2020

Good Morning, Music Trivialists! We here at the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge draw from our own archive of totally useless information and pour over various electronic sources to bring this to you every day. As you may expect, some sites differ from others about locations of events, timing, etc. Needless to say, research, critical thinking and weed is required to complete this task.

***The Million Dollar Quartet: Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis.***

Here’s today’s lesson!

December 4, 1956: Elvis Presley stopped by Sun Studios unexpectedly to find Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash watching Carl Perkins in the studio. The four would tape several songs together on that day, but it would be 25 years before that day would be immortalized on vinyl as The Million Dollar Quartet.

December 4, 1964: The Beatles release their fourth album, Beatles For Sale, which spends 11 weeks as the #1 album in the UK.

December 4, 1965: Turn, Turn, Turn would give The Byrds their second consecutive #1 hit, following up Mr. Tambourine Man.

December 4, 1969: President Richard M. Nixon, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and forty governors spend the day watching simulated acid trips and listening to rock music to help them understand the “generation gap.” We have been led by idiots for a very long fucking time.

December 4, 1971: Don MacLean’s eight-minute epic, American Pie, enters Billboard’s Hot 100. Before all is said and done, it will sell 3 million copies. To this day, it remains one of the most analyzed and debated songs in music history.

Also on this day, Sly & The Family Stone’s Family Affair begins a three-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This will be their third and final #1 and their last song in the top 10 before the band implodes under the weight of personal issues, and falls apart. Too bad. They were a great band.

Led Zeppelin also began a two-week stint at the top of the UK Album chart with the Four Symbols album, which includes Stairway To Heaven. The album will eventually sell 11 million copies and remained on the US charts for nearly five years.

December 4, 1980: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones announce that Led Zeppelin will not continue on after the death of drummer John Bonham.

December 4, 1982: A retrospective album of John Lennon’s solo work called The John Lennon Collection, started a six-week run at #1 on he UK Album chart. The front and back covers were shot by Annie Liebovitz on December 8, 1980, just five hours before John Lennon’s murder.

December 4, 1987: Alison Krauss, just sixteen years old, releases her debut album, Too Late To Cry, with her backing band, Union Station.

December 4, 1988: Roy Orbison (aka, Lefty Wilbury) plays his final gig at The Front Row Theater in Akron, Ohio. Orbison dies of a heart attack two days later.

Born On This Day

December 4, 1942: Chris Hillman, of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Desert Rose Band, was born in Los Angeles.

December 4, 1944: Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys was born in Inglewood, California.

And that, my friends, is as they say — all the news that’s fit to print because there are a lot of singers we simply don’t give a shit about here in The Mermaid Lounge.

More From The Beatles, Album of The Week, and Linda Ronstadt Live in My Town on Thursday, December 3, 2020

It’s another great day of music from The Mermaid Lounge: Just enough programming and plenty of Open Stream as we chug on toward a weekend of new music playlists!

***Linda Ronstadt performs on stage in Boston with Valerie Carter*** ***(1995).***

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. The Beatles: The Transformation

I guess I could have come up with a better title for this playlist, but it was hard for me to describe the giant leap The Beatles took from Rubber Soul onward. It was gigantic. This was undoubtedly their most creative and experimental time as a musical group in their writing and in the studio. George Martin was no small part of that endeavor.

3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Wreckless Abandon by The Dirty Knobs

Time is winding down on this week’s Album of The Week. We’ve got one more chance for you to acquaint yourselves with The Dirty Knobs before we move on to a brand new selection on Sunday!

7:00 p.m. Linda Ronstadt Live at The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA, May 14, 1995

The photo above isn’t the best, but good photos of this show are very hard to come by. I was there, and this was undoubtedly one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen Linda Ronstadt perform. She was helped by friend Valerie Carter, who also opened for her. You don’t get the opportunity to see two great singers on stage together very often. I, luckily, did. (By the way, if you’re not familiar with Valerie Carter, you should make it a point to become familiar. We love her here in The Mermaid Lounge.)

Tune us in. Grease your wheels. This weekend we’ve got some brand new playlists coming up, along with some new live shows. We’ve been out there hunting, and all of this will carry over into the winter of our discontent. Hopefully, #BecomeUngovernable Radio can be an oasis in this vast wasteland.

www.tinyurl.com/Ungovernable-Radio

Another Early Morning Lesson From The Mermaid Lounge: 12/3/2020

Good Morning, Students! Here we are again with a lesson in rock n’ roll history from the College of Rock n’ Roll Knowledge. We’re not as active as some days today, but we do pick and choose our subjects here. There are a lot of people we don’t give a flying fuck about, like Madonna. JayZ. Lady GaGa. Kanye West, the waste of musical space, and so on.

And now, today’s lesson:

December 3, 1955: Elvis Presley’s first release on RCA Victor Records was announced. The first two were purchased from Sam Phillips at Sun Records, Mystery Train and I Forgot To Remember To Forget.

December 3, 1961: Brian Epstein makes his first pitch to become The Beatles’ manager. Although the meeting goes well, there is no decision on this day.

December 3, 1965: Keith Richards cuts it close. He steps on a microphone cable and is electrocuted and knocked unconscious during a Stones concert in Sacramento. After a short break, Richards is able to come back and play.

Also on this day, The Beatles release the album Rubber Soul and the single Nowhere Man in the UK.

December 3, 1966: Paul Revere & The Raiders had their sixth Billboard Top 40 hit enter the Top 100. Good Thing will climb the charts and eventually reach #4, It stays on the charts for ten weeks.

December 3, 1968: It’s a Banner Day for Gold Records: The Grass Roots song Midnight Confessions is certified Gold on this day; and the albums Aretha Now by Aretha Franklin and Fresh Cream by Cream are certified Gold as well.

The Montreux Casino caught fire and burned during a show by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention. The event is immortalized in the song Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. Deep Purple was supposed to begin working on their Machine Head album the following day.

December 3, 1976: Bob Marley narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Seven gunmen sprayed bullets into his Kingston, Jamaica, home where he and the Wailers were rehearsing. Marley had become unpopular in some circles due to his influence over some local politicians. He moved to Florida a short time after the incident.

December 3, 2003: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers a Diamond Award, markng the sale of 10 million copies of their Greatest Hits album in the U.S.