Good Morning, Students! It’s another happy Monday here in The College, and we’re delivering all the musical news that’s fit to print:
Here’s today’s lesson:
January 4, 1936: The first pop music chart based on national sales was introduced by Billboard.
January 4, 1950: RCA Victor announces that they will manufacture long playing (LP) records.
January 4, 1954: (Just about one month before I was born.) A young truck driver named Elvis Presley pays to record two songs at the Memphis Recording Service (MRS). It’s his second visit, and this time MRS head Sam Phillips gets his name and number. Later, he phones Elvis and asks him to record for his Sun label.
January 4, 1957: Solomon Burke makes his debut on The Steve Allen Show.
January 4, 1967: The Doors release their self-titled debut album.
Also on this day, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of what would be over 240 gigs when they appeared at the Bromel Club in Bromley.
January 4, 1969: Marvin Gaye extended his stay at #1 to four weeks with I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Again, I reiterate, Marvin Gaye remade the song, not Gladys Knight & The Pips. She released it a year earlier than Marvin Gaye did, and it went to #1 then as well. They don’t mention that. They call hers the remake.
January 4, 1970: George Harrison recorded the second guitar solo and McCartney, Harrison and Starr re-recorded vocals for Let It Be. This is the final recording session for The Beatles. John Lennon isn’t even present for the session. The last time all four Beatles were together in a studio was August of 1969.
January 4, 1973: Lamar Williams joined The Allman Brothers Band, replacing the late Berry Oakley.
Also on this day, Neil Young kicked off his Time Fades Away tour in Madison, Wisconsin, with Linda Ronstadt as the opening act. Ronstadt is used to playing the club scene and has never performed in an arena setting. Nevertheless, she wows the audiences througout the tour with that fucking amazing voice, literally stealing the show along the way. The following year, she releases Heart Like A Wheel and begins her meteoric rock n’ roll rise.
January 4, 1974: Bruce Springsteen played the first of three nights at Joe’s Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Born On This Day
January 4, 1942: John McLaughlin (The Mahavishnu Orchestra) was born in Doncaster, England. In 2010, Jeff Beck called him ‘the best guitarist alive.’
January 4, 1946: R & B singer Arthur Conley, best known for his 1967 hit Sweet Soul Music, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.
And that is the end of today’s lesson! Back with the line-up soon.
#BecomeUngovernable Radio 