“Unchained,” from the 1981 album, Fair Warning, has emerged as the victor in a Rolling Stone readers’ poll that asked fans to name their 10 favorite Van Halen songs. With the group set to make a comeback with original singer David Lee Roth in tow, the magazine said it “figured it was a good time for such a poll.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of the top picks were from the Roth era, 20 percent were from the Sammy Hagar era and none were from the Gary Cherone era. Commenting about “Unchained,” Rolling Stone wrote: “It’s not quite as famous as ‘Jump’ or ‘Hot for Teacher,’ but ‘Unchained’ has frequently been voted the favorite song of Van Halen fans. During the interlude, producer Ted Templeman breaks in and says ‘Come on, Dave, gimme a break!’ Dave responds with, ‘One break, coming up!’ According to legend, Ted felt that Dave was being too over the top and he scolded him. The band liked the moment and kept it in. Recent evidence suggests that the bit was rehearsed, but it’s hard to say for sure. Like most things in the Van Halen world, there are two competing narratives of one event.”
An amplifier used by George Harrison during the recording of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is expected to fetch between $80,000 and $110,000 when it goes on the auction block next month. As reported by Reuters, the rare Vox UL730 amp and cabinet was only recently discovered to have a Beatles connection, when an engineer repairing the amp noticed that Harrison’s name was etched on the chassis.
Subsequent research confirmed that Harrison indeed had owned the amp, and that he had used it on two of The Beatles’ most important albums. “Very few amps used by The Beatles have come to auction before, and to find one that was used on two such significant albums is truly rare and exciting,” said Stephen Maycock, a consultant to Bonhams, the company conducting the auction. The sale will take place in London December 15.
1915, Brownie McGhee, blues singer, guitarist
1945, Roger Glover, bass, Deep Purple
1953, June Pointer, vocals, The Pointer Sisters
1955, Billy Idol, singer
1957, John Ashton, guitar, The Psychedelic Furs
1958, Stacey Q, singer
1959, Cherie Currie, singer, The Runaways
1968, Des’ree, singer
1969, Mike Stone, guitar, Queensryche
1973, John Moyer, bass, Disturbed
1978, Clay Aiken, singer
1969, The Monkees made what would be their last live appearance for 15 years when they played at The Oakland Coliseum, California.
1969, The Rolling Stones played the final night on a 17-date North American tour at the International Raceway Festival, West Palm Beach, Florida. Also appearing, The Moody Blues, Ten Years After, King Crimson, Janis Joplin, The Band, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1971, Sly and the Family Stone were at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Family Affair.”
1985, Wham! were at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “I’m Your Man,” the duo’s third U.K. #1, a #3 hit in the U.S.
1991, Milli Vanilli singer Rob Pilatus attempted suicide while staying at The Mondrain Hotel in Los Angeles by taking an overdose of sleeping pills and slashing his wrists.
1994, Tupac Shakur was shot five times during a robbery outside a New York City recording studio.
1996, Ice Cube obtained a restraining order to keep an obsessed fan away from him and his family. Cynthia Renee Collins was told to stop harassing the rapper, and stay at least 100 feet away from him.
1997, Chumbawamba’s Danbert Nobacon was arrested by Italian police for wearing a skirt and was detained in police cells overnight.
1999, Don “Sugarcane” Harris was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment at the age of 61. The American guitarist and violinist was part of the ’50s duo Don & Dewey. He also worked with Little Richard, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker and Johnny Otis.
2002, High Court probate records showed that George Harrison left his fortune of £99m in a trust to his wife Oliva and his son Dhani, depriving the taxman of £40m. His English mansion near Henley-on-Thames was said to be worth £15m.
2003, A block of East Second Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Joey once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, and is near the site of music club CBGB, where The Ramones played their first gigs.
2006, The sale of Syd Barrett’s final belongings were sold by Cheffins auctioneers in Cambridge, England. The sale of the 77 items raised £119,890 ($233,786). Ten paintings alone raised over £55,000 and two bicycles, over £10,000. The sale included such things as the armchair he used to sit in, his homemade bread bin, tools, notebooks and binders and books. The sale catalog described Barrett – who quit Pink Floyd in 1968 – as a man with a “total disinterest in materialism.”
Record producer Don DeVito, best known for his production work with Bob Dylan, has died from prostate cancer. The NME reports that DeVito was 72 and had fought cancer for the past 16 years.
A producer at Columbia Records, DeVito worked with Dylan on Blood on the Tracks, Hard Rain, Desire and Street Legal in the ’70s.
DeVito also worked with Bruce Springsteen, Simon & Garfunkel and Aerosmith and won a Grammy for his production on Folkways – A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly in 1989.
The Recording Academy said DeVito was “a multifaceted talent” who “made a lasting impact on our industry.”
Genesis will reissue their very first album, from 1969, next year. According to Classic Rock, the debut, called From Genesis to Revelation, will be fully remastered and released on January 23.
The album was produced by controversial music mogul Jonathan King and features the original lineup of Peter Gabriel on vocals, Anthony Phillips on guitar, Mike Rutherford on bass, Tony Banks on keyboards and John Silver and Chris Stewart on drums.
Metallica will expand their nostalgic return to “The Black Album” with three more European dates, during which they’ll play the entirety of their 1991 breakthrough album.
The band already was booked to play the album – officially self-titled but colloquially called “The Black Album” ever since its release – at the Download Festival in the U.K. on Saturday, June 9. The new dates have been added either side of the Download performance: Friday, June 1 at Nurnberg Rock Im Park and Saturday, June 2 at Nurburgring Rock Am Ring in Germany, and Sunday, June 10 at Nickelsdorf Nova Rock in Austria.
In a statement, Metallica said, “As you may have picked up already, this year’s European trek has a theme... each night we will be playing “The Black Album” in its entirety to celebrate the 20th (ish!!!) anniversary of its release in August of 1991. We know, we seem to be big on these anniversary things lately... any excuse to get out and play!”
1917, Merle Travis, guitarist, singer
1933, John Mayall, singer, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
1940, Denny Doherty, vocals, The Mamas and the Papas
1940, Chuck Mangione, flugelhorn player
1942, Felix Cavaliere, vocals, The Young Rascals
1947, Ronnie Montrose, guitar, Montrose, Edgar Winter Group
1951, Barry Goudreau, guitar, Boston
1958, Michael Dempsey, bass, The Cure
1974, apl.de.ap, rapper, Black Eyed Peas
1979, The Game, rapper
1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best were deported from West Germany after being arrested on suspicion of arson after the hotel room they were staying in mysteriously caught fire. They were released and deported the next day.
1965, Colorado Governor John A. Love declared a Rolling Stones day throughout the State as the Stones appeared at The Denver Coliseum in Colorado during a North American tour.
1975, During a U.K. tour, Queen appeared at the Hammersmith Odeon, London.
1976, Lancaster local council cancelled the Sex Pistols gig at Lancaster Poly, England. The reason was given in a statement by the council saying: “We don’t want that sort of filth in the town limits.”
1980, ABBA scored their ninth and last U.K. #1 single with “Super Trouper,” the group’s 25th Top 40 hit in the U.K. The name “Super Trouper” referred to the gigantic spotlights used in stadium concerts.
1985, KISS played the first night on their 91-date North American Asylum Tour at Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1996, American singer and ukulele player Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury) died from a heart attack on stage while playing his hit “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” at a club in Minneapolis.
2000, U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. came to the rescue of motorcyclist who had been involved in an accident. Larry was driving home when he saw the motorcyclist who had crashed and stopped to call for help on his phone and then waited for the ambulance to arrive.
2001, Former Beatles guitarist George Harrison died in Los Angeles of lung cancer at age 58. Following the breakup of The Beatles, Harrison had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys. The youngest member of The Beatles, (16 when he joined), his compositions include “Taxman,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “Something” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
The news that Ozzy Osbourne has again reunited with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward as Black Sabbath is one of the biggest metal stories of the year. Bigger than Slipknot’s return to the stage minus the late Paul Gray, bigger than Dream Theater’s chart smash without Mike Portnoy – heck, even bigger than Metallica and Lou Reed’s Lulu collaboration. The metal pioneers are at work on an album of new material with megaproducer Rick Rubin, and are already booking dates in 2012.
But this is not the first time Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and Ward have patched up their differences to share the stage together, and Sabbath’s various reunions, break-ups and re-reunions make for a pretty interesting story. In fact, Ozzy actually quit the band in 1977 after the album Technical Ecstasy and had begun working with a new band featuring ex-Dirty Tricks members John Frazer-Binnie, Terry Horbury and Andy Bierne. The new band were three days away from going into the studio to record an album when Ozzy got cold feet and decided he wanted to go back to Sabbath. The problem was, Sabbath had already hired a new singer, Dave Walker, and they’d begun working on new songs, too. They even performed “Junior’s Eyes” on the TV show Look Hear in 1978 (listen to it below). But the lads patched things up with Ozzy and recorded 1978’s Never Say Die before ultimately parting ways during the drawn-out writing sessions for the planned follow-up.
It was six years before Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and Ward would play together again. This first reunion of Ozzy and Sabbath occurred during the Live Aid concert at the JFK Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1985. Introduced by comedian Chevy Chase and performing a short set consisting of “Children of the Grave,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid,” it was obvious at even a quick glance at the footage that this show took place during the height of the glitzy ’80s. Sabbath were never more studded and bedazzled. The Live Aid telecast made the sacrilegious error of spelling Ozzy’s name “Ozzie.” Although well received, it wasn’t Sabbath’s finest hour, musically.
The next time Sabbath shared the stage was much more triumphant, and the presentation was much more in keeping with the Sabbath legacy, compared to the overly coiffed look of 1985. Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and Ward joined forces for the encore of the last show of Ozzy’s No More Tours tour, immortalized in the form of the Live & Loud album and concert movie. The Iommi/Butler/Appice/Dio lineup of Sabbath was actually supposed to be the support band, touring as they were on the back of the Dehumanizer album. But, Ronnie James Dio, uncomfortable with the arrangement, balked at the idea, so Judas Priest’s Rob Halford sang for Sabbath on the last two gigs of the tour.
Sabbath joined Ozzy for a short set on the final night of the tour, November 15, 1992, playing “Black Sabbath,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” Check out the performance of “Black Sabbath” below (warning: Ozzy’s introduction is uncensored).
At the time, these were publicly claimed to be Ozzy’s retirement shows, although there were rumors that Sabbath were ready to launch into a full reunion until talks broke down. It wasn’t too long before Ozzy started writing with Steve Vai. One track, “My Little Man,” eventually made it onto his Ozzmosis album, and another was reborn as the instrumental “Dyin’ Day” from Vai’s 1996 album Fire Garden. Meanwhile, Sabbath went back to working with Tony Martin, who had been their vocalist prior to Dio’s return, but Butler left and joined Ozzy for Ozzmosis.
Ward wasn’t able to participate fully in the late ’90s reunion due to health concerns – the drum seat was mostly occupied by Faith No More’s Mike Bordin instead, as well as Godsmack’s Shannon Larkin and Vinnie Appice – but Ward was around for the filming of the shows immortalized on the 1999 The Last Supper DVD, and he played drums on “Psycho Man,” one of two new songs recorded by the reunited band for the 1997 live album Reunion (the other song, “Selling My Soul,” is reported to have been recorded with programmed drums). Produced by Bob Marlette, the new songs took the original Sabbath into the future without ignoring the past. “Psycho Man,” with its moody verses, doomy choruses and faster final third, recalled the dynamics of the song “Black Sabbath,” but the delivery took on hues of both post-Sabbath Ozzy and post-Ozzy Sabbath, too. The version of “Iron Man” from Reunion won Sabbath a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2000. A full album was considered, and sessions began with Rick Rubin producing, but Ozzy had to fulfil a commitment for another solo album, and the sessions came to an end.
More shows followed in the naughties with Ward in better health – both Ozzfest and headlining their own shows – but the last time Sabbath shared the stage to make music was to play at their 2006 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
So that brings us to today. Sabbath are back, they’re working on new music and soon will be rocking stages again worldwide. But the aforementioned non-Ozzy Sabbath reunions deserve a little extra attention. The Mob Rules era lineup – Iommi, Butler, Appice and Dio – broke up in 1982, reunited in 1991 for the brilliant Dehumanizer album, broke up, then got back together in 2006, first as Black Sabbath for a Dio-era best-of and then as a fully fledged new band, Heaven & Hell. And the lineup from 1990’s Tyr – Iommi, vocalist Tony Martin (who spoke with Gibson in July 2011), bass player Neil Murray, drummer Cozy Powell and keyboard player Geoff Nicholls – also got back together for 1995’s Forbidden.
Martin also was involved in one of Sabbath’s more surprising reunions. In 1994, on tour for the album Cross Purposes, Bill Ward rejoined the band in place of a departed Bobby Rondinelli. Ward only played a handful of shows in South America with the band, but footage from the tour finds Sabbath in fine form indeed. It’s a brief and often-overlooked but great-sounding period in the band's history.
1934, Al Jackson Jr., drums, Booker T. and the M.G.’s
1941, Eddie Rabbitt, singer
1942, Jimi Hendrix, guitarist, singer (For more on Hendrix, see This Day in Music Spotlight.)
1944, Dave Winthrop, saxophone, Supertramp
1952, Daryl Stuermer, guitar, Genesis
1959, Charlie Burchill, guitar, Simple Minds
1962, Charlie Benante, drums, Anthrax
1962, Mike Bordin, drums, Faith No More
1969, Myles Kennedy, vocals, Alter Bridge
1973, Twista, rapper
1978, Mike Skinner, rapper, songwriter, The Streets
1964, Mick Jagger was fined £16 for driving offences by a court in Tettenhall, Staffs. His solicitor told the court: “The Duke of Marlborough had longer hair than my client and he won some famous battles. His hair was powdered, I think because of fleas. My client has no fleas.”
1966, The New Vaudeville Band were at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Winchester Cathedral.”
1970, George Harrison released All Things Must Pass. The triple album included a number of songs that were left over from Beatle sessions. The set would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best-selling album by a solo Beatle.
1973, Hank Snow’s guitarist Jimmy Widener was shot dead; his body was dumped in an alley.
1982, Lionel Richie was #1 in the U.S. with “Truly.” Richie achieved a #1 hit each year from 1978-86 as a songwriter. The run included “Three Times a Lady,” “Still,” “Lady” (Kenny Rodgers), “Endless Love” (Diana Ross), “All Night Long,” “Hello,” “Say You Say Me” and “We are the World” (as a co-writer).
1986, Bon Jovi were at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “You Give Love a Bad Name.”
1994, Rod Stewart and the Faces appeared at The Odeon, Lewisham, London, England. Paul and Linda McCartney both joined the band on stage for a few numbers.
2005, Tony Meehan, drummer with The Shadows, died at age 62 from head injuries sustained in a fall at his London flat in Maida Vale.
2006, Sir Cliff Richard lost a battle to extend the number of years that musicians could receive royalties for their records. Richard wanted copyright to last 95 years, rather than the present 50 years, but an independent review recommend the terms would not change.
An expert panel assembled by Rolling Stone has named Jimi Hendrix the greatest guitarist in history. The panel included some of rock’s finest-ever players, including Brian May, Kirk Hammett and Ritchie Blackmore, among others. In praising Hendrix, Tom Morello cited “Purple Haze” and Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as key tracks. “Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be,” Morello said. “He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage.” Rounding out the top 10 selections were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Eddie Van Halen, Duane Allman and Pete Townshend.
Members of the panel contributed comments about their choices. Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready praised Eddie Van Halen as “a master of riffs,” while Joe Perry hailed Jimmy Page for his “vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do.” The full list will be featured in a special issue, hitting stores on Friday, that’s available in four different covers. The artists featured on the covers are Van Halen, Clapton, Hendrix and Page.
With Van Halen apparently inking a big deal with Interscope and Eddie Van Halen basically staying out of the press, fans are extra curious about just what to expect from Van Halen’s long-awaited new tracks.
Since Eddie is M.I.A., former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar offered his thoughts about the forthcoming Van Halen release, claiming that he has only the highest hopes for the album. “I’ll be the first guy waiting in line at the record store, if I could find one anymore,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’ll be really curious. I think they owe the fans that. I would love to see them make a great record. They have some of the most loyal fans in rock, and they’ve been treated so, so bad these last 20 years. I’m a real fan friendly guy.”
Say you’re ready for the Jimi Hendrix experience for your phone? Now, the Hendrix-obsessed can get their hands on the Jimi Hendrix, “The Complete Experience” app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, available on the iTunes App Store. The app arrives just in time to celebrate Hendrix’s birthday on November 27.
The app features information about albums, live performances, documentaries, images and offers the option to purchase anything found on the app from the iTunes store. Users may also go one step further and take the “experience” into the living room by streaming video to their TVs using AirPlay and their Apple TVs or streaming music to their AirPlay-enabled speakers. That’s a lot of Hendrix!
The app also notifies users when there are near areas of importance to the Hendrix legacy, such as Electric Lady Studios or the Experience Music Project Museum. In other words, the app acts almost like a Jimi Hendrix-enabled GPS.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will hit the road in 2012, with European dates being announced this week and U.S. dates to follow.
Confirmed U.K. dates include headlining slots at the Isle of Wight festival on June 24 and the Hard Rock Calling festival in London’s Hyde Park on July 14, as well as a pair of stadium shows at Sunderland on June 21 and Manchester on June 22.
A message on BruceSpringsteen.net said, “A lot of you have been hearing that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be on tour in 2012. That is absolutely correct.”
The band will play in Europe from the middle of May until the end of July. The website message also confirmed that new music is on the way, and a release date is close to being confirmed for the as-yet-untitled album.
The run will be the first for the band after a nearly three-year touring hiatus following the 2009 Working on a Dream tour, and it will be their first tour since the death of saxophonist Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons five months ago.
Springsteen, 62, has appeared at a number of benefit concerts over the past year, including an impromptu 45-minute set at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey in July at a tribute to Clemons.
The notion of the “supergroup” has always held a special fascination for rock fans, who relish the prospect of hearing what top tier artists can achieve when they join forces. True, superstar egos often clash, but when talent and chemistry come together in the right way, the results can be pure magic. Recently, the supergroup concept has taken on a new life – witness the latest entry, SuperHeavy – but through the years many major artists have attempted such projects. Below are 10 supergroups who have done proper justice to the concept.
Blind Faith
Formed in 1969, in the wake of Cream’s dissolution, Blind Faith at first seemed to push the “supergroup” concept to spectacular heights. Comprised of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood (fresh off his tenure with Traffic) and Rick Grech (formerly of the band, Family), the gifted quartet released just one album, but through the years the disc has attained a prominent place in the rock pantheon. Had Winwood’s ambitions prevailed – he was striving toward something akin to a “rock” version of jazz ensemble – Blind Faith’s legacy might have reached epic proportions.
Asia
Rising from the rubble of prog rock, which had been hammered to bits by the punk explosion, Asia boasted a spectacularly talented lineup in the persons of Steve Howe (Yes), John Wetton (King Crimson), Carl Palmer (ELP) and Geoff Downes (The Buggles). Releasing their debut album in 1982, the band scored a massive hit – as well as endless rounds of MTV airplay – with the arena-ready pop song, “Heat of the Moment.” Critics were never enamored of Asia, but the band’s debut remains emblematic of a certain brand of ’80s rock. The group has survived in myriad incarnations through the years.
Traveling Wilburys
No band dispelled the notion that ego clashes were an inevitable component of supergroups quite like the Traveling Wilburys did. Consisting of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, the group came together initially in 1988 to record a Harrison B-side. In the end, the makeshift quintet had so much fun recording together, they decided to make an entire album. Fans and critics alike loved the band, which went on to earn a Grammy in 1989 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. In the wake of Orbison’s tragic death, the remaining members released a second album in 1990.
The Firm
Founded in 1984, The Firm centered on Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and ex-Free singer Paul Rodgers, with bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Chris Slade (formerly of Uriah Heep) rounding out the lineup. Released in 1985, the band’s self-titled debut album failed to light up the charts, but The Firm’s music has aged well and fits comfortably alongside the varied accomplishments of both Page and Rodgers. A second album, Mean Business, was released in 1986, before The Firm closed its doors. Subsequently, Page said the group was never meant to last for more than two albums.
The Highwaymen
Predating the Traveling Wilburys by three years, The Highwaymen proved that country music stars could participate in the “supergroup” concept as well. Comprised of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson – all close friends and “outlaw” pioneers – The Highwaymen came roaring out of the chute in 1985 with a chart-topping single titled, fittingly, “Highwaymen.” The group’s debut album hit #1 as well. The band went on to record two more albums, each spaced five years apart, but Jennings’ death in 2002 put an end to hopes for more Highwaymen fare.
Them Crooked Vultures
It’s hardly surprising that Them Crooked Vultures’ music splits the difference between grunge, hard rock and prog. Consisting of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme (with guitarist Alain Johannes included in the touring band), the group performed their first gig in August 2009, before embarking on a hugely successful world tour. A 2009 single, “New Fang,” was quickly followed by the release of Them Crooked Vultures’ self-titled debut album in September of that same year. Earlier this month (November 2011), Johannes confirmed that the group has plans to record a second studio disc.
Chickenfoot
Although frontman Sammy Hagar brushes aside the “supergroup” designation, it’s hard to deny that a band that includes Hagar, Van Halen’s Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and shredder extraordinaire Joe Satriani is exactly that. Springing to life in a jam session at Hagar’s club in Cabo Wabo, Mexico, Chickenfoot released their debut album in 2009, and have garnered raves from critics and fans. Having refined their chemistry on the road, the group have gone on to release a second album, titled Chickenfoot III. “We decided to skip making a second album,” Hagar jokingly explained, during an interview on VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Rising from the ashes of The Byrds, The Hollies and Buffalo Springfield, the teaming of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young yielded music remarkable for its sweeping influence on American music and American culture. Having already recorded an album as a trio, Crosby, Stills and Nash brought in Young as an equal partner just in time to make a splash at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Despite their small body of work as a quartet – nearly 20 years passed before CSN&Y recorded a studio follow-up to their 1970 debut – the band remains legendary for their intricate vocal harmonies and their stylistic range.
Bad Company
Formed in 1973, Bad Company generated a tremendous buzz among rock fans when they announced their lineup would include former Free members Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke, ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell and former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs. As the first band signed to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song imprint, the group struck gold right away with their self-titled debut album. A supergroup with staying power, Bad Company’s original lineup released six albums together, scoring such hits as “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Shooting Star.” Various incarnations of the band have carried on to this day.
Cream
In contrast to their relatively brief period together – the group disbanded after a little more than two years – Cream’s influence and enduring legacy have been monumental. Formed in 1966, the power trio of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker journeyed through incendiary blues, searing hard rock and melody-driven (though still hard-hitting) psychedelia. Tracks such as “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room” helped pave the way for Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and similarly heavy bands that emerged at the dawn of the ’70s.
1940, Dr John, U.S. R&B pianist, guitarist, singer,
1965, Bjork, singer, The Sugarcubes, solo
1968, Alex James, bass, Blur
1970, Francis Macdonald, drummer, Teenage Fanclub
1955, RCA Records purchased Elvis Presley's recording contract from Sam Phillips at Sun Records for an unprecedented sum of $35,000. See This Day in Music Spotlight.
1960, Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Stay.” the shortest ever U.S. #1 single at one minute 37 seconds.
1960, The Beatles played at the Kaiserkeller Club in Hamburg, Germany without George Harrison. Harrison had been deported on this day for being underage (he was 17) and not legally allowed to remain in a nightclub after midnight.
1981, Queen and David Bowie were at #1 in the U.K. with “Under Pressure.” They recorded the song together when both acts were working in a German recording studio. It was David Bowie's first released collaboration with another recording artist.
1990, Madonna was sued by her next-door neighbor for having a hedge, which blocked his view.
1990, Mick Jagger married Jerry Hall in Bali. The marriage was declared 'null and void' on 13th August 1999 after a judge ruled that the six- hour ceremony in Bali was never registered.
1995, Legendary manager of Led Zeppelin Peter Grant died from a heart attack aged 60. Known as being one of the shrewdest and most ruthless managers in rock history, Grant secured 90% of concert gate money and intimidated record storeowners who dealt in bootlegs. The former wrestler also worked as a film extra and bodyguard. During the early ‘60 Grant worked as a tour manager for Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and The Animals.
2003, an acoustic guitar on which the late Beatle George Harrison learned to play fetched £276,000 at a London auction. His father originally bought the guitar for Harrison for £3.50. Another item auctioned was a signed invitation to the post-premiere celebrations for The Beatles’ Hard Days Night film, which went for £17,250.
As previously reported, Metallica are set to perform 1991’s “Black Album” in its entirety when they perform at next June’s Download Festival at Donington in the U.K. But, according to the NME, drummer Lars Ulrich said the band will have to re-learn some of the album – including two tracks that Metallica has never played live.
The concert will include ‘The Struggle Within’ and ‘Don’t Tread on Me,” Ulrich confirmed, and said: “Although to be honest with you, a song like ‘The Struggle Within’ is a lot easier to relearn than ‘The Frayed Ends of Sanity [from …And Justice for All]. I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult for us to figure out these songs.”
He said that the idea to play the album straight through came from Download Festival organizers.
“The people at Download asked. It wasn’t our idea,” Ulrich said. “The thing is, although we haven’t played at Donington for six years, we have been to England pretty much every summer since then. So they wanted us to do something different, and that’s what they came up with.”
“Life’s been good” to Joe Walsh, just as his hit song says. The veteran guitarist turns 64 on November 20 – a birthday he admits he thought he’d never see – but he’s still going strong.
As part of the Eagles, Walsh enjoyed a fruitful ’00s. The reunited band’s seventh studio album, Long Road Out of Eden, went 7x Platinum and the subsequent tour is estimated to have grossed a huge $250 million. It was a creative success, too, with two Grammy awards and superb reviews for a band many thought would never be seen again.
Then again, Joe Walsh has always been a survivor. From his influential early days with The James Gang via his solo careers to the Eagles, he has suffered addiction problems, ill health, death threats from a neighbor and much more. While Walsh admits he may have occasionally lost his mind, he has never lost his ability as a superb guitarist and songwriter, nor his left-of-center humor.
As he prepares his latest solo album, Analog Man, due in in February 2012, sit back and enjoy the wit and wisdom of Joseph Fidler Walsh…
On starting playing the guitar…
“I played trombone and clarinet for a while, then I played oboe in high school,” Walsh told Atlantic City Weekly. “Then I discovered I wasn’t going to get any girls playing oboe, so I decided that maybe I should play guitar. And I didn’t really get any girls playing guitar either… but I had a lot more fun.”
On the inspiration Walsh took from The James Gang’s breakthrough supporting The Who in 1969…
“Pete Townshend was my guru,” Walsh told The Aquarian Weekly. “He taught me how to play lead-rhythm guitar, and Keith Moon taught me the finer points of hotel demolition.”
On why he left The James Gang…
“I saw myself being stereotyped almost into a heavy metal guitarist about 10 years before heavy metal come out,” he told Guitar World. “I didn’t like that. I got extremely frustrated being the only melodic instrument.” Here’s some early solo-career Walsh, which was no less-heavy…
On why he joined the Eagles…
“I got asked to join The Eagles as a specialist, because they wanted some humor. They were taking everything too seriously… my job was to keep everyone laughing, or at least to keep the band from breaking up.”
On his wild lifestyle of the ’70s and ’80s (quoted in the 1980s)...
“When I check into a hotel I have them give me a call at 7 a.m. so I can go to bed.”
On the urban legend that he once threw a grand piano out of a hotel window…
“Not the whole piano went out the window! But a lot of it – the legs and the lid and a bunch of the keys and the pedals. I wouldn’t want anybody to think the wrong thing.”
On getting sober…
“It was hard at first. Doing anything was hard at first. One of my great things in terms of denial was the idea that being an artist and writing and all that, one needed to have a buzz: ‘Hemingway couldn’t have written like that without one. Hendrix couldn’t have played like that if he wasn’t really, really high…’ I was telling myself that sort of stuff to justify being nuts. It never occurred to me that all those people were dead.”
On keeping the Eagles fresh after 40 years…
“We don’t want to become a Vegas lounge act,” he said earlier in 2011. “We’re not done yet, but we need a new show. Everybody’s seen our show… I think we’re going to maybe do a retrospective, almost like a documentary. We’re gonna dig up old songs from Desperado and On the Border and we have tons of footage and video stuff. So we’re gonna put that all together as a visual from just the early days and play music from the various periods while you’re watchin’ that.”
On the internal dynamics of the Eagles…
“It truly is Don [Henley] and Glenn [Frey]’s band,” Walsh said in 2007. “I knew that when I joined, and it hasn’t changed. They call the shots and decide policies. I think the world of them as a team. So that’s OK with me.”
On the Eagles’ relationships on The Long Road Out of Eden…
“We’re just really comfortable around each other now,” he told Star Tribune in 2008. “We’re all sober. We’ve discovered sleep. There’s a different feeling when you’ve played with musicians for 30 years. A lot of stuff doesn’t even need to be said, especially onstage. We just read each other so well. We’re like the Grumpy Old Men movie. We’re like Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, except there’s four of us.”
On his disdain for the Eagles’ suit-and-tie outfits for their 2008 tour…
“I don’t know exactly why we’re doing it. I guess Glenn came up with it,” Walsh, who had always worn whatever he wanted onstage, told Star Tribune again in 2008. “You feel a certain way with a suit and a tie on. My problem is my tie gets stuck in my guitars strings and all of a sudden my guitar doesn’t work anymore. I’ve got to get a tie clasp but I never get around to it.”
On getting older…
“I love to play,” he told NewsOK.com. “I never planned on being 63. I’m gonna be 64. I never thought about it, and I don’t know what to do. I wish there was like a 64 For Dummies book, because I need some help.”
On the famed 1959 Les Paul Sunburst he sold to Jimmy Page at the end of the 1960s…
“Jimmy was having trouble finding a good Les Paul back then,” Walsh recalled at the Guitar Center launch of the 2008 Gibson Les Paul Standard. “I had two, so I sold him one of mine. He used that Les Paul on the bulk of his work with Led Zeppelin. Once you get used to a Les Paul it becomes your axe from then on. Les Pauls are like that. Once you find your personal Les Paul, that’s it.”
On the Eagles’ Hotel California album, his first with the band and their most successful…
“We had no idea what we were doing with Hotel California. In retrospect, it would appear that we did. All that we knew was that it was done – we didn’t know if it was good or not.”
Was it he or Don Felder who wrote the outro solo(s) to the song “Hotel California”?
“I would think that’s a joint effort,” Walsh told InMusicWeTrust. “The lead parts that we trade off, he came up with his, I came up with mine. And the stuff that we played together was worked out together.”
Introducing his solo smash “Rocky Mountain Way” at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, 2004…
“If I knew I had to play this song the rest of my life, I probably woulda wrote something else.” If you want a lot of guitar, here’s Walsh playing “Rocky Mountain Way” at 1992’s Guitar Expo, aided by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Brian May, Nuno Bettencourt and more!”
On his dislike of new technology…
“On stage I control everything myself,” he told Gitare & Bass magazine. “I don’t like that digital crap. I need buttons. I’m really an analog guy. I can’t play with pre-sets. It’s no fun when there are no buttons.”
Walsh states who he regards as real guitar heroes…
“There are a lot of hot guitar players out there today who can fly all over the fretboard in all kinds of amazing ways,” Walsh told Jazztimes, “like Eddie Van Halen. But Albert King could blow Eddie Van Halen off the stage with his amp on standby.”
And Joe Walsh’s most famous lyric, answering the inevitable question of whether, truly, life’s been good?
After 35 years with Warner Music, Van Halen have found a new home with Universal’s Interscope Records. As reported by Billboard.biz, the veteran rockers had been close to signing with Columbia Records, but executives at Universal won the band over by laying out an extensive strategy for the group, going forward.
An unnamed source revealed that Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine, in particular, “heard the band was available and wanted to work with them.” In subsequent meetings, Iovine and other executives “presented the band with a global plan that included extensive marketing, merchandising, touring and, of course, recordings.” The source went on to say the deal was struck “at the 11th hour."
A photograph of Van Halen standing alongside several Universal executives was circulated to the media yesterday (November 17), with a subject line that read, “A Sneak Peek of Van Halen.” It’s believed that the group has completed a new album, slated for release in 2012. A special announcement is expected at the Grammy Awards nominations concert, set to air on CBS on November 30.
Recently, we told you that The Rolling Stones are regrouping in December for a jam session. Now, Keith Richards has revealed that it won’t just be him, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood and Mick Jagger.
“I was going to ask Bill Wyman to come by, too. And Mick Taylor. The whole lot,” Richards told Spinner. “They’re all Stones, you know? Why not?”
Bassist Wyman was a founding member of the band who left in the early ’90s. Guitarist Taylor was brought into the group in the late ’60s, following the departure (and then death) of original member Brian Jones. He left the group in the mid-’70s and was replaced by Wood.
With the jam session on the horizon, many are suggesting a full-blown Stones tour could be in the works for 2012. When asked what the band has in store for their 50th anniversary year, Richards merely answered: “I want to pull it off. That, at the moment, is my task.”
David Bowie’s career was not exactly skyrocketing in early 1969. He’d already been through several bands that failed to make a dent in the British charts or the London clubs, and his 1967 debut album David Bowie was a risky pop effort that missed the mark. The song “Rubber Band,” for example, used a tuba as lead instrument, and electric guitar was entirely absent – just as Eric Clapton and Cream and Jimi Hendrix were riding to superstardom on the cutting edge of six-string rock, and The Who’s Pete Townshend was cranking his amps to 11. To make matters worse, Bowie’s greatest recognition to date was via the commercial he made for the Lyons Maid ice cream brand, later countered by a rejection from the makers of Kit Kat candy bars.
Nonetheless, his prowess as a hit songwriter for other artists, including Billy Fury and the single-named Oscar, gave Bowie’s handlers hope. And when his second full-length disc Space Oddity – initially also titled David Bowie in Europe – was released on November 4, 1969, those hopes were validated. The album’s title track was a major hit, and the disc’s eclectic character foreshadowed many of the places he’d take his music during the chameleonic first decade of his career, as well as his knack for tapping into trends for his compositions.
“Space Oddity” quickly became a staple of FM radio, which was then at the creative height of its programming. Much speculation has been devoted to the song’s origin. It’s been rumored to have been inspired by Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine” and by Stanley Kubrick’s ground-breaking 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as the U.S. Apollo lunar landing program. More likely, it was the latter, which allowed the Earthbound to listen to plenty of the conversation between the astronauts and “ground control.”
The song was a work of high art that incorporated the exploratory sonics of the times and reached #5 on the U.K. pop charts. Bowie played Stylophone – a miniature stylus-operated synthesizer – on the track and a pre-Yes Rick Wakeman performed on both Mellotron and piano. Mick Wayne played the tune’s signature electric lead guitar lines, since Gibson Les Paul Custom legend Mick Ronson wouldn’t join Bowie’s group to become the first of his long line of fully realized guitar foils until February 5 of the next year.
Wayne made several other killer contributions to the Space Oddity album. He played a ripping track on “Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed” in counterpoint to Bowie’s Dylanesque vocal-and-harmonica performance. In fact, “Space Oddity” was the album’s oddity as well. The expansive sound was in contrast to the trendy folk-rock that dominated the disc in tunes like “Letter to Hermione,” an ode to Bowie’s ex-girlfriend, and “An Occasional Dream.” However, Bowie’s outsider perspective was already in place. “God Knows I’m Good” was written from the point of view of a shoplifter. And “Cygnet Committee” tells the story of a leader whose efforts to elevate his followers provide them with the means to turn on him. It was Bowie’s take on what he saw as the false brotherhood of the hippie culture.
It took nearly three more years for “Space Oddity” to make its mark on the American pop charts, when the album was reissued in the States in 1972. New performances were added to the U.S. version of the LP, which became notable for Bowie’s first recording with Ronson – the Buddhist-grounded late addition “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud,” which also featured a 50-member orchestra.
Ronson’s debut in Bowie’s band – then called the Hype – was a live broadcast on famed British DJ John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show. When they played on stage at the Roundhouse on February 22 they dressed in superhero costumes, and outlandish costuming would be an important part of Bowie’s oeuvre through 1974’s Diamond Dogs, with a dip back for 1980’s edgy Scary Monsters tour and videos.
Ronson’s muscular riffs would become the cornerstone of the first albums made by what was initially billed as “Bowie’s electric band,” and he and Bowie handled most of the arrangements for The Man Who Sold the World, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Hunky Dory, Alladin Sane and Pin Ups. During that period Ronson also helped Bowie produce and arrange All the Young Dudes for Mott the Hoople and Lou Reed’s Transformer, playing piano on “Perfect Day.”
Bowie has had a string of guitar foils following Ronson who served similar duty as sonic mad scientists or musical anchors. The key players include Earl Slick (Diamond Dogs, Station to Station), Carlos Alamar (Young Americans, Station To Station, Low), Robert Fripp (“Heroes”, Scary Monsters), Adrian Belew (Lodger), Stevie Ray Vaughan (Let’s Dance), Peter Frampton (Never Let Me Down) and Reeves Gabrels (Tin Machine, Outside, Earthling). Bowie and Ronson also reunited for one track, a cover of Cream’s “I Feel Free,” on 1993’s Black Tie White Noise shortly before his death by cancer at age 46.
Born on this day:
1938, Gordon Lightfoot, singer-songwriter
1944, Gene Clark, songwriting, vocals, The Byrds
1946, Martin Barre, guitar, Jethro Tull
1966, Jeff Buckley, singer-songwriter
1966, Richard Fortus, guitar, Guns N’ Roses
1970, Paul Allender, guitar, Cradle of Filth
1980, Isaac Hanson, guitar, vocals, Hanson
1981, Sarah Harding, vocals, Girls Aloud
1957, Harry Belafonte was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Mary’s Boy Child,” the first single to sell over 1 million copies in the U.K.
1973, The Who's double album Quadrophenia entered the U.K. album chart peaking at #2. It was one of two full-scale rock operas from The Who (the other being 1969’s Tommy).
1979, Jethro Tull bass player John Glascock died at the age of 28, as a result of a congenital heart defect. He also was a member of Chicken Shack.
1985, Wham! were at #1 on the U.K. album chart with Make it Big and #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”
1990, David Crosby from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was admitted to the hospital after breaking a leg, shoulder and ankle after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorbike.
1992, At the end of a long battle to claim royalties, Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago (formerly of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers), received an estimated $4 million in back payments from the song “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.”
1999, Mariah Carey was forced to abandon a performance on Rome’s historic Spanish Steps after crowds of tourists swamped her. She took shelter in a local shop before been given a police escort to safety.
2000, It was reported that Andy White, who played drums on The Beatles track “Love Me Do” (featured on the new Beatles hits compilation, 1), would not earn enough from it to buy his own copy of the collection. White would get no more than his original session fee of £7. For more on White, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
2003, American soul singer Arthur Conley died of intestinal cancer in Ruurlo, The Netherlands at the age of 57. He had the 1967 U.S. #2 and U.K. #7 single “Sweet Soul Music.” He first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets.
2003, 21 year-old Britney Spears became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The only other performer to get a Hollywood star at her age was Little House on the Prairie actress Melissa Gilbert.
2003, George Michael signed a new contract with the record company he took to court in 1993. The singer re-signed to Sony in a deal that included his extensive back catalog.
2003, American country music legend Don Gibson died of natural causes at age 75. He scored the 1958 U.S. #7 single “Oh Lonesome Me” (covered by Neil Young on his After The Gold Rush album), and the 1961 U.K. #14 single “Sea of Heartbreak.” His song “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962.
U.K. government spending cuts could lead to the cancellation of a music festival associated with The Beatles. The Beatles-themed Mathew Street Music Festival costs £900,000 a year to organize but is now under threat – despite one independent report saying it to be worth £17m to the economy.
Mathew Street in Liverpool, England, was home to the Cavern Club (famous for early Beatles performances) and gives its name to an annual free music festival. In 2011, it attracted musicians and Beatles fanatics from more than 30 countries.
“Next year is its 20th anniversary and it is also the 50th anniversary of the formation of The Beatles, with Ringo Starr joining as drummer,” said Joe Anderson, leader of the Liverpool City Council. “But these are the difficult choices that we are having to make.”
The Beatles still have their own dedicated museum in their Liverpool hometown, The Beatles Story.
San Francisco Giants team president Larry Baer was cornered after a dinner and asked "Larry, just what do you plan to do with these Giants in the offseason?" It seems like more of the same, and this is the trouble you run into with their World Series win last season. We're going to get the "Well, we won with pitching" argument for the next 15 years. That philosophy hasn't changed much, as you'll see in this video. Lock up pitching, hope and pray high on base guys pull you through.
Few artists have demonstrated a greater facility for scouting out great guitarists than Paul McCartney has. Having played in The Beatles, with one of rock’s finest lead guitarists and one of rock’s greatest rhythm players, Sir Paul no doubt entered his solo career with exceptionally high standards in mind. Although he’s often handled six-string duties himself – emphasizing songcraft over solos – his albums and live shows also have benefitted from contributions from exemplary rock-guitar craftsmen. The 10 players below rank among the best of those fortunate enough to have filled that role for the former Beatle.
Denny Laine
No musician played a bigger role in McCartney’s post-Beatles success than Denny Laine did. As co-founder of Wings (along with Paul and Linda), Laine played lead and rhythm guitar, occasional bass and even shared in the occasional writing credit, most notably on the hit, “Mull of Kintyre.” Laine remained with Wings until the group officially disbanded, in 1981. He continues to perform regularly, and is purported to be working on an autobiography.
Henry McCullough
Henry McCullough’s pedigree, prior to joining Wings in 1971, included a stint as Joe Cocker’s guitarist in Cocker’s backing group, The Grease Band. Playing alongside Denny Laine and Denny Sewell, the Irish guitarist offered up some of early Wings’ greatest solos, including the beautifully soaring six-string break on the hit, “My Love.” Other standout moments include his lead work on “Hi Hi Hi” and “Live and Let Die.” Musical differences led to McCullough’s departure from Wings just prior to the start of the Band on the Run sessions.
Eric Stewart
As one of the pop masterminds in 10cc, Eric Stewart was perfectly suited to step into the role of sideman for McCartney. Beginning with the undervalued 1982 album, Tug of War, Stewart collaborated with Sir Paul over a period of four years, even going so far as to co-write most of the songs for the 1986 album, Press to Play. Ironically, Stewart’s very first band, The Emperors of Rhythm, once beat out The Beatles in a performance audition at the turn of the ’60s.
Jimmy McCullough
A protégé of The Shadows’ Hank Marvin, Jimmy McCullough first made a name for himself as guitarist in the Pete Townshend-sponsored pop band, Thunderclap Newman. McCartney recruited McCullough into Wings in 1974, when McCullough’s second band, Stone the Crows, split up. As a member of Wings for the next three years, McCullough composed the music for “Medicine Jar,” from 1975’s Venus and Mars, and “Wino Junko,” which appeared on the 1976 Speed of Sound album. McCullough’s preferred guitars were an SG and a Les Paul. Tragically, he died of heart failure caused by a drug overdose at the young age of 26.
Robbie McIntosh
Robbie McIntosh’s stellar work with The Pretenders and other bands prepared him well for his stint with McCartney at the turn of the ’90s. With Chrissie Hynde’s blessing, McIntosh teamed with Sir Paul for McCartney’s stunning 1989 comeback album, Flowers in the Dirt, and subsequently became lead guitarist for McCartney’s 1989-90 World Tour. The gifted six-stringer remained with the former Beatle for four years, appearing on the albums Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990), Unplugged (1991) and Off the Ground (1993), as well as the concert films Get Back and Paul is Live.
Hamish Stuart
Hamish Stuart honed his guitar skills in the funk outfit the Average White Band in the ’70s, showcasing his chops on such hits as “Cut the Cake” and “Pick Up the Pieces.” Coming on-board with McCartney for 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt, the Glasgow, Scotland, native alternated between guitar and bass, often taking up the latter instrument on-stage whenever a song called for Sir Paul to play keys. Perhaps not surprisingly, Hamish learned to play guitar by listening to The Beatles, especially the A Hard Day’s Night album.
David Gilmour
McCartney has often “borrowed” high-profile guitarists from other bands, but David Gilmour warrants special mention. As early as 1978, Sir Paul sought out Gilmour to play on the hard-hitting “Rockestra Theme,” which appeared on the Wings album, Back to the Egg. The Pink Floyd guitarist continued to pop up on McCartney’s recordings – most notably on “No More Lonely Nights,” from the 1984 soundtrack disc, Give My Regards to Broad Street – but it was the 1999 oldies effort, Run Devil Run, that allowed Gilmour to truly shine.
Rusty Anderson
Rusty Anderson has been on-board as McCartney’s guitarist since 2001, when Sir Paul rang him up and asked him to play on the Driving Rain album. Four McCartney DVDs have since been released that feature Anderson’s searing six-string work, as well as the albums Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Memory Almost Full. Anderson’s main guitar is a cherished ’59 ES-335, and he plays an SG and a Les Paul as well. “I like 335s because they have a cool midrange quality and they can do everything I want from a guitar,” he told Gibson.com in 2009.
Brian Ray
Brian Ray made his debut with McCartney in 2002, when Sir Paul and his band performed at that year’s Super Bowl. Five weeks later, Ray was on the road with the former Beatle, teamed alongside Rusty Anderson to complete the dazzling six-string duo that today packs a wallop in McCartney’s live shows. Ray’s stellar playing has graced several McCartney albums and DVDs during the past decade. His go-to instruments include a Goldtop reissue, a ’63 Dove, a ’64 SG Lyre and an SG bass.
James McCartney
As the only son of Sir Paul and his late wife, Linda, James McCartney has played guitar and drums on several of his father’s albums, including 1997’s Flaming Pie and 2001’s Driving Rain. He’s also co-written a handful of tracks with his famous Dad, and released two EPs of his own. “My Dad taught me simple chords [when I was nine], and I was able to start playing from that point,” the younger McCartney told Wales Online, in 2010. “But I think I’ve always been inspired to be a musician from when I was a baby, or for as long as I can remember.”
Born on this day:
1905, Eddie Condon, jazz guitarist and banjoist
1916, Herb Abramson, producer, co-founder of Atlantic Records
1931, Hubert Sumlin, guitar, Howlin’ Wolf
1962, Gary “Mani” Mounfield, bass, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream
1964, Diana Krall, jazz singer
1966, Dave Kushner, guitar, Velvet Revolver
1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience went to #1 on the U.S. album chart with Electric Ladyland. The double album included “Crosstown Traffic,” “Voodoo Chile” and “All Along the Watchtower” and featured guest appearances by Dave Mason, Steve Winwood and Al Kooper.
1971, Frank Zappa appeared on the U.K. TV music show The Old Grey Whistle Test, playing live and showing clips from his 200 Motels film.
1974, John Lennon was at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Whatever Gets You Through The Night.” Elton John played on the session and made a deal with Lennon that if the song reached #1, Lennon would have to appear on stage live with Elton. Lennon kept his side of the deal. They played three songs together: “I Saw Her Standing There,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” Backstage after the concert, Lennon got back together with Yoko Ono after a temporary split.
1978, The Clash, supported by The Slits, appeared at the Odeon Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1985, Former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey had his only U.K. #1 single with the Maria McKee song “A Good Heart,” written about her relationship with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboard player Benmont Tench. Sharkey followed up the single with the Tench-written “You Little Thief,” about Tench’s relationship with McKee. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1988, Former Beach Boys manager Stephen Love was sentenced to five years probation for embezzling almost $1 million from the group’s accounts.
1999, Grady Owen, guitarist with Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, died. Together they scored the 1956 U.S. #7 and U.K. #16 single “Be Bop A Lula.”
2000, American rapper Joseph Calleja (known as Joe C.) died of chronic intestinal disorder. Calleja had coeliac disease, an autoimmune disorder that can cause stunted growth. As a result, he reached a height of 3 feet, 9 inches by adulthood. He was a member of Kid Rock’s group.
A member of the British Parliament is moving to make guitar god Jimmy Page a knight, according to the NME. Conservative MP Louise Mensch is suggesting knighthood for the Led Zeppelin guitarist, announcing the news on her Twitter page: “I’ve proposed Jimmy Page. Waiting to see if that finds favour with Honours Directorate. I hope so.”
Mensch, who was elected in 2010, has a rock and roll connection. Her husband, Peter Mensch, manages Metallica, Muse and other bands. He formerly managed Page. But, she said that her husband’s job has nothing to do with her plans.
“Clearly there is nobody more worthy of a knighthood and I am glad to say I have gathered support from every major record label in the U.K.,” she wrote.
Previously, the guitarist was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2005 for his Brazilian charity.
Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch has been talking about Bono as a mentor. Evidently, the U2 icon gave her a few tips while she and her band were supporting Bono and crew on their 360° world tour.
According to NME.com, the frontman helped her in more ways than one. “Bono told me how to dance in high heels and he also told me about U2’s Glastonbury performance and how everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong, including him ripping his trousers on stage. I think he was lunging and his trousers ripped! He was telling me how he had to find a new way of performing that didn’t involve moving.”
Florence and the Machine recently released their new album, Ceremonials, about which Welch says, “I wanted to make something that had a cohesive sound, something that sounded whole, more of a story.”
If you haven't seen it, a couple of weeks ago a band of 8-10 year olds did "Enter Sandman" by Metallica at their school talent show. The internet went nuts for it. It was pretty good. Now Metallica have taken notice. 15 years ago, Metallica would have sued those kids, and the kids they haven't had yet over such a thing. It's nice to see Metallica have grown up a little bit, reaping praise on the kids in their video response back to the kids. They even offered to open for the kid group. The PR department gets a gold star on this one.
1932, Petula Clark, singer (For more on Clark, see This Day in Music Spotlight.)
1932, Clyde McPhatter, vocals, The Drifters
1937, Little Willie John, singer
1945, Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, vocals, ABBA
1956, Michael Hampton, guitar, Funkadelic
1957, Kevin Eubanks, jazz guitarist
1968, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, rapper, Wu-Tang Clan
1974, Chad Kroeger, vocals, guitar, Nickelback
1981, Jordan Buckley, guitar, Every Time I Die
1965, The Rolling Stones made their U.S. television debut on Hullabaloo, performing “Get Off of My Cloud.”
1966, The Doors officially signed with Elektra Records in a deal for the band to produce seven albums. The band also reluctantly agreed to release “Break on Through” as their first single. The lyric “She gets high/she gets high/she gets high” was changed to “She gets/she gets/she gets” in order to secure radio play.
1969, Janis Joplin was arrested during a gig in Tampa, Florida, after badmouthing a policeman and using vulgar and indecent language. Joplin became upset after police moved into the hall, forcing fans to move back to their seats.
1980, Blondie had their fifth U.K. #1 single and third #1 of the year with “The Tide is High” a song written by reggae star John Holt. It was also a #1 in the U.S.
1984, R.E.M. played the first date on the band’s second U.K. tour at Tiffany’s Ballroom, Newcastle, England.
1986, Pop music history was made when the Top 5 U.K. singles were all by female vocalists: Corinne Drewery from Swing Out Sister, Mel and Kim, Susannah Hoffs from The Bangles, Kim Wilde, and Terri Nunn from Berlin – who were at #1 with “Take My Breath Away.”
1987, Dire Straits became the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in the U.K. Brothers in Arms contained five Top 40 singles: “Money for Nothing,” “So Far Away,” “Walk of Life,” “Brothers in Arms” and “Your Latest Trick.”
1991, French music producer and songwriter Jacques Morali died of complications from AIDS. He formed The Village People and co-produced their film, Can’t Stop the Music. Between 1974 and 1982 Morali produced over 65 albums.
1992, Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement from live gigs after a gig in California, saying “Who wants to be touring at 46?”
2007, Kenneth Donnell, from Glasgow, paid £83,000 for two tickets to see Led Zeppelin rehearse and perform at the O2 Arena in London on December 10. Donnell bid for the tickets as part of an auction for the BBC’s Children in Need.
2007, Jay-Z went to #1 on the U.S. album chart with American Gangster, his 10th #1 album. This made the rapper tied with Elvis Presley for the second most #1 albums on the chart. Only The Beatles have had more, with 19.
Rhino Records will release a 40th anniversary version of The Doors’ 1971 classic album L.A. Woman on November 25.
The two-CD set includes a bonus disc featuring covers of Willie Dixon’s “(You Need Meat) Don’t Go No Further” and Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want).”
According to Noise11.com, the remastered album features several noticeable changes compared to the original. For instance, the fade-out of “Love Her Madly” is 18 seconds longer than on the original album; an extra verse has been reinstated to “Cars Hiss by My Window,” and the title track includes the guitar intro “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” adding an extra 10 seconds to the track.
Meanwhile dubstep producer Skrillex has collaborated with The Doors’ Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore on the song “Breakin’ a Sweat” for a documentary film titled RE:GENERATION, which pairs five DJs with music legends from other genres.
The film premieres in early 2012.
In addition to 2011 marking the 40th anniversary of L.A. Woman, it’s also the 50th birthday of the Gibson SG. As part of that milestone, Krieger is being honored by Gibson Guitar with his own 50th Anniversary signature model Gibson SG.
Austin, Texas, drummer and songwriter Doyle Bramhall died suddenly at home on Sunday. He was 62. The exact cause of death is not known and Bramhall’s family will request an autopsy, according to dfw.com, one of the first news websites to break the story.
Bramhall was a fixture on the Austin scene and wrote or co-wrote several songs performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan, including “Dirty Pool,” “Life by the Drop,” “The House is Rockin’,” “Tightrope” and “Change It.”
Bramhall also played drums on the Family Style album by Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan. Bramhall and Jimmie Vaughan first played together in The Chessmen in Dallas, moving to Austin in the early ’70s. His most recent solo album was 2007’s Is it News.
Doyle Bramhall is survived by his wife Barbara Logan, daughter Georgia and son Doyle Bramhall II, himself a respected bluesman with a resume that includes Arc Angels, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Roger Waters and Meshell Ndegeocello.
During a benefit for the Michael J. Fox Foundation over the weekend, the actor decided to play an oldie… well it’s an oldie where he comes from. According to The Washington Post, Fox closed the New York gala by leading the band through a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode” – reminiscent of his performance in Back to the Future, shiny red Gibson ES-345 and all.
Although Fox mimed his performance in the 1985 movie, he’s since learned to play the guitar (just like ringin’ a bell). He mostly left the vocals to other singers in the group. Check out fan-shot video of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance/Parkinson’s benefit below.
Also during the Saturday night benefit, called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s, Fox played a Gibson Les Paulalongside his Light of Day co-star Joan Jett.
Apologies already, as this Top 10 might not include your favorite Neil Young song. But what to do? Over six decades, Neil Young has recorded so much music, he cannot be distilled into a small cup. Great songwriter, activist, conceptualist, rocker, balladeer, maverick guitarist, awful/inspired singer? You take your pick. Young, who turned 66 last week, is certainly one thing. He is unique.
His guitar playing is not “technical,” and he certainly won’t throw in a tricky mixolydian lick when blazing passion fits the bill. Neil Young plays guitar from the heart. These 10 tracks might not be his “best” songs, but their guitars either sob with sadness or roar with aggression.
If you want to hear Neil Young play guitar, we humbly suggest you start here.
10. “Down By the River”
Originally from the Neil Young and Crazy Horse album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. It’s ramshackle, but a great grooving melody. Watch in the live clip how Young uses his Gibson Les Paul’s 3-way pickup selector switch and fingers/pick to vary sonics. Even on the studio original, Young’s solos stab like daggers. If you had a jam band, you’d probably want it to sound like this.
9. “F***in Up”
In the early ’90s, Young was acclaimed as the so-called “godfather of grunge.” His influence was clear, though Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden et al were never as loose as Young. “F***in Up” was on Young’s ’91 album Ragged Glory, an aptly named album that reintroduced his raging guitar to a new generation. “F***in Up” is simple but its riff is all. Young was feted by the younger generation but here he matched them in shambolic, vitriolic style.
8. “Heart of Gold”
Young’s 1972 album Harvest was born of adversity – a back injury meant Young temporarily couldn’t play standing with a weighty Les Paul over his shoulder, so he crafted an acoustic album that he could perform while sitting. “Heart of Gold” was a shining light of Harvest – there’s nothing complicated about the guitar at all, but it’s a testament to Neil Young’s songwriting skills. Simple, direct, romantic, indelible. It is Young’s only #1 single in the U.S.
7. “Cinnamon Girl”
Infamous for its “one note solo,” “Cinnamon Girl” remains one of Young’s most popular tunes – it’s been covered by The Who, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Phish, Bob Mould, Matthew Sweet & Susannah Hoffs, even Motorhead and Killdozer. It was recorded on Young’s“Old Black” Les Paulin a double-drop D (DADGBD tuning). The original vocal is a duet between Young and sidekick guitarist, the late Danny Whitten. And it flips convention: the solo is easy but to nail the rhythm chords takes skill. An archetypal Neil Young classic, “Cinnamon Girl” is a song that simply never gets old.
6. “The Needle and the Damage Done”
Another acoustic track from Harvest, “The Needle and the Damage Done” is one of Young’s most affecting ballads and features some beautiful yet simple playing. A musing on drug addiction – inspired by the chemical traumas of fellow Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten – it’s classic in its construct: a descending chord progression, a resolve of sus4 chords. The similarly-themed-and-named “Needle of Death” by Scottish folk star Bert Jansch, a favorite of Young’s, was also an influence. Young had his own turmoil in mind, too. He survived his drug dalliances. Whitten did not. The version on Harvest was recorded live at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
5. “Southern Man”
The longest track on his 1970 album After the Gold Rush, “Southern Man” is one of Young’s most controversial songs. Its vivid lyrics attack racism towards blacks in the American South, with Young singing, “I saw cotton and I saw black, tall white mansions and little shacks / southern man, when will you pay them back?” Young’s non-specific attack on a whole populus didn’t go down well with everyone, especially as Young is Canadian. Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote “Sweet Home Alabama” in response to “Southern Man” and “Alabama” from Young’s subsequent 1972 album Harvest. “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two,” said Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant at the time.
Any “feud” between Skynyrd and Young was not vicious, though, and Young later said he was a fan of both “Sweet Home Alabama” and Van Zant: “They play like they mean it,” Young said in 1976. “I’m proud to have my name in a song like theirs.”
Lyrical barbs aside, “Southern Man” is a Young guitar classic, full of fuzz and fury. Those scabrous solos ain’t supposed to be pretty.
4. “Powderfinger”
“Powderfinger” has a weird backstory. Young wrote the first line (“Look out Mama, there’s a white boat comin’ up the river”) years before the rest of the song. He recorded a solo acoustic version of “Powderfinger” in 1975 but sent the tape to Ronnie Van Zant (see “Southern Man”) to use on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s next album. But with Van Zant and Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines tragically dying in a plane crash in 1977, the “southern men” of Skynyrd never got to record it. Hence Young played an electric version with Crazy Horse on the 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. “Powderfinger” is relatively low-key in terms of guitar fireworks, but is simply a superbly-crafted song. The “lost” album for which Young had originally intended “Powderfinger,” Chrome Dreams, never came out. But “Powderfinger” remains a live staple, much loved by Young aficionados.
3. “Cortez the Killer”
Just as Young would never claim to be world’s best singer, he would neither argue to be the world’s most subtle guitarist. But “Cortez the Killer,” from 1975’s album Zuma, is an axe epic. This mantric guitar centerpiece (it has reached 14 minutes live) could only have been played by Neil Young. Three chords (again in DADGBD), droning melodies, stinging solos, harmonics, much Bigsby wobbling… in a druggy big nutshell, this is a 101 in how to play guitar like Neil Young. “Cortez the Killer” takes on extra weight when played live: the version on 1991’s live album Weld is super-heavy. “Cortez the Killer” manages to be mournful yet angry, beautiful yet bitter.
2. “Like a Hurricane”
As with “Cortez the Killer,” “Like s Hurricane” (from 1977) is Young-ian guitar in excelsis. Sloppy? Lazy? Some think it’s even out of tune. But what a sound, with Young’s guitars bubbling like lava around a woozy Crazy Horse groove. Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen et al could play this without thinking… but none of them would ever sound like this. The live versions on Live Rust (1978) and Weld (1991) are titanic.
1. “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)”
Another song originally from Rust Never Sleeps, “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” sees the late-1970s Young grapple with his own sense of rock ’n’ roll impotency. Aware of punk having shifted the fault lines of the old rock order, the Canadian sought out new inspiration. “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” – and its acoustic counterpart “My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” – were, perhaps oddly, initially inspired by the work of Young’s new wave friends Devo.
The two songs lyrics became controversial. John Lennon was on record as hating the sentiment “it’s better to burn out / than to fade away”; Kurt Cobain, a Lennon fan, quoted that same lyric in his suicide note. Is it the merits of dead Elvis Presley (“The King is gone but he’s not forgotten”) vs. a dead persona “Johnny Rotten”? Is it Young railing against his own self-perceived dying of the light? Or is it just a huge guitar-fest?
It is all of the above, possibly. “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” asks more questions than it answers. But this is primal Neil Young guitar at its hardest. Young’s live 1991 version in the clip below sounds like it’s about to explode.
If some innocent ever asks you: “what does Neil Young do?”… Play them “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” and they’ll get the answer.
Metallica will headline the Download Festival in England next June. According to BBC News, drummer Lars Ulrich broke the news to BBC Radio 1 DJ, Zane Lowe.
“In hard rock history, there’s no more sacred place to play than Donington. It’s the coolest,” he said.
Ulrich and cohorts will play “The Black Album” in full, celebrating 21 years since its release. Next summer’s visit will be the eighth time Metallica have played at Donington.
Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. on Friday, November 18.
Rock band Cheap Trick have announced plans to open a rock and roll themed restaurant and museum in Chicago.
According to Yahoo News, the band’s manager told Reuters that the plan is for Cheap Trick to play a key role as an anchor tenant in a new entertainment district being developed onSouth Michigan Avenue, where Chess, Brunswick and Vee-Jay Records were once based.
Cheap Trick Chicago would include a radio station, a performance area and instrument museum, and a restaurant.
Cheap Trick came out of Rockford, Illinois, just 60 miles west of Chicago.
Dick Wagner, famed for his guitar work with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, is playing a show in Michigan today (November 11) that is some achievement. Wagner suffered a heart attack and stroke five years ago, leaving him unable to play guitar. He then suffered kidney failure, a coma, water on the brain, a head injury from a swimming pool fall and a near-fatal blood clot in January 2011.
“I’ve come back from a lot of major stuff,” Wagner now tells The Detroit Free Press with bluntness.
Wagner is the guitar player on Lou Reed’s Rock ’n’ Roll Animal and many Alice Cooper staples such as Welcome to My Nightmare. He’s also played with Aerosmith, Lou Reed, KISS, Meat Loaf, Steve Perry, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Little Richard and many more.
He’s always been a sideman: “I never wanted stardom. It’s not what I was born for,” says Wagner. “I’m a musician first and foremost. Whatever stardom I do have is strictly bestowed on me by people who like what I do. All I want, really, is to have great music.”
In recent years, Wagner had to re-teach himself how to play guitar. “It was so terrible at first,” he admits. “It was a lot of work, a lot of stress, but I came through it with sheer determination and some brilliant doctors.”
Wagner reunited with Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin for 2011’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare album, contributing the song “Something to Remember Me By” and guitar work to the album-closing “Underture.”
“It’s a miracle that I’m here – that I was spared to do what I think I was born to do,” Wagner said. Gibson.com wishes him well today.
1936, Freddie Garrity, vocals, Freddie & The Dreamers
1951, Steven Bishop, singer, songwriter
1956, Alec John Such, bass, Bon Jovi
1966, Joseph “Run” Simmons, rapper, Run-D.M.C.
1972, Douglas Payne, bass, Travis
1960, Ray Charles went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Georgia on My Mind.” His cover of Hoagy Carmichael’s 1930 standard, became the first of three #1 hits for the singer. For more on this story, see today’s This Day in Music Spotlight.
1962, The Beatles played the final show of a 14-night run at the Star-Club, Hamburg, Germany.
1969, “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart. The single became the longest-running one-hit wonder in the U.K. with eight weeks at the top of the charts. It was the first #1 credited to cartoon characters.
1975, Queen played the first of two nights at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, England, the first nights on their 78-date A Night At The Opera World Tour.
1977, KISS played the first date on their 51-date Alive II Tour at the Myriad Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1981, The Police had their fourth U.K. #1 single with “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.”
1990, Record producer Frank Farin fired Milli Vanilli singers Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan because they were insisting on singing on their new album.
1991, More than 1,000 New Kids on the Block fans were given medical treatment after a minor riot during a concert in Berlin, Germany.
1996, Michael Jackson married Debbie Rowe in Sydney Australia. The couple had met when he was diagnosed with vitiligo in the mid-1980s, and she was working as his dermatologist's assistant. The couple divorced on October 8, 1999, with Rowe giving full custody rights of the children to Jackson and Rowe receiving an $8 million settlement.
2004, The Rolling Stones were refused permission to pursue a claim against their former record company Decca for unpaid royalties through the courts. A High Court judge in London said the dispute would go to arbitration and not be decided in court. The dispute was over their Forty Licks compilation CD, which was released in 2002 and was the first collection to span their entire career.
Everyone has their favorites, and when it comes to Who albums, Pete Townshend’s is Quadrophenia. ”I’m very proud of it,” he said at the media launch of the director’s cut reissue of Quadrophenia this week (via Music Radar). “It’s the only Who album I produced on my own. I’m amazed by what we managed to achieve with an eight-track studio. I had complete control and it proved that when I have complete control I get it right.”
Townshend went on to say that The Who, “only made three landmark records: Tommy, Who’s Next and Quadrophenia.”
“I’ve always felt that Quadrophenia was the last definitive Who album,” he added. “I’ve always regarded it as a very ambitious album, but what got away was the story… But to me, it felt to me like it was the end. The reason I’ve spent so much time working on this new edition is because it’s an epochal record, the last great album by The Who.”
Quadrophenia – the Director’s Cut box set arrives November 15. The set, which runs $143.99 plus shipping will include the digitally re-mastered and expanded Super Deluxe edition of the 1973 album in four CDs, a DVD and a vinyl seven-inch single. The set also packs Townshend's previously unheard demos, bonus tracks, a deluxe hardcover book, previously unseen personal notes, photographs, memorabilia and more.
More Pete Townshend:
Pete Townshend and The Who’s Parade of Gibson Les Pauls, SGs, J-200s, ES-335s and More
Robert Plant is known for creating one of the most successful bands in rock history, Led Zeppelin, as well as his work with Band of Joy. But, as the 63-year-old’s musical projects have changed over the years, one thing has remained pretty consistent: his long, curly blonde hair.
Speaking with GQ, Plant had a bit of fun chatting about his long locks. When asked, “How on earth have you managed to keep your hair like that?” Plant replied, “Well, I don’t know. We could be quite serious about it. I just have been very lucky. My mother was a gypsy, and she had a lot of dark blood in her, and her hair was very, very thick – she couldn't even get a brush through it. So I have been very fortunate.”
He added that every time he goes to cut it off, “hairdressers refuse to do it.” So, the locks are here to stay.
On a more serious note, Plant said that it’s fairly easy for him to stay creative, even as the decades fly by. “On our tour we just finished, we wrote prolifically at the soundchecks, so it’s a very trippy psychedelic trance-like bunch of demos I’ve got here with me,” he said. “I guess it’s perhaps a bit more languid than Primal Scream but it’s definitely got dark beautiful Link Wray overtones. And Patty [Griffin], we have written a couple of great pieces together. In fact we’re having a rehearsal in about an hour and a half. And I’m playing a lot of acoustic guitar now, which is something I didn’t dare do in the ’70s. I couldn’t look at a guitar without blanching because I was with one of the most spectacular guitar players of the late twentieth century.”
KISS’s Gene Simmons hosted the Orange Amplification Classic Rock Roll of Honour at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London, last night.
The winners featured a host of top rock names, including Lemmy, Foo Fighters, Steve Winwood, Manic Street Preachers, Roger Waters, Jeff Beck, Queen and The Who.
According to Music-News.com, Queen’s Roger Taylor presented the prestigious Living Legend Award to guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck. Aster receiving a standing ovation, Beck then performed with guests Joss Stone and Chrissie Hynde.
Simmons summed up the evening, saying, “A privilege and an honour wouldn’t cover it. For me this will be a memory of a lifetime. Signed by the God of Thunder.”
1953, Andy Partridge, singer, songwriter, guitarist, XTC
1969, Gary Powell, drummer, The Libertines
1954, Bill Haley scored his first U.S. Top ten single with “Shake Rattle And Roll.” He had dropped his cowboy image about a year and a half earlier, while renaming The Saddlemen to Bill Haley and His Comets. The song became the theme song for the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League.
1957, Jerry Lee Lewis secretly married his third wife and cousin, Myra Gale Brown in Tennessee.
1965, the final recording session for The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album took place, at Abbey Road, London. They needed three new songs to finish the album so an old song “Wait” is pulled off the shelf and the group recorded two new songs “You Won't See Me” and “Girl,” the basic tracks for both songs being completed in two takes.
1969, the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona arrested Jim Morrison for drunk and disorderly conduct aboard a plane. The Doors singer who was on his way to a Rolling Stones concert with actor Tom Baker had been drinking and annoying the stewardesses. For more on this story see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1972, Allman Brothers bass player Berry Oakley was killed when his motorcycle hit a bus at the same intersection as former band member Duane Allman, who had died a year earlier. Oakley was 24 years old.
1982, Prince kicked off his 87-date 1999 North American tour at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1990, a 21 year-old AC/DC fan died after being attacked outside the Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey where the band were playing a gig that night.
2004, Robbie Williams, The Rolling Stones and Queen were inducted into the U.K.'s first music Hall of Fame at a ceremony in London. One act had been chosen by TV viewers of a Channel 4 program to represent each decade since the 1950s. Williams represented the 1990s, Michael Jackson the 1980s, Queen the 1970s, the Rolling Stones the 1960s, and Cliff Richard the 1950s.
2006, Grammy-nominated R&B star Gerald Levert died of a heart attack aged 40. The singer who was the son of O'Jays vocalist Eddie Levert, first found fame with the R&B trio LeVert, and scored a U.K. top 10 single with Casanova in 1987.
Peter Gabriel performed in a webcast that lasted over an hour on the Ed Sullivan stage last night. He would later do one song for television later-"Red Rain" from New Blood. A reworked version of Gabriel's songs.
In this concert you will see “Mercy Street,” “Intruder,” “San Jacinto,” “Solsbury Hill,” and “Biko," among others, redone.
It’s not quite the 50th anniversary tour Stones fans are hoping for, but it’s something: Three members of The Rolling Stones are getting together this month to jam, according to Rolling Stone.
“We’re just going to play a little together, because we haven’t played for three or four years,” Keith Richards said of the upcoming London studio jam. “You don’t necessarily want to rehearse or write anything – you just want to touch bases. That’s a good start: me, Charlie and Ronnie. Mick’s welcome, and I’m sure he’ll turn up, but right now we just want to get our chops down.”
Fellow guitarist Ronnie Wood said he’s optimistic about the band’s chances of performing in 2012.
“I just hope we can perform live,” Wood said. “It’d be great to see if that old spark is there.”
Axl Rose recently spent 90 minutes chatting with That Metal Show host Eddie Trunk for an interview to be broadcast later this week on the VH1 Classic program. Speaking to RollingStone.com, Trunk said Rose was “in great spirits and friendly” during their talk.
“He’s still a staunch believer in Chinese Democracy,” said Trunk. “He believes the record is finding new fans and he feels that the material from that is going down better and better in the live show.” Trunk said Rose was more circumspect regarding whether any new music was in the works. “[He] was less committal [about that],” Trunk revealed. “When I asked him about a new record, he just said, ‘I’d love to at some point, we’ll see.’”
Guns N’ Roses were nominated earlier this year for possible induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Trunk asked Rose what might happen at the April 2012 ceremony, if indeed the band is inducted. “His attitude about that was, ‘We’ll see how it plays out…,’” Trunk said. “‘If that happens, we’ll see what lineup of the band they like, and what members they want and don’t want.’ He also said that he didn’t know much about it. He did say that inducting Elton John back in 1994 was a big thrill for him. He took the whole thing as an honor.”
The episode featuring Trunk’s interview with Rose will air this Friday, November 11, at 11 p.m. ET on VH1 Classic.
Keith Richards has been awarded the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography, a prestigious honor earned by the legendary musician for his million-selling memoir, Life. In a ceremony held Tuesday (November 8) in Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton introduced Richards to hundreds gathered at the Mandarin Hotel for the event. Calling Richards his friend and “a good guy,” Clinton went on to say his late mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, was an avid fan.
“Do you have any idea what it's like to have a 92-year-old groupie living in your home, a woman who lived and breathed for The Rolling Stones?” Clinton said, as reported by the Associated Press.
Richards accepted the award with grace and alacrity. “You’ve heard from some incredible people about some serious stuff,” he said, referring to the esteemed writers who had taken the podium before him. He then made reference to his conquest of past troubles with addiction, saying, “The only serious stuff I’m interested in I’ve given up.”
The Mailer awards are named for Norman Mailer, who died in 2007. Past recipients of the honor include Nobel laureate Toni Morrison and late journalist David Halberstam.
1936, Mary Travers, vocals, Peter, Paul and Mary
1941, Tom Fogerty, guitar, Creedence Clearwater Revival
1944, Phil May, vocals, The Pretty Things
1948, Joe Bouchard, bass, Blue Oyster Cult
1964, Sandra “Pepa” Denton, rapper, Salt-N-Pepa
1970, Susan Tedeschi, singer, guitarist
1972, Corin Tucker, vocals, guitar, Sleater-Kinney
1973, Nick Lachey, vocals, 98 Degrees
1977, Sisqo, singer
1955, The Everly Brothers made their first studio recordings, cutting four tracks in 22 minutes, at Nashville’s Old Tulane Hotel studios.
1961, Brian Epstein saw The Beatles playing live for the first time during a lunchtime session at The Cavern Liverpool. Epstein went on to be the group’s manager. That night, they appeared at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool.
1966, John Lennon met Yoko Ono for the first time when he visited her art exhibition, Unfinished Paintings and Objects, at the Indica Gallery in London.
1967, The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published in San Francisco. It featured a photo of John Lennon on the cover, dressed in army fatigues while acting in his recent film, How I Won the War. The name of the magazine was compiled from three significant sources: the Muddy Waters song, the Bob Dylan song and The Rolling Stones. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1968, Led Zeppelin played their first-ever London show when they appeared at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, on the same bill as John Lee Hooker, Deviants, John James and Tyres. Zeppelin singer Robert Plant married his girlfriend Maureen in London on this day and held the reception at the gig.
1974, Bachman Turner Overdrive went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”
1978, During a North American tour, Queen appeared at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
1985, Jan Hammer went to #1 on the U.S. singles chart with the “Miami Vice Theme.”
1991, Richard Marx played in five cities in one day during the Rush-n Rush Out Street Tour. Marx appeared in Baltimore, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago and Burbank Airport.
1993, Dave Matthews Band released their first album, Remember Two Things, on the Bama Rags label.
1999, American producer, songwriter and co-founder of Atlantic records Herb Abramson died. He wrote and produced Tommy Tucker’s 1964 hit “High Heeled Sneakers.”
2002, Viewers of the U.K. music channel VH1 voted “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston as the #1 most romantic song ever.
Jimmy Page played with old pal Roy Harper at London’s Royal Festival Hall London last weekend. Classic Rock magazine reports that Page played acoustic on Harper’s “The Same Old Rock,” the same track Page played on when the song was originally released on Harper’s Stormcock album in 1971 – with Page appearing then as S. Flavious Mercurious.
Harper said, ‘’I loved the guy more than words,’’ in tribute to fellow folk pioneer Bert Jansch who died recently and also remembered arranger David Bedford, who passed recently. “I seem to be having an emotional night,’’ he said.
Jack Osbourne, son of metal legend Ozzy Osbourne, thinks his dad is close to indestructible. In an interview with the U.K.’s Star magazine, Jack joked that his father might be around for a few centuries.
“Motorbikes can’t kill him, drugs can’t kill him. He’s one of those guys who's going to be like, 900 years old, and still complaining about everything and laughing,” he said. “We joke that he is going to outlive me.”
Jack produced a documentary about Ozzy, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, which is making its debut on DVD and Blu-ray next week.
In the meantime, Black Sabbath fans are gearing up for a Friday news conference, where it is expected that all four original members of the band (Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward) will announce their reunion.
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is going to have surgery on his wrist in February. The procedure has led to the cancellation of his U.S. solo tour, which was planned for the same month, according to Blabbermouth.
In support of his new book, Rockers and Rollers: A Full-Throttle Memoir, Johnson was scheduled to do a batch of solo dates featuring “stories and music.” The tour, which was set to begin February 7 in Knoxville, Tennessee, was going to feature Skid Row members Rachel Bolan (bass) and Scotti Hill (guitar) backing up Johnson.
Below are the canceled tour dates:
February 7 - Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theatre
February 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage Theatre
February 10 - Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
February 11 - Richmond, VA @ The National
February 13 - Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
February 15 - Millvale, PA @ Small’s Funhouse
February 16 - Covington, KY @ Small's Funhouse
February 18 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room at ONC
February 21 - Madison, WI @ Overture Center
February 22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
This Day in Music Apps has announced the release of the official This Day in Pink Floyd App, coming November 14. The app is packed with information about the legendary rockers, including trivia, quiz questions and song-specific profiles.
The official This Day in Pink Floyd App features thousands of music facts, covering 366 days of the year. It also provides a guide to all official Floyd tracks, and contains 200 quiz questions, 200 bits of trivia, 100 images, two wallpaper screen images, one ringtone (“Shine on You Crazy Diamond”) and the recently restored video for the band’s 1968 single “Point Me at the Sky.”
In addition the app will link to your iTunes library (via 3G or Wi-Fi) to play your Floyd tunes while you navigate the app. This Day in Pink Floyd will be available on iTunes for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
1944, Bonnie Bramlett, singer, Delaney and Bonnie
1944, Rodney Slater, saxophone, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
1946, Roy Wood, guitar, vocals, The Move, Wizzard
1947, Minnie Riperton, singer
1949, Bonnie Raitt, singer-songwriter, guitarist
1976, Corey Taylor, singer, Slipknot
1963, Dusty Springfield set out on her first U.K. solo tour, sharing the bill with The Searchers, Freddie & The Dreamers and Brian Poole & The Tremeloes. The first night was in Halifax.
1968, The Who, Joe Cocker and The Grease Band, The Mindbenders and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown all appeared at The Walthamstow Granada Theatre, England.
1969, “Something,” the first Beatles A-side composed by George Harrison, entered the U.K. singles chart. It peaked at #4 in the U.K. and went on to be a #1 hit in the U.S.
1975, David Bowie Performs “Can You Hear Me” and “Fame,” on the The Cher Show on CBS.
1975, Elton John was named godfather to John and Yoko Lennon’s son Sean.
1980, Bruce Springsteen starts a four-week run on top of the Billboard album charts with The River, his first #1 album. For more on this story, see today’s This Day in Music Spotlight.
1986, Berlin started a four-week run at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Take My Breath Away,” from the soundtrack to Top Gun.
2001, Winners at the MTV Europe Awards included Robbie Williams, who won best male; Craig David, who won Best R&B act and Best U.K. & Ireland act; Dido, who won best new act, and Anastacia, who won best pop act. Gorillaz won best song for “Clint Eastwood” and best dance act, and Eminem won the best hip-hop award.
Another week, another Van Halen story. Rumor has it that VH will appear at the November 30 Grammy Nominations Concert at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater to announce that they will perform at the actual Grammy awards in February. The buzz around town is that they will also use this opportunity to announce details of their pending album and tour.
During an announcement regarding the hour-long nominations concert, the Recording Academy said the show would feature “a special live announcement from a truly iconic group regarding their historic band reunion set to take place.” The organization later dropped either an extremely blatant hint or the greatest red herring in the history of rock music with the following tweet: “Who do u predict the reuniting band will be @ The Grammy Noms... Does this hint make u wanna ‘Jump’ and ‘Dance the Night Away?’”
Meanwhile, MelodicRock.com is reporting a few additional rumors: that the band filmed a video for the forthcoming album’s first single a few weeks ago in L.A., and that the album could include a cover tune, with David Lee Roth demoing several in New York City to send to the band back in L.A. to select from.
God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, the documentary which tells the life story of Ozzy Osbourne through the eyes of his son Jack, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray next week.
The documentary was shot over a period of three years by Jack Osbourne with directors Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli.
Ozzy recounts his troubled youth, his early career with Black Sabbath, and the story of how fame and addiction ruined his first marriage. Ozzy also talks about the second chapter of his life with Sharon, his attempts to stay clean, and the sobriety he has maintained for the past five years. The documentary also includes musical performances from around the world.
The DVD and Blu-ray release features additional footage not seen in the theatrical release including new interviews, classic archive footage of Black Sabbath, and a question and answer session with Ozzy and Jack Osbourne at the Tribeca Film Festival, where the film premiered in April 2011.
God Bless Ozzy Osbourne will be released by Eagle Rock Entertainment on November 15.
1937, Mary Travers, singer, Peter Paul and Mary
1942, Johnny Rivers, singer, guitarist (For more on this story, see the This Day in Music Spotlight.)
1943, Joni Mitchell, singer, songwriter
1960, Tommy Thayer, guitarist, Kiss
1967, Sharleen Spiteri, vocals, Texas
1960, Elvis Presley released “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” which topped the American charts for six weeks and the U.K. charts for four.
1963, The Beatles went to Ireland to make their only two appearances ever in the country, playing two shows at the Adelphi Cinema, Dublin. The group hooked up with screenwriter Alun Owen, who had been appointed to write the screenplay for The Beatles' first (as yet untitled) motion picture. Owen spent three days with The Beatles observing their hectic, lifestyle for what would become A Hard Days Night.
1967, Reg Dwight (Elton John) and his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, signed to DJM publishing. Their signatures had to be witnessed by their parents because they were both under 21 years of age. Taupin answered an advertisement for a lyric writer placed in the New Musical Express. The pair have since collaborated on over 30 albums.
1969, The Rolling Stones kicked off their sixth North American tour at Fort Collins State University, Colorado. Also on the bill were Ike and Tina Turner, Chuck Berry and BB King.
1970, Led Zeppelin released their third album, which entered the U.K. chart at #1 and spent a total of 40 weeks on the Top 75.
1987, Bruce Springsteen went to #1 on the U.S. album chart with Tunnel of Love.
1987, Tiffany became the youngest act to score a U.S. #1 since Michael Jackson (“Ben,” in 1972) with “I Think We're Alone Now.”
2002, Twelve Guns N' Roses fans were arrested during a riot after a gig in Vancouver was cancelled. Promoters pulled the plug after Axl Rose's flight from Los Angeles was delayed.
Guitar great Slash recently gave an interview to Billboard where he talked about all sorts of projects – including his new live DVD, upcoming solo record and the possibility of a Guns N’ Roses reunion at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Regarding his former band’s potential induction into the Rock Hall in 2012 (and the chances of a reunion at the ceremony), he said: “Of course, you have those thoughts of how it might work in case it does happen, but with Guns N’ Roses, there’s really no guessing exactly how it will go. I suppose if it happens, everybody will get some sort of ducks in order. But I think the first thing to do is wait and see if we actually get inducted, because you know how unpredictable that is.”
In regards to his solo material, Slash said his new album will be out next April.
“It’s very different from the last one. There’s a lot of freedom on this record; it's very diverse, but it’s definitely the sound of one band with a lot of different ideas,” he said. “This is probably the most ‘live’ recorded album I’ve ever done, too. The way I like to do records is rehearse, rehearse, rehears and then go in and get to know the song like the back of your hand and then go in and bang it out. That’s how we’re doing it.”
Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is set to direct a music video for a track from Lulu, the new collaborative album by Lou Reed and Metallica. Aronofsky, who also directed the Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler, will make the video for the song “Iced Honey,” with scenes to be shot in the San Francisco Bay area.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said that, for him, working with Reed and Aronofsky is “living the dream.” “As if making a record with Lou Reed is not enough, now I get to make a video with Darren Aronofsky,” Ulrich said, “who has been among my very favorite filmmakers since his first movie, Pi.” Perhaps with tongue in cheek, Reed said he hopes the video “can be [Aronofsky’s] next Black Swan.”
The veteran rocker has called Lulu, which was released on Tuesday, “the best music [he] has ever done.
Born on this day:
1951, Dan Hartman, multi- instrumentalist, producer
1954, Chris Difford, guitar, vocals, Squeeze
1956, James Honeyman-Scott, guitar, The Pretenders
1965, Wayne Static, vocals, guitar, Static-X
1965, Jeff Scott Soto, vocals, Journey, Yngwie Malmsteen
1969, Diddy, rapper, producer
1974, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, vocals, The Mars Volta
1963, The Beatles topped the bill at The Royal Variety Show at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London. With the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in the audience, this was the night when John Lennon made his famous remark, “For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.”
1963, The night after The Rolling Stones had just come off a 30-date U.K. tour with The Everly Brothers, they kicked off another 50-date U.K. club tour at the Top Rank Ballroom in Preston.
1966, The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” entered the U.K. chart. It went on to be a U.K. and U.S. #1 hit single.
1971, The Who opened up The Rainbow Finsbury Park, London, England appearing on the first of three nights.
1977, The Last Waltz, the movie of The Band’s final concert, premiered in New York. The Martin Scorsese movie also featured Joni Mitchell, Dr. John, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1984, Prince played the first of seven nights at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, at the start of his 87-date North American Purple Rain tour. The outing marked the live debut of his new band The Revolution.
1989, Elton John scored his 50th U.K. chart hit when “Sacrifice” entered the charts. Only Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley had also achieved this.
2002, Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin received the Music Industry Trusts Award for one of the greatest songwriting partnerships of all time.
2007, The Eagles went to #1 on the U.K. album chart for the first time ever with Long Road Out of Eden – 33 years after their debut album On the Border. This was the group’s first full studio album since The Long Run in 1979.
An LP sleeve, a variation on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover, has been valued at over $100,000 by Record Collector magazine.
According to the Telegraph newspaper the sleeve replaces the band and other celebrities with the faces of label executives from Capitol Records in the U.S.
Record Collector editor Ian McCann said: “Every so often I get asked why vinyl persists as a music medium despite it being archaic and inconvenient compared to MP3.
“One of the answers is the artwork: people like to hold a vinyl record, look at the sleeve, take in the information and the photo on the cover. That is something that an MP3 will never be able to compete with.”
The Beatles feature heavily in Record Collector’s Top 10 list of valuable album sleeves.
1. The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. The Beatles - The Beatles 3. Madrigals - Magic Key to Spanish Volumes 1 and 2 4. The Beatles - Introducing The Beatles 5. The Beatles/Frank Ifield – England’s Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage 6. Tinkerbell’s Fairydust – Tinkerbell’s Fairydust 7. AC/DC - 12 of the Best 8. The Beatles - Yesterday and Today 9. Dark - Dark Round the Edges 10. Hank Mobley - Hank Mobley
Nobody does creepy as perfectly as Alice Cooper. With his commitment to horror makeup, operatic metal music and gory onstage effects, it’s no surprise that when director Tim Burton needed a musician to appear in his forthcoming version of Dark Shadows, Cooper was his first choice.
While rumors swirled last summer of the pairing, the L.A. Times’ Hero Complex has confirmed that Cooper, indeed, is slated for a cameo in the film. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer will present his chart-topping song, “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”
Cooper says he finds Burton a kindred spirit. “Rock and horror and comedy work together, that’s something I’ve known a long time and people like Rob Zombie know, and Burton knows that too,” he told Hero Complex. “Sometimes the comedy is disguised a little bit, it’s dark, but it is there. You can’t do horror and rock with a punchline in a way. There’s the absurd stuff and there’s just that delivery of the ‘Oh!’ moment that is like a punchline.
“I just saw Final Destination 5 and I was laughing so hard. I mean, it was Wile E. Coyote, all these elaborate things leading up to this moment of impact… there’s something like that in our shows, too. Hitchcock would do it too. There’s the setup, the misdirect and then the delivery. Tim Burton knows it so well. He’s one of a kind. He’s a kindred spirit.”
Dark Shadows, a Warner Bros. film, stars Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green and Helena Bonham Carter. The film hits theaters in May of 2012.
1933, John Barry, composer
1943, Bert Jansch, folk guitarist
1948, Lulu, singer
1954, Adam Ant, singer
1967, Steven Wilson, vocals, guitar, Porcupine Tree
1973, Mick Thomson, guitar, Slipknot
1978, Tim McIlrath, vocals, guitar, Rise Against
1957, Sun Records released “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis. The single went on to sell over 5 million copies worldwide, and was a #1 hit in the U.K. and #2 in the U.S. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
1964, During a Rolling Stones North American tour, a 17 year-old Rolling Stones fan fell from the balcony during a gig in Cleveland, Ohio. The Mayor of Ohio banned all future pop concerts, saying, “Such groups do not add to the community’s culture or entertainment.”
1967, The filming for The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour was completed, finishing with a sequence at Ringo’s country house in Weybridge, Surrey.
1977, During a concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, London, Elton John announced his retirement from live performances.
1987, David Bowie played the first of eight sold-out nights at The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia. The shows were part of the 1987-date Glass Spider world tour.
1990, Twenty-five years after their version was recorded, The Righteous Brothers went to #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Unchained Melody.” The track had been featured in the Patrick Swayze film Ghost. Written by Alex North and Hy Zaret, “Unchained Melody” was one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, with more than 500 versions in hundreds of different languages.
1990, “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice became the first rap record to top the U.S. singles chart. The track was initially released as the B-side to the rapper’s cover of “Play That Funky Music,” and became the A-side after U.S. DJs started playing the track.
2002, Lonnie Donegan died mid-way through a U.K. tour and shortly before he was due to perform at a memorial concert for George Harrison with The Rolling Stones. He was 71. Donegan, who launched the skiffle craze in the U.K., had the 1959 hit “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour,” the 1960 U.K. #1 single “My Old Man’s a Dustman,” “Rock Island Line,” plus more than 30 other U.K. Top 40 singles.
2003, Diddy ran in the New York City Marathon and raised $2 million for the educational system for the children of New York. He finished the marathon in four hours and 18 minutes.
2005, Winners at this year’s MTV Europe awards included Coldplay, who won best U.K. act and best song for “Speed of Sound”; Green Day, who won for best rock act and best album; Alicia Keys, who was named best R&B act; System of a Down, who won best alternative act; and The Black Eyed Peas, who won the best pop award.
The Wall is primed for a return engagement to the U.S. and Canada. Having begun his live, 30th anniversary celebration of the Pink Floyd opus in 2010, Roger Waters is bringing his Wall concert back to North America for a run of shows in 2012, according to hennemusic.
Waters and friends have already played 120 Wall shows (for those counting, that’s nearly 100 more than Pink Floyd performed after the album first came out in 1979). They’ll add another 36 with a run of dates starting on May 1 in Houston, Texas. During this trek, the concerts also will take place in outdoor venues, with modifications made for the open-air stadiums.
Tickets go on sale starting November 7.
The Wall 2012 North American tour:
05/01 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
05/03 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
05/05 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
05/07 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center 05/11 – San Francisco, CA @ AT&T Park
05/13 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino Center
05/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center
05/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
05/22 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden
05/24 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
05/26 – Vancouver, BC @ BC Place
05/28 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
05/31 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Center
06/03 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
06/05 – Detroit, MI @ Joe Louis Arena
06/06 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
06/08 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
06/10 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Center
06/11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Conseco Fieldhouse
06/13 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
06/15 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ BankAtlantic Center
06/16 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
06/19 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
06/21 – Buffalo, NY @ First Niagara Center
06/23 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
06/25 – Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
06/26 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
06/28 – Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
06/29 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
07/01 – Boston, MA @ TBA
07/03 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Consol Energy Center
07/06 – New York, NY @ TBA
07/09 – Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center
07/10 – Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Arena
07/12 – Washington, D.C. @ Verizon Center
07/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citzens Bank Park
A great number of Metallica fans have been none too thrilled with the metal legends’ recently released collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu. In fact, some have been so enraged, they’re threatening Reed’s life, according to an interview with former Velvet Underground member gave to USA Today.
“[They] are threatening to shoot me, and that’s only because I showed up,” Reed said. “They haven’t even heard the record yet, and they’re recommending various forms of torture and death.”
But, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer doesn’t appear too concerned with impressing fans.
“I don’t have any fans left. After [1975 noise-rock album] Metal Machine Music they all fled,” he said. “Who cares? I’m essentially in this for the fun of it.”
Fleetwood Mac’s original bassist is dead. Music Week magazine in England reports that Bob Brunning passed away at his home in England last week. He was 68.
Brunning had joined Peter Green in 1967, to be later replaced by John McVie. Brunning then quit life as a full-time musician and became a headmaster at several schools in London.
Later, he played again with The Brunning-Sunflower Blues Band. He also wrote several books about the music business including, Blues – The British Connection and Fleetwood Mac: The First Thirty Years.
As part of the Pink Floyd reissues, now attention turns to the Wish You Were Here package. Here Paul Rappaport visited David Gilmour's houseboat/recording studio, Astoria. Gilmour even takes a moment to play a little bit of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond."
Who guitarist and rock legend Pete Townshend recently called Apple a “digital vampire” that is “bleeding” musicians and “destroying copyright as we know it.” Townshend was quoted in Rolling Stone while delivering the John Peel lecture in Salford, England on Monday.
He also has harsh words for illegal downloaders, suggesting that they “may as well come and steal my son’s bike while they’re at it… I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice.”
Earlier this year, Townshend was working on a new, deluxe edition of Quadrophenia, due in a couple weeks. In a fan interview, he said that a proposed Quadrophenia tour with The Who is still tentative.
“I think Roger [Daltrey] feels he is now too old to be identified with Jimmy as a young man,” Townshend wrote. “But I have always felt we are merely performing Jimmy’s story, telling it for him, really. Roger is giving this some very deep thought while he takes his solo version of Tommy around the world. I may get bored of waiting. But to be fair, Roger once used to get bored of waiting for me... He’s having fun, I think. That has to be cool.”
1946, Ric Grech, bass, Family, Traffic
1950, Dan Peek, guitar, America
1957, Lyle Lovett, singer, songwriter, guitarist
1962, Anthony Kiedis, vocals, Red Hot Chili Peppers
1963, Rick Allen, drums, Def Leppard
1963, “Big” Kenny Alphin, vocals, guitar, Big & Rich
1967, Sophie B. Hawkins, singer
1956, Elvis Presley bought a new Harley-Davidson motorbike. Presley spent the day riding round Memphis on his new bike with actress Natalie Wood.
1966, The Doors played the first night of a monthlong residency at the Ondine Discotheque, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
1969, The Beatles scored their 13th U.S. #1 album with Abbey Road.
1970, Matthews Southern Comfort were at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with their version of the Joni Mitchell song “Woodstock” – the group’s only U.K. #1 hit.
1980, Bruce Springsteen scored his first #1 U.S. album with The River, featuring the U.S. #5 and U.K. #44 single “Hungry Heart.”
2003, Organizers of the MTV Europe Awards 2003 recruited 500 “screamers” to attend this year’s event. The music lovers were selected at an audition held in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens. About 1,500 pop-mad teenagers and adults screamed themselves hoarse in a bid to get their hands on a ticket to the exclusive event.
2004, 61-year-old Terry Knight, the former manager of Grand Funk Railroad, was murdered at his home in Killeen, Texas. Knight was defending his daughter during a domestic disturbance, when he was stabbed by her boyfriend, 26-year-old Donald Alan Fair. Knight began his music career by leading a Michigan band called Terry Knight and the Pack, who scored a Billboard Top 50 hit with “I, Who Have Nothing.” For more on Terry Knight, see This Day in Music Spotlight.
2008, Drummer and singer Jimmy Carl Black died. He was a member of The Keys, The Soul Giants, The Mothers of Invention and Jimmy Carl Black and the Mannish Boys. He also worked with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Joe Cocker, The Grateful Dead and The Turtles.
“Unchained,” from the 1981 album, Fair Warning, has emerged as the victor in a Rolling Stone readers’ poll that asked fans to name their 10 favorite Van Halen songs. With the group set to make a comeback with original singer David Lee Roth in tow, the magazine said it “figured it was a good time for such a poll.”
Subsequent research confirmed that Harrison indeed had owned the amp, and that he had used it on two of The Beatles’ most important albums. “Very few amps used by The Beatles have come to auction before, and to find one that was used on two such significant albums is truly rare and exciting,” said Stephen Maycock, a consultant to Bonhams, the company conducting the auction. The sale will take place in London December 15.
Record producer Don DeVito, best known for his production work with Bob Dylan, has died from prostate cancer. The 
The album was produced by controversial music mogul Jonathan King and features the original lineup of Peter Gabriel on vocals, Anthony Phillips on guitar, Mike Rutherford on bass, Tony Banks on keyboards and John Silver and Chris Stewart on drums.
Metallica will expand their nostalgic return to “The Black Album” with three more European dates, during which they’ll play the entirety of their 1991 breakthrough album.
Born on this day:
An expert panel assembled by Rolling Stone has named Jimi Hendrix the greatest guitarist in history. The panel included some of rock’s finest-ever players, including Brian May, Kirk Hammett and Ritchie Blackmore, among others. In praising Hendrix, Tom Morello cited “Purple Haze” and Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as key tracks. “Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be,” Morello said. “He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage.” Rounding out the top 10 selections were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Eddie Van Halen, Duane Allman and Pete Townshend.
The app features information about albums, live performances, documentaries, images and offers the option to purchase anything found on the app from the iTunes store. Users may also go one step further and take the “experience” into the living room by streaming video to their TVs using AirPlay and their Apple TVs or streaming music to their AirPlay-enabled speakers. That’s a lot of Hendrix!
Confirmed U.K. dates include headlining slots at the Isle of Wight festival on June 24 and the Hard Rock Calling festival in London’s Hyde Park on July 14, as well as a pair of stadium shows at Sunderland on June 21 and Manchester on June 22.
Brought to you by 
“Life’s been good” to Joe Walsh, just as his hit song says. The veteran guitarist turns 64 on November 20 – a birthday he admits he thought he’d never see – but he’s still going strong.
After 35 years with Warner Music, Van Halen have found a new home with Universal’s Interscope Records. As reported by Billboard.biz, the veteran rockers had been close to signing with Columbia Records, but executives at Universal won the band over by laying out an extensive strategy for the group, going forward. 
“I was going to ask Bill Wyman to come by, too. And Mick Taylor. The whole lot,” Richards told 
Born on this day:
A member of the British Parliament is moving to make guitar god 
Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch has been talking about Bono as a mentor. Evidently, the U2 icon gave her a few tips while she and her band were supporting Bono and crew on their 360° world tour. 
Bramhall was a fixture on the Austin scene and wrote or co-wrote several songs performed by Stevie Ray Vaughan, including “Dirty Pool,” “Life by the Drop,” “The House is Rockin’,” “Tightrope” and “Change It.”
Apologies already, as this Top 10 might not include your favorite Neil Young song. But what to do? Over six decades, Neil Young has recorded so much music, he cannot be distilled into a small cup. Great songwriter, activist, conceptualist, rocker, balladeer, maverick guitarist, awful/inspired singer? You take your pick. Young, who turned 66 last week, is certainly one thing. He is unique.
Metallica will headline the Download Festival in England next June. According to 
Rock band Cheap Trick have announced plans to open a rock and roll themed restaurant and museum in Chicago.
Dick Wagner, famed for his guitar work with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, is playing a show in Michigan today (November 11) that is some achievement. Wagner suffered a heart attack and stroke five years ago, leaving him unable to play guitar. He then suffered kidney failure, a coma, water on the brain, a head injury from a swimming pool fall and a near-fatal blood clot in January 2011.
Robert Plant is known for creating one of the most successful bands in rock history, Led Zeppelin, as well as his work with Band of Joy. But, as the 63-year-old’s musical projects have changed over the years, one thing has remained pretty consistent: his long, curly blonde hair.
KISS’s Gene Simmons hosted the Orange Amplification Classic Rock Roll of Honour at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London, last night.
“We’re just going to play a little together, because we haven’t played for three or four years,” Keith Richards said of the upcoming London studio jam. “You don’t necessarily want to rehearse or write anything – you just want to touch bases. That’s a good start: me, Charlie and Ronnie. Mick’s welcome, and I’m sure he’ll turn up, but right now we just want to get our chops down.”
“He’s still a staunch believer in Chinese Democracy,” said Trunk. “He believes the record is finding new fans and he feels that the material from that is going down better and better in the live show.” Trunk said Rose was more circumspect regarding whether any new music was in the works. “[He] was less committal [about that],” Trunk revealed. “When I asked him about a new record, he just said, ‘I’d love to at some point, we’ll see.’”
“Do you have any idea what it's like to have a 92-year-old groupie living in your home, a woman who lived and breathed for The Rolling Stones?” Clinton said, as reported by the Associated Press.
“Motorbikes can’t kill him, drugs can’t kill him. He’s one of those guys who's going to be like, 900 years old, and still complaining about everything and laughing,” he said. “We joke that he is going to outlive me.”
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is going to have surgery on his wrist in February. The procedure has led to the cancellation of his U.S. solo tour, which was planned for the same month, according to 
1937, Mary Travers, singer, Peter Paul and Mary
Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is set to direct a music video for a track from Lulu, the new collaborative album by Lou Reed and Metallica. Aronofsky, who also directed the Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler, will make the video for the song “Iced Honey,” with scenes to be shot in the San Francisco Bay area.
Brought to you by 
An LP sleeve, a variation on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover, has been valued at over $100,000 by Record Collector magazine.
While rumors swirled last summer of the pairing, the 
1933, John Barry, composer
A great number of Metallica fans have been none too thrilled with the metal legends’ recently released collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu. In fact, some have been so enraged, they’re threatening Reed’s life, according to an interview with former Velvet Underground member gave to 
Fleetwood Mac’s original bassist is dead. 
He also has harsh words for illegal downloaders, suggesting that they “may as well come and steal my son’s bike while they’re at it… I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice.”
