Another look at what happened this week in Rock Music:
Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock (Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Some major releases and accolades:
In 1957, The Elvis Presley third film, Jailhouse Rock, premieres in Memphis, Tennessee
Fleetwood Mac would release Tusk in 1979, their first album since the wildly successful Rumours in 1977.
Manfred Mann’s version of “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, hits #1 in 1964. This would be the second time that year the song appeared on the charts, the first with the R&B group, the Exiters.
In 1972, Michael Jackson’s “Ben,” a song about a boy and his love for a pet rat, hits #1 in the US, his first #1 hit as a solo artist.
The Monkees would record “I’m A Believer,” their most recognized hit that was written by Neil Diamond.
Considered by many to be the worst song of the 1970s and maybe all time, ‘Disco Duck (Part 1)’ by radio DJ Rick Dees would hit #1 on the music charts in 1976.
Some major moments happened for several musicians:
Paul McCartney and John Lennon perform together for the first time after Paul joins John’s band the Quarrymen in 1957 at a small gig in Lverpool.
In 1969, Rod Stewart joins Faces, formerly known as Small Faces as the dropped the “small” as Rod Stewart was much taller than the rest of them.
Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie married her second husband, Portuguese music composer Eduardo Quintela in 1987.
In 2017, Jon Bon Jovi finally joins Twitter with a tweet that read: “Jon Bon Jovi || Singer || Songwriter || Last guy to use social media. Hello world. Is this thing on? #BetterLateThanNever“
Controversies never seem too far way from Rock Music:
In 1969, Russ Gibb, a DJ at WKNR in Detroit, takes a call from a listener who tells him that if you play The Beatles song “Revolution 9” backwards, a voice says, “Turn me on, dead man.” Gibb would play the record in reverse on the air, and the phone lines light up with astonished listeners!
Sting’s former financial adviser, was convicted of conning the singer to the tune of $9.4 million, and was sentenced in a London court to six years in jail in 1994.
One artist had quite the health scare:
In 1991, John Mellencamp fainted during a radio station appearance in Seattle and was rushed to the hospital, where the cardiologist cites “too much coffee, stress, and not enough breakfast” as the cause. His chain-smoking doesn’t help either…
And we lost a legend…
John Denver was killed in a plane crash in 1997; he was 53.
