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August in Music History
This month in 1992, a Guns N' Roses/Metallica show turned sour when Metallica's
James Hetfield was injured by on stage pyrotechnics...things got even
uglier after GNR's Axl Rose cut the band's concert short claiming that
he had laryngitis...displeased fans rioted. Back in 1988, GNR's "Appetite
for Destruction" album finally hit #1 after occupying the album charts
for 57 months.
In 1970, classic blues singer Bessie Smith's grave finally got a headstone
courtesy of Janis Joplin who acknowledged her artistic debt to the long-dead
singer. August 10th has proven to be a shaky day for musicians. On that
day in 1961, three male members of the smooth crooning Platters were caught
in a Cincinnati hotel room with four nineteen year old women, three of
whom were white, in various states of undress. The band was charged with
various morals violations, and acquitted later that year. Also on that
day of infamy in 1970, the Doors' Jim Morrison went on trial for exposing
himself on stage, and finally, on August 10, 1972, Paul and Linda McCartney
were busted in Sweden for drug possession.
In 1965, Sonny & Cher's pop hit "I Got You Babe" hit the
top Billboard slot...it was their only #1 entry. The song charted again
for Chrissie Hynde in 1985. In 1981 it was Diana Ross and Lionel Richie's
duet on "Endless Love" that went to the top of the pops where
it remained for nine months making it the most successful soundtrack single,
Motown single, and duet single of all time.
Historically, this has been a rough month for Scott Weiland, lead singer
of Stone Temple Pilots...in 1998 he got three months on heroin charges...one
year to the month later, he was back in court for probation violation due
to continued drug use. In 1995 Deadheads were saddened if not shocked
to learn of Jerry Garcia's death. A few days later the band canceled their
fall tour. In 1960 the British arm of Decca Records dumped 25,000 copies
of the teen angst tune "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson,
the song which voices the last thoughts of a young auto racer moments
before his death was deemed too tasteless and vulgar for Brit sensibilities.
During a 1967 performance at the Sunberry Jazz and Blue Festival in England,
Jerry Lee Lewis was asked to leave the stage after his incendiary set
produced fan frenzy. Also in 1967, folksinger Joan Baez was told she could
not play Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution
due to her opposition to the Vietnam War.
In1955 Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" entered the pop charts at
#23, two months after its top ten debut on the R&B charts...the infectious
mix of R&B with hillbilly music was a big hit with white American
teens and marked the unprecedented popularity of a black performer among
that demographic. In1985, Michael Jackson shelled out $47.5 million for
the ATV music catalog which included 251 Lennon/McCartney tunes.
This month during 1947, Tex Williams' cautionary "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!
(That Cigarette)" made its way to the top of the Billboard charts.
In 1968 the focus shifted from respiratory health to world peace when
the Rascal's "People Got To Be Free" hit number one.
In 1969 the peace -nik faction went into overdrive when the first (and
only real) Woodstock rock festival was held in Bethel, New York; 400,000
hippies gathered to create an instant city in the mud. By1977, with the
Love Generation working on its first set of love handles, it came as no
particular surprise when Elvis succumbed to heart failure in a Graceland
bathroom. Within hours, thousands of fans converged on Memphis from all
over the world to say goodbye to The King. FTD, the flowers-by-mail folks,
reported that the number of orders delivered to Graceland eclipsed every
other event in the company's history. In 1986, after losing an arm in
a car wreck, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen made his one-handed debut.
Back in 1972 following a riotous show in Akron, Ohio, Jefferson Airplane's
Grace Slick was maced and Paul Kantner was slammed to the floor by the
authorities. In 1961 Patsy Cline went into the studio to record Willie
Nelson's "Crazy"...it proved to be the biggest hit of her short-lived
career. Back in 1962 (Little) Stevie Wonder released his first single
with the ponderous title "I Call it Pretty Music (But the Old Folks
Call it the Blues)"...the track featured Marvin Gaye on drums, but
it went nowhere...Stevie didn't hit paydirt until a year later when "Fingertips-Pt.
2" made it into the Top Forty. In1990, Curtis Mayfield was paralyzed
from the neck down when lighting gear fell on him at a New York show.
He remained wheelchair-bound until his death in 1999. In 1970 Eric Burdon's
band, War, hit the number-three slot in the charts with "Spill The
Wine"...coincidentally, Edwin Starr's single, "War" was
right behind it in the next chart position...also in 1970, Lou Reed quit
The Velvet Underground and went to work for the next two years as a typist
for his father making forty bucks a month.
This was a big month in the life of John Lennon. Iin 1962 he married Cynthia
Powell in a quiet civil ceremony with Paul McCartney as best man. In 1968,
Cynthia filed for divorce after coming home from a vacation to find Yoko
Ono living in the Lennons' London home. In 1964 "The Chipmunks Sing
the Beatles" was reportedly selling 25,000 copies of John and Paul's
compositions a DAY. In 1966 John and his bandmates arrived in New York
for a concert at Shea stadium, where a couple of girl fans threatend to
jump from their hotel room's 22nd floor window unless they saw the group.
They get to see some cops instead and were charged with disorderly conduct.
In 1967 John and the rest of the lads met the Maharishi Mehesh Yogi, who
accepted them as disciples. Within the month, Paul announced that they've
given up drugs, saying "We don't need it anymore. We're finding different
ways to get there". Later in the month the Beatles learned that their
manager Brian Epstein had died of an accidental drug overdose.
The Maharishi told them that death is "not important". In1981
Lennon's murderer, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Over the
next few months he complained of regular beatings at the hands of his
fellow inmates, inspiring no public outcry. In 1992, Lennon's handwritten
lyrics to "A Day In The Life" sold at auction for $87,000. In
1998, the little sister John Lennon had been told of but was never able
to find materialized in the person of 53-year-old Ingrid Pedersen. She
had been waiting for the death of her adoptive mother before she came
forward. This month in 1968, according to his own unconfirmed statements,
Who drummer Keith Moon drove a Lincoln into the pool of a Holiday Inn
in Flint, Michigan. In 1969 Arlo Guthrie's movie, "Alice's Restaurant"
opened across the country. In 1986 Paul Simon released "Graceland."
In 1994 Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley were divorced. This month in 1994
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page reunited to record their "Unplugged"
show, which they title "Unleaded".
Jimi Hendrix gave his last public appearance at the Isle of Wight Pop
festival this month in 1970. This same same month, Duane Allman hit the
studio with the new Derek and the Dominoes. Clapton says Allman was "the
catalyst" that let them put together an entire double album in less
than 10 days. In 1993 Snoop Doggy Dogg was charged as an accessory to
first degree murder after his bodyguard shot a 22-year-old man. They claimed
the victim had pulled a gun on them. In 1990 Judas Priest beat a $6 million
civil suit charging that their music provoked two youths to shoot themselves
in 1985. In 1997 Steven Seagal, of shoot-em-up fame, headed off on a road
tour fronting a band as a singer and guitar player, retesting the notion
that celebrity is a good substitute for talent. In 1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan,
after rocketing to fame atop his honest and gritty blues licks, met a
tragic early demise when the helicopter that carried him and members of
Eric Clapton's entourage crashed into a hillside in Wisconsin. The helicopter
had been returning from a concert featuring Stevie Ray, Clapton, and Robert
Cray.
BIRTHDAYS:
August 2: Garth Hudson (1937)
Larry Coryell (1943)
August 8: Web Pierce (1921)
Jimmy Witherspoon (1923)
blues singerAl King (1923)
Mel Tillis (1932)
Joe Tex (1933)
Philip E. Balsley of the Statler Brothers (1939)
John "Jay" David of Dr. Hook (1942)
Ali Score of Flock of Seagulls (1956)
Ricki Rockett of Poison (1959)
U2's The Edge AKA David Evans (1961)
August 9: Barrelhouse pianist Robert Shaw (1908)
Odell Thompson (1911)
Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers (1913)
Bill Henderson of The Spinners (1939)
Rinus Gerritsen of Golden Earring (1946)
rap pioneer Kurtis Blow (1959), Cars bassist Benjamin Orr (1955)
Whitney Houston (1963)
August 10: Leo Fender (1911)
country crooner and sausage mogul Jimmy Dean (1928)
Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield (1940)
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (1947)
INXS drummer John Farriss (1961)
August 11: Eric Carmen of The Raspberries (1949)
Joe Jackson (1955)
August 12: Porter Wagoner (1927)
Mark Knopfler (1949)
Culture Club's Roy Hay (1961)
August 13: Dan Fogelberg (1951)
Dave "Baby" Cortez (1938)
August 14: Dash Crofts of Seals and Crofts (1940)
David Crosby (1941)
August 15: Oscar Peterson (1925)
Bobby Helms (1933)
Jimmy Webb (1946)
August 16: Baritone jazz crooner Al Hibbler (1915)
Barbara George (1942)
J.T. Taylor of Kool & The Gang (1953)
Tim Farriss of INXS(1957)
Madonna (born Louise Ciccone) (1958)
August 17: Mark ("Teenangel") Dinning (1933)
Belinda Carlisle (1958)
August 18: Johnny Preston (1939)
August 19: Jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles (1918)
Johnny ("I Can See Clearly Now") Nash (1940)
Ginger Baker (1940)
Ian Gillian of Deep Purple (1945)
Queen's John Deacon (1951)
August 20: Jim Reeves (1924)
James Pankow of Chicago (1947)
Robert Plant (1948)
Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy (1951)
John Hiatt (1952)
August 21: Count Basie (1904)
Kenny Rogers (1938)
Jackie DeShannon (1944)
The Clash's Joe Strummer (1952)
August 22: John Lee Hooker (1917)
Frank Marino (1954)
Tori Amos born Myrna Ellen Amos (1964)
August 23: Keith Moon (1947)
Rick Springfield born Richard Springthorpe (1949)
August 24: Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (1905)
Traffic drummer Jim Capaldi (1944)
Jean-Michel Jarre (1948)
August 25: Gene Simmons (1949)
Rob Halford of Judas Priest (1951)
Elvis Costello (1954)
Billy Ray Cyrus (1961)
August 27: Simon Kirke of Free and Bad Company (1949)
Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson (1953)
OBITUARIES:
August 1: Johnny Burnette (1964), Joe Liggins (1987)
August 2: Brian Cole (1972)
August 8th: Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (1975)
August 9th: Bob Herbert, who formed the Spice Girls (1999)
Jerry Garcia (1995)
reggae singer Wilfred "Jackie" Edwards (1992)
rockjournalist Lillian Roxon (1973)
August 10: Edward Roberts of Ruby & The Romantics (1993)
August 11: Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (1996)
August 12: Blues guitarist Luther Allison (1997)
August 13: Soul singer Joe Tex (five days after his birthday in 1982)
soul sax master King Curtis (1971)
August 14: The Platters' Tony Williams (1992)
guitarist Roy Buchanan (1988)
William "Big Bill" Broonzy (1958)
August 15: Rockabilly producer Norman Petty (1984)
August 16: Elvis Presley (1977)
August 17: Paul Williams of The Temptations (1973)
August 18: Rockabilly star Dorsey Burnette (1979)
August 19: Blind Willie McTell (1959)
August 20 Bobby Sheehan of Blues Traveler (1999)
August 25: Jazz band leader Stan Kenton (1979)
August 26: Ronnie White of the Miracles (1995)
August 27: Stevie Ray Vaughan (1990)
Brian Epstein (1967)
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