1963 - The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" appeared on the pop chart for the first time, on its way to No. 1. George Harrison was sued years later for unconsciously plagiarizing the melody for his "My Sweet Lord."
1968 - The Dock of the Bay, the first of a number of posthumously released Otis Redding albums, is released. It was never supposed to be like this: "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was supposed to mark the beginning of a new phase in Otis Redding's career, not an ending. What could have been a cash-in effort or a grim memorial album instead became a vivid, exciting presentation of some key aspects of the talent that was lost when Redding died.
Producer/guitarist Steve Cropper selected some of the strongest among the late singer's orphaned songs: "I Love You More Than Words Can Say" is one of Redding's most passionate performances; "Let Me Come on Home" presents an ebullient Redding accompanied by some sharp playing, and "Don't Mess with Cupid" begins with a gorgeous guitar flourish and blooms into an intense, pounding, soaring showcase for singer and band alike. And of course, there was the title track. An impossible record not to love.(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration)
1968 - Genesis released their debut single, 'The Silent Sun.' The band's earliest seeds were sewn at Godalming's Charterhouse Boarding School, where the vocal talent of Peter Gabriel impressed pop record producer Jonathan King. Aiming to secure King's approval and a recording contract Gabriel and Tony Banks wrote together 'The Silent Sun,' knowing that King was a fan of the Bee Gees, Banks and Gabriel wrote the song specifically to capture his attention. It's a far cry from their soon to be prog rock heyday.
1980 - Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" reached No. 1. Freddy Mercury wrote the song as a tribute to Elvis Presley, and although Mercury typically composed music on the piano, he wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on guitar — and he did it in about five to 10 minutes. "It was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords," Mercury told the press. "I couldn't work through too many chords and because of that restriction, I wrote a good song, I think."
2009 - Phoenix releases "1901". Phoenix singer Thomas Mars told the Washington DC free newspaper Express: "Anthems are good. '1901' really worked because we wrote almost all the song in 10 minutes, but it took us almost a year to finish it. It's a song about Paris," he said. "Paris in 1901 was better than it is now. So the song is a fantasy about Paris." Featured prominently in TV commercials for the 2010 Cadillac SRX.
Birthdays:
Blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter was born on this day in 1944. Signing to Columbia records in 1969 called largest solo artist deal of it’s time, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues. He easily shifted between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the career of his idol Muddy Waters. He played on and produced the blues man's renaissance with the albums, Hard Again and I'm Ready.
Rusty Young was born on this day in 1946. Joined Buffalo Springfield in it's waning days, but would go on to be a founding member of Poco. He went to Jefferson High School and played in the Denver psychedelic rock band "Boenzee Cryque". Their song "Ashbury Wednesday" was included on the soundtrack of Psych Out, a 1968 film that included Jack Nicholson.
Poco is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
Howard Jones is 69. One of the defining figures of mid-'80s synth pop, Howard Jones merged the technology-intensive sound of new wave with the cheery optimism of late-'60s pop.
On this Day In Music History was sourced, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, IMDB, Allmusic, Johnny Winter, Music This Day, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
KBCO