Music History X 7.14.09: July 14 - 20
Posted by Jacob Leo on 07.14.2009
In this edition of Music History X we look at trippy movies, hairy women, and band wars! Come inside and take a peak.
Welcome to another addition of Music History X with your host Jacob Leo. At this point I hope I do not have explain the point of this column so I'll just skip that part from now on. If you do not understand the way it works then you are a dumbass anyway so I'm not even going to bother. Don't cry, I was just joking. Seriously, lighten up man.
Before we start I am just going to warn you all that I am currently on vacation on the beach in San Diego, California so I might be a little distracted. To quote Prince, "I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." Can you blame me for being distracted though? I am in paradise for Christ's sake. I am sorry if I am coming off as a prick here, but I guess you are just going to have to deal with it.
On to the column!
July 14 - Mr. Gilmour, Tear Down this Wall
I am sorry for horrible title to this one. I thought it would be a funny little history joke when I wrote it and now I see that that was not to be. I cannot delete it though so it has to stay. Now that that is out of the way, why did I use that title? The answer is because on this date in 1982 Pink Floyd released the movie The Wall to a London premier. The movie is a musical piece that utilized the music of the band's famous album of the same name. In fact, the film rarely uses dialogue at all and instead allows the music of Floyd to carry it. The movie had been a long time in the making as the band wanted to make the movie before they even wrote the album in 1979, but the original idea was shot down and thus the picture was delayed. The original idea was to use concert footage and have Roger Waters play the lead character, but when screen tests didn't do well the lead was switched over to Bob Geldof. This meant that the live footage was to be of no good use and it was replaced by cartoon sequences and such. The movie has since gone on to be fondly remembered as one of the drippiest movies of all-time and a personal favorite of mine.
July 15 - A Hairy Situation
Once again, all apologies on the title but this one is fitting. July 15th has been a slow day in music history but one thing was noteworthy about this date as in 1985 teenage boys everywhere got their prayers answered. They then proceeded to all throw up. The reason for this is that the hottest thing on the planet at the time was Madonna and while she might have claimed being a virgin, not one guy in the world would've let that stop them from being with her. When pictures arrived on the shelves of Playboy and Penthouse though, what was to be found was a little different then expected. Beautiful face? Check. Perfect body? Check. Armpit hair? Check. You did read that right, armpit hair. The pictures were 8 years old at the time and were taken from a 1977 photo shoot. The photos did not ruin her career however as she shaved up and all has since been forgiven by most. I am not one of them.
sorry about that…
July 16 - White Stripes Set a Record
This one isn't as important to history as most of the stuff I write about here, but I got a good chuckle out of this and you might as well. On July 16, 2007, The White Stripes played a show in Newfoundland, Canada and set the world record for shortest show of all time. They hit the stage in St. Johns and Jack White played a C note while Meg White hit her crash symbol on the drums. This was followed by Jack stating to the crowd, "We have now officially played in every province and territory in Canada," before walking off of the stage. The bewildered crowd did not know how to react and minutes later an announcement was made that they would be playing a full show later that night much to the relief of the fans.
July 17 - Jammin‘ in London
I debated what I should go with for this date. My choices were a personal favorite tour of mine being started up in 1992 (Faith No More, Metallica, and Guns N' Roses) or a legend recording one of his biggest hits in 1975. While the tour was awesome and I would have plenty to talk about, I am choosing the much more historically significant event as Bob Marley played in London on this date and recorded a live album. This album spawned the hit "No Woman No Cry" and became one of his most famous performances. This version of "No Woman, No Cry" was given the # 37 slot on Rolling Stones' list of the 500 greatest songs of all time and has helped the survival of a close friend of Marley's. Marley set up for the songwriting credits to go to a soup kitchen owner in Jamaica and the royalty checks have ensured the survival of that kitchen. Pretty cool huh?
Fun Fact: Confusion over the meaning of the song "No Woman, No Cry" arose when it first came out. People thought that it was offensive to women and took it as meaning "no woman, no need to cry" while in Jamaica the word nuh means don't and therefore the title should be thought of as "No Woman, Don't Cry".
July 18 - Lallapoloozafollala
On July 18, 1991 Perry Ferrell created a concert tour with the hardest name to pronounce since Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted into the NBA. Lollapalooza was a concept that was to be a traveling music festival with the leaders of the Alternative music movement at the forefront. It has become a staple event of the summer ever since but started with a date in Phoenix, Arizona on this day in 1991. The first line-up featured Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, the Butthole Surfurs, and Ice T among others and has gone on to feature bands like Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and more. The tour stopped in 2005 in favor of a 2 day event held in Chicago. The event still draws big money and is one of the biggest US festivals each year.
Perry Ferrell is awesome
July 19 - Someone Got Burned
On July 19, 1986 Genesis gave a big "F-U" to their former lead singer when the band hit #1 with former drummer Phil Collins taking over the vocal work on the track "Invisible Touch". This was notable for many reasons, but the biggest one has to be because they kept their former singer, Peter Gabriel, at #2 with his hit "Sledgehammer". The split causes a war between fans of Genesis and those of Gabriel that was never acknowledged by the band. While sitting at #1 and #2 respectively, Genesis and Gabriel were more popular then ever before and the split seemed mutually beneficial. Genesis and their jazzy-rock were hitting their peak and Peter Gabriel was winning MTV awards left and right for his music video work. Which side do you take?
July 20 - A Vocalist extraordinaire is born
July 20, 1964 marks the day that the world saw Chris Cornell for the first time. He was born on this date in Seattle, Washington to the name Chris Boyle but changed that once his music career took off. Cornell is a one of the most talented singers of the past 2 decades and proved that through constant success with bands like Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave. His range is amazing and his song writing ability is up there with the best by today's standards (last album not withstanding). I am a big Cornell fan and his vocal work helped show a range to the Grunge movement that could not be seen in Nirvana or Mudhoney. Cornell's legacy will be his pipes and the fact that he finds success wherever he chooses to be. Happy birthday Chris Cornell.
Last but not least, we end as always with my Youtube.com obsession of the week! This week is a short one but a dandy, enjoy…
