1958 - Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at London's Heathrow Airport to begin his first British tour, along with his new bride, 14 year old third cousin, Myra. Although advised not to mention it, Lewis answered all questions about his private life. The public's shock over Lewis' marriage marks the start of a controversy leading to his British tour being cancelled after just 3 of the scheduled 37 performances.
1965 - The Beatles attained their eighth number one with "Ticket To Ride". Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney have given different meanings to the title, with McCartney saying it referred to "a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight", and Lennon stating that it described cards indicating a clean bill of health carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s.
1971 - The Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers started a four-week run at No.1 on the US charts. The artwork for Sticky Fingers which, on the original vinyl release, featured a working zipper that opened to reveal cotton briefs, was conceived by Andy Warhol. The cover, a photo of Joe Dallesandro's crotch clad in tight blue jeans, was assumed by many fans to be an image of Mick Jagger. The album also features the first usage of the "Tongue and Lip Design" designed by John Pasche.
Interesting note: The zipper itself is found to cause damage to the delicate vinyl, so the distribution companies have to partially unzip each one by hand to protect the part that meets the needle and minimize damage when they are stacked for transportation.
1973 - Paul Simon releases There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The album found Simon writing and performing with assurance and venturing into soulful and R&B-oriented music. For several tracks, Simon traveled to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios to play with its house band, getting a variety of styles, from the gospel of "Love Me Like a Rock" to the Dixieland of "Mardi Gras." Simon was so confident that he even included a major ballad statement of the kind he used to give Garfunkel to sing: "American Tune" was his musical State of the Union, circa 1973, but this time Simon was up to making his big statements in his own voice. (Photo by JON LEVY/AFP FILES/AFP via Getty Images)
1995 - Pulp release Common People. The song is a critique of the wealthy wanting to be "like common people" – ascribing glamour to poverty. Justin Myers of the Official Charts Company wrote the song "was typical Pulp – a biting satire of posh people 'roughing it' and acting like tourists by hanging with the "common people". William Shatner covered it with Joe Jackson. It's a hoot.
Birthdays:
Cosmic jazz legend Sun Ra was born today in 1914. Bandleader, composer, arranger, keyboard player, poet, philosopher, and cosmonaut Sun Ra advanced jazz into the space age. Through his elaborate concerts, films, and countless recordings, he fused imagery and mythology related to ancient Egypt as well as science fiction, planting the seeds for what would eventually be referred to as Afrofuturism. Ra's music encompassed nearly every style of jazz, with roots in ragtime and swing, bebop and avant-garde jazz. Essential album: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1.
Bernie Taupin is 74. The lyricist behind many of Elton John's most memorable pop hits, Bernie Taupin was born May 22, 1950, in rural Lincolnshire, England. The product of a farming family, his primary musical influence was the gunfighter ballads of Marty Robbins, marking the beginning of a lifelong fascination with the American west that surfaced as a recurring theme throughout his work as a songwriter.
At 17, he responded to a Liberty Records advertisement seeking new talent and although the label turned Taupin down, A&R exec Ray Williams suggested he team with aspiring singer/composer Reg Dwight, who months later adopted the name Elton John. Although the duo soon began writing for Dick James Music, they originally collaborated solely by mail and did not meet face-to-face until nearly half a year into their partnership.
Independent of John, Taupin was the co-author of the Starship smash "We Built This City"...
Jerry Dammers, keyboardist and founding member of the Specials, is 69. The Specials were the fulcrum of the ska revival of the late '70s, kick-starting the 2-Tone movement that spurred a ska-punk revolution lasting for decades.
Morrissey is 65. As the lead singer of the Smiths, arguably the most important indie band in Britain during the '80s, Morrissey's theatrical crooning and literate, poetic lyrics -- filled with romantic angst, social alienation, and cutting wit -- connected powerfully with a legion of similarly sensitive, disaffected youth.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose. from This Day in Music, Classic Bands, Allmusic Song Facts and Wikipedia.