Keefer

Keefer

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ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 8.3

1901 - The first record company, The Victor Talking Machine Company, is incorporated, later merging with the Radio Corporation of America to become RCA-Victor.

1968 - Working at Trident Studios in London, The Beatles recorded the new George Harrison song "Savoy Truffle". This was inspired by Eric Clapton's love of chocolate. He and George Harrison were good friends.

George Harrison got the lyrics for this from the inside lid of a box of chocolates. Montelimart, Ginger Sling, Cream Tangerine, and Coffee Dessert were names of candies in the Mackintosh "Good News" assortment.

1980 - Paul Simon's semi-autobiographical movie One-Trick Pony, in which he stars, is released in the US. Paul Simon plays Jonah Levin, a once-popular folk-rock musician who has not had a hit in ten years. The movie received mix reviews and was commercially unsuccessful, but the the song "Late in the Evening" from the film's soundtrack hit number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1980 - The Police's third album release, Zenyatta Mondatta, continues their theme of giving their records French-sounding titles. This time, the title has no clear translation, although it is suggested that it is a stylized combination of "zenith" and "monde" (Top of the World). The band made up the words Zenyatta Mondatta, but it has been suggested that it comes from several different words put together. The words include Zen, and Jomo Kenyatta (the first president of Kenya). Which ever story you subscribe to, there's no denying it was packed with hits, "Don't Stand So Close to Me," "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," "Driven to Tears," "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around"and their second Grammy-winning instrumental "Behind My Camel". While Sting would later criticize the album as not all it could have been (the band was rushed to complete the album in order to begin another tour), Zenyatta Mondatta remains one of the finest rock albums of all time.

1992 - Sinead O'Connor tore up a photograph of the Pope in front of a Saturday Night Live audience in protest of the Vatican. She ripped the photo as she sang the word "evil", then said "Fight the real enemy", and threw the pieces towards the camera. Executive producer Lorne Michaels recalled that "the air went out the studio" after that moment, and after seeing the act, Michaels ordered that the applause sign not be used. NBC received 4,400 calls in total complaining about O'Connor, but NBC was not fined by the Federal Communications Commission. The act aired on the East and West coast broadcasts, but reruns air footage from the singer's dress rehearsal.

2003 - School of Rock opens in theaters, starring Jack Black as a musician who poses as a substitute teacher and forms a band with the students. Classic rock abounds in the film, with teachable moments soundtracked to "Highway to Hell," "Smoke on the Water" and even "Immigrant Song" - a track secured after Black made a video literally begging Led Zeppelin to let them use it.

2005 - Fiona Apple releases her third album, Extraordinary Machine, her first since When The Pawn... in 1999. The album was finished and slated for release in 2003, but Apple had second thoughts and put it on hold. After a leaked version appeared on the Internet in 2005, she re-recorded the songs and finally released the album.

Birthdays:

Eddie Cochran ("Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody", and "Somethin' Else") was born today in 1938.

Chubby Checker is 82. Chubby Checker was the unrivaled king of the rock & roll dance craze; although most of the dances his records promoted -- the Pony, "the Fly," and the Hucklebuck, to cite just three -- have long since faded into obscurity, his most famous hit, "The Twist," remains the yardstick against which all subsequent dancefloor phenomena are measured.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was born today in 1954. With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan emerged as one of the leading modern electric blues artists of his generation, helping to reignite interest in the genre from the '80s onward. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s.(Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Lindsey Buckingham is 74. One of the chief creative forces of Fleetwood Mac during their popular peak in the 1970s and '80s, Lindsey Buckingham is a distinctive guitarist and singer/songwriter who developed an idiosyncratic blend of pop, folk, and rock. His sonic signatures of fleet finger-picked guitar, candied harmonies, and intricate productions propelled Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, and Tusk to the top of the charts and they also flourished on the music he made outside of the band.

Gwen Stefani is 54. Gwen Stefani parlayed her breakout stardom as the effervescent lead singer of the SoCal ska-punk outfit No Doubt into an enduring career as a pop star. Before going solo, Stefani reached the top of the charts many times during No Doubt's peak. "Spiderwebs," "Just a Girl," and the ballad "Don't Speak" -- all pulled from their 1995 album Tragic Kingdom -- were iconic alternative rock hits. Outside the band she had collaborations with Moby and rapper Eve. And solo hits with "Hollaback Girl," plus the hits "Cool," "What You Waiting For?," and "Rich Girl," the latter a reunion with Eve.

Garrett Dutton - G. Love of G. Love & Special Sauce - is 51. With his Philadelphia-based outfit, he's known for a distinctively laid-back blend of Delta-style blues and old-school hip-hop.

India.Arie is 48. Born in Denver, she is among a small class of post-millennial R&B artists more likely to cite and recall the likes of Bill Withers and Roberta Flack than almost any of her peers. Arie entered with Acoustic Soul (2001), an album that carried on the tradition of introspective, additive-resistant singer/songwriter soul. Instantly embraced commercially, critically, and within the music industry, it was a Top Ten, multi-platinum success, and led to nominations in seven Grammy categories, including all of the big four: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist.

R.I.P.

1967 - American folk icon Woody Guthrie died after a lengthy battle with Huntington’s disease at age 55. During his career, the pioneering artist wrote hundreds of songs, including, most famously, “This Land Is Your Land,” in response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” An anti-fascist activist, who was associated with several American communist groups, Guthrie often incorporated political and social commentary into his songs. His vast catalog of work would inspire artists across a range of genres and decades, including Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Garcia, and Jeff Tweedy.

2000 - The Cars' singer and bass player Benjamin Orr died at the age of 53. Sang lead vocals on the bands hits ‘Just What I Needed’, ‘Let's Go’ and ‘Drive’.

On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Button Museum, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.

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