Music History X 7.21.09: July 21 - 27
Posted by Jacob Leo on 07.21.2009
This week we look at some stupid people, horrible ideas, some UK punks, and some popular dead people! Take a look and see what all the fuss is about!
It is that time of the week again for us to travel through time in Music History X. I have been extremely irresponsible I must admit and saved writing this until the last minute so excuse me if I seem rushed at all. You see I have been in San Diego for a week and a half and I am leaving today but the problem is that I lost track of time so badly that I forgot what day today was until last night. Therefore I am putting in the work and waking up early just to write this for you! Don't you see how much of a nice guy I am?
In regards to last week's question as to who wins between Peter Gabriel and Genesis, we have a clear winner. Without a doubt Gabriel came out the clear winner and his fans will be rewarded later in the column for that! Personally I have to agree with the masses here as Gabriel was the clear cut winner in my mind too. Are you ready for the column now? Yeah? Perfect, let's get it on…
July 21 - Top of the Pops is Taken Over
Top of the Pops was a weekly television program in the UK that had the bands at the top of the charts come on to play their big hit on the show. Everyone who was everyone played on that show and it ruled the BBC airways from the time it debuted in 1964 until the last episode in 2006. Bands like The Jacksons, The Rolling Stones, and David Bowie were normally what you would find on the show until this date in 1977 when it was taken over by punk pioneers The Sex Pistols. They played the song "Pretty Vacant" and the exposure on the show really upped their stock in the UK. The band hadn't been around too long up to this point and the only exposure they had at all was from a public ceremony that A&M had given them for signing until breaking the contract only days later and 2 singles that did decently but not extraordinary. At this point though the show took a huge chance on the notoriously rough Sex Pistols and allowed them to play on the show.
Top of the Pops had never before been so racy as it was that night. The extremely popular TV show had given the voice of punk a look to go along with it as far as the UK was concerned and the Sex Pistols proceeded to take the whole country over.
July 22 - Cashed
On July 22, 2006 Johnny Cash hit the #1 spot on the album chart with American V: A Hundred Highways. Despite his death in 2003, Cash became very popular once again in 2005 when the film Walk the Line became a huge success. That renewed popularity gained him many new fans and it rolled on into 2006 when some extra songs of his were thrown together by producer Rick Rubin to make this posthumous album. It had been planned out with Cash before his death as the vocals were recorded before his death but the music was actually not recorded until 2005. Either way, the success of the album spawned another album that will be released posthumously sometime before the year is out. The disc American VI is expected to contain 20 tracks and finish off the last of Cash's recordings.
Awesome video if you take out the Kanye…
July 23 - Ol' Blue Eyes Makes a Comeback
I have to tell you all something, I am a huge Frank Sinatra mark. The man's vocals are amazing and literally perfect and thus it comes as no surprise that I choose to talk about him right now that I have the opportunity. On this date in 1966 Frankie made his comeback when his album Strangers in the Night hit. Sinatra had been around for a long time at this point and his popularity had been dwindling for a while. He was a man in his 50's and that made it hard to appeal to the teenage crowd. Either way, Frank scored big with Strangers and ended up receiving 2 Grammys for his efforts on it. Also notable about this record is the fact that it is the only real album Sinatra ever recorded to go platinum. He was one of the biggest artists of all time but only his greatest hits albums, his Christmas albums, and his end-of-career Duets album ever went platinum until Strangers.
The Chairman of the Board scored big with that one
July 24 - Yo, Adrian!
July 24, 1982 saw the band Survivor hit #1 with the theme to their theme to Rocky III, "Eye of the Tiger". The song stayed at the top for 6 weeks and has had a lasting effect as it is still fondly remembered today. In fact, I did a little test and asked the last 6 people I talked to what comes to their mind when they think of Rocky. Five of them answered this song and the sixth answered Mr. T. I am going to call that 5 for 5 on this song because the guy who said Mr. T must be an idiot and thus his opinion does not count. That is quite a remarkable feat in my opinion to have one of the most well known film series of all time associated with your song, even if the song itself didn't even enter until the third installment. "Eye of the Tiger" would also go on to win a Grammy and while the band has since split up, singer Dave Bickler went on to be that guy in the Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" commercials. Now that is career advancement folks!
July 25 - Woodstock Rebirth?
In 1969 an idea to have a giant concert festival blossomed into the legendary Woodstock. In 1994 the idea was had to recreate Woodstock and it ended horribly. In 1999 the same idiots tried it again. This time it ended fatally for 3 people. On July 25, 1999 Woodstock ‘99 closed its doors after 3 days. On paper the festival seemed perfect and featured everyone from Snoop Dogg to Korn to Jeff Beck to James Brown. It had some of the biggest acts in the world, but it all did not turn out dandy in the end. The lack of restrooms caused the facilities to be overused and overflowed while the high prices of food and drinks cause desperate concert-goers to break water pipes in order to get water which caused mud puddles all over the area. When the high volume of violence is taken into account, it has to be realized that this concert was not a good idea. Dozens of looters were arrested, fires were incited, 6 people were injured, 4 were raped, and in the end 3 were killed. Woodstock ‘99 was a disaster and hopefully that will be the last time we are subjected to the money hungry suits trying to make a buck off of something as beautiful as the original Woodstock.
July 26 - Motown Grabs a Keeper
I know that all that any of you have been reading about the last few weeks has been about Michael Jackson and while I have been trying to avoid saturating that market I have to mention him here. The for that is that on July 26, 1968 The Jackson 5 were signed to a contract at Motown records. It was their first contract and it came pretty easily for them. For months they had been opening for Motown artists like Gladys Knight when Knight decided to get the Motown executives down to see the Jacksons perform live in an audition format. After playing the James Brown song, "I Got the Feelin'", they hammered out a one-year contract and the rest is history. Michael, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Jackie became household names and took the pop charts by storm.
July 27 - Rock Music Will Kill You
Nothing much has happened on this date in music history so I'll just go with 2 smaller things. The first happened way back in 1958 when radio listeners were warned that "rock and roll music could cost you money". The Esso Gas Company further reported that the rhythms found in rock and roll forced the driver to be heavier on the gas pedal and to therefore waste more gas. This is stupid on so many levels that I don't even have time to explain. I just found it funny that anyone would believe this anti-rock hoopla so I thought I'd share it with you.
The second thing that happened on July 27 occurred in the year 1996 as 5 girls from the UK named Scary, Posh, Baby, Sporty and Ginger scored a massive #1 single with "Wannabe". The song spent 7 weeks at #1 and sold over 6 million copies. It also would go on to win multiple awards that were all "Best Single of the Year" type honors. Now that I think about it, I do not know which is more stupid: the people who voted for the Spice Girls to win a music award or the people who made that public service announcement.
Finally, I leave you once more with my you tube obsession of the week. This week I salute the winner to last weeks war. You the readers picked Peter Gabriel over Genesis and therefore I am going to share my personal favorite Gabriel video with you right now. Enjoy.
