This week in rock history was a BUSY one!
Quite the list of debuts & accolades:
Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets was released in 1954, considered one of the greatest rock & roll songs of all time.
In 1963, The Beatles start their first tour as the featured act
A 16-year-old Bruce Springsteen records for the first time when his band, The Castiles, in 1966. They cut two songs (“Baby I” and “That’s What You Get”) at a studio in the Brick Mall Shopping Centre in New Jersey
Ticket To Ride by The Beatles’ would hit #1 in 1965
In 1973, Stevie Wonder’s You Are the Sunshine of My Life hit #1
Elton John would play “Bennie And The Jets” and “Philadelphia Freedom” on Soul Train in 1975, becoming just the third white performer to appear on the show, after Dennis Coffey and Gino Vannelli
The Who released Tommy, the first rock opera, in 1969
In 1976, Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney & Wings topped the Billboard chart
Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes hits #1 in 1981, her only chart topper
In 1983, David Bowie’s Let’s Dance topped the charts
Simple Minds would top the charts with their soundtrack song Don’t You (Forget About Me) in 1985
In 1987, With or Without You by U2 hit #1, their first chart topper
Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk for the first time on TV when he breaks out the move on the Motown 25th anniversary TV special in 1983
Vogue by Madonna hit #1 in 1990, her 8th single to do so
In 2010, Bret Michaels of Poison wins Season 9 of Donald Trump’s show The Celebrity Apprentice
The biographical film Rocketman, starring Taron Egerton as Elton John, debuts in 2019
One iconic moment occurred when in 1962, Marilyn Monroe sung “Happy Birthday” to John F. Kennedy
Two big marriages happened:
Pete Townshend, the guitarist and songwriter for The Who, married Karen Astley in 1968
In 1995, Don Henley married model Sharon Summerall. Guests included Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, David Crosby, Randy Newman, Jimmy Buffett, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Sting and Sheryl Crow
Some sad and scary moments happened:
Reggae star Bob Marley was buried with state honors in St. Ann’s, Jamaica in 1981
In 1987, Tom Petty’s home in Encino, California, burned to the ground. Petty and his family escaped unharmed, but were traumatized by the blaze, which ass determined to be arson. The perpetrator has never been caught
Frank Sinatra’s funeral takes place in 1998 in Beverly Hills, which drew 400 invited guests and a slew of onlookers. Tony Bennett, Angie Dickinson, Joey Bishop (the only surviving member of the Rat Pack), Liza Minnelli, Jack Nicholson, Tony Danza and Tom Selleck all showed up to pay their respects
The Rolling Stones had to postpone many dates on their Bridges To Babylon tour in 1998, when guitarist Keith Richards fell while reaching for a book of nude art in his Connecticut home. The fall broke his ribs
In 1998, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue was sentenced to six months in jail and three years’ probation stemming from an incident three months earlier when he got in a fight with his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee. He would go to jail that evening and serves three months before he is released
Billy Corgan announces that The Smashing Pumpkins will break up at the end of the year in 2000, saying they are tired of “fighting the good fight against the Britneys of the world.”
Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, split up in 2006
In 2010, Bono had emergency spinal surgery after suffering an injury while preparing for a tour
And we lost WAY too many legends:
Sammy Davis Jr, died of throat cancer in 1990
In 2010, Ronnie James Dio died after a six-month battle with stomach cancer
Donna Summer died in 2012 after a battle with lung cancer
In 2012, Robin Gibb died of kidney failure
Ray Manzarek, a founding member of The Doors, died in 2013 due to liver cancer
In 2017, rocker Chris Cornell died due to suicide
