1961 - On The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet episode "A Question of Suits and Ties," Ricky Nelson sings "Travelin' Man" in what could be considered the first music video.
Ricky, the real-life son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, plays that role on the show, where he often sings. To promote his "Travelin' Man" single, Ozzie puts together travel footage that is superimposed under Ricky while he performs the song. It's far from dazzling, but it can make a claim on being the first music video. It certainly helps boost the song, sending it up the charts where it hits #1 on May 29.
1967 - Paul McCartney flies to attend girlfriend Jane Asher's 21st birthday party here in Denver. He gave her a large diamond ring, which she later lost.
McCartney wrote several Beatles songs inspired by Asher, including 'All My Loving', 'And I Love Her', and 'Every Little Thing'. They were engaged to be married until she returned to London from an acting assignment earlier than expected and allegedly discovered McCartney with another woman.
1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release Mrs. Robinson. Simon began writing this as "Mrs. Roosevelt," and had just the line, "Here's to you, Mrs. Roosevelt" when he changed it to "Mrs. Robinson" for The Graduate.
Art Garfunkel had heard Simon working on "Mrs. Roosevelt," and mentioned this to director Mike Nichols, who realized the title had the same number of syllables as "Mrs. Robinson." Desperate for a song, Nichols asked Simon to change it to "Mrs. Robinson" and write the rest of it. Simon decided to give it a shot.
1980 - R.E.M. played their first ever gig when they appeared at St Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia. The show at this abandoned church was for a friend's birthday party.
1977 - David Bowie and Iggy Pop perform together on Dinah Shore's daytime show on NBC. The duo had been living in Berlin when they were invited on to the show to not only perform some songs from Iggy’s Bowie-produced record, The Idiot, but to also promote the new album Lust For Life.
Iggy Pop alongside bassist Tony Sales, Hunt Sales on drums and with Bowie on keys would slam through new tracks ‘Sister Midnight’ and ‘Fun Time’ for a stunned audience. Iggy is in unstoppable mood and thrashes through the performance shirtless and without a care in the world.
1998 - Tracy Chapman releases her self titled debut. Firmly within the classic singer/songwriter tradition, sounding for all the world as if it was recorded in the early '70s -- that is, if all you paid attention to were the sonics, since Chapman's songs are clearly a result of the Reagan revolution. Even the love songs and laments are underscored by a realized vision of trickle-down modern life -- listen to the lyrical details of "Fast Car" for proof. Chapman's impassioned liberal activism and emotional resonance enlivens her music, breathing life into her songs even when the production is a little bit too clean. Still, the juxtaposition of contemporary themes and classic production precisely is what makes the album distinctive -- it brings the traditions into the present.
1985 - R.E.M. release Everybody Hurts. Most of this song was written by drummer Bill Berry. This is an anti-suicide song. Berry wanted to reach out to people who felt they had no hope. The string arrangement was done by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
BIRTHDAYS:
1935 - Peter Grant, the manager of Led Zeppelin. He was known as being one of the shrewdest and most ruthless managers in rock history, Grant secured 90% of the concert gate money and intimidated record store owners who dealt in bootlegs. The former wrestler also worked as a film extra and bodyguard.
1954 - Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Stan Ridgeway who scored the 1986 UK No.4 single 'Camouflage' and was a founding member of the band Wall of Voodoo.
1973 - Singer/superproducer Pharrell Williams is born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. As half of the hip-hop production duo The Neptunes, considered by some as one of the prime architect of the popular music landscape of the 2000s. (By 2003, 43% of songs being played on American radio are Neptunes productions).
Sings on Daft Punk's hit "Get Lucky" and collaborated with Mumford and Sons on their latest, "Good People".
R.I.P.;
2012 - Jim Marshall, who made rock ’n’ roll rawer and noisier by inventing the Marshall amplifier died at a hospice in London, aged 88. His amplifiers and speakers known as 'Marshall stacks' were used by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and almost every other major rock guitarist in the ’60s and ’70s and by the next generation of guitarists as well, including Kurt Cobain, Eddie Van Halen and Slash.
2002 - American singer Layne Staley of Alice in Chains was found dead from a mixture of heroin and cocaine in his home.
1998 - British drummer Cozy Powell (Colin Flooks) was killed when his car smashed into crash barriers on the M4 motorway near Bristol, England. Powell had worked with the Jeff Beck Group, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Brian May, Peter Green and the ELP spin-off Emerson, Lake, and Powell. Powell, known as one of the most driving drummers in rock, had also had hits as a solo artist, including Dance WithThe Devil and The Man In Black, and had fronted his own band, Cozy Powell's Hammer.
1994 - Kurt Cobain committed suicide.
Cobain’s friends, family and associates had been worried about his depression and chronic drug use for years. In the days after returning from Rome and an overdose there, things began to spiral. Along with a domestic dispute (Courtney Love, had summoned police, she told them that Kurt had locked himself in a room with a 38-caliber revolver and said he was going to kill himself), Cobain’s relationship with Nirvana was rocky. There were threats to break up the band if he didn't get help.
In fact, Love told MTV that Cobain said to her in the weeks after Rome: “I hate it — I can’t play with them anymore.” She added that he only wanted to work with Michael Stipe of R.E.M.
“In the last few weeks, I was talking to Kurt a lot,” Stipe said in a statement. “We had a musical project in the works, but nothing was recorded.”
In the end, the concern and offers of help were not enough.
The note he left behind ended with this:
Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I’m too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don’t have the passion anymore, and so remember, it’s better to burn out than to fade away.
Peace, love, empathy.
Kurt Cobain
(Photo credit should read PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
1981 - Bob "The Bear" Hite (lead singer of Canned Heat) dies at age 38 after snorting a vial of heroin - thinking it was cocaine - given to him by a fan.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, edited, copied, pasted, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Global Radio UK, Music This Day, Allmusic, All That's Interesting, Rolling Stone, Classic Bands, Far Out Magazine, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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