Category Archives: On This Day

Sam Phillips Dies 30 July 2003

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Sam Phillips did more than most to shape popular music in the 50s and 60s. As Owner and leading light of the mighty Sun Records he discovered or developed Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis and more. Inpite of this roll call of talent it is easy to forget […]

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On This Day – John Denver Dumped

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On this day in 1986 RCA dumped John Denver, his crime? Recording a song called “What Are We Making Weapons For?” You may know that I have absolutely no love for John Denver and others of his ilk.  However, they did not dump him because of crimes against music – which would have been fair […]

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On This Day – Folkies Go Wild!!

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On this day in 1965 the beards and sandals brigade at the Newport Folk Festival were very upset when Bob Dylan turned up backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with his new electric sound. He was heckled and booed, eventually leaving the stage. Later he returned to the stage to play a couple of […]

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On This Day – Ayatollah agrees with Little Richard!

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On this day in 1979, just a day after Little Richard spoke out against the evils of rock ‘n’ roll The Ayatollah Khomenini echoed his warning. He banned all forms of rock ‘n’ roll in Iran after saying that it was a corrupting influence.

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On This Day – Frank You’re a Star, Well a Rock!

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On this day in 1994 The International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after the much missed Frank Zappa who had died in December the previous year. The Scientific Stuff, Beyond Mars but before you get to Jupiter there should be another planet, but there isn’t. What there is a a pile of debris. Some of […]

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Elvis’ Tooth Goes On Ebay

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On this day in 2003 one of Elvis’s teeth was listed on eBay, together with some hair and a gold record.  The reserve price was $100,000. Just how do you get a tooth without actually digging him up?  Easy, you get the tooth from a man who got it from his dad, who happens to […]

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On This day – Brian Jones

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1969, is it really 40 years ago? Brian jones was found dead in his swimming pool. He was the original guitatist with the Stolling Bones, arguably their best period – when they still played blues based rock.  Jones’ influences were jazz and blues with him citing Elmore james, Robert Johnson (see my article Records that […]

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On This Day – 2nd July

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Ralph Nader (serial presidential candidate, consumer champion, pain in the arse of car makers, general all round good guy in other words) warned us in 1969 that loud rock music would make us all go deaf. I SAID THAT LOUD ROCK MUSIC WOULD MAKE US ALL GO DEAF….. I so want this to be true, […]

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On This Day – 1st July

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I have a friend who does a mean ‘White Rabbit’ karaoke. Most people seem not to know what song she is singing when the music start but they all stop drinking to listen. Jo owes all that to this day in 1967 when Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit entered the Billboard chart. Mind you, the best […]

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On This Day – 1st July 1956 was a good day!

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On this day in 1956 Elvis sang on the Steve Allen show, for $5,000 – which was a lot for Elvis at the time. He sang Hound Dog which he recorded the next day. Naturally, his appearance was criticized by the critics and adults. Let’s face it, our parents never got rock ‘n’ roll – […]

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