Music History X 8.18.09: August 11 - 17

Posted by Jacob Leo on 08.18.2009

Come celebrate this week in music history with me, the Arctic Monkeys, Elvis, KISS, Alice Cooper, The Beatles, Nirvana and more including The 40th anniversary of Woodstock and the best songs to never hit #1! Come along and see what all the fuss is about.

Hello everybody and welcome once again to Music History X. If you have been reading my articles the past few weeks then you may have noticed that I have been trying to get you the readers to participate in making this column with me by leaving me your feedback. I figure that if you comment, then you are investing something into me and my work and in turn you will get a weekly article that you find is a fun and interesting read. Hell, you may even get more then that as I am sure I will address the more interesting comments that come up in future articles.

Lets see how my plan has worked thus far: In week 1 of my comment grabbing attempt I decided that hot pictures of Stacy Keibler might be a good trick to entice the male audience and hopefully some of the wrestling fan base on the site. Week 1 comment total = 1. In the second week of my attempt I tried the opposite approach with reverse psychology. Apparently that was no good either. Week 2 comment total = 1. In fact, last week's only comment was to tell me that I made an error with my facts in the segment about Aerosmith. I was called out about my third favorite band of all time and I admit, I had made a mistake. Therefore the next logical step is to give myself a break from the misery of being neglected and called out and I will do now what any good business man does to improve ratings: get a guest host! That's right, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, a guest host for the next few weeks to improve ratings. That's has to work right?

I was thinking about this guest host idea and it brings me to this month's "411 Artist of the Month": the Arctic Monkeys! That's right the Arctic Monkeys are here to guest host Monday Night Raw Music History X! All of their input will be in italics. Take it from here boys…



Thanks Jacob, we are here to guide you today through this week in music history. Just to let you know a little bit about us, we are from Sheffield, England, UK and have been kickin' arse since 2002. We are one of the best alternative bands out there today and we find it a great honour to be this month's "411 Artist of the Month". Thank you for having us. We try to be humble, but it‘s hard when you win "Best British Artist" at the 2008 Brit Awards. Here is a taste of our music so that you know a bit more about us:


I hope you liked that, now we turn back to Jacob for a history lesson but we will stay around and help with the proceedings as we see fit.

Thanks again to the Arctic Monkeys! Woooo! On to the column…



Yes, that is a new banner by the way, how do you like it?

It's awesome!

Hey thanks guys.

August 11 - Kudos given In close proximity to the Sunset Strip

Work with me on this title. I had to somehow spell KISS and that was the best I could do. The title may be stupid but it does make sense as on this date in 1999 KISS was given a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame. This may not seem as such a huge accomplishment, but with the way the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame treats them, it may be the biggest award they receive. I believe that to be a great injustice. KISS has sold over 80 million albums world wide and was one of the most popular bands of all time. The appeal of their music may have watered down over time but it is hard not to see the humongous impact KISS had on music history and pop culture. They were business men first, musicians second. That may be what stops them from getting into the hall, but in my opinion that is the reason why they should get in! They made rock and roll into a spectacle that everyone wanted a piece of and forever changed the ways of marketing bands. The music was average, but the idea of KISS was much greater. At their peak, you could not go anywhere without being exposed to KISS. They were on lunchboxes, had dolls, chairs, and even a casket among thousands of other things!



They made the music business even more profitable for everybody revolutionized they ways of selling yourself and your product. That is why I believe we should celebrate them on this day for their impact. We may not see them in the hall any time soon, but thanks to Gene Simmons we can see them anywhere and everywhere else!



Oh bloody hell, you got us there!

Sorry guys, but I had to do it.

August 12 - Class Dismissed

Alice Cooper is remembered for a lot of things, the biggest of which may be his only #1 hit "School's Out". On August 12, 1972 Cooper hit #1 for the first and only time in his career when he topped the UK charts. He would get close with hits like "Poison" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", but "School's Out" is still far and away his biggest hit both career-wise and chart-wise. The reason I say that is because Cooper was already a big name at the time of its release, but was never thought of as more then just a novelty act. His live concerts were already things of legend but the radio had yet to reflect his popularity until "School's" arrival. The song sent Cooper into the upper echelon of music acts at the time and is critical to his later success, hell he still even feeds off of it today! It would go on to be his most iconic hit and would also be his highest charting in the US by hitting #7, and it all happened on this date.




August 13 - Best Song to Never Hit #1?

This date is pretty dry as far as music history goes unless you count Danny Bonaduce's birthday (he was part of two top 5 hits with the Partirdge Family after all).

What a bloody wanka

I agree, so lets move on. Instead I will talk about a very interesting poll taken place by VH1 on August 13, 2004. This poll was regarding the best songs to never hit #1 and as you can imagine a few big ones were left out. We all know VH1 has its target audience and they will pick songs like Madonna's "Ray of Light", "Always" by Bon Jovi, and Oasis classics "Wonderwall" and "Live Forever", but for the top 2 songs to be Savage Garden's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and Robbie William's "Angel" is a complete travesty. For the record, I have nothing against either of them, and this is obviously a biased opinion, but I find it very interesting none-the-less. A subject this broad is hard to narrow down and there will no doubt be omissions on everybody's list but I figure I will go with a top 5 singles to not hit #1 anyway from personal preference:

5) Dream On - Aerosmith (One of the greatest ballads ever made and it only made it to #6)
4) Runnin With the Devil - Van Halen (a beast of a song that introduced the world to one of its greatest bands)
3)Jeremy - Pearl Jam (I would chose Black, but it was never a single and Jeremy reeks of awesomeness anyway)
2) My Generation - The Who (There are better Who songs, but this was the closest they ever came to reaching the top spot and it is their most iconic)
1) November Rain - Guns N' Roses (one of the all time best songs. Period.)

I know what you are thinking and everyone's list will be much different I am sure. What's your list? Lets get a poll going and I will count your picks to see which song takes the top spot from my readers.

If "I Bet That You Look Good On the Dance Floor" was around in 2004 it would've won. In fact, as guest hosts we will play it for you right now as a mid week break.



August 14 - May the Best Man Get Fired

Pun intended because on this date in 1962 drummer Pete Best was fired from The Beatles. There are a few theories as to why Best was let go and replaced just 3 days later with Ringo Starr, but the my personal favorite was because of his looks. It is highly rumored that Best was fired because he was better looking then the rest of the group and stood out too much by not dressing like others either. It is rumored that Paul McCartney's jealousy of Pete's way with women was another reason and that the addition of the not-so-hansom Ringo Starr was simply so that Paul got more for himself! I do not know how likely that is, but the official story today seems to be that it was the record company's decision and to me that seems like an easy cop out. Of course in the end it doesn't really matter what the reason was because with Ringo behind the skins it took a mere matter of months before the Beatles were one of the biggest bands in the world and eventually the biggest of all time.


After seeing those pictures I think I agree with the theory about Paul being jealous.

I agree Monkeys.

August 15 - Peace, Love, and Santana

This is an easy pick for August 15 as it is immortalized in history as the day in 1969 that the most famous concert festival of all time took place: Woodstock. Even people who were born 40 years later know what Woodstock is and on this date we celebrate the 50th anniversary. It is impossible to entirely state the significance of a show like Woodstock, but something about it set it apart. Everything just fell in place from the upstate New York location to the monster line-up and by the time it finally ended on August 18th, its legend had already started to be born. Just to give you an idea of the line-up, it included: Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, CCR, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, the Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Crocker, the Band, Blood Sweat and Tears, CSN&Y, and Jimi Hendrix. See what I mean by monster? No one could tell you at the time that it would be as big as it was, but by looking at the list of performers, it was destiny.

Fun Fact: Many bands declined invitations to Woodstock, among them: The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, and Joni Mitchell.

That is a fun fact!


August 16 - Goodbye Elvis

I talked a few weeks ago about the life of Elvis Presley because it was the anniversary of his last live performance, but today I must talk about his death. It was on August 16, 1977 that the King took his last breath. Elvis died on his bathroom floor from a sudden heart attack at 3:30 pm and while investigations have gone on many times since his death, there is nothing to link drugs to the death despite a dependence on prescription medication. Either way, Elvis died and the entire world mourned as hundreds of thousands flocked to his home in Tennessee for the funeral. Elvis's achievements were unmatched and still have been to this day. The man holds the record for most singles on the Billboard "US Hot 100" with 154, sold over 1 billion albums worldwide, stared in 31 movies, won a Grammy for lifetime achievement at the age of 36, and was THE man who changed the course of music history more then any other. John Lennon once famously said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been a Beatles." Now that is big praise. There is not enough to say about the man who put rock and roll on the map. In fact I could do an 8 part article on his life and it still would not be enough space. Elvis saw the future and brought black and white cultures together for the first time in the name of rock and roll and it can honestly be said that he made the world a better place for it. The man is a legend. Even God calls Elvis king. The man is sorely missed. RIP Elvis Presley.

Elvis was amazing its true. Did you hear all that thunder last night Jacob?

Thunder? Yeah, it was loud as hell but there wasn‘t any lightning. Why?

That wasn't actually thunder! Some guy in heaven called Michael Jackson the king and Elvis kicked his ass.

Wow!

Yeah, but that's not all. The loudest part came when Elvis found Michael and kicked Michael's ass for marrying his daughter.

That is very interesting Arctic Monkeys, thanks for letting me know because I was wondering about that.


August 17 - Smells Like a Revolution

On August 17, 1991 one of the most iconic music videos in history was shot with a budget of only $50,000, the video: "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The video was shot on this date and hit MTV shortly afterwards when it literally made popular music take a hard right turn. The video depicted real Nirvana fans cheering their hearts out and showed the heart of a new generation. Out were the days of Motley Crue, Whitesnake, and Skid Row and in came a sound that connected with the younger, angrier audience. The video alone was the complete opposite of any other videos out at the time as the focus went from cartoonish and party time to dirty, mean and real. This video is what took music from the ‘80s to the ‘90s in my mind and is second only to "Thriller" in how iconic it is. I may not be the biggest Nirvana mark but this video changed the business and one of the most important in music history.



Thanks for reading and be sure to let me know what you think about anything and everything to do with the article! Now I will pass it to your guest host in to finish you out.

Thanks again to Jacob Leo for letting us come here today, and now we will take his youtube.com obsession of the week for a spin to close you out. Here is one of our favorite songs of all time to one of our favorite movies of all time. Enjoy it, and thank you for reading.