Classic Rock: A Journey Through Timeless Music
Led Zeppelin's film, The Song Remains the Same, a mixture of concert footage and fantasy sequences, premieres at Cinema I in New York
Less than a month after leaving The Mamas And The Papas, Cass Elliot's first solo album, "Dream A Little Dream" was released on Dunhill Records. Recorded live in just ten days, the LP would be only a moderate success, selling 150,000 copies and climbing to #87 on the Billboard 200 chart. The single "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" fared much better, peaking at #12 on the Hot 100 and #11 in the UK. Among the musicians appearing on the album were Hal Blaine - drums, Harvey Brooks - bass guitar, James Burton - guitar, dobro, Jim Gordon - drums, Larry Knechtel - keyboards, John Sebastian - guitar, harmonica, and Stephen Stills - guitar, vocals.
The movie, How I Won the War, starring John Lennon as Private Gripweed, premiered in London, England, with all four of The Beatles in attendance. The film received mostly negative reviews, including one from American critic John Simon, who called it "pretentious tomfoolery." [TRAILER](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O85aBGeKTq0)
A British group known collectively as Manfred Mann had the number one single on the Billboard Pop chart with "Do Wah Diddy Diddy". The song was sung by vocalist Paul Pond, who used the stage name Paul Jones. Keyboard player Michael Lubowitz would retain the band's name and continued to turn out chart hits until the mid 1980s.
Creedence Clearwater Revival split up following the failure of their most recent album, "Mardi Gras". After limited success as a solo act and some legal hassles with Fantasy Records, John Fogarty would have three big hits in 1985, "The Old Man Down The Road" (#10), "Center Field" (#44) and "Rock and Roll Girls" (#20). John's brother Tom Fogarty died in September, 1990 and the surviving members went on to tour as Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
UB40 was enjoying the top tune in America with a Reggae version of Neil Diamond's "Red, Red Wine". Diamond's 1968 rendition only made it to #62.
Runnin' Down a Dream, a documentary film about Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, makes its debut at the New York Film Festival. The four hour movie, which chronicles the history of the band, would go on to win a Grammy Award for Best Music Film at the 2008 ceremony.
Queen released their single, "Fat Bottomed Girls" in the UK. With "Bicycle Race" on the flip side, the record will reach #11 on the British chart.
20-year-old Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of former Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious, is found dead of abdominal knife wounds in their room at Chelsea Hotel in New York. Vicious, nearly unconscious due to the effects of several different drugs, is charged with her murder, jailed and then released. He would die of a heroin overdose on February 2nd, 1979, before the case could come to trial. The New York City Police Department closed the case after his death.
Rod Stewart officially became Sir Roderick David Stewart when he received knighthood from Prince William at Buckingham Palace in London, England. The 71-year-old singer was honored for his services to the music industry and charity work, which includes supporting the British Red Cross, Breast Cancer Care and Elton John's AIDS Foundation. In a statement he told the press, "I've led a wonderful life and have had a tremendous career thanks to the generous support of the great British public. This monumental honor has topped it off and I couldn't ask for anything more. I thank Her Majesty and promise to wear it well."
Singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith are injured at a Philadelphia concert after a firecracker is thrown on stage. From then on, the group performs from behind a cyclone fence. "We were going back up on the stage to do the encore," guitarist Brad Whitford later told Goldmine. "I was going up the stairs right behind [singer] Steven [Tyler] and [guitarist] Joe [Perry], and I felt the concussion of the cherry bomb going off. Steven immediately covered his face and there was blood shooting up out of Joe’s arm, literally. So pretty quickly we got ourselves to the emergency room." The incident reportedly burned Tyler's cornea, ruptured an artery in Perry's hand and forced the band off the road for a while. Understandably angry, Aerosmith declined offers for a return to the City of Brotherly Love for a while. "I have to say we were shaken by it and extremely pissed off," Whitford added. "We had a few offers to come back and we passed on it." Eventually, of course, Aerosmith did return to the scene of the crime. But Tyler was once again injured onstage at a Philadelphia show. "Five songs into a sold-out show, someone threw a beer bottle from the balcony," Whitford recalled in Aerosmith's Walk This Way autobiography. "It hit the stage dead center, right in front of the monitor, and exploded – sending shards of glass into Steven's face. I think some glass went right through his mouth. That's it. Backstage, Steven's holding a towel to his bloody face, and he wants to go back on! The vote was four-to-one against, and we were in the limos two minutes later. Fuck this."
1940 - Alfred and Julia Lennon celebrate the birth of their son, John. 1975 - John Lennon and his wife Yoko celebrate his 35th birthday with the birth of their only child, Sean Taro Ono Lennon. 1985 - Marking what would have been John Lennon's 45th birthday, Yoko Ono formally dedicated a two and a half acre landscaped section in New York's Central Park called Strawberry Fields. The entrance to the memorial is located on Central Park West at West 72nd Street, directly across from the Dakota Apartments where Lennon had lived during the later part of his life and where he was murdered in 1980. To this day, fans still gather there to reflect and sing Lennon songs. 2002 - John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman was denied parole for a second time on October 9th, the same day that Lennon would have turned 62. The state parole board issued a statement that said releasing Chapman after twenty-two years in prison would "deprecate the seriousness" of the crime and while Chapman had "acceptable" behavior in prison, that didn't guarantee he wouldn't pose a threat to society. At his first parole hearing two years earlier, Chapman said he did not deserve to go free. The 48-year-old prisoner lived in a housing unit separate from the general population for his own safety and worked as a clerk.
Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapsed on a Sussex University stage after playing a twenty minute drum solo. He recovered in a local hospital.
The Youngbloods receive Gold certification for their rendition of "Get Together". The song had been around for a number of years and was originally recorded as "Let's Get Together" by the Kingston Trio and used as an album track. We Five took it to #31 in 1965 as a follow-up to "You Were On My Mind". Jefferson Airplane included it on their 1966, debut album, "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off".
Eddie Van Halen, who established himself as one of the all-time greatest guitar players in Rock history as a member of the group Van Halen, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 65
Atlantic Records releases "Led Zeppelin III", which would top both the US and UK album charts. It would include "Immigrant Song", which would rise to #16 in America. The LP would go Platinum in Great Britain for sales of 300,000 and 6X Platinum in America for moving over six million copies.
"Abbey Road", the last album recorded by The Beatles, enters the UK charts at number one. The LP would go on to be the group's biggest seller in Britain, although "The Beatles" (the white album) sold more in North America. Then in 2019… "Abbey Road" returned to number one in the UK nearly fifty years after it first topped the British album charts. The gap of 49 years and 252 days set a new UK chart record for an album's return to number one. "It's hard to believe that Abbey Road still holds up after all these years," tweeted Sir Paul McCartney, "but then again, it's a bloody cool album."
Sinead O'Connor did her career some major damage when she appeared on US TV's Saturday Night Live and held up an 8" x 10" color photo of Pope John Paul II, ripped it into pieces and said, "Fight the real enemy." Over the next few days the NBC switchboard in New York received thousands of calls denouncing O'Connor's performance. The network and the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, both denied any knowledge of O'Connor's plan and said she had performed the song differently in rehearsal. Catholic groups expressed outrage at the act and called it patently offensive to people of all religious beliefs. NBC has never again aired the O'Connor performance.
Pink Floyd release their fifth studio album, "Atom Heart Mother" in the UK. It will become the band's first LP to reach #1 in Great Britain, while it climbed to #55 in the US, eventually going Gold there.
Brian Epstein signs his management contract with The Beatles. John Lennon and Ringo Starr signed for themselves and Harold Harrison and James McCartney do so on behalf of their underage sons. The agreement gave Epstein a 25% cut of the group's earnings provided that they made more than $400 each per week.
George Harrison and David Crosby guest star as themselves in the first episode of season five of The Simpsons.
Grand Funk scored their first number one record when "We're An American Band" hit the top of Billboard's Hot 100. The song was sung by drummer Don Brewer rather than Mark Farner, who usually took lead vocals.
The Beatles had not only their biggest hit, but also the largest selling record of the 1960s when "Hey Jude" reached the top of the US charts. The song, written by Paul McCartney for John's son Julian, would stay at number one in America for nine weeks and sell over eight million copies. In 1996, Julian paid £25,000 for the recording notes to the song at an auction
Carlos Santana had his first taste of success when his debut LP entered Billboard's Hot 200. The album would eventually climb to #4 and stayed on the chart for over two years, aided by the #9 hit single "Evil Ways". In the UK, it reached #26.
The Grateful Dead's "Touch Of Grey" peaks at #9 on the US singles chart, becoming their only Billboard chart hit.
Queen make a guest appearance on US TV's Saturday Night Live, where they perform "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Under Pressure".
Jimi Hendrix moved from the United States to the UK, where he would spend the next nine months touring and recording before returning home to play the Monterey International Pop Festival in California. One of the first things he does after arriving in England is to legally change his name from James to Jimi.
Steely Dan release their sixth studio album, "Aja" (pronounced "Asia"). The LP would peak at #3 on the Billboard 200 and #5 in the UK, becoming the band's most commercially successful album. It spawned three hit singles, "Peg" (#11), "Deacon Blues" (#19), and "Josie" (#26).
The Who kick off what they say is their farewell tour, a forty date trip that will gross $23 million. They would reunite in 1985
Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" is released in the US where will become his only Top 40 hit single, topping out at #20. In the UK the song will reach #5 and be awarded a Platinum Record for sales of 600,000
The Bay City Rollers appeared on the Saturday Night Variety Show with Howard Cosell and performed their just released record, "Saturday Night", which would climb to number one in the US by the first week of January. Can't find the Cosell video, so the one posted is from a different performance.
On the strength of the single "Start Me Up", The Rolling Stones album "Tattoo You" started a nine week run at #1 on the Billboard album chart. Primarily composed of out-takes from previous recording sessions, some dating back a decade, it is the last Rolling Stones album to reach the top position of the US charts.
"Play That Funky Music" by a Steubenville, Ohio quintet called Wild Cherry topped the Billboard Pop chart. It was the first of five chart singles for the band who took their name from a box of cough drops.
The Doors perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. Even though he agreed to change some of the words to "Light My Fire", Jim Morrison sings "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" anyway. A furious Sullivan vowed that the band would never appear on his show again. Morrison reportedly just shrugged and said, "We just did the Sullivan show."
The Savoy Hotel in London played host to the 1970 Melody Maker Poll Awards, where Led Zeppelin displaced the Beatles in the most popular group category. (The first time the Beatles had not been ranked #1 in eight years). Robert Plant was also voted best male vocalist. John Bonham and Robert Plant make a rare appearance on TV, interviewed for BBC's Nationwide. Melody Maker stopped publication in December, 2000 after seventy-three years.
The Ford Motor Company becomes the first auto maker to offer an 8-track tape player as an option in their Mustang, Thunderbird and Lincoln models. Tapes were initially only available at auto parts stores, as home 8-track equipment was still a year away. The format's popularity declined in the 1980s, although Cheap Trick's "The Latest" was issued on 8-track in 2009, as was Dolly Parton's "A Holly Dolly Christmas" in 2020.
Big Brother And The Holding Company's LP, "Cheap Thrills" enters the Billboard 200, where it will stay for twenty-nine weeks, including eight at #1. The album would later be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame and was ranked at #372 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time in 2020
Peter Frampton's fourth solo album, "Frampton", goes Gold. It's his commercial breakthrough LP containing the hits "Show Me the Way" and "Baby I Love Your Way".