1965 - Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman were fined £5 each for urinating on the outer wall of a Francis Petrol station in Stratford, outside of London, England. According to attendant Charles Keeley, he refused to give the band the key to the loo because he didn't like the looks of them. Bill Wyman proceeded to unzip his fly and pee on the garage wall. Quickly piling back into their touring car, the boys sped away, giving Keeley the one finger salute. When handing down the sentence, the judge chastised the accused, calling them morons, and berated them for their long hair, their dirty clothes and the clown-like behavior. Naturally the boys learned their lesson and walked the straight and narrow after that...
1967 - The UK music magazine New Musical Express announces that Steve Winwood is planning to form a new group with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. The ensemble will choose the name Traffic.
1976 - The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring David Bowie, premieres in London. The film is based on Walter Tevis' novel of the same name, about an alien who visits Earth in search of water for his planet, which is suffering from a drought. It's Bowie's first major film role.
1977- Iggy Pop releases his solo debut, The Idiot. David Bowie co-wrote a batch of new songs with Iggy, put together a band, and produced The Idiot, which took Iggy in a new direction decidedly different from the guitar-fueled proto-punk of the Stooges. Iggy's new music was cerebral and inward-looking, exploring new territory as a lyricist, and his songs on The Idiot are self-referential and poetic in a way that his work had rarely been in the past. Highlights: "Dum Dum Boys," a paean to the glory days of his former band, "Nightclubbing," a call to the joys of decadence, and "China Girl", later covered by Bowie.
1991 - U2 paid about a $750 fine when the Virgin Megastore in Dublin was convicted of selling condoms illegally. Owner Richard Branson: "When we were asked by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) if we would let them sell condoms in our Dublin Virgin Megastore, we were happy to oblige. This was in the early Nineties before selling contraception was legal in Ireland. A certain rock band known as U2 stepped in to pay the fine”.
1994 - After a long search and many auditions, The Rolling Stones hired Darryl Jones to replace bassist Bill Wyman; Wyman had earlier announced that he was tired of the whole thing. Long before he replaced Bill Wyman as bassist in the Rolling Stones in 1993, he established himself in the bands of Miles Davis, Sting, John Scofield, and Wayne Shorter.
1996 - The Sex Pistols announce that they are reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour, which they call the Filthy Lucre Tour. Johnny Rotten, who once vowed never to reunite the group, says, "We have found a common cause to bring us back together again, and it's your money."
The Sex Pistols tour again in 2002 and 2007.
2013 - David Bowie's first album in a decade, The Next Day, become the fastest-selling of the year. The Next Day is designed to remind us all of why we've missed him, containing hints of the Thin White Duke and Ziggy Stardust within what is largely an elegant, considered evocation of the Berlin Bowie so calculating it opens with a reworking of "Beauty & The Beast," and is housed in an artful desecration of the Heroes LP cover. While not as edgy as the before mention albums, it is pleasurable. Highlights: "Where Are We Know" and "The Stars (Are Out Tonight).
Birthdays:
Wilson Pickett was born today in 1941. Of the major '60s soul stars, Wilson Pickett was one of the roughest and sweatiest, working up some of the decade's hottest dancefloor grooves on hits like "In the Midnight Hour," "Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway." He also did a good deal to establish the sound of Southern soul with his early hits, which were often written and recorded with the cream of the session musicians in Memphis and Muscle Shoals.
Bill Frisell is 73. Frisell grew up in Denver. He began playing the clarinet in the fourth grade and took up guitar a few years later for his personal amusement. He would become one of the most versatile players in jazz. His warm, bell-like tone is recognizable whether playing avant-jazz, Americana, or pop. The hallmarks of his playing are depth of emotion, and timbral clarity.
James McMurtry is 62. The son of one of America's most celebrated novelists (Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), James McMurtry followed the family's tradition: he's a master storyteller who relates his tales in verse and music. Part of the Texas singer/songwriter community, McMurtry has a gift for character studies, documenting lives not in perfect balance, and offering political commentary on how the choices of the powerful impact the lives of ordinary folks.
Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains is 58. Founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and main songwriter for the rock band Alice in Chains. Cantrell had small roles in the films Jerry Maguire (1996) and Rock Slyde (2009).
R.I.P.:
2001 - John Phillips, singer, songwriter and leader of southern California's The Mamas & The Papas, died at the age of 65. One of the most important pop groups of the '60s, the Mamas & the Papas' sound was built around radiant vocal harmonies and a solid electric folk foundation. The group's moment in the spotlight was brief, only four albums were issued during their three-year prime, but their sound was influential and lasting enough that it became emblematic of the era.
2014 - Joe Lala died at the age of 66. As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees' 1976 US chart-topper "You Should Be Dancing,"
2017 - Chuck Berry died at age 90. Chuck Berry is perhaps the defining musician of the early rock & roll era, the one figure responsible for the music's sound, style, and sensibility that created the blueprint for the generations that followed. A guitarist who wanted to play like T-Bone Walker and croon like Nat King Cole, Berry married these two styles to a swinging beat that spliced jump blues with juke joint R&B and hillbilly boogie.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, copied, pasted, edited, curated, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Music This Day, Song Facts, Allmusic, Goss and Wikipedia.
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