Music History X 8.01.09: July 28 - August 3
Posted by Jacob Leo on 08.01.2009
This week we look at a lot of cool stuff from The Grateful Dead, Bad Company, Paul Anka, Christina Aguilara, The Doors, Def Leppard and more! Check it out.
Whats up 411? Are you ready for the newest addition of Music History X?! I can't hear you?!! You should be as excited as I am this week for my column as I have a fabulous line-up for you but first lets celebrate a milestone. I counted up all of the comments on my column since the day I started and the "news piece" about Stacy Keibler's swimsuit body took only 12 minutes to beat my combined total. Stacy is hot but come on guys, I throw my soul into this every week so let me know what you think! Ok, I don't want to beg, but I'll let you know that I am not below whoring myself out so if you want Stacy, you get Stacy!
Is that good enough? No? Here is the link to the original post: YAY!
Now I'm all worked up and ready to write! Here we go…
July 28 - Someone's Got a Case of the Mundays
No one likes Mondays. Kids don't like it because school starts after the weekend, adults don't like it because it starts the work week again, and on July 28, 1979 we found out that Bob Geldof didn't like it because he was a punk, and punks hate Mondays. Geldof has become more well known in recent years as "that guy from Live 8" or "that guy from The Wall", but in the late 70s he was the singer for the punk group The Boomtown Rats and their biggest hit was the classic "I Don't Like Mondays." The song hit #1 on the UK, Ireland, and Australia while the single barely hit the airwaves in the USA. The decidedly poppy-sounding song got its much needed edge from the topic matter and they combined to form one of my favorite songs of all time.
Fun Fact: The topic matter of "Mondays" that gave it that edge was a shooting spree in San Diego, California by a 16 year old girl. The girl shot at a playground across the street from her house and killed 2 adults while injuring 8 children and 1 police officer. When the girl was asked why she did it her only response was, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."
That bitch is crazy…
July 29 - Girl, We Couldn‘t Get Much Higher
The Doors broke onto the American music scene on this date in 1967 when their single "Light my Fire" became the group's first #1 hit. The keyboard driven classic was one of the first songs ever written by the band and the song can be directly attributed to the legendary success of the band. Being their grand unveiling, "Light My Fire" was the gateway that Jim Morrison and the Doors used to prove that they were more then your average 1960's stoner band. The group became thought of as wild and unpredictable (with Morrison in particular sticking out) and the Doors were able to capture that generation of teenagers as fans. Never was this more apparent then the infamous Ed Sullivan Show performance on September 17, 1967. Sullivan was the biggest name in television and featured the biggest acts in music on his show and thus was able to reach a family audience that gave him huge ratings. In the interest of pleasing his fans, Sullivan requested that the Doors leave out the lyric "girl we couldn't get much higher" from their live performance so that parents and TV censors alike would be pleased with the show. Despite the band agreeing to it, Morrison had other ideas and sang the words live on air. People were stunned and even though Sullivan refused to shake Morrison's hand afterwards, the Doors had the entire crowd cheering for them and had increased their reputation ten-fold. They were edgy, they were hot, and then they were on top of the world. This song made the Doors bigger then the business for a few years and is a big step in music history.
Fun Fact: In 1991, a reissued version of the song was released in accordance with the Oliver Stone movie The Doors and it hit #7 in the UK. By comparison, the original UK release in 1967 peaked at #49 on the charts.
July 30 - He Took the Blows, but He did it His Way
July 30, 1094 marks the day that Paul Anka was brought into the world. The name might not sound familiar to those not around in the 50s and 60s, but Anka was at one point a leader in the Jazz/Swing/Big Band revolution along with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Paul became a huge teen success as he hit big with songs like "Diana" (which is one of the biggest selling 45s in music history) and "It's Time to Cry" hitting top 5 status when Anka was only 16. Paul ventured off into more of a songwriter role as time went on though and he would write songs for every big name in the business. He wrote the lyrics to "My Way" which would go on to be a signature Frank Sinatra tune and "She's a Lady", which turned out to be Tom Jones' biggest hit. Anka has been inducted into various Hall of Fames throughout the years but had been largely ignored by the younger crowd for decades before becoming relevant again chart-wise with the release of a rock covers album in 2005 named Rock Swings. The album featured swing arrangements and his vocals over every artist from Bon Jovi and Van Halen to Soundgarden and Oasis. If you have never heard Paul Anka, try these covers out to take a slow approach in and let me know what you think. Anka's career has been revitalized to an extent since the album and he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Happy Birthday, Paul Anka.
Jump by Van Halen
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
Paul Anka original "Diana"
July 31 - She Rubbed America the Right Way
Imagine a song so deliciously innuendo laden that it could turn an unknown 18 year old former Mick Mouse Club member into the biggest star in music. Just that happened on July 31, 1999 when Christina Aguilera hit #1 with her debut single "Genie in a Bottle". The single (and video) won her millions of fans and helped usher in a new wave of pop music. While I may personally think that the boy bands/pop princess scene was poison, it ruled the airwaves in the late 90's and early 2000's thanks in part to the success of this song. Christina has an amazing voice, but this song made her the "dirty" alternative to Britney Spears. She has since grown out of that particular stigma, but "Genie" is anything but forgotten. The song is still one of the biggest hits of her decade long, 42 million album selling career. "Genie" helped change the business for better or worse and therefore it deserves a spot here in my column. Bonus question of the week: Who do you pick as your favorite out of the pop princesses? Christina Aguilera vs. Britney Spears, let the comments "war" begin.
August 1 - Blow Out the Candles
August 1st is the birth date for a few notable musicians in history. First there are is Coolio who blows out his candles with Public Enemies' Chuck D. They are two of the most influential rappers in history and that makes for a huge birthday party when these guys get together. Then you move on to the ‘90s alternative scene with Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows, who you may remember for such hits as "Mr. Jones" and "Hangin' Around". Its not all rappers and Jews though, the lead singer of one of the biggest groups of all time celebrates on this day. That man is Joe Elliot of Def Leppard. Elliot infamously tried out to be a guitarist for the band before they forced him to be their singer instead, at which poin the reluctantly agreed as long as his name for the band stuck. The band agreed and they kept him on board as singer and performed under the name Deaf Leopard until deciding that it was cooler looking to spell it Def Leppard. Either way, the band would go on to become one of only 5 bands to ever have multiple albums sell over 10 million copies and be cemented as ‘80s hair metal kings.
This day belongs to one man though, and that man is Jerry Garcia. The lead guitarist of The Grateful Dead was born on this day in 1942 in San Fransisco, California. The guitarist, ranked #13 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest guitar players of all time, founded the dead and was the main spokesman for the band. Jerry's brilliant style of guitar playing set the Dead apart in the 60's and helped make them the leaders of the hippie movement. Their fans became so devoted in fact that they would often walk in groups around the USA following the Grateful Dead on their tours. These fans would not buy tickets but rather just go to every show asking for a "miracle" free ticket to be given to them. This rarely happened, but it just goes to show how big of a band the Dead were in their prime. Jerry may have died in the mid-90s, but he still live on in the hearts of millions on this day in music history.
August 2 - Screw the BBC
Reggae pioneer Max Romeo hit the charts at #10 on this date in 1969 with the song "Wet Dream". You might be asking yourself why I would talk about a song that only went to # 10 on the charts right now and the answer is fairly simple: it hit #10 without ever getting airplay in the UK. That's right, no airplay. When the song was released as a single the BBC immediately decided that it was unworthy of airplay due to the sexual nature of the song despite Romeo's claims that the song was about a leaking roof. Either way, the song became huge in Jamaica and when word reached the UK about the song the single literally flew off of the shelves. It was the first song to ever hit the top ten in the UK singles chart while having a complete ban on radio airplay and would go on to stay on the charts for 6 months. The song never hit in America, but Romero made a career out of the explicit nature of his reggae songs in the UK and Jamaica.
August 3 - The Beginnings of the Supergroup
Supergroups may be commonplace today, but in 1973 it was a brand new idea. The music world was set on fire when members of Free, King Crimson, and Mott the Hoople joined together to make one of the very first one in the form of Bad Company. The highly anticipated debut album hit #1 on this date on the strength of hit singles "Can't Get Enough", "Bad Company" and "Movin' On". Bad Company has since gone on to sell over 5 million copies and the group set the bar for "supergroups" of the future. For better or worse, the success of this album may have been the reason bands like Velvet Revolver, Audioslave, and Asia were able to attain so much success in the future. Bad Company, together with Cream, is generally considered on of the top two super groups of all time and this album on this date is what got it all started.
In closing, thank you for reading again and don't forget to tell me what you think whether you agree with my opinions or not. Now, as always, I leave you with my youtube.com obsession of the week. This week the video was directly introduced to me by the wrestling section on this site and I cannot stop watching it. Hilarious.
