Ed Sullivan Show (1964)
This was a CRAZY week for rock history:
In 1964, the Beach Boys were introduced to a National audience, making their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, cementing them as one of the few American acts to sustain themselves during the British Invasion.
In a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, a first band practice was held in the kitchen of 14-year-old John Mullin Jr’s home. The group, which answered a wanted ad for musicians John placed on his school community board, consisted of his classmates Paul, David, Dik, & Adam. The group would go on to become U2.
The Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh hosted the final concert of Bob Marley & the Wailers in 1980.
Milli Vinilli’s song “I’m Gonna Miss You” would go to #1 in 1989 even after their lip-syncing debacle on MTV in July.
Photo Credit: Ross Marino/Getty Images
Several very important and influential albums were released this week in Rock History:
The Beatles would release “Abbey Road” in 1969, which would go to #1 on the Billboard 200 and is now certified 12x Platinum. The iconic cover photo, which would go on to be parodied by other musicians and fans alike, even feeding the frenzy of the infamous “Paul is dead” theory.
1984 saw the release of what many consider one of the greatest albums of all time, Prince’s “Purple Rain.” Not only would it go to #1 on the Billboard and be certified 13x Platinum, it has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”.
The controversial Nirvana Album “Nevermind” was released in 1991. An unexpected commercial success, the album has recently been thrust back into the media due to the nude baby from the cover (now an adult) suing for emotional distress over his fame due to the photo.
One artist came to infamy this week in music:
In 1988, James Brown leads police on an hour-long, two-state car chase starting in Augusta, Georgia. He would be convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol and assaulting a police officer, along with various drug-related and driving offenses. He was sentenced to six years in prison, to which he only served two.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
This week also saw the loss of a few icons of rock:
Led Zeppelin lost their original drummer John Bonham (32) to alcohol induced asphyxiation in 1980, which led to the eventual breakup of the band. His son Jason would carry on his legacy, preforming with such artists as Sammy Hagar, Foreigner, and even occasionally with the other original members of Led Zeppelin.
In 1986, Metallica bassist, Cliff Burton (24) lost his life when their tour bus rolled into a ditch during their European Tour. Frontman James Hetfield says to this day that the driver was drunk and fell asleep, while the driver claimed he hit black ice, despite the weather conditions not backing this claim.
British singer-songwriter Robert Palmer (54) dies of a heart attack while in Paris, filming a retrospective of his life called My Kinda People, after his hit Every Kind of People. Many paid tribute to palmer including fellow Brits Duran Duran, saying, “He was a very dear friend and a great artist. This is a tragic loss to the British music industry.”
