Content tagged 'This Day in Music'

35 years ago today, the original lineup of The Dream Syndicate had their very first jam session together. This is not to say that the band played their first proper show on this date, mind you. That wouldn’t happen until a little bit into 1982, and when it did, it took place at Club Lingerie in Hollywood, California. No, this was just the first time that all of the players – Steve Wynn, Kendra Smith, Karl Precoda, and Dennis Duck – got together in the same room and played music as a single entity. Wynn and Smith had known each other for a fair while, having both not only attended the Universit

13 years ago today, Ozzy Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne became one of the rare father-daughter duos to ascend to the top of the UK Singles chart, doing so with a song that Ozzy had originally recorded as a member of Black Sabbath. “Changes” first debuted as an album track on Black Sabbath’s 1973 album VOL. 4, surprising more than a few fans in the process – the band wasn’t exactly known for delivering piano ballads, after all – while also demonstrating Sabbath’s musical diversity. In the past, Ozzy has used the word “heartbreaking” to describe the song, which may explain what led him to join forc

29 years ago today, The Jesus and Mary Chain took a pass on a chance at gaining a slightly larger American fanbase because they refused to concede to a demand by CBS. Unless you were an obsessive Anglophile in the ‘80s, you may not have realized that there was a brief window when CBS decided to air an American version of the classic British music series Top of the Pops , but indeed they did. Unfortunately, when the producers of TOTP U.S. wanted to run a video by The Jesus and Mary Chain on the show in 1987, the network’s Standards and Practices department balked at the idea of airing a video b

As we sit on the precipice of Donald Trump’s presidency, now would seem to be a very good time to reminisce about how Led Zeppelin and Barack Obama were hanging out together exactly four years ago today. Yes, it was in 2012 that Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones received the Kennedy Center Honors for their “lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts,” an accomplishment which Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, and Natalie Makarova received as well that year. Now, to be completely honest, they were formally honored at the State Department four yea

50 years ago today, The Doors signed the contract that made them members of the Elektra Records roster, creating a partnership that has worked out quite nicely for the band, for the label, and for the fans as well. Although it’s hard to conceive of The Doors being on any other label during their heyday, it’s not as if the band came into existence and headed straight to Elektra with their wares. “We hit everyone in town [with our demo] – all the labels were in L.A. – and got rejected by everyone,” wrote Ray Manzarek wrote in his autobiography, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors. “ Capitol, R

32 years ago today, Chaka Khan’s cover of a 1979 Prince track began its breakthrough beyond the R&B charts and onto the Billboard Hot 100, a voyage which would ultimately take it all the way to the #3 spot. Recorded by Prince for his 1979 debut album, “I Feel For You” was actually written for Patrice Rushen originally, but she rejected it. Others were less picky, however: the Pointer Sisters recorded a version of the track in 1982 for their So Excited album, and only a few months earlier in 1984, Rebbie Jackson had tackled the song for her Centipede album, the title track of which was a hit in

41 years ago today, David Bowie made one of the most memorable TV appearances of his career, teaming with Cher to deliver a medley of seemingly-incongruous songs that is one of the true must-see moments of ‘70s variety-show history. Although it’s generally referred to as “the ‘Young Americans’ medley,” those four words hardly do justice to the six-and-a-half minute musical amalgam that resulted from the combination of the title track of Bowie’s 1975 album and a dozen other instantly-recognizable pop hits when Bowie appeared on Cher, the post-Sonny and Cher Show series that resulted when the ma

44 years ago today, David Bowie recorded the song that would go on to serve as the first single for his ALADDNI SANE album. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, “The Jean Genie” was – per no less an authority than Bowie himself – written while he was hanging out with Cyrinda Foxe, an actress/model who also worked as a publicist for Bowie’s management company, MainMan Artistes LTD. In a 2002 interview with Entertainment Weekly , Bowie described Foxe as a “sexy girl” and said that “The Jean Genie” was written “for her amusement in her apartment.” The character described in the song’s lyrics was a

34 years ago today, The Smiths made their live debut on the stage of The Ritz in Manchester, England. It wasn’t a lengthy performance – mostly because they didn’t have many songs yet – but its impact on the British music scene was, in the long run, nothing less than brilliant. The Smiths’ big break came about as a result of a band called Blue Rondo A La Turk, who took their name from a Dave Brubeck number and whose sound was a musical amalgam consisting of jazz, pop, and salsa. When Marr learned that Blue Rondo A La Turk were set to play a fashion show at the Ritz, he joined forces with a coup

44 years ago today, Alice Cooper performed four songs on the premiere episode of the ABC series In Concert , an appearance which directly resulted in the series’ subsequent episodes being sent to local network affiliates in advance of their airdates for managerial approval. Yeah, Alice kind of freaked out some of the folks in Cincinnati. It seemed like it was going to be a relatively even-keeled affair when In Concert premiered, with a set list featuring performances by Cooper, Bo Diddley, Curtis Mayfield, and Seals and Croft, but pity those other three acts, because it was Cooper who was give