1970 -The film Ned Kelly, starring Mick Jagger in the lead role, is released and the critics wasted no time in telling Mick he should stick to singing. One reviewer wrote: "He looks about as lethal as last week's lettuce." Predictably, the movie bombed at the box office.
1973 -The Watkins Glen outdoor summer jam was held outside of Watkins Glen, New York with The Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead and The Band. Over 600,000 rock fans attended. Many historians claimed the event was the largest gathering of people in the history of the United States. 150,000 tickets were sold for $10 each, but for all the other people it was a free concert. The crowd was so huge that a large part of the audience was not able to see the stage.
1973 - Deep Purple release "Smoke On The Water" as a single in America. The song, considered an add-on to fill space on the album, first appeared in March 1972 on Machine Head.
This song took inspiration from a fire in the Casino at Montreux, Switzerland on December 4, 1971. The band was going to start recording their Machine Head album there right after a Frank Zappa concert, but someone fired a flare gun at the ceiling during Zappa's show, which set the place on fire.
It remains one of the most recognizable riffs in rock.
1987 - The Beatles, along with Yoko Ono, sue Nike for using "Revolution" in TV commercials. Nike authorized the song through the group's US label, Capitol, and Michael Jackson, who owns the publishing. Nike doesn't back down and continues running the ads, which anger many Beatles fans but sell a lot of sneakers. The suit is later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
2014 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' release Hypnotic Eye. Teeming with fuzz, overdriven organ, and hard four-four rhythms, all interrupted by the occasional blues workout or jazz shuffle, a record that celebrates all the disreputable 45s created in garages so they could be played in garages. (Photo by Karl Walter/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Mike Bloomfield who was a member of the Paul Butterfield band and Electric Flag, was born on this day in 1943.. He played on Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited. Bloomfield's Telecaster guitar licks were featured on Dylan's ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, and he appeared onstage with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan used Bloomfield and the Butterfield Band which marked Dylan's first use of an electric band in a live performance.
Richard Wright was born on this day in 1943. Keyboardist, vocalist, and songwriter and a founding member of Pink Floyd. his spacious, somber, enveloping keyboards, backing vocals and eerie effects were an essential part of its musical identity.
On This Day In Music History was from This Day in Music, Song Facts, New York Times, Allmusic, Classic Bands, and Wikipedia.
KBCO