Saturday, July 30, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 31

1959:  Neil Sedaka recorded four takes of the song "Oh Carol!" that he had written for Carole King.
1959:  Cliff Richard ruled the U.K. chart with "Living Doll".
1961:  "The Boll Weevil Song" by Brook Benton was #1 on the Easy Listening chart for the third week.


Friday, July 29, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 30

1954:  Elvis Presley performed at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis, Tennessee.
1956:  Brenda Lee recorded "Jambalaya" during her first recording session in Nashville, Tennessee.
1957:  The Elvis Presley movie Loving You opened in theaters nationwide.
1960:  Elvis Is Back was the #1 album in the U.K.


Discography: Carpenters

This group was one of the hottest in the world in the early to mid-70's.  Here is the Discography* for the Carpenters:

Studio Albums:
1969:  Ticket to Ride (#150, #20 U.K., #19 Australia)
1970:  Close to You (#2, #23 U.K., #1 Canada, #16 Australia)
1971:  Carpenters (#2, #12 U.K., #6 Canada, #16 Australia)




1972:  A Song for You (#4, #13 U.K., #5 Canada, #6 Australia)
1973:  Now & Then (#2, #2 U.K., #2 Canada, #3 Australia)
1975:  Horizon (#13, #1 U.K., #4 Canada, #21 Australia)
1976:  A Kind of Hush (#33, #3 U.K., #22 Canada, #57 Australia)
1977:  Passage (#49, #12 U.K., #57 Canada, #48 Australia)
1978:  Christmas Portrait (#93, #104 U.K.)
1981:  Made in America (#52, #12 U.K., #50 Australia)
1983:  Voice of the Heart (#46, #6 U.K., #54 Australia)
1984:  An Old-Fashioned Christmas (#190)
1989:  Lovelines (#73 U.K.)
2001:  As Time Goes By

Live Albums:
1975:  Live in Japan
1976:  Live at the Palladium (#28 U.K.)

Compilations:
1973:  The Singles:  1969-1973 (#1, #1 U.K.)
1985:  Yesterday Once More (#144, #10 U.K.)
1991:  From the Top (Box Set)
1995:  Interpretations (#29 U.K.)
1997:  Love Songs (#106, #47 U.K.)
1998:  Reflections
2000:  The Singles:  1969-1981 (#45, #65 U.K.)
2002:  The Essential Collection:  1965-1997
2003:  Carpenters Perform Carpenter
2004:  Gold:  35th Anniversary Edition (#101, #4 U.K.)
2006:  The Ultimate Collection
2009:  40/40 (#21 U.K.)
2014:  Icon
2015:  The Complete Singles

Thursday, July 28, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 29

1963:  Elvis Presley had the top U.K. Song with "(You're The ) Devil In Disguise".
1965:  The Beatles' movie Help! premiered at the Pavilion in London.
1966:  Bob Dylan suffered a serious accident when he crashed his motorcycle near Woodstock, New York.
1966:  Cream made their live debut at The Twisted Wheel in Manchester, England.
1966:  The Small Faces and Spencer Davis helped usher in the National Jazz and Blues Festival in England, being held for the first time at the Royal Windsor Racecourse in Windsor. 
1967:  The International Love-In Festival took place at Alexandra Palace in London with Pink Floyd, the Animals and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown among others.  
1967:  Petula Clark's "Don't Sleep In The Subway" continued to set the pace for a third week on the Easy Listening chart.  
1967:  "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles moved up from #71 to #29 on this date.
1967:  Another of the famous dates in the Rock Era as the Doors moved to #1 with "Light My Fire".  Stevie Wonder had a nice move (6-2) with "I Was Made to Love Her".  "Windy" by the Association finally relinquished its spot at #1, followed by Frankie Valli's solo hit "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and Procol Harum at #5 with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale".  The rest of the Top 10:  The Music Explosion with "Little Bit O' Soul", the Buckinghams had song #7--"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", Jefferson Airplane's first big hit "White Rabbit" reached the Top 10, the 5th Dimension were at #9 with "Up-Up and Away" and the 4 Seasons were at 10 with "C'mon Marianne".


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 28

1954:  The first interview with Elvis Presley was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar.
1956:  Elvis Presley appeared on television for the first time on the CBS program Dorsey Brothers Stage Show.
1956:  Gene Vincent appeared on The Perry Como Show.
1957:  Jerry Lee Lewis appeared on the television program The Steve Allen Show.
1960:  Cliff Richard and the Shadows topped the competition in the U.K. with "Please Don't Tease".

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 27


 

1955:  Chuck Berry released his first single on this date as "Maybellene" was sent to radio stations.

1961:  The Tokens recorded "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
1963:  Judy Collins, John Lee Hooker, and the Tarriers performed on the second day of the Newport Folk Festival.
1963:  The Beatles concluded a week of shows at the Odeon Cinema in Weston-Super-Mare, England.
1963:  "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" by Rolf Harris was #1 for a third week on the Easy Listening chart.








1963:  Another of the famous days in the Rock Era, as on this date Peter, Paul and Mary entered the Top 10 with the classic "Blowin' In The Wind". 
1965:  Gary Lewis & the Playboys had a rather healthy move (40-13) with "Save Your Heart For Me".



Monday, July 25, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 26



1960:  Sam Cooke released the single "Chain Gang".



Sunday, July 24, 2016

This Date in Rock Music History: July 25

1960:  "Walk - Don't Run", one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era* from the Ventures, moved from 88 to 39 on this date.

1960:  Brenda Lee continued to hold on to #1 with "I'm Sorry".
1962:  The Beatles performed two shows at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, then performed at the Cabaret Club (28 Duke Street) later in the evening.  It was the group's only show at the Cabaret Club, which has since been demolished.
1964:  The Beatles reached #1 on the U.K. Album chart with A Hard Day's Night.
1964:  The Beatles moved from #12 to #1 in their second week with the album A Hard Day's Night.
1964:  The great song "The Girl From Ipanema" by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto remained the top song on the Easy Listening chart.


Featured Unknown/Underrated Song*: Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us"

This powerful song about the plight of the common man stalled at #30, when it should have been in the Top 10, if not #1:

They Don't Care About Us
Michael Jackson

Lyrics and Music by Michael Jackson

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, aggravation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Bang bang, shot dead
Everybody's gone mad

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

Beat me, hate me
You can never break me
Will me, thrill me
You can never kill me
Jew me, sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, kike me
Don't you black or white me

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
I'm tired of being the victim of hate
You're ripping me off my pride
Oh, for God's sake
I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy...
Set me free

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Trepidation, speculation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Black man, blackmail
Throw your brother in jail

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I'm tired of being the victim of shame
They're throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can't believe this is the land from which I came
You know I really do hate to say it
The government don't wanna see
But if Roosevelt was living
He wouldn't let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, speculation
Everybody litigation
Beat me, bash me
You can never trash me
Hit me, kick me
You can never get me

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

Some things in life they just don't wanna see
But if Martin Luther was living
He wouldn't let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head
Everybody gone bad
Situation, segregation
Everybody allegation
In the suite, on the news
Everybody dog food
Kick me, kike me
Don't you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about
All I wanna say is that
they don't really care about
All I wanna say is that
They don't really care about us

DJ's--Don't Get Caught With Your Pants Down...

Inside The Rock Era, as many disc jockeys and Rock Era fans know, has the most accurate reporting of music news items in our Calendar*.  It doesn't take long to realize that, as nearly daily, we point out all the mistakes of our competition in the history of music news.

So before you go on your show to report "This happened on this day....", do yourself a favor and check out the Inside The Rock Era Calendar* first.