This is the week that was in matters musical …

 

1920, British session guitarist Burt Weedon is born … his guitar tutorial Play In A Day and hit instrumentals such as "Guitar Boogie Shuffle," influenced many stars including Eric Clapton and Brian May …

 

1924, Todd Storz is born … in the early '50s, he created the Top 40 radio format at Omaha station KOWH that led to a big increase in its ratings and ultimately reshaped pop broadcasting …

 

1940, country soul singer-songwriter Arthur Alexander is born in Florence, Alabama … although he hit the top 40 in the early 1960s, he is better known for cover versions of his songs … he is the only songwriter to have his tunes covered by The Big 3: The Beatles ("Anna," "Soldier of Love"), The Rolling Stones ("You Better Move On"), and Bob Dylan ("Sally Sue Brown") … you could make a case for Chuck Berry being covered by all three if you consider how closely Bob's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" follows the format of Chuck's "Too Much Monkey Business" …

 

1952, blues harp ace Little Walter records his signature instrumental "Juke" at Chess Studios in Chicago, backed up by Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers on guitar with Elgin Evans on drums, no bass … originally called "Your Cat Will Play," the tune was developed by Walter from many live performances … Leonard Chess, the label owner and producer renamed the record "Juke" without consulting Walter or the band … the aptly titled tune became a jukebox favorite at clubs and juke joints … so much so that Walter abruptly quit the Muddy Waters band in the middle of a tour to go solo … the opening to "Juke" is the harp equivalent of "Smoke on the Water" or "Sweet Child O' Mine"—a six note ascending riff repeated for the entire opening 12 bars (key of E, played crossharp using an A-tuned diatonic harp), it's a must-learn for beginning blowers of the "Mississippi sax" …

 

1961, the first synthesizer composition is performed at Columbia University in NYC … mathematician Milton Babbit's axe is the half million dollar Mark II that takes up a whole room … no confirmation that the composition is now available as a cell phone ringtone …

 

1962, The Beach Boys record "Surfin' Safari" … their first for Capitol Records in Los Angeles …

 

1963, in London, The Rolling Stones record their first single, Chuck Berry's "Come On" … back in the States producers refuse to let Bob Dylan perform "Talking John Birch Society Paranoid Blues" on The Ed Sullivan Show so Dylan doesn't perform at all …

 

1964, The Warlocks record some instrumental demos in Los Angeles … a couple of years later they will spot the words "Grateful Dead" in a book and choose that for their new band name …

 

1968, while trying to cross the border from the U.S. into Canada, Jimi Hendrix is busted for possession of hashish and heroin … in his defense Jimi claims the drugs were planted … he is later cleared of the charges … Neil Young plays lead guitar on The Monkees song "You And I" which shows up on their Instant Replay album …

 

1971, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen's new band Dr. Boom and the Sonic Zoom hits the stage at the Sunshine Inn …

 

1972, "Sylvia's Mother" written by Shel Silverstein and recorded by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show begins climbing the charts …

 

1973, Tom Waits' first album Closing Time does not chart … 16 albums later the public catches up with him …

 

1974, multi-instrumentalist Graham Bond dies under the wheels of a train in London … authorities do not know if it's an accident or suicide … Bond had struggled with substance abuse and depression for several years … in the mid-'60s, Bond formed The Graham Bond Organisation with Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on bass duking it out musically and physically … John McLaughlin was the guitarist early on, later replaced by saxman Dick Heckstall-Smith …

 

1976, Keith Relf, former lead singer and harmonica player for the blues-wailing Yardbirds, is found dead at his home due to an electric shock from his improperly grounded electric guitar … no truth to the legend that he was in a bathtub at the time … despite suffering from asthma, Relf was an influential harmonica player … countless garage and punk bands played their cover versions of "I'm A Man" trying to emulate the rave-up sound of Relf's harmonica dueling with Jeff Beck's Fender Esquire …

 

1979, The Cure release their debut album Three Imaginary Boys … it includes an unrecognizable version of Jimi Hendrix' "Foxey Lady" …

 

1980, The Sex Pistols movie The Great Rock and Roll Swindle debuts in London …

 

1982, Vangelis tops the charts with the theme from Chariots of Fire …

 

1983, The Smiths release their debut single "Hand In Glove" … it flops …

 

1986, Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee gets hitched to actress Heather Locklear … hold on, he's just getting started … next engagement on the never-ending marital tour is Feb. 1995 with Pamela Anderson …

 

1988, Led Zeppelin reunites for a single appearance at Madison Square Garden in NYC with Jason Bonham subbing for his late father John …

 

1992, guitarist John Frusciate tells fellow Red Hot Chili Peppers he'll be leaving the band after tonight's gig in Tokyo … he returns to the fold in 1998 …

 

1994, Pearl Jam makes a claim to the U.S. Department of Justice that Ticketmaster is operating a monopoly …

 

1998, Journey's singer Steve Perry quits for health reasons …

 

1999, songwriter/cartoonist/poet/author Shel Silverstein dies of a heart attack in Key West, Florida … the hit songs he wrote include the Grammy-award-winning "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash, "The Unicorn" by The Irish Rovers, and "The Cover of The Rolling Stone" for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show … his recitation of "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)" was a favorite on radio's Dr. Demento Show …

 

2000, a $5.4 million dollars judgment against Michael Bolton is upheld by a U.S. Federal Appeals Court … the ruling: Bolton plagiarized parts of the Isley Brothers "Love Is A Wonderful Thing" for his tune of the same name … even though Bolton said he and the song's co-writer had never heard the song, the court said "It is entirely plausible that two Connecticut teenagers obsessed with rhythm and blues music could remember an Isley Brothers song that was played on the radio and television for a few weeks and subconsciously copy it 20 years later" … Note: this entry was subconsciously copied from a news story account we read a few years ago …

 

2003, Noel Redding, bassist with The Jimi Hendrix Experience is found dead at his home in Ireland … in 1966, Redding had gone to audition as a guitarist for The Animals but was persuaded to try out on bass with Jimi Hendrix … he quit the JHE in 1969 and wrote about the whole … um, experience … in his book Are You Experienced? in which he talks about not getting his share of Hendrix recording profits … Redding received a one-time payment of £100-thousand, but that was before numerous CD and DVD Hendrix titles were issued … Redding was still planning legal action against the Hendrix estate when he died …

 

2007, Grateful Dead memorabilia collected by the band's longtime road manager Lawrence "Ram Rod" Shurtliff is auctioned for more than $1 million … items included band photos, original album artwork, and guitars including the 1975 cream-colored Travis Bean played by Jerry Garcia … Shurtliff doesn't see any of the proceeds, he died the year before … indie label Kill Rock Stars issues a two-disc compilation of mostly unreleased material by the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith … titled New Moon, it includes tracks recorded between 1994 and 1997 … Smith's body was discovered at his L.A. home in October 2003 … although the cause of death was widely reported as suicide, the coroner never established the cause of death … Bob Dylan signs a new multiyear contract with XM Satellite Radio to continue hosting his Theme Time Radio Hour show which has been notable for its eclectic mix of music … Midas-touch producer Rick Rubin cuts a deal with Columbia Records in which he assumes co-chairmanship of the company while also bringing his imprint, American Recordings into the Columbia fold … a master at working both sides of the street, Rubin's deal allows him to continue to produce records for artists on other major labels …

 

And that was the week that was.

 

[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the week that was in matters musical …

 

1956, Little Richard enters the Top 40 with "Long Tall Sally" … sample lyric: "Long Tall Sally she’s built for speed, she’s got everything that Uncle John needs" … Paul McCartney proved he could rock with The Beatles’ 1964 cover … who needs silly love songs? … couldn’t have done it without Mr. Richard Penniman …

 

1960, freshly discharged from honorably serving Uncle Sam, Elvis Presley records "Elvis Is Back" … a typical genre-spanning affair that includes rock, blues, and ballads … the best song is El’s take on Lowell Fulsom’s "Reconsider Baby" with a smoking sax solo from Boots Randolph …

 

1960, RCA begins issuing pop records in both stereo and mono formats beginning with Elvis Presley’s "Stuck On You" … promotional 45s are issued to radio stations with one side in mono and the flip side in stereo …

 

1965, Bob Dylan’s latest single "Subterranean Homesick Blues" breaks into the Hot 100 in the U.S. … unlike other Dylan hits, this one features an electric rock band backing him up … the much-copied promotional film shows Dylan in a New York alley displaying the song lyrics on a series of cue cards … Dylan gets to appear enigmatic while getting out of lip-synching …

 

1966, The Velvet Underground perform for the first time with Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable in a New York City multimedia event; the Velvets singing about hookers, drug dealers, heroin addiction, sadomasochism, accompanied by dancers with whips and screenings of Warhol’s films …

 

1967, Cream takes a novel approach in recording "Strange Brew" at Atlantic Studios in New York … producer Felix Pappalardi asks if he can work with the tapes for "Lawdy Mama" a Junior Wells/Buddy Guy blues tune the trio had just recorded … Pappalardi and his wife write a new melody and lyrics … the next day Eric Clapton records a fresh guitar part and vocal on top of the "Lawdy Mama" backing track … in San Francisco, Tom Donahue and radio station KMPX-FM forge a new style of music programming that will come to be called "progressive FM radio" … instead of adhering to a tight Top 40 playlist of three-minute pop hits, underground DJs play lengthy album cuts and ditch frentic, over-the-top jock spiel in favor of more laid-back patter …

 

1968, Donovan records "Hurdy Gurdy Man," a big Top 40 hit … for years, many listeners believed that session guitarist Jimmy Page provided the swirling lead guitar … as reported on songfacts.com, session drummer Clem Cattini says the lead guitar was provided by Alan Parker … so agrees future Page bandmate John Paul Jones, who played bass, did the arrangement, and served as musical director for the Donovan recording session …

 

1975, lead guitarist Richie Blackmore leaves Deep Purple and is replaced by Tommy Bolin, an American who played in the Boulder, Colorado, band Zephyr … after six albums as lead singer for The Rotary Connection, Minnie Riperton goes solo and demonstrates her five-octave vocal range on her #1 hit "Loving You" … it was her only hit … the following year she is diagnosed with cancer and succumbs in 1979 …

 

1977, The Clash release their first album in the U.K. … Columbia, their U.S. label, doesn’t release the record, saying it is crudely produced and won’t sell … after 100,000 import copies are sold, Columbia relents … former Beatles and Stones manager Allen Klein is indicted in New York on charges of income tax evasion …

 

1978, The Cramps record a cover version of The Trashmen’s "Surfin’ Bird" … the group calls the sound "psychobilly" – psychedelic-rockabilly, or what some just call southern-fried weirdness … the group churns out a combination of punk and surf sounds with two guitars, drums, and no bass … in performance, lead singer Lux Interior sticks the ball of the microphone fully into his mouth and grunts rhythmically … Prince releases his debut album and Duran Duran play their first gig …

 

1980, debuting as the "Twisted Kites," R.E.M. plays its first show in its Athens, Georgia, hometown … they perform at a party in a converted church that also serves as the group’s rehearsal space …

 

1984, the rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap premieres … directed by Rob Reiner, the movie is an acidic parody of a hapless heavy metal band trying to tour the United States while suffering a number of breakdowns in communication, direction, and spirit … just about every heavy metal band claims to be the inspiration for Spinal Tap, but the reality is they all contributed in their own way …

 

1985, after two years’ of negotiations with Chinese officials, English pop-soul duo Wham! performs at the Peking People’s Gymnasium before 15,000 teenagers … Wham! will break up a couple of years later, and singer George Michael will go on to superstardom …

 

1987, Joshua Tree by U2 enters the U.S. album charts at #7 … the first two singles "With Or Without You" and "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For" become #1 hits …

 

1988, the former "Twisted Kites," now known as R.E.M., sign with Warner Brothers records for $6 million …

 

1991, Dweezil Zappa and Donny Osmond perform the Bee Gees "Stayin’ Alive" on Dweezil’s Confessions album …

 

1994, Kurt Cobain dies from a self-inflicted shotgun wound … he was last seen checking out of a rehab clinic near Los Angeles … Cobain explained in his suicide note that he had long struggled with his fame …

 

2002, guitarist Dave Mustaine injures his left hand and arm after falling asleep with his arm hanging over a chair in a hospital waiting room … he was being treated for kidney stones … because he can’t play, Megadeath breaks up … after much physical therapy, Mustaine resumes playing the guitar the following year and Megadeath is re-formed in 2004 …

 

2006, singer-songwriter Gene Pitney dies from natural causes … known for his impassioned-borderline-histrionic vocal style, he had more than 20 Top 40 hits including "It Hurts To Be In Love," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love," and "Town Without Pity" … he also wrote "Hello Mary Lou," a hit for Ricky Nelson, and "He’s A Rebel," a #1 hit for The Crystals … Gene also played piano on the first Rolling Stones album …

 

2007, Keith Richards, ’fesses up to blending his late father’s ashes with some cocaine and snorting the mixture during an interview with the British rock mag NME … "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. " … It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84 … a day after the interview, a publicist for the Stones says Keef was only joking, but four months later Richards confirms his previous confession with a slight revision: "The cocaine bit was rubbish. I said I chopped him up like cocaine, not with. I pulled the lid off [my father's urn] and out comes a bit of dad on the dining room table," Richards continued. "I'm going, 'I can't use the brush and dustpan for this’" … with the latest Chinese incarnation of American Idol about to debut, China’s State Administration of Radio Film and TV (SARFT) warns the producers of the show whose title translates as Happy Boys Voice that it will tolerate "No weirdness, no vulgarity, no low taste" … a previous show called Super Girls Voice corralled an audience of more than 400 million, but according to regulators had also drawn public and official criticism for its vulgarity … further defining the standards, the SARFT warns the producers that Happy Boys Voice should include only "healthy and ethically inspiring" songs and avoid scenes of screaming fans or losing contestants in tears, … the show should "maintain a happy atmosphere" … scenes of wailing and screaming were called "low taste" …

 

And that was the week that was.

 

[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]

 

 

 

This is the week that was in matters musical …

 

1946, bebop trumpeter Albert "Tootie" Washington’s life and career are brought to a tragic conclusion when the 1941 Packard he’s piloting crashes into the 13th floor of New York’s Mercantile Bank Building … according to an investigating cop, the hip horn man was "high on horse" …

 

1966, avant-garde composer John Cage sues Simon and Garfunkel over their hit "Sounds of Silence," claiming it constitutes a copyright infringement of his famous 1952 composition 4'33", which consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence …

 

1967, Dunhill Records cancels its "Win a Date With Mama Cass" promotion when no entries are received …

 

1968, this week, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix do absolutely nothing noteworthy …

 

1970, Elvis frees the slaves of Graceland …

 

1976, building on the overwhelming popularity of the 8-track audio cartridge, RCA announces it is working on an 8-track video cartridge … according to one RCA exec, the "8-TV" cartridge will hold up to one 40-minute program with only a brief interruption every ten minutes as the tape heads change tracks …

 

1977, RCA releases the latest Elvis album, The King Requests, a compilation of taped phone calls Elvis made to a Memphis deli over the years to order sandwiches, pizza, and other snacks for delivery to Graceland … the calls were recorded over 12 years on 37 cassettes by the enterprising deli owner who sold them to RCA for $385,000 … and yes, every call ends with Elvis saying "thang-you-very-much" … in 1983 a remastered CD edition is released that contains hilarious outtakes including the time Elvis called and couldn’t remember what he wanted, as well as the time E made three calls in five minutes with the exact same order …

 

1978, the surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd issue a limited-edition commemorative wallet-on-a-chain in tribute to their fallen bandmates who died in a tragic plane crash the previous year …

 

1979, The Economist reports that the cost of funkmeister Rick James' cocaine intake for 1978 exceeds the GNP of Zimbabwe by a ratio of 5 to 4 …

 

1981, NASA confirms reports that George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and an entourage of P-Funk and Funkadelic veterans have safely returned from an expedition to Uranus …

 

1982, Bobby Schwartz, an unheralded singer-songwriter from Darien, Connecticut, wins the Best New Song award at the Southhampton Blues Festival with his gritty "Dead Polo Pony Blues" …

 

1990, Keith Richards checks into Geneva's Gesundtheit Hospital for his semi-annual blood exchange and decides to splurge on a glistening liver freshly dug out of a young, teetotaling highway accident victim …

 

1993, The Orlando Sentinel reports that a local Elvis impersonator has signed a management contract with a Colonel Tom Parker impersonator …

 

1994, notable for its furious diatribes against global corporations, politically charged alt-metal band Rage Against the Machine inks a multirecord, multimillion-dollar pact with Sony …

 

1996, virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai takes home a Grammy for Most Pimped Out Wardrobe …

 

1997, plans for a free Rolling Stones concert in San Francisco dubbed Altamont II are scratched when the Hell's Angels decline an offer to handle security … they have a previous commitment to provide security for The Vibe Awards …

 

1998, According to Billboard’s "Festival Watch" column, the latest rendition of the Allman Brothers band has logged its millionth in-concert request for "Whippin’ Post" … in a related item, the column reports that Pink Floyd has passed the 30-million Bic-flick mark … of course the band has its work cut out for it in surpassing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s supremacy with over 141 million career flicks …

 

1999, Sting’s new hit, "I’ll Be Watching Me" reaches #1 on the Australian charts …

 

2000, indie rock writers come together in Chicago to bestow the title of "Most Indie Artist of the Decade" upon the band Leaves of Green … the little-known group of tastemakers had only one real member, recorded only two songs, never played a show, never got signed to a label, and broke up after only three weeks of half-hearted disinterest … record store clerks everywhere instantly begin touting Leaves of Green as their favorite band and lamenting the loss of its unique and creative musical genius …

 

2001, singer-turned-actor Huey Lewis attempts a comeback with a newly formed supergroup in the tradition of Crosby, Stills, and Nash … Lewis teams up with former Buffalo Springfield drummer, Dewey Martin and ex-Velvet Underground guitarist, Lou Reed … the curmudgeonly Reed, who fears the band’s self-titled album, Huey, Dewey, and Louie will damage his image, seeks an injunction … the album is never released …

 

2002, velvet-throated crooner Tony Bennett collaborates on a duets album with shock rocker Marilyn Manson … the release is titled I Left My Heart in a Seething Pus-Filled Pit …

 

2003, cable network VH-1 logs the 100th rerun of its "Where Are They Now?" segment profiling one-hit wonders …

 

2006, to cash in on the overwhelming response to the Volkswagen/First Act GarageMaster car and guitar system, Line 6 introduces the FM-4 RadioPod … the world's first car-radio modeling system, designed to provide guitarists with the accurate tones of Buick, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes Benz, and other modern and vintage car radios … the crown jewel in this stunning set of sounds is a vintage Motorola 505 sampled from the back seat of a 1940 Plymouth … ever the trend-setter, pop icon and fitness guru Madonna causes an uproar in both the religious and scientific communities … skirting current cloning laws and taking her passion for Ashtanga Yoga to new heights, Madonna has her DNA combined with cryogenically stored DNA samples from India’s late political and spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi … according to attending physicians, little Mahatma Donna is doing beautifully …

 

2007, After her third arrest and rehab stint in as many months, Fender cancels production of the planned Squier Lindsay Lohan Signature Stratocaster … the guitar was to have been finished in her trademark Cotton Candy Pink Frost with a fake ID embedded in the top below the bridge … the package was slated to include swappable pickguards in natural or blonde … also this week, Gibson releases the acoustic BFG guitar …

 

2012, Janet Jackson's right breast is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame …

 

2017, former pop diva Britney Spears makes her Home Shopping Network debut pushing her new anti-cellulite cream …

 

2022, The Rolling Stones cancel the remaining dates on their African tour due to an undependable supply of Depends …

 

2028, Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited new Guns N’ Roses album is distributed in telepathic form on the Allonemindnet … a hard-copy version is also released in the new SpinDisK format that involves pressing audio data into grooves on a molten disc of black polyvinyl chloride … audiophiles say it restores the harmonic detail and warmth conspicuously absent from iPodDiskS …

 

And that was the foolish week that was.

 

[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]