ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

January 23rd

1956 - Rock 'n' Roll

Rock 'n' Roll fans in Cleveland aged under 18 were banned from dancing in public (unless accompanied by an adult), after Ohio Police introduced a law dating back to 1931.

Mind you . . . . . 

1965 - Petula Clark

'Downtown' made Petula Clark the first UK female singer to have a No.1 on the US singles chart since Vera Lynn in 1952. The song was also a No.2 hit in the UK. Recorded in three takes (with the second take ultimately chosen as the completed track), session players in the studio recording included Jimmy Page. Extraordinarily enough she is still performing and sounds good to. She is in her late eighties and still performing and touring . . . . . here she is on Jools' "Later" from ages ago when she was merely just a spritely 80

1967 - Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd spent the first of three days recording the Syd Barrett songs Arnold Layne and Candy And A Current Bun at Sound Techniques Studios, Chelsea, London. According to Roger Waters, Arnold Layne was based on a real person - a transvestite whose primary pastime was stealing women's clothes and undergarments from washing lines in Cambridge. There was an official film but here's another promo recorded for the song, this time filmed on 29 April near St Michael's Church in Highgate. It is the only known footage of Barrett lip-synching to the song. It was shot in the spring of 1967, around the time that his mental deterioration began. Daily intake of LSD and taking it almost permanently is not recommended combined with Mandrax (Quualudes?) at the time is not brilliant if taken frequently. One's contact with reality tends to slip away. LSD claimed an awful lot of folk when cut or not made well and some went on a trip never to return


1969 - The Beatles

Working at Apple studios in London, The Beatles (with Billy Preston on keyboards) recorded ten takes of a new song called 'Get Back'.

1971 - George Harrison

George Harrison became the first solo Beatle to have a No.1 when ' 'My Sweet Lord' went to the top of the UK single charts. The song from his 'All Things Must Pass' album stayed at No.1 for five weeks. The track returned to the top of the UK charts in 2002, following his death.

1971 - Dawn

Dawn started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Knock Three Times', the group's first No.1, which was also an UK No.1.


1976 - David Bowie

David Bowie released his tenth studio album Station to Station, which was the vehicle for his last great character, the Thin White Duke. The album was recorded after he completed shooting Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth, and the cover artwork featured a still from the movie. The album made the top five in both the UK and US charts.

1978 - Terry Kath

American musician and songwriter Terry Kath, best known as the original guitarist, and founding members of the rock band Chicago accidentally shot himself dead. After a party at roadie and band technician Don Johnson's home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, Kath picked up a semiautomatic 9 mm pistol and, leaning back in a chair, said to Johnson, "Don't worry about it ... look, the clip is not even in it." To satisfy Johnson's concerns, Kath showed the empty magazine to Johnson. Kath then replaced the magazine in the gun, put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Apparently unbeknownst to Kath, however, there was still one round in the chamber, and he died instantly from the gunshot

1988 - Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Way You Make Me Feel'. It was the third single from Jackson's seventh studio album Bad for which Jackson had written over sixty songs for the album, with plans of releasing a three disc album, but producer Quincy Jones convinced Jackson to make 'Bad' a one disc LP.

1988 - Nirvana

Nirvana recorded a 10-song demo with Seattle producer Jack Endino. Sub Pop records boss Jonathan Poneman hears the tape and offers to put out a Nirvana single.

1990 - Allen Collins

Allen Collins guitarist from Lynyrd Skynyrd died of pneumonia after being ill for several months. Collins who was one of the founding members also co-wrote most of the band's songs (including Free Bird), with late front man Ronnie Van Zant. He survived a plane crash in 1977 that killed two other band members. Collins was behind the wheel in a car accident in 1986 that killed his girlfriend and left him paralyzed from the waist down. He later pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter as well as driving under the influence of alcohol.

1990 - David Bowie

David Bowie announced his forthcoming Sound And Vision world tour, during which he would invite each local audience to decide on a 'greatest hits' running order, organised through local radio stations. The concert tour surpassed Bowie's previous Serious Moonlight (1983) and Glass Spider (1987) tours' statistics by visiting 27 countries with 108 performances.

1991 - Led Zeppelin

John Sebastian, owner and general manager of KLSK FM in Albuquerque, New Mexico, played Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' for twenty-four solid hours to inaugurate a format change to Classic Rock. Police showed up with guns drawn: once after a listener reported that the DJ had apparently suffered a heart attack, and later because of suspicion that, this being eight days into the Gulf War, the radio station had been taken hostage by terrorists dispatched by Zeppelin freak Saddam Hussein.

1995 - Bill Horton

American singer Bill Horton with The Silhouettes died. The doo wop/R&B groups single 'Get A Job' was a No.1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop singles chart in 1958. The doo-wop revival group Sha Na Na derived their name from the song's lyrics. 'Get A Job' is included in the soundtracks of the film American Graffiti, Trading Places and Stand By Me. The Silhouettes performed in the 1986 movie Joey.


1998 - Johnny Funches

US soul singer Johnny Funches from The Dells died of pneumonia at the age of 62. The Dells had the 1956 hit 'Oh What a Night' and 1968 US No.10 single 'Stay In My Corner'. The Dells formed in 1952 after all attending high school together.



2000 - Santana

Santana started a three week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Supernatural', the album which went on to win eight Grammy awards spent a total of nine weeks at No.1 during this year. Somehow the fanbase from earlier Abraxas or Caravan Serai basically the seventies time onward but by this many like me had given up by this time but he seems to have found another audience . . . . . . 'Smooth' seems about right but somehow too MOR for these ears! Even despite touring with Bobby in the early eighties and nineties . . . . . 

2001 - Eminem

An English coroner criticised the rap singer Eminem's lyrics as depressing during an inquest into the death of a schoolboy who threw himself in front of a train. The 17-year old boy had printed out the lyrics to Eminem's track 'Rock Bottom' before his death.

2003 - R Kelly

R Kelly was arrested on new child pornography charges. The singer was detained in Miami after police said digital sex pictures were discovered at his home in Florida last June. The singer was already facing 21 charges relating to producing child pornography and appearing in a video having sex with an underage girl. He was charged with a further 12 counts of possession of child pornography.

2005 - Bez

Former Happy Mondays dancer Bez, won the £50,000 Celebrity Big Brother prize, after gaining 54% of the final viewer vote. The "Madchester" pop legend danced his way to becoming the sixth member of the indie-dance band in the late-1980s after playing maracas with them.


2014 - Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber was arrested after racing his yellow Lamborghini against another sports car on a Miami Beach street. Police said the singer did not co-operate when pulled over also charged him with resisting arrest without violence and having an expired driving licence. The 19-year-old singer was granted bail set at $2,500 (£1,500).

BIRTHDAYS

1948 - Anita Pointer

Anita Pointer, singer with American R&B singing group The Pointer Sisters who had the 1981 US No.2 single, 'Slow Hand' and the 1984 UK No.2 single 'Automatic'. The Pointer Sisters have won three Grammy Awards and had 13 US top 20 hits between 1973 and 1985. I loved the Pointer Sisters and bought singles (Slow Hand etc) and albums even . . . . . 

1910 - Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist. He badly burned his third and fourth fingers of his left hand in a house fire aged 18. Doctors suggested he play the guitar to keep his fingers flexible, giving him his two fingered guitar style. Has worked with Stepane Grappelli and Duke Ellington. Reinhardt died of a stroke on 15th May 1953. One of the signature legends of the guitar, a French Romani his accident caused him to rethink how he played and thus develop his own completely unique style and sound. His cross over work with violinist Stephane Grappelli stands as one of the greatest collborations in music . . . . any music. It's a universal!





with eternal thanks to On This Day In Music