters UK chart for first time with Holiday.

1991 Sean Lennon's updated version of his father John's "Give Peace A Chance" is released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.

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January 14th 1967 - The First Human Be-In

The Human Be-In was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic' to suburbia.

The Human Be-In focused the key ideas of the 1960s counterculture: personal empowerment, cultural and political decentralization, communal living, ecological awareness, higher consciousness (often achieved with the aid of psychedelic drugs), and liberal political consciousness. The hippie movement developed out of disaffected student communities around Stanford and Berkeley and in San Francisco's beat generation poets and jazz hipsters, who also combined a search for intuitive spontaneity with a rejection of 'middle-class morality.' Allen Ginsberg personified the transition between the Beat and hippie generations.


The Human Be-In took its name from a chance remark by the artist Michael Bowen made at the Love Pageant Rally. The playful name combined humanist values with the scores of sit-ins that had been reforming college and university practices and eroding the last vestiges of entrenched segregation, starting with the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in of 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The first major teach-in had been organized by Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan, 24-25 March 1965.

The Human Be-In was announced on the cover of the fifth issue of the San Francisco Oracle as "A Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In." The occasion was a new California law banning the use of the psychedelic drug, LSD that had come into effect on October 6, 1966.



The speakers at the rally were all invited by Bowen, the main organizer. They included Timothy Leary in his first San Francisco appearance, who set the tone that afternoon with his famous phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out" and Richard Alpert (soon to be more widely known as 'Ram Dass'), and poets like Allen Ginsberg, who chanted mantras, and Gary Snyder. Other counterculture gurus included comedian Dick Gregory, Lenore Kandel, and Jerry Rubin.

The Hells Angels, at the peak of their 'outlaw' reputation, corralled lost children. Music was provided by a host of local rock bands including Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service, who had been staples of the Fillmore and the Avalon Ballroom since February 1966, and 'underground chemist' Owsley Stanley provided massive amounts of his "White Lightning" LSD, specially produced for the event, to the gathered masses.

The national media were agog. No one was able to agree whether 20,000 or 30,000 people showed up. Soon every gathering was an '-In' of some kind: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In comedy television show began airing over NBC just a year later, January 22, 1968.





The 'Human Be-In' was later recalled by Allen Cohen (who assisted the artist Bowen in the organizational work,) as a necessary meld that brought together philosophically opposed factions of the current San Francisco-based counterculture: on one side, the Berkeley radicals, who were tending toward increased militancy in response to the U.S. government's Vietnam war policies, and, on the other side, the rather non-political Haight-Ashbury hippies, who urged peaceful protest. Their means were drastically different, but they held many of the same goals.



According to Cohen's own account,his friend Bowen provided much of the "organizing energy" for the event, and Bowen's personal connections also strongly influenced its characterThe counterculture that surfaced at the 'Human Be-In' encouraged people to 'question authority' in regard to civil rights, women's rights, and consumer rights, and shaped its own alternative media: "underground" newspapers and radio stations.

Video Of The Human Be-In on January 14th 1967


More Video Of The Human Be-In on January 14th 1967


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Jan 14 - Today In Rock History

No. 1

1956 Dean Martin: Memories Are Made Of This US 45
1961 Elvis Presley: G.I. Blues UK LP
1965 Georgie Fame: Yeah Yeah UK 45
1984 Paul McCartney: Pipes of Peace UK 45
1989 Bobby Brown: My Perogative US 45
1995 Rednex: Cotton Eye Joe: UK single

Births

1938 Jack Jones
1938 Alain Toussaint (New Orleans songwriter/performer)
1948 Tim Harris (Foundations)
1959 Carl Smyth (Madness)
1962 Patricia Morrison (Sisters of Mercy)
1968 LL Cool J
1969 Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana)

Various

2004 – The White Stripes’ Jack White pleads not guilty to assaulting the Von Bondies’ singer Jason Stollsteimer in December. White says he was acting in self-defense.

2003 – Linda Gail Lewis the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis, dropped a claim of sex discrimination against Van Morrison.

2001 – In Barbados’ Bridgetown, Chaka Khan reunites with her old group Rufus at the eighth annual Barbados Paint It Jazz festival.

2000 – Nashville-based country fan magazine Music City News closes its doors after 37 years of publication.

2000 – Lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge tells Rolling Stone that David Crosby fathered her two children with Julie Cypher.

1998 – Smithereens front man Pat DiNizio launches his first solo tour in Pontiac, Mich.

1996 – Oasis went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’, the group’s second UK No.1 spent a total of 145 week’s on the charts.

1995 – Pearl Jam performs with Neil Young for a Voters for Choice benefit in Washington, DC.

1995 – Solly McElroy, lead singer with the doo-wop group the Flamingoes, dies in Chicago aged 61.

1993 – US alternative group The Pixies announced that they had split. (They re-formed in 2004).

1992 – Jerry Nolan drummer with The New York Dolls died from a fatal stroke.

1990 – Bob Dylan unveils his new song “Wiggle Wiggle” to a shocked audience at State College, Pa. Reports of Dylan’s artistic decline start doing the rounds again.

1989 – Compilation albums were excluded from the UK chart and were listed in the new Top 20 Compilation Albums.

1989 – Paul McCartney releases his album of rock covers, Back in the USSR, exclusively in the Soviet Union today.

1987 – Appearing at King Georges Hall, Blackburn, Nick Kershaw on the first night of a 25 date UK tour.

1984 – Paul McCartney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pipes Of Peace.’

1982 – Born on this day, Caleb Followill, lead singer, rhythm guitarist, Kings of Leon, (2007 UK No.1 album ‘Because of the Times’).

1978 – Player started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Baby Come Back’, a No.32 hit in the UK, the groups only UK hit.

1978 – The Sex Pistols perform before a sold-out crowd at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.

1973 – Paul Gadd (Gary Glitter) killed off his former persona Paul Raven when he lowered a coffin containing all his records into the River Thames, London.

1973 – Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested on drugs possession charges.

1972 – Stevie Wonder kicked off a 15-date UK tour at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.

1972 – Yes played the first of two nights at the Rainbow Theatre, London.

1970 - A display of John Lennon's erotic "Bag One" lithographs opens in London. 2 days later Scotland Yard seizes prints declaring them pornographic.

1970 – Diana Ross performs one last gig with the Supremes in Las Vegas.

1969 – Dave Grohl of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters is Born.

1967 – The first Human Be-in takes place in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

1967 – Born on this day, Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne Band.

1967 – Cliff Richard told the music paper the NME that he was retiring from show business to teach religious education in schools.

1966 – David Bowie release his first single, “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” on Parlophone Records.

1966 -David Bowie changes his last name from Jones to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees.

1965 – Georgie Fame was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Yeh Yeh.’

1965 – Bob Dylan starts recording Bringing It All Back Home.

1964 – The Beatles fly to Paris while Paul McCartney and John Lennon work on writing “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

1963 – Bob Dylan performs on Richard Farina’s album Dick Farina, billing himself as Blind Boy Grunt.

1963 – The Rolling Stones perform for the first time with new recruit Charlie Watts on drums at London’s Flamingo Jazz Club.

1962 – Born on this day, Patricia Morrison, Gun Club, Sisters Of Mercy, (1992 UK No.3 single ‘Temple Of Love’).

1960 – Elvis Presley’s’ ‘GI Blues’ started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK chart.

1960 – G.I. Elvis Presley is promoted to a sergeant.

1956 – Little Richard’s “Tutti-Frutti” crosses over from the R&B to the pop chart, rising to #17.

1955 – Disc jockey Alan Freed holds his first Rock `n’ Roll Party stage show in New York. Acts include the Clovers, Fats Domino and the Drifters.

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Frank Zappa Feature With Vintage Photos & Videos

With more than 80 albums to his credit, composer/arranger/guitarist/bandleader Frank Zappa demonstrated a mastery of pop idioms ranging from jazz to rock of every conceivable variety, penned electronic and orchestral works, parlayed controversial satire, and testified in Congress against censorship. As astute an entrepreneur as he was a musician, he was impatient with any division between popular and high art; he combined scatological humor with political wit, required of his players (Little Feat founder Lowell George, guitarists Adrian Belew and Steve Vai, and drummer Terry Bozzio, among them) an intimidating skill, and displayed consistent innovation in instrumental and studio technology.

The eldest of four children of a guitar-playing government scientist, Frank Zappa moved with his family at age 10 to California, eventually settling in Lancaster. Playing in school orchestras and bands, he taught himself a variety of instruments, concentrating on guitar. A collector of ’50s rock & roll and R&B singles, he also listened to modern classical composers like Stravinsky and his avowed favorite, Edgard Varèse. In high school he formed the Black-Outs and added country blues to his record collection. He met future collaborator and underground legend Don Van Vliet and allegedly christened him Captain Beefheart. In 1959 he studied music theory at Chaffey College in Alta Loma, California, dropping out after six months.

In 1960 Zappa played cocktail World’s Greatest Sinner. He also appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a “bicycle concerto” (plucking the spokes, blowing through the handlebars). In 1963 Zappa wrote a score for a Western called Run Home Slow, and with the money built a studio in Cucamonga, California. He befriended future Mothers Ray Collins and Jim “Motorhead” Sherwood, and formed a band with Beefheart called the Soots.


Zappa was charged with conspiracy to commit pornography by the San Bernardino Vice Squad after an undercover policeman requested some sex “party” tapes: Zappa delivered tapes of faked grunting, and served 10 days of a six-month jail sentence. The woman involved was bailed out of jail with royalties from “Memories of El Monte,” which Zappa and Collins had written for the doo-wop group the Penguins. In 1964 Zappa joined the Soul Giants, with Collins (vocals), Dave Coronada (sax), Roy Estrada (bass), and Jimmy Carl Black (drums). Renaming them the Muthers, then the Mothers, he moved the band onto L.A.’s proto-hippie “freak” circuit (Coronada quit, replaced by guitarist Elliot Ingber). The band played clubs for two years, mixing covers with social-protest tunes like “Who Are the Brain Police?” In early 1966 producer Tom Wilson signed them to MGM/Verve and recorded Freak Out! MGM, wary of the band’s outrageous reputation, forced Zappa to add “of Invention” to the Mothers. Though Zappa advertised the album in underground papers and comics and earned critical respect for the album’s obvious musical and lyrical distinction, it ended up losing money.

In 1966, with Ingber departing, eventually to join Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, the Mothers lineup expanded to include saxophonists Bunk Gardner and Motorhead Sherwood, keyboardist Don Preston, and drummer Billy Mundi. Released in 1967, Absolutely Free further satirized “straight” America with pointed tunes like “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” and “Plastic People.” We’re Only in It for the Money, a parody of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper, found Zappa savaging hippie pretensions. His montage production techniques - mingling tape edits, noise, recitative, free-form outbursts, and Varèse-like modern classical music with rock - were coming into their own. In 1967 Zappa and the Mothers also recorded Lumpy Gravy, with a 50-piece orchestra, including many Mothers, and Cruising With Ruben & the Jets, an homage to ’50s doo-wop.

Billy Mundi left after Lumpy Gravy; by now it was apparent that the Mothers were less a band than a shifting vehicle for Zappa’s art. While recording Money, Zappa and the group had moved to New York City’s Greenwich Village, where they began a six-month residency at the Garrick Theatre. There they pioneered rock theater with a series of often-spontaneous audience-participation skits. While recording Ruben & the Jets, the Mothers also began recording Uncle Meat, a double album for a never-completed movie. It is the first example of Zappa’s trademark complex-meter jrock fusion.

After making Uncle Meat, Zappa moved the band back to L.A. and married his second wife, Gail; their four children include daughters Moon Unit and Diva and sons Dweezil and Ahmet Rodan. (Dweezil would become a solo artist in the ’80s, then form Shampoohorn with his brother in the ’90s; both also became television personalities, as did their sister Moon Unit). In L.A. Zappa moved into movie cowboy Tom Mix’s Log Cabin Ranch, where he assembled the increasingly complex Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh. By this time, the band had come to include second guitarist Lowell George and drummer Art Tripp III.

In late 1968 Zappa and manager Herb Cohen had moved to Warner/Reprise, where they formed their own Straight and Bizarre labels. Zappa recorded such acts as groupie collective the GTO’s (Girls Together Outrageously), onetime street-singer Wild Man Fischer, Alice Cooper, and Captain Beefheart (whose Trout Mask Replica was one of Zappa’s most memorable productions). By the time Weasels was released in 1970, Zappa had temporarily disbanded the Mothers because of overwhelming expenses and public apathy. Lowell George and Roy Estrada then founded Little Feat; Art Trip III joined Beefheart (Estrada later joined Beefheart as well); Gardner and Black formed Geronimo Black.

Zappa began composing the soundtrack for 200 Motels. He also recorded his first solo album, Hot Rats, a jazz-rock guitar showcase featuring Beefheart and jazz violinists Jean-Luc Ponty and Don “Sugarcane” Harris. Hot Rats was released to great critical acclaim in 1970, as was Ponty’s King Kong, an album of Zappa compositions (for legal reasons, Zappa’s name couldn’t be listed as producer and guitarist). In 1970 Zappa also performed the 200 Motels score with Zubin Mehta and the L.A. Philharmonic at a sold-out L.A. concert. That summer, Zappa re-formed the Mothers, retaining keyboardist/reedman Ian Underwood and adding ex-Turtles Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman (singers then known as the Phlorescent Leech and Eddie), and bassist Jim Pons, along with jazz keyboardist George Duke and British rock drummer Aynsley Dunbar. With this lineup and other session players, Zappa recorded Waka/Jawaka and Chunga’s Revenge as solo albums and the Mothers’ Fillmore East - June 1971 and Just Another Band From L.A.


At this point, critics began accusing the Mothers of becoming a cynical, scatological joke, but Zappa displayed no discomfort in portraying two apparently contradictory personae: the raunchy inciter and the serious composer (whose stature in fact would increase over the years, and whose cult always remained intense). In 1971 the 200 Motels film, featuring Theodore Bikel and Ringo Starr as surrogate Zappas, as well as the Mothers, was released to mixed response. In May 1971 Zappa appeared at one of the last Fillmore East concerts with John Lennon and Yoko Ono; the performance appears on Lennon/Ono’s Some Time in New York City. As the Mothers personnel began to change more frequently, they embarked on a 1971 tour in which their equipment was destroyed in a fire at Switzerland’s Montreux Casino (immortalized in opening act Deep Purple’s hit “Smoke on the Water”), and Zappa was injured when a fan pushed him from the stage of London’s Rainbow Theatre. A year later the Mothers were banned from Royal Albert Hall for “obscenity.”

The Grand Wazoo, with numerous auxiliary players, was a big-band fusion album. And in 1973 Zappa and the Mothers also recorded Over-Nite Sensation, on which Zappa simplified his music and kept his lyrics in a scatological-humorous vein, as in “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” (#86, 1974). Album sales picked up. Apostrophe (’) - Zappa’s highest charting album, at #10 - featured an extended jam with ex-Cream bassist Jack Bruce, as well as by-now-typical dirty jokes and satires. The 1975 Bongo Fury album reunited Zappa with Beefheart. The latter had fallen out with Zappa after Trout Mask, accusing Zappa of marketing him as “a freak.”

After producing Grand Funk Railroad’s Good Singin’, Good Playin’ in 1976, Zappa filed a lawsuit against Herb Cohen in 1977 and severed ties with Warner Bros., moving to Mercury two years later. There he set up Zappa Records and retired the Mothers name, calling all later groups Zappa. On the new label he released Sheik Yerbouti (a pun on KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake Your Booty”), including the song “Jewish Princess,” over which the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint with the FCC against Zappa. That album also yielded a surprise hit single, “Dancin’ Fool” (#45, 1979), which lampooned the disco crowd. (Sheik peaked at #21 on the albums chart.) Joe’s Garage, Act I, the first installment of a three-act rock opera, included “Catholic Girls,” and Zappa’s penchant for barbed attacks continued to infuriate his critics while strengthening his own following.


In 1979 Zappa also released the film Baby Snakes, a mélange of concert footage, dressing room slapstick, and clay-figure animation. The late-’70s Zappa bands included guitarist Adrian Belew (who later played with Talking Heads, King Crimson, and David Bowie) and drummer Terry Bozzio (who later with his wife Dale founded Missing Persons). In 1980 Zappa recorded a single, “I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted,” which Mercury refused to release, prompting him to leave the label and eventually establish his own Barking Pumpkin label.

In 1981 Zappa released his first Barking Pumpkin album; and that year, some ex-Mothers, including Jimmy Carl Black, Don Preston, and Bunk Gardner, united to form the Grandmothers. They toured and recorded, playing all-Zappa material from the Mothers’ vintage late-’60s period. That April Zappa produced and hosted a New York City concert of music by Edgard Varèse. He also released a limited edition mail-order-only, three-album series, Shut Up ’n Play Yer Guitar.

Zappa parlayed stereotype satire into success once more with “Valley Girl” (#32, 1982) from the Drowning Witch album. The song parodied the spoiled daughters of entertainment-industry folk, specifically those in the San Bernardino Valley city of Encino, and featured inspired mimicry by then-14-year-old Moon Unit Zappa. In 1983 Zappa conducted works by Varèse and Anton Webern at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House.


The ’80s saw Zappa consolidating his business affairs; with Gail Zappa in charge, his companies included not only Barking Pumpkin (a mail-order label, distributed by Capitol) but Honker Home Video, Barfko-Swill (for Zappa merchandise), and World’s Finest Optional Entertainment Co. (to produce live shows); he also arranged with Rykodisc to rerelease his catalogue on CD. A lifelong free-speech advocate, he testified before a Senate subcommittee in 1985 and assailed the Parents’ Music Resource Center (excerpts from the hearings appeared on Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention); throughout the decade, he also championed voter registration drives. In 1990, at the invitation of Czechoslovakian president Vaclav Havel, a longtime fan, Zappa served for several months as that country’s trade, tourism, and cultural liaison to the West. The following year, he considered a run for the U.S. presidency.

Artistically, the ’80s were also fertile years for Zappa. Early in the decade, the Berkeley Symphony performed his work; in 1984 conductor/composer Pierre Boulez released Boulez Conducts Zappa/The Perfect Stranger (#7, 1984 on the classical chart). In 1988 Zappa undertook a world tour (documented on Broadway the Hard Way) and won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental for Jazz From Hell, an album composed on Synclavier, a highly sophisticated synthesizer that in Zappa found one of its chief devotees. Among his other late-’80s projects were remastering his ’60s work for CD and assembling six double-CD sets of live work entitled You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore. In 1989 Poseidon Press published his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book.

In 1991, in New York City on the eve of a tribute concert entitled “Zappa’s Universe,” Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa announced that their father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. A lifelong teetotaler and abstainer from drugs (Zappa, however, smoked cigarettes and drank coffee incessantly), the composer continued a rigorous work schedule. In 1992 he completed a two-CD sequel to Lumpy Gravy, Civilization Phaze III and in 1993 recorded both The Yellow Shark, an album of his compositions by the classical group Ensemble Modern, and, also with the Ensemble, an album of Varèse works tentatively entitled The Rage and the Fury: The Music of Edgard Varèse. Frank Zappa died on the evening of December 4, 1993, at his L.A. home; he was 52 years old.

He had over the years remixed or remastered all of his recorded output for CD releases; nearly everything has since been rereleased on Rykodisc. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. That year also saw the publication, from St. Martin’s Press, of Ben Watson’s Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, an exhaustive postmodernist deconstruction/appreciation of the man’s music. Four years later, he was remembered, perhaps more fittingly, by an all-Zappa program performed by the Florida Orchestra.

Various Videos Of Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention - In The Sky - Video - 1968



Frank Zappa - Stinkfoot Live Video (1974)



Frank Zappa - San Berdino (Baby Snakes) Live Video




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Jan. 13 - Today In Rock History

No. 1

1962 Cliff Richard: The Young Ones UK LP
1962 Chubby Checker: The Twist US 45
1973 Carly Simon: No Secrets US LP
1973 Slade: Slayed UK LP
1990 New Kids on the Block: Hanging Tough UK 45
1997 Tori Amos : Professional Widow : UK single

Births

1948 John Lees (Barclay James Harvest)
1954 Trevor Rabin (Yes)
1955 Fred White (Earth, Wind and Fire)
1961 Suggs (Graham McPherson - Madness)

Deaths

1979 Donny Hathaway


Various

2004 – A Canadian furniture store apologizes to the widow of Frank Zappa for using his song “Watermelon in Easter Hay” without consent in a TV commercial.

2003 – Who guitarist Pete Townshend was arrested on suspicion of child porn offences. Police officers impounded seven computers from his £15 million ($25.5 million) home in Richmond, Surrey.

2003 – Tommy Mottola, onetime husband of Mariah Carey, resigns as chairman of Sony Music.

2003 – Police in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 lost tapes made by the Beatles in raids on bootleggers.

1993 – Tonight on TV’s A Country Music Celebration, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan perform their “Heartland” songwriting collaboration.

1991 – The crowd at Dayton, Ohio’s Ervin J. Nutter Center get introduced to Guns N’ Roses time, as the band take the stage at 12:25 AM to play

1986 – Sex Pistol members John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, as well as the mother of Sid Vicious, sued former manager Malcom McClaren for £1 million ($1.7 million).

1984 – BBC Radio 1 announced a ban on ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read called it ‘obscene’, a BBC TV ban also followed.

1981 – appearing at The Venue, London, Bow Wow Wow. Tickets cost £3 ($5.10).

1980 – appearing live at the Birmingham Odeon, England, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, tickets £2.

1980 – Bob Dylan kicks off the second leg of his Gospel Tour in Seattle meeting with great success.

1980 – A benefit for the people of Kampuchea is held at the Oakland Coliseum in California. Headliners are the Grateful Dead, Beach Boys and Jefferson Starship.






1979 – Soul singer Donny Hathaway committed suicide falling from a 15th floor New York hotel window.

1979 – The YMCA sues the Village People over their song of the same name.

1978 – The Police started recording their first album at Surrey Sound Studios, Surrey, England with producer Nigel Gray.

1973 – Slade scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘Slayed’.

1973 – Carly Simon started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘No Secrets’.

1973 – Eric Clapton performs at the Rainbow Theatre in a concert organized by his friend Pete Townshend in order to help Clapton shake his alcoholism.

1969 – Elvis Presley begins recording in Memphis for the first time since his Sun sessions and makes some of his most powerful adult music, including “Suspicious Minds.”

1967 – Jimi Hendrix performs at London’s Bag O’Nails club before an audience that includes Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

1967 – The Rolling Stones appear on TV’s “Ed Sullivan Show” and are forced to change the lyrics of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together”

1966 – George Harrison and his girlfriend Patti Boyd met up with Mick Jagger and Chrissie Shrimpton at Dolly’s nightclub on Jermyn Street in London’s west End.

1966 – Ringo Starr and John Lennon leave England for a vacation in Trinidad.

1965 - Bob Dylan releases The Times They Are A-Changing as a single. His first hit in the UK, it never makes the American chart.

1964 – The Beatles release their breakthrough single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in the United States.

1964 – Bob Dylan releases Another Side of Bob Dylan. Share and Enjoy

1963 – Bob Dylan plays a folk singer in the BBC radio play The Madhouse of Castle Street. He fills out his performance by singing “Blowin’ in the Wind”

1963 – In Birmingham, the Beatles make a recording for Thank Your Lucky Stars, their first British national TV appearance.

1962 – Cliff Richard scored his second UK No.1 album with ‘The Young Ones’, which spent six weeks at the top of the charts.

1962 – Bob Dylan performs at the San Remo Coffee House in Schenectady, N.Y.

1962 – Chubby Checker tops the singles charts with “The Twist.”

1961 – Suggs, lead singer with the excellent English ska-pop group Madness (“Our House”), is born in Hastings as Graham MacPherson.

1958 -Little Richard releases Good Golly Miss Molly in US

1957 – Elvis Presley records “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” at a Hollywood studio.

1957 - Elvis Presley records All Shook Up

1955 – Earth Wind & Fire drummer Fred White is born.

1954 – Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin is born in Johannesburg, South Africa.

1952 – Doobie Brothers sax player Cornelius Bumpus is born today.

1948 – John Lees, vocalist/guitarist with prog rockers Barclay James Harvest, is born in England.

1947 – Chris Thomas, who has produced classic albums like For Your Pleasure, Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols, The Pretenders and Kick, is born in Middlesex, England.

Jan. 12 - Today In Rock History

Happy Birthday Chris!



No. 1

1961 Johnny Tillotson: Poetry in Motion UK 45
1974 Steve Miller: The Joker US 45
1974 Jim Croce: You Don't Mess Around with Jim US LP
1980 Bee Gees: Bee Gees Greatest US LP
1998 All Saints : Never Ever : UK single

Births

1904 Mississippi Fred McDowell (blues performer)
1936 Charlie Gracie (Butterfly)
1941 Long John Baldry (UK blues singer)
1945 Maggie Bell (Stone The Crows)
1946 Cynthia Robinson (Sly and the Family Stone)
1951 Chris Bell (Big Star)
1959 Per Gessle (Roxette)
1960 Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows)
1965 Mark Moore (Starlight Express)
1968 Raekwon (Wu-Tang Clan)
1974 Melanie Chisholm (Spice Girls)

Deaths

1983 – Former Traffic percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah died from a brain

haemorrhage in Stockholm.

2004 – Randy Vanwarmer, the singer/songwriter/guitarist who went to No. 4 in 1978 with “Just When I Needed You Most” succumbs to leukemia. He was 48.

2003 – Bee Gees keyboardist/bassist Maurice Gibb dies at a Miami Beach hospital.

2001 – Trail-blazing Brazilian composer/guitarist Luis Bonfa dies of cancer in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 78.


Various Happenings


2005 – Bob Marley’s widow Rita Marley announces plans to disinter his remains and move them from Jamaica to the Rastafarian stronghold of Shashemene, Ethiopia.

2005 – it was announced that the Strawberry Field children’s home immortalised by The Beatles was to close. The home was in Woolton, Liverpool


2002 – Adam Ant, whose self-styled “Ant Music” made him an international star was
admitted to a Mental hospital.

2000 – Sarah McLachlan is appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada on this day.

2000 – It’s announced that Bob Dylan will receive Sweden’s Polar Music Award.

1999 – Elton John files suit in London against Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accountancy firm, and Andrew Haydon, a former managing director of John Reid Enterprises, his former management company.


1998 – Tonight at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Mamas & the Papas, Santana, and Lloyd Price.

1998 – Billy Joel sells out a record-setting eighth and ninth shows at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.

1995 - At theRock and Roll Induction Ceremonies the inductees include Neil Young, The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Al Green, Martha and the Vandellas and Frank Zappa.

1993 – Cream reform at tonight’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles. Other inductees are Creedence Clearwater Revival – who don’t reform.

1993 – Van Morrison failed to turn up at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction dinner, making him the first living inductee not to attend.


1992 – Bob Geldof was arrested after a disturbance on a Boeing 727, which had been grounded for 5 hours at Stansted Airport.

1991 – Country music singer Johnny Paycheck is released from an Ohio prison after serving two years of a seven year sentence for a barroom shooting.

1990 – Bob Dylan plays what amounts to a four-hour-long public rehearsal at the New Haven, Conn., club Toad’s Place. A smiling Dylan even takes requests.

1984 – Motley Crue opens its first U.S. tour at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1982 – Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall have their third child together on this day.

1981 – It was reported that the White House had expanded its record library by including albums by Bob Dylan, Kiss and The Sex Pistols.

1980 – ‘The Bee Gees Greatest Hits’ album was at No.1 on the US charts.

1979 - Aynsley Dunbar replaces drummer John Barbata in Jefferson Starship, subsequently playing on single Jane.

1977 – The Police had their first rehearsal, held at drummer’s Stewart Copeland’s London flat, with Henri Padovani on guitar.


1977 – The first night of an UK tour with Hall and Oates kicked off at The Odeon, Birmingham.

1977 "Long May You Run" an LP by the Stephen Stills/Neil Young band is
certified gold. This isYoung's last professional collaborations with the other three, although Stills, David Crosy and Graham Nash will reunite serveral times in the years to come.


1977 – Rolling Stone Keith Richards was fined £750 ($1,275) for possession of cocaine found in his car after the guitarist had been involved in a car crash.

1977 – EMI Records issued a statement saying it felt unable to promote The Sex Pistols records in view of the adverse publicity generated over the last two
months.


1975 – The Warner Bros. Looney Tunes package tour kicks off in Europe, featuring
the Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, Graham Central Station, Bonaroo, Montrose and
Tower of Power.

1974 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “The Joker,” Steve Miller Band.

1969 – The psychedelic film Wonderwall premieres in London, with a soundtrack by George Harrison. Halliwell’s Film Guide says the movie is “vapid and witless.”

1968 – In one of TV’s odder moments, the Supremes appear on the program Tarzan as
a troupe of nuns.

1968 – The Beatles Film Productions changed its name to Apple Film Limited and Apple Music Limited changed its name to Apple Corps Limited.

1965 – NBC premieres a new pop TV show called Hullabaloo, hosted by Jack Jones. Today’s guests include the New Christy Minstrels and a comedian called Woody Allen.

1964 – The Beatles appeared on the ATV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium
performing ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, and ‘Money’

1963 – Parlophone releases the Beatles’ second single “Please Please Me” in Britain.

1963 -Bob Dylan records a radio play, Madhouse on Castle Street, for the BBC, and he sings Blowin' in the Wind and Swan on the River, a number he never recorded again. He is in the UK returning from a trip to Italy to search for Suze Rotolo, the girl featured on the cover of Freewheelin Bob Dylan.

1959 – Blixa Bargeld, whose atonal metal bashing with Einsturzende Neubauten strangely has never found popular success, is born in Berlin.

1959 – Per Gessle, whose atonal songwriting with Roxette strangely has found popular success, is born.

1957 – Elvis Presley records “All Shook Up” at a Hollywood studio.

1955 – Australian rocker Paul Kelly is born in Adelaide.

1951 – Singer/songwriter Chris Bell, who formed Big Star with Alex Chilton, is born in Memphis.

1946 – Sly & the Family Stone trumpeter Cynthia Robinson is born in Sacramento, Calif.

1945 – Louisiana swamp rock guitarist Danny James is born in Sulphur.

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Retro Rebirth

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Jan. 11 - Today In Rock History

No. 1 Chart Toppers

1957 Tommy Steele Singing the Blues UK 45
1962 Cliff Richard: The Young Ones UK 45
1986 Pet Shop Boys: West End Girls UK 45

Births

1924 Slim Harpo (blues performer)
1946 Naomi Judd
1949 Denny Greene (Sha Na Na)
1958 Vicky Peterson (Bangles)
1968 Tom Dumont (No Doubt)
1971 Mary J Blige

Deaths

2005 – Spencer Dryden, the drummer for legendary rock band the Jefferson Airplane, dies of cancer at his home in Petaluma, Calif. He was 66.

2005 – Singer/songwriter Jimmy Griffin, best known for his work with 1970s soft rock act Bread, dies at his home near Nashville of complications from cancer. He was 61.

Various Happenings

2004 – Rock wildman Ted Nugent (“Stranglehold”, “Cat Scratch Fever”, “Dog eat Dog”, “Wang dang sweet pun tang”) requires 40 stitches to his leg after wounding himself with a chainsaw.

2003 – The London Star tabloid reports that drummer Alan Whyte has quit Oasis (“Wonderwall”) after coming down with tendinitis.

2000 – Singer Gary Glitter is released from prison in Bristol, England, after serving two months of a four-month sentence for possessing child pornography.

2000 – Chart-topping R&B vocalist Whitney Houston is caught with more than a halfounce of marijuana at Keahole-Kona International Airport in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The drugs are discovered in Houston’s handbag.

1999 – Lena Horne, 81, renews her recording contract with Blue Note Records. Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall announces the renewal at a 60th anniversary celebration for the label.

1999 – At this year’s American Music Awards, Billy Joel receives the Special Award of Merit and Blondie perform “No Exit” with rapping assistance from Coolio.

1995 – Michael Jackson releases a statement saying, “I will no longer stand by and watch reckless members of the media try to destroy my reputation.”

1992 -Paul Simon becomes the first international star to perform in South Africa after the end of the UN cultural boycott.

1987 – Frankie Goes to Hollywood begins what will be its final tour in Manchester, England.

1986 – “Living in America,” the theme song from Rocky IV, reaches #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

1980 - Pretenders release their eponymous debut LP in the UK.

1978 – Funkadelic hits #28 with “One Nation Under a Groove”.

1977 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” Leo Sayer.

1975 – Led Zeppelin play “Kashmir” live for the first time during a gig at the Ahoy in Rotterdam.


1969 – ‘Love Is,’ by Eric Burdon and the Animals, enters the U.S. charts shortly after the band performs a farewell concert in the British city of Newcastle.

1969 – Jethro Tull’s debut album, “This Was,” is released.

1969 – The Rolling Stones go to No. 5 in the American album charts with their new release Beggars Banquet.

1969 – “Heard it thru the Grapevine” is number 1 in the US.

1968 – Jimi Hendrix moves into a London townhouse formerly owned by the Messiah’s composer George Frederick Handel.

1967 – Pink Floyd begin two days of recording with producer Joe Boyd, working on the tracks “Interstellar Overdrive,” “Arnold Layne,” “Let’s Roll Another One” and “Nick’s Boogie.”

1966 - Herman's Hermits receive a gold record for the album "The Best of Herman's Hermits."

1964 – “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash becomes the first country album to top the U.S. pop album chart.

1963 – Sam Cooke’s late show at the Harlem Square Club in Miami, Florida, is recorded by RCA for possible release as a live album.


1963 – The Whisky A-Go-Go, the Hollywood club devoted to the cutting edge of rock, opens. The Doors were discovered there by Elektra boss Jac Holzman when opening for Love.

1960 – Vicki Peterson, guitarist with the Bangles and the Continental Drifters, is born in Los Angeles.

1942 – The big man – Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band – is born in Norfolk, Va.

1935 – Chuck Barksdale, bass vocalist with the R&B group the Dells (“Oh What A Night”), is born in Chicago.

1924 – Venerable blues fellow Slim Harpo is born in Lobdell, La., as James Moore.

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Jan. 10 - Today In Rock History

Happy Birthday Rod!!



No. 1

1958 Jerry Lee Lewis: Great Balls of Fire UK 45
1976 C.W. McCall: Convoy US 45
1981 John Lennon: Imagine UK 45
1999 Fatboy Slim : Praise You : UK single

Births

1912 Buddy Johnson (R&B pianist/songwriter)
1917 Jerry Wexler (Atlantic records producer)
1927 Johnny Ray (Cry)
1935 Ronnie Hawkins (Forty Days)
1942 Jim Croce (Time in a Bottle).
1945 Rod Stewart (Maggie May)
1945 Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash)
1946 Aynsley Dunbar (John Mayall/Jefferson Starship)
1948 Cyril Neville (Neville Brothers)
1948 Donald Fagen (Steely Dan)
1953 Pat Benatar (Love is a Battlefield)
1955 Michael Schenker (guitarist)
1958 Shawn Colvin
1964 Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies)
1965 Nathan Moore (Brother Beyond)
1973 Aerle Taree (Arrested Development)
1979 Chris Smith (Kriss Kross)

Deaths

1976 Howlin' Wolf (blues musician)

1987 With Walk Like an Egyptian at No. 1 in the US for the fourth week, Bangles equal the longest run at the top by a girl group (previous record held by Chiffons, Supremes and Emotions).

1985 – Ted Nugent appears on TV’s “Miami Vice.”

1981 John Lennon's Double Fantasy LP goes platinum.

1978 – The litigation between Beatles, Apple, Allen Klein and ABKCO is declared settled in court.

1978 – Bluesman Howlin’ Wolf dies in a hospital near Chicago following brain surgery. His biggest hit is the 1951 song “How Many More Years,” which featured Ike Turner.

1971 – The reclusive Bob Dylan appears on the banjo picker Earl Scruggs’ Fanfare Show. The duo performs “East Virginia Blues” and “Nashville Skyline Rag.”

1971 – The trial over Paul McCartney’s move to dissolve the Beatles partnership begins today in London’s High Court. Ringo testifies, “Paul behaved like a spoilt child.”

1965 Peter Cook and Dudley Moore begin new TV series, Not Only But Also. Guest on his first show - John Lennon!

1969 – George Harrison announces that he is leaving the Beatles. He later returns.

1964 Georgie Fame makes early TV appearance on Ready, Steady, Go TV show performing
his first single, Do the Dog.

1963 Cliff Richard's film Summer Holiday premieres in London

1958 – Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fires” goes to No. 1. — 1958 – Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fires” goes to No. 1.

1956 – Elvis Presley starts his first recording session for RCA. The result includes
“Heartbreak Hotel.”

1952 – Pat Benatar (Pat Andrzejewski) is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her first six albums all go platinum, selling more than 1 million copies.

1948 – Percussionist Cyril Neville of the Meters is born in New Orleans.

1948 – Donald Fagen of Steely Dan is born in Passaic, N.J.

1946 – Drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who has played with Journey and Jefferson Starship, is born in Liverpool.

1945 – Roderick (Rod) Stewart is born in London. His biggest hit, “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright),” is No. 1 on Chart Toppers’s Hot 100 for eight weeks.

1943 – Songwriter Jim Croce (“Time in a Bottle”) is born in Philadelphia.

1939 – Actor Sal Mineo is born in New York. As well as starring in The Gene Krupa Story and Rock Pretty Baby.

1939 – Scott McKenzie (Philip Blondheim) is born in Jacksonville, Fla. His biggest hit is the 1967 song “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),”

1935 – Rockabilly performer Ronnie Hawkins, former employer of the Band, is born in
Huntsville, Ark.

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Vintage Album Cover Art That We Dig Vol. 1

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Jan. 9 - Today In Rock History

Happy Birthday Jimmy!!




No. 1

1961 Bert Kaempfert: Wonderland by Night :US 45
1965 Beatles : Beatles 65: US LP
1971 Grandad : UK 45


Births

1915 Les Paul (guitarist)
1941 Joan Baez
1944 Scott Walker (Walker Brothers)
1945 Jimmy Page
1948 Paul King
1950 David Johansen (New York Dolls)
1968 Dave Matthews
1978 A J McLean (Backstreet Boys)


1992 – Sting makes a guest appearance on the Fox animated TV comedy series “The Simpsons,” in the episode “Radio Bart.”


1989 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Kokomo’… — 1989 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Kokomo’ written and recorded by ‘The Beach Boys’ is number 1 in the US.

1987 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Walk like an Egyptian’… — 1987 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Walk like an Egyptian’ recorded by ‘The Bangles’ is number 1 in the US

1985 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Like a Virgin’ recorded by Madonna is number 1 in the US and Australia.

1984 – John Lennon releases “Nobody Told Me”

1984 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Say, Say, Say’ written and recored by Paul McCartney and Micheal Jackson is number 1 in the US.

1984 – (Van Halen) is released this day in rock history! Release date: 1984-01-09

1982 – The Human League went back to No.1 on the UK album chart for three weeks with ‘Dare’.

1981 – In a London court, Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers of the Specials (“Ghost Town”) are fined for inciting a riot at one of their concerts in 1980.

1981 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘(Just like) starting over’ written and recorded by John Lennon is number 1 in the US.

1981 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Imagine’ written and recorded by John Lennon is number 1 in the UK.

1981 Phil Collins releases In The Air Tonight in UK

1981 In London, keyboard player Jerry Dammers and singer Terry Hall of the Specials are fined for inciting violence.

1980 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Another brick in the wall’ written and recorded by ‘Pink Floyd’ is number 1 in the UK.

1980 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Video killed the radio star’ recorded by ‘Buggles’ is number 1 in Australia.

1979 A benefit concert called A Gift of Song -- the Music of UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The bill includes Abba, the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Olivia Newton-John, Rita Coolidge,Donna Summer, John Denver, Kris Kristofferson,and Earth, Wind & Fire. The show raises about a half-million dollars.

1979 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘YMCA’ recorded by ‘The Village People’ is number 1 in the UK and Australia.

1977 Peter Frampton releases I'm In You, album follow up to Frampton Comes Alive, blockbuster in US

1976 – Graham Parker of Graham Parker & the Rumour signs his first recording contract.


1976 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ written and recorded by ‘Queen’ is number 1 in the UK.


1975 – The Beatles dissolved the company partnership after many successful years. The matter was handled in a London High Court.


1975 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’ recorded by ‘Elton John’ is number 1 in the US.

1975 Deep Purple awarded gold disc in US for Stormbringer, their first LP

1973 The Rolling Stones' plans for a Far Eastern tour are disrupted when Mick Jagger is refused a Japanese visa on account of a 1969 drug bust. Jagger is quoted as saying, "I don't take drugs. I don't approve of drugs and I don't approve of people taking drugs, unless they're very careful."

1973 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘You’re so vain’ written and recorded by Carly Simon is number 1 in the US.

1971 – The U.S. Jaycees present an award to Elvis Presley naming him one of 10 outstanding young men in America.


1971 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘My Sweet Lord’ written and recorded by George Harrison is number 1 in the US.

1969 – The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK album chart with the ‘White Album’, The Rolling Stones were at No.2 with ‘Beggars Banquet’

1969 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Heard it thru the Grapevine’ recorded by Marvin Gaye is number 1 in the US.


1968 – In New Delhi, India, the General Secretary for the Movement for the Spiritual Regeneration announces that the Beatles are coming


1968 – No. 1 Chart topper ‘Hello Goodbye’ is Number 1 in the US and the UK. Written and recorded by ‘The Beatles’.

1968 John Mayall's Blues Breakers begin US tour at New York's Cafe A Go-Go

1967 – The Beatles record the flutes, trumpets, piccolos and flugelhorn for “Penny Lane.”


1967 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘I’m a believer’ recorded by ‘The Monkees’ is number 1 in the US.


1966 – No. 1 Chart Topper ‘Daytripper’ and ‘We can work it out’ recorded by ‘The Beatles’ hit number 1 in the UK and Aulstralia.


1965 – American promoter Sid Bernstein telephones Beatles manager Brian Epstein to propose the Fab Four play Shea Stadium.

1965 – John Lennon makes a guest appearance on the British satirical TV shot Not Only … But Also, opposite comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

1965 Zombies hit chart for second time with Tell Her No

1965 – “Beatles’ ‘65″ album goes #1 and stays #1 for 9 weeks.

1964 – I want to hold your hand is Number 1 in the UK and Aulstralia. Written and recorded by ‘The Beatles’. George Martin Producing.


1964 Ronettes hit chart with Baby I Love You

1963 – drummer Charlie Watts joined The Rolling Stones after leaving Blues Incorporated.

1963 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Go Away Little Girl,” Steve Lawrence. The song debuts at No. 100 on the Hot 100.

1961 – Bert Kaempfert started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Wonderland By Night’. Kaempfert produced The Beatles first recording session


1950 – David Johansen, the mouth of the New York Dolls and Buster Poindexter’s alter ego, is born in Staten Island, N.Y.

1944 – Guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin is born in Heston, England.

1943 – Scott Walker, owner of one of rock’s great baritones and an idiosyncratic songwriter whose series of Scott albums are essential listening

1941 – Joan Baez is born in Staten Island, N.Y. She has three top 10 albums and six gold albums (500,000 copies sold).


Have a groovy day :)

Peace and Love,
Retro Rebirth

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Jan. 8th - Today In Rock History

No. 1 Chart Listing

1966 Beatles: We Can Work it Out US 45
1966 Beatles: Rubber Soul US LP
1969 Scaffold: Lily the Pink UK 45
1972 New Seekers: I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing UK 45

Other Charts

1966 Spencer Davis hit UK chart with their first LP.
1972 Dennis Coffey hits #6 with "Scorpio".
1972 King Crimson hits #30 in the UK with 'Island'.
1977 Alice Cooper hits #12 with "I Never Cry".
1977 ELO hits #13 with "Livin' Thing".

Births

1935 Elvis Presley
1937 Shirley Bassey
1941 Bobby Kreiger (Doors)
1943 Lee Jackson (Nice)
1947 David Bowie
1947 Terry Sylvester (Replaced Graham Nash in Hollies)
1964 Peter 'Ped' Gill (Frankie Goes to Hollywood).
1955 Loverboy vocalist Mike Reno is born
1931 Bill Graham was born in Berlin, Germany.


1995 – Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder hosts a national late-night radio show broadcast titled “Self Pollution Radio” from the band’s hometown of Seattle.

1993 – A 29-cent U.S. postage stamp bearing the likeness of a 1950s-era Elvis Presley is issued at a post office near the King’s Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn.

1991 – Steve Clark of Def Leppard is found dead in the living room of his London home by his girlfriend.

1983 Marvin Gay's Sexual Healing becomes first single to log ten weeks at top of Billboard black singles chart since I Can't Stop loving You by Ray Charles.

1979 – The Canadian government names Rush “Official Ambassadors of Music.”

1979 Abba, Bee Gees, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind and Fire play UNICEF concert in New York.

1977 – Queen went to No.1 on the UK album chart with — 1977 – Queen went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Day At The Races.’

1975 – Tickets for three Led Zeppelin concerts at Madison Square Garden go on sale. The box office has to call on other ticket outlets to help cope with demand.


1974 – Kiss is signed to its first recording contract. KISS drum up some press by performing a “dress rehearsal” shortly after signing to Casablanca Records.

1973 – Watch out. Yoko’s about. Yoko Ono releases Approximately Infinite Universe, a double album whose highlights include songs like “I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass.

1973 – Elvis Presley sues Priscilla Presley for divorce.

1973 Carly Simon awarded gold record for You're So Vain.

1972 – The New Seekers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing, (in Perfect Harmony’).

1969 – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were both barred from an exclusive hotel for wearing “op art” pants and nothing else. They were both asked to leave the Hotel.

1966 – ABC broadcasts the last ever episode of pop music program Shindig! The Kinks and the Who see off the twice-weekly show in explosive fashion.

1966 – The Beatles started a six week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Rubber Soul’ the groups seventh US chart topper.

1963 – The Beatles appeared live on Scottish TV’s Round Up, transmitted live from The Theatre Royal, Glasgow. They mimed to ‘Please Please Me.’

1957 – Elvis Presley undergoes an army pre-induction exam in Memphis on his 22nd birthday. He passes.

1957 – Bill Haley & His Comets started the first ever ‘rock & roll tour’ of Australia, playing two sold out nights in Sydney.


Have a groovy day :)

Peace and Love,
Retro Rebirth

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Jan. 7th - Today In Rock History

2006 – Gary Glitter was formally charged with committing obscene acts with two girls aged 11 and 12 in Vietnam, the prosecutor in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung.


2004 – Drummer John Guerin died of pneumonia aged 64. Worked with Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Linda Rondstadt, Gram Parson’s, Todd Rundgren.


2004 – Still on the mend from a near-fatal ATV crash, Ozzy Osbourne cancels his forthcoming UK tour, which was due to kick off in February.


2003 – The Beatles Book Monthly closed down after 40 years. Author Sean O’Mahony who set up the magazine in 1963 said there was nothing more to say


2003 – Rock wildman Ozzy Osbourne renews his vows with wife Sharon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. During the ceremony, a $15,000 diamond necklace the couple were due to raffle


1998 – According to the London Times, two brass busts have been stolen from the grounds of George Harrison’s mansion in Oxfordshire, England.


1994 – Oasis started recording their debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’, at Monrow studios in South Wales.


1994 – Nirvana plays the Seattle Arena. It is the band’s last U.S. show.


1993 – R.E.M. played a Greenpeace Benefit show at the 40 watt Club, Athens, Georgia, for 500 people. The show was recorded on a solar powered mobile recording studio.


1980 – Hugh Cornwall of The Stranglers was found guilty of possession of heroin, cocaine and cannabis. He was fined £300 ($510) and sentenced to three months in Pentonville prison.


1980 – Early rock ‘n’ roll star Larry Williams is found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in his Los Angeles home.

1978 – Linda Ronstadt holds it down at No. 1 in the album charts with Simple Dreams. Share and Enjoy some Rock-n-Roll History:


1977 – Andy Gibb was at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Just Want To Be Your Everything’ a song written by his Bee Gee brother Barry.


1976 – Record company executive Kenneth Moss is sentenced to 120 days in jail after pleading guilty to the involuntary manslaughter of Robbie McIntosh, drummer with the Average White Band.

1975 Jethro Tull hits #11 in the US with "Bungle In The Jungle."

1974 – James Taylor and Carly Simon become the proud parents of their second child, Sarah Martin.


1973 – David Bowie appears live at Newcastle City Hall, England.


1970 – Led Zeppelin kicked off an 8-date UK tour at Birmingham Town Hall.


1969 – The Scaffold were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Lily The Pink.

1969 'Traffic' hits #17 in the US.

1968 – San Francisco’s underground FM station KMPX holds a ballot among its listeners to find out who would be the best candidate on a pro-grass ticket.

1968 David Gilmour is asked to join Pink Floyd, briefly making them a five-piece band.

1967 – The Young Rascals, The Doors and Sopwith Camel play Winterland in San Francisco.

1967 - The Move hits #2 in the UK with "Night of Fear".

1964 – Harmonica player Cyril Davies died of leukaemia at age 32. Davies was a driving force in the early 60’s blues movement forming Blues Incorporated with Alexis Korner.


1964 – The Beatles record a session for the BBC Saturday Club program, during which they make their only known recording of the Chuck Berry song “Johnnie B. Goode.”


1963 – Twister-in-chief Chubby Checker is sued by soul singer Gary “U.S.” Bonds, who alleges that Checker’s “Dancin’ Party” is a theft of Bonds’ own song “Quarter to Three.”


1961 – Johnny Tillotson was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Poetry In Motion.’ Share and Enjoy some Rock-n-Roll History:

1959 – The Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine is born.

1955 – ‘Rock Around The Clock’ by Bill Haley and his Comets, entered the UK chart for the first time.


1948 – Eighties soundtrack king Kenny Loggins is born in Everette, Wash. He’s since gone from “Caddyshack” to recording albums for children.

1946 – Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner is born in New York.

1945 – Dave Cousins, leader of the British folk-prog group the Strawbs, is born.

1944 – British novelty act Mike McGear (“Lily the Pink”) – who was really Paul McCartney’s brother – is born.

1943 – Leona Williams, who became Merle Haggard’s duet partner and was married to the country legend for a while, is born in Vienna, Mo.

1938 – Paul Revere of the Raiders is born in Boise, Idaho. Paul Revere and the Raiders is an American rock band that saw enormous mainstream success.

Have a groovy day :)

Peace and Love,
Retro Rebirth

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Jan. 6th - This Day In Rock History

1987 Eric Clapton started what became an annual event by playing six shows at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Share and Enjoy some Rock-n-Roll History:

1980 Georgeanna Gordon singer with Motown girl group The Marvelettes died aged 46. (1961 US No.1 single ‘Please Mr Postman’).

1979 The Village People scored their only UK No.1 single with ‘Y.M.C.A.’ At its peak the single was selling over 150,000 copies a day.


1979 The Bee Gees started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Too Much Heaven’ the groups 7th US No.1.

1977 David Bowie releases 'Low,' the first of a trilogy of more experimental albums that also includes 'Heroes' (1977) and 'Lodger' (1978).

1977 EMI Records dropped The Sex Pistols, giving the band £40,000 ($68,000) to release them from their contract.


1975 A thousand Led Zeppelin fans, who had been waiting for tickets to go on sale at the Boston Gardens for a February show, riot and cause $30,000 worth


1975 Pink Floyd begin recording their album-long tribute to Syd Barrett, Wish You Were Here, on the former front man’s 29th birthday.

1973 The No.1 single in the United States today is Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain.

1971 In Vancouver, Neil Young performs on Canadian soil for the first time since he left his homeland to join Buffalo Springfield in 1965.


1970 Crosby Stills Nash & Young made their UK live debut at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

1968 American Bandstand impresario Dick Clark premieres his new TV show Happening ‘68. Appropriately, the show is cancelled in 1969.


1968 The Beatles sit at No. 1 in the album charts with Magical Mystery Tour.

1967 The Who played their first gig of this year when they appeared at Morecambe, Central Pier in England.

1964 Born on this day, Mark O’Toole, bass, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, (1984 UK No.1 & US No.10 single ‘Relax’ and six other UK Top 40 singles).

1964 The Rolling Stones kick off their first headlining tour in Harrow, England. Support comes from American girl group the Ronettes, Marty Wilde, and the Swinging Blue Jeans.

1962 Elvis Presley had his third UK No.1 album with ‘Blue Hawaii’; it spent a total of 18 weeks at the top of the charts.

1960 Born on this day, Muzz Skillings, bass, Living Colour, (1991 UK No.12 single ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’).

1959 Sister Sledge’s lead singer Kathy Sledge is born into the family in Philadelphia.

1958 Gibson guitars launched it’ ‘Flying V’ electric guitar. Origins Gibson first manufactured prototypes of the guitar in 1957.

1946 Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd is born.

Have a groovy day :)

Peace and Love,
Retro Rebirth

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