On This Day – Bobby Darin Sings Rock Island Line
Mar 10, 2010 On This Day
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On this day in 1956 Bobby Darin made his first appearance on TV when he sings “Rock Island Line” on ‘The Stage Show’.
‘The Stage Show’ was a variety programme on CBS US TV. One of the interesting things about the show (this blog was going to be about Bobby Darin, then it was going to be about ‘Rock Island Line’, now it looks like it is going to be about some defunct US TV show. Go figure) was that it had alternate hosts. One week it was Tommy Dorsey the next it was his brother Jimmy. Both were noted jazz musicians and band leaders.
At that time Jimmy had stopped leading his own band and was working with Tommy’s which was billed as ‘The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Featuring Jimmy Dorsey’. A bit of a mouthful but it seems to have worked.
Apart from Bobby Darin’s first TV appearance the show also gave Elvis a spot on 28 Jan 1956. The response was so overwhelming they booked him for another 5 appearances in the next 8 weeks!
Tags: bobby darin, elvis, jimmy dorsey, On This Day, rock and blues, tommy dorsey
On This Day – Black Sabbath in London
Mar 9, 2010 On This Day
On This Day in 1970 The band formerly Known as Polka Tulk performed at The Roundhouse in North London under their new name, Black Sabbath.
Polka Tulk comprised Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. Where the name really came from is a matter of debate some say it was named after a clothing sgop in Birmingham (Pulka Tulk Trading coompnay) or a brand of talcum powder. Personally I like the idea of the softest stuff on earth giving us the name of what would become the hardest (and loudest) band on earth.
Polka Tulk became Earth and was a blues rock band, as were so many bands at the time, at least in the UK. The band was playing the usual set list of blues covers but was keen to expand their repertoire. So Geezer began writing some original songs. Again, the truth is shrouded in the mists of time (in other words I have not tracked down a direct quote) but it seems that Geezer was reading a lot of books by Denis Wheatley. Wheatley wrote about magic and the occult (as well as thrillers in which he displayed his pro-monachy, empire, and class sysyem bias. But on the positive side his books, like him, were verhemently anti Nazi). It was the Occult series that gripped Geezer.
He wrote a song called Black Sabbath and, apparently, as soon as they played it live on stage for the first time they knew that they were onto something. The crowd went wild.
The lyrics, the loudness, the fact that Ozzy could not sing all made record companies wary of them. However, they toured and toured. They built up a great live reputation but, in what might have been a mistake, they did not play any London venues. This would appear to be because London venue owners did not realise that music existed outside the capital and Liverpool. This also meant that the music critics, all based in London, did not see much of them and gave them a hard time in print.
However, the truth was that they were building a large and growing following. The gig at the Roundhouse and the record deal were ininevitable and hugely succesful. The eponymous first album was released on 13th February 1970 on Vertigo.
(I still do not understand how anyone could have been intimidated by BS in those days, have you seen the pictures? Ozzy is no more than a pimply, overweight, idiot – or that a recent photo?)
Say what you like about Sabbath, and I do, Sabbath were an influencial band. They helped define Metal. They were voted the Greatest Metal Band of all time by MTV came second to led Zep in VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Paranoid, the second album sold 4 million copies in the US (still with little air play) total sales in the Us are more than 15 million. Their first 5 albums all top ten hits and all sold in the millions.
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On This day – The Dark Side Revealed!
Feb 17, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1972 Pink Floyd started a four-night residency (can a residency really be just 4 days?) at London’s Rainbow Theatre during which they premiered Dark Side of the Moon – and I continued to lose Floyd.
During the 4 night ‘residency’ Floyd showed the forthcoming album to the world. The press was, of course, rapturous. “Of course” because the press loved Floyd at the time, they could do no wrong. Even though they had subjected us to Meddle and the dreadful Atom Heart Mother.
Meddle was a muddle. There was always going to be a transition between the Barrett Floyd and the non Barrett Floyd and perhaps meddle came out too soon. Anyway it was a mess. Atom Heart, dear oh dear……… What can I say? The moment I remember shaking my head (not in a good rythmic way) to Floyd was at the Colston Hall in Bristol as they fried eggs on stage. It was at that point when I thought that Floyd had lost it as far as I was concerned. To go from the wonderful Saucerful, the magnificent Ummagumma, to bacon butties on stage……..
Anyway, Darkside was recorded in two sessions at the Abbey Road studios between May ‘72 and March ‘3. It then sold squidilions of copies all over the world and other minor planets. They ascended to demi god status and ruled over the progressive musical universe until it imploded and they self destructed in a collision of mega egos.
I am really sorry to the die hard, or the Johnny come lately Floyd fans who disagree with me but “Set the Controls” YES, “Money” NO.
Doug Fieger Writer of “My Sharona” Dies
Feb 15, 2010 On This Day
Doug Fieger who fronted The KNack and who co-wrote their biggest hit “My Sharona” died today after a long battle against Cancer.
“My Sharona” was The Knack’s debut single and went on to be their biggest hit (most of us are hard put to remember any of the others). It was released in 1979 and was reported to be the biggest single of the whole of the 70s. As can be imagined a hit of that size without similar follow ups is a mixed blessing. Especially coming so early in their career it was something of an albatross, even if it was a golden one.
I really like the song. It is, of course, the second best pop single of all time. The best being Another Girl by the Only Ones…..
The Knack Live Play the Second best EVER Single
And Nirvana, prefaced by the quote “It changed my life” THAT is the measure of a great song.
Copying is the HIghest Form of Praise….. HammerFall
NOW, The Best Single EVER
And Live
You know, I really must write about the songs that change lives. There are two examples here and there are so many. Any suggestions?
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On This day – B A Baracus Grooving to Boy George!
Feb 11, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1986 Boy George guested on The A Team and B A Baracus is shown groovin’, if not movin’, to Karma Chameleon.
For those of tender years The A Team was a TV programme built around a group of ex marines (or something), who had been banged up in the stockade (or somewhere), after being falsley accused of something, or other.
There were 4 members of the A Team George Peppard played the colonel, the leader. Mr T was B A Baracus, the token big hard black man. (Before you dissagree and say that it was not tokenism. Do you think that any black actor would have been given the role of colonel back then?). The ladies’ man was played by Dirk Benedict (ex Battlestar Galatica star). Last but defo not least was mad, not bad, Murdock played by Dwight Shultz (who also played the slightly mad Reginald Barclay in Star Trek The next Generation).
In this episode Boy George played himself, not such a hard gig then. The plot is that Face has signed this band (Cowboy George) to play this dance hall to make a few bucks. However, his contract allows artists to be substituted and Boy George turns up to play in red-neck-mid-west-shoot-em-first country. (You know where that is it is next to the bobbies-with-pointy-hat-red-double-decker-buses-going-past-Big-Ben land on the LA film lot). There is also the usual crooked sheriff and something about a bank heist……
This was part of the 4th series of The A team during which the audience plummeted (not Boy Georges’ fault) and the improbable let’s-make-a-tank-out-of-2-oil-drums-and-a-Beetle scenes became more ludicrous.. The explosions became louder and more, well, explosive and still no one was ever killed!
The two good bits of the episode are Murdock revealing his taste in music when he plays The Lennon Sisters* singing “Too Marvellous for Words” and Boy George playing to a redneck audience, and them loving him….
The A Team was always fantasy.
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On This Day – Stagger Lee (Yet Again)
Feb 9, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1959 Lloyd Price reached number one in the States with “Stagger Lee”.
“Stagger Lee” has been recorded many times under many names by many people.
The song has been Bowderized, revised, chewed up and spat out by too many people to mention. Some of whom should have known better and some of whom had no idea of the history of the song and what it was about.
The definitive recordedversion was by the wonderful Mississippi John Hurt in 1928 although the song had been sung ever sinc ethe original crime in 1895.
Just why this particular crime became immortalised is not known (at least to me). The facts of the case m’lud, as the say, are quite simple. Stagger Lee Shelton was pimp and taxi driver in St. Louis. Not just any pimp along with a number of other pimps collectively known as “The Macks” they seemed to love the attention they got. Stagger was friends with Billy Lyons. One night they were drinking and began to talk politics, that developed into an arguement. Billy took Stagger’s hat from his head. Stagger demanded it back, Billy refused and Stagger shot him.
Killed over a hat.
Stagger and Billy became subject of a song that has mutated and survived during the following 100 years and shows no sign of being forgotten 115 years after the crime.
Alternative titles have included; “Stagolee”, “Stackerlee”, “Stack O’Lee”, “Stack-a-Lee”, “Stack Shot Billy”, and other variants that owe a lot to the original like The Clash’s “Wrong ‘Em Boyo”.
Among the artists that have sung and recorded the song are; Mississippi John Hurt, Leadbelly, Sidney Bechet, Beck, Pat Boone, James Brown, Cephas & Wiggins, Neil Diamond, Johnny Dodds, Fats Domino, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, Woody Guthrie, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Isley Brothers, Taj Mahal, Memphis Slim, Modern Life is War, Wilson Pickett, Professor Longhair, Sam the Sham, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Ma Rainey, Tom Rush, Ike and Tina Turner, Dave Van Ronk, Doc Watson, George Thorogood, Muddy waters, Billie Holiday, Nick cave
Anyway you get the idea virtually evryone who is someone has recorded a version of the song.
The interesting thing about Lloyd Price’s version? It removed any referrence to the murder and Stagger and Billy just shouted at each other and made up the next day…..
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On This Day – Teen Angel Tops
Feb 8, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1960 Mark Dinning hit number 1 in the States with his ode to careful parking “Teen Angel”. This is a song about parking a car on a railway crossing and the inherent perils that poses.
Not the first teenage death song there have been many tragic pop songs. Notable songs on the list include the classics; “Endless Sleep” (1958 – Jody Reynolds), “Tell Laura I love Her” (1960 – Ray Peterson), and – of course – “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro (Although that song is tragic on so many levels…..)
I rather think that song titles should warn you about the content which is why I have a soft spot for the Smith’s “Girlfriend in a Coma”. I also think that if people hit on a winning formula it is sometimes a mistake to follow it slavishly. After all The Shangri-Las had a lot going for them but they are now remembered for just 3 songs. “I Can never Go Home Anymore”, “Give Us Your Blessing”, and the one that started this path of despair, “Leader of the Pack”.
It would seem that “Leader of the Pack” also inspired Jim Steinman to write “Bat Out of Hell”, which you may or may not think is a good thing.
Songs about tradgedies are nothing new but we tend to forget some of the older ones. Billi Holiday’s Strange Fruit remains as powerful and disturbing as the day it was recorded.
On the other hand her version of “Gloomy Sunday” is a classic way of changing the direction of a tragic song. In the original version the narrator commits suicide. In Holiday’s version she wakes up and it has all been a dream…….
Another song that has been tweaked is “Season’s in the Sun”. The song is the narrator’s dieing farewell to his wife, friends and family. The original refers to the wife’s infidelity while the popular English versions refer instead to a young and innocent daughter.
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On This Day (Nearly) – Billy Fury Dies
Jan 28, 2010 On This Day
This is one that got away from me….On this day (yesterday) in 1983 Billy Fury died from heart and kidney problems. He was 42.
Billy Fury was almost unknown in the States but in the UK he was huge in the early 60s. In fact he had 24 hits in the UK charts in the 60s, equalling the Beatles’ record in the 60s. He also spent 332 weeks in the UK charts during that period. He was part of the early Mersey Boom of the 60s. His early performances were controversial and he had to tone down his on stage gyrations…….
His later life was dogged with ill health (he suffered from rheumatic fever as a child which laid the foundations for his later illness). He had major heart surgery in 1976.
Such was his contribution to music in the UK that there is a statue of Billy at the Albert Dock in Liverpool showing him in a typical on stage pose.
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On This Day – Peggy, er, Pegs Out
Jan 21, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 2002 the wonderful Peggy Lee died at home after having a heart attack.
Born Norma Deloris Egstrom in North Dakota Peggy Lee came from scandinavian stock and was a revered vocalist given her first big break by Benny Goodman, the band leader and jazz clarinetist.
Most of us will know her from her version of ‘Fever’ recorded in 1958 but she left a large body of work. Her recording carrer that started in 1942 lasted for some 50 years and she won 3 Grammy awards. She also appeared in a number of films (her performance as an alcoholic blues singer in Pete kelly’s Blues was nominated for an Oscar) and was a songwriter.
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On This Day – Rock ‘n’ Roll Has To Go!
Jan 20, 2010 On This Day
On this day in 1958 radio station KWK in St Loius announced that Rock ‘n’ roll was to be banned from their air waves. According to the station manager, Robert T Convey (along with most Brits I find the American habit of using their middle initial faintly comical. I would never refer to myself as Phil A Stutt, Phil Stutt is much more natural, as would Robert Convey – but I digress, again) said that their action was “a simple weeding out of undesirable music”. It was certainly simple, and short sighted, and so wrong.
The station was playing rock ‘n’ roll a couple of years later.
Coincidentally on this day in 1958 the Silhouettes released a rock ‘n’ roll classic “Get a Job”. I have no data on Mr Convey’s job status after he decided to ban R ‘n’ R.
In ‘78 KWK hired an interesting character to work for them. Bobby Hattrik was employed to programme the music and wanted to make KWK one of the foremost rock stations. Apart from his talent for programing and understanding what the listeners wanted he was also quite creative. He pioneered calling listeners to undertake polls (called outcall research). There are also stories stories of him phoning listeners in the middle of the night and posing as a caller from rival radio stations. He also ran battle of the bands spots. He would play tracks from 2 bands and ask the audience who they preferred. If he felt that the audience was wrong he would over ride their votes and go for the band he liked most – sounds like my type of guy.
He was murdered in 1986.
Tags: bobby hattrik, commercial radio, kwk, On This Day, rock and blues, rock radio, silhouettes
