ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 6.1.22

1967 - David Bowie released his self titled debut studio album. Two singles were released from the album, 'Rubber Band' and 'The Laughing Gnome'. The album's failure cost Bowie his record contract with Deram Records who dropped him in April 1968.

1968 - Simon and Garfunkel went to No. 1 with "Mrs. Robinson," which was featured in the film The Graduate. The song, which contains a nod to the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" ("coo-coo-ca-choo") and a mention of baseball great Joe DiMaggio, went on to win two Grammy Awards in 1969. It became the first rock song to win Record of the Year.

1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace A Chance" to close out their "bed-in" in Montreal.

While the bed-in is in progress, a host of celebrities and media representatives visit the hotel room and John Lennon repeats the phrase "give peace a chance," in various interviews, sparking the idea for a song.

"Give Peace A Chance" is recorded live, using four microphones and a portable 4-track cassette recorder borrowed from a local studio. The song features a chorus of contributors including Petula Clark, Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary.

1972 - The Eagles released their debut studio album. Balance is the key element of the album, a collection that contains elements of rock & roll, folk, and country, overlaid by vocal harmonies alternately suggestive of doo wop, the Beach Boys, and the Everly Brothers. While it captured the laid back Southern California vibe, it was actually recorded in a damp, cold, studio in London. Also, for the album photo shoot in Joshua Tree National Park, all four of the Eagles were tripping on peyote. The photographer too. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

1975 - The Rolling Stones kicked off their biggest ever U.S. tour at Louisiana State University. Ron Wood joined the Stones on tour for the first time, replacing Mick Taylor. BTW, it was his 28th birthday.

1976 - The Runaways release their eponymous debut album. Billed as the first all-female hard-rock band, the disc has little domestic success. However, the band are hugely successful in Japan, hitting the #1 spot with their single "Cherry Bomb." The band is a launching pad for the solo careers of Joan Jett and Lita Ford.

1978 - Bruce Springsteen releases Darkness On The Edge Of Town. It's his first album in almost three years due to a legal dispute with his ex-manager Mike Appel.

On darkness, Springsteen's stories were becoming less heroic, but his musical style remained grand. The sound and the conviction in his singing, added weight to the songs, transforming the pathetic into the tragic. But despite the rock & roll fervor, Darkness was no easy listen, and it served notice that Springsteen was already willing to risk his popularity for his principles. Indeed, Darkness was not as big a seller as Born to Run. And it presaged even starker efforts, such as Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad.

1999 - Dido releases her debut album, No Angel, in America. It takes off at the end of 2000 after Eminem samples her song "Thank You" on his hit "Stan." (also see the final entry of this blog...)

2005 - White Stripes singer Jack White married his girlfriend, British model Karen Elson, in a canoe on the Amazon River in Brazil. The ceremony was officiated by a shaman. The couple had two kids together but divorced in 2013.

2017 - Thanks to the song by Eminem, the word "stan" was added to the Oxford American Dictionary, defined as "an overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity."

Birthdays:

Nelson Riddle was born today in 1921.

Pat Boone is 88.

Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, The Faces and the Jeff Beck Group is 75.

Depeche Mode keyboardist Alan Wilder is 63.

Simon Gallup of the Cure is 62.

Mike Joyce of the Smiths is 59.

Alanis Morissette is 48.

Brandi Carlile is 41. She has said that her music has gone through all sorts of phases from pop to blues to R&B, "but no matter what I do, I just can't get the country and western out of my voice." In 2021, she released the memoir Broken Horses, which she named after the injured animals that were all her family could afford for her in the equine arena. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

On This Day in Music History are sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.


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