1965 - The filming of the promotional film for Bob Dylan’s 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' took place at the side of the Savoy Hotel in London. Actors in the background were Allen Ginsberg and Bob Neuwirth. The original clip was actually the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film, Dont Look Back, a documentary on Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England. In the film, Dylan, who came up with the idea, holds up cue cards for the camera with selected words and phrases from the lyrics. The cue cards were written by Donovan, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Neuwirth and Dylan himself. While staring at the camera, he flipped the cards as the song played. It is one of the earliest music videos ever shot. Watch below.
1970 - The Beatles final album, Let It Be was released, (it was recorded before the Abbey Road album, and was originally to be called 'Get Back'). The only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews, there are few other rock records as controversial as Let It Be. First, there was the Phil Spector production, with all the strings. Plus, the material wasn't uniformly strong, and that the Beatles themselves were in fairly lousy moods due to inter-group tension. All that said, the album is on the whole underrated, even discounting the fact that a sub-standard Beatles record is better than almost any other group's best work. As flawed and bumpy as it is, it's an album well worth having, as when the Beatles were in top form here, they were as good as ever. Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
1979 - The Cure release their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys. More poppy and representative of the times than any other album during their long career, Three Imaginary Boys is a semi-detached bit of late-'70s English pop-punk. Angular and lyrically abstract, it's strong points are in its utter simplicity. There are no dirges here, no long suites, just short bursts of energy and a rather strange cover of Hendrix's "Foxy Lady." What the Cure would do next wasn't entirely obvious to the listener of this album, but there are some definite hints.
1984 - Roger Waters released his first solo album The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking. The concept album, as originally envisioned by Waters in 1977 (he had offered Pink Floyd the choice between this and The Wall. They took the latter), rotated around a man's thoughts during a midlife crisis, and featured guest musicians Eric Clapton on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone.
2022 - Bono and The Edge of U2 play an acoustic set at a subway station in Kyiv that has been converted into a bomb shelter. Their appearance is in support of Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia months earlier.
Birthdays:
Robert Johnson was born on this day in 1911. The legend of his life -- which even folks who don't know anything about the blues can cite chapter and verse -- goes something like this: Robert Johnson takes his guitar to a crossroads near Dockery's plantation at midnight. There he was met by the Devil, who took the guitar from Johnson, tuned it, and handed it back to him. In less than a year's time, in exchange for his everlasting soul, Robert Johnson became the king of the Delta blues singers, able to play, sing, and create the greatest blues anyone had ever heard.
Of course, his legend is immensely fortified by the fact that Johnson also left behind a small legacy of recordings that are considered the emotional apex of the music itself. These recordings have not only entered the realm of blues standards ("Love in Vain," "Crossroads," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Stop Breaking Down"), but were adapted by rock & roll artists like the Rolling Stones, Steve Miller, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton. As a singer, composer, and guitarist of considerable skills, Johnson produced some of the genre's best music and the ultimate blues legend. Doomed, haunted, driven by demons, a tormented genius dead at an early age -- all of these add up to making him a character of mythology who -- if he hadn't actually existed -- would have to be created by some biographer's overactive romantic imagination.
Danny Whitten was born on this day in 1942. A member of the Rockets, later rechristened Crazy Horse, they would record a number of terrific albums with Neil Young. Young thought of the group as his "Rolling Stones," while another group he was in at the same time, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as his "Beatles". Whitten wrote " I Don't Want To talk About it", famously covered by Rod Stewart. The Neil Young song ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose on Nov 18th 1972).
Phillip Bailey is 72. Born in Denver, graduated from East High (sang in the Echoes of Youth Choir with East alumna and actor Pam Grier) he would go on to be a member of Earth, Wind, and Fire. His solo album, Chinese Wall, was produced by Phil Collins and produced the hit, "Easy Lover". Bailey is a member of the Colorado Music hall Of Fame.
Chris Franz is 72. Best known as the drummer in Talking heads but also founded (with bass playing Wife Tina Weymouth) Tom Tom Club.
Joe Bonamassa is 46. Joe carried the torch for old-fashioned, guitar-driven blues-rock just when its progenitors eased into elder-statesman status. Bonamassa was raised on the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jeff Beck, honing his skills with the revered Telecaster master Danny Gatton before the young guitarist reached his teens.
On This Day In Music History, was sourced from This Day In Music, Allmusic, Songfacts, Westword, and Wikipedia.