ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

January 4th

1967 - The Doors

The Doors released their eponymous debut album The Doors. The album features their breakthrough single 'Light My Fire' and the lengthy song 'The End' with its Oedipal spoken word section. The album was recorded at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood, California over six days and the unique packaging of the album included each band members bio.
As soon as the needle hit that vinyl and the opening bars of 'Break on Through . . .  ' hit, at that moment the world began . . . . . . . . . 


1967 - Jimi Hendrix

The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of what would be over 240 gigs in this year when they appeared at the Bromel Club, Bromley. (Many of the concerts were two shows per night).
not from then but . . . . . . I don't care!


1968 - The Rolling Stones

The University of California, Los Angeles announced that students taking music degrees would have to study the music of The Rolling Stones saying they had made such an important contribution to modern music.

1969 - The Beatles

UK music weekly Disc and Music Echo reported that The Beatles were to release five new albums. One would be their first ever live album plus four separate LP's, each one the choice of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Fake news!

1970 - The Beatles

The Beatles (without John Lennon) re-record vocals and a new guitar solo on the Paul McCartney song 'Let It Be' at Studio Two, EMI Studios, London. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. (The final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969).

1970 - Keith Moon

Chauffeur Neil Boland was accidentally killed when The Who's drummer Keith Moon ran over him in his Bentley. Moon was trying to escape from a Gang of skinheads after a fight broke out at a pub in Hatfield, England. Boland got out to try to protect the car, but left it in gear. He fell under the car and it started moving with Moon at the wheel as he tried to escape the fight. The drummer had never passed his driving test.

1975 - Elton John

Elton John started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'. His third US No.1, the song featured John Lennon on guitar.

1977 - Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols shocked passengers and airline staff at Heathrow Airport when they spat and vomited boarding a plane to Amsterdam.

1986 - Phil Lynott

Irish singer, songwriter and bassist Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy died of heart failure and pneumonia after being in a coma for eight days following a drug overdose. With Thin Lizzy he had the 1973 hit 'Whiskey in the Jar', (their version of the traditional Irish song) and hits with ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’, ‘Jailbreak’ and ‘Waiting for an Alibi’. The groups 1978 album 'Live and Dangerous' spent 62 weeks on the UK chart. Lynott fronted several bands as a lead vocalist, including Skid Row alongside Gary Moore. A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott was unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin Ireland in 2005.

2001 - Courtney Love

Courtney Love filed a lawsuit against her alleged stalker claiming that Lesley Barber, the ex-wife of her current boyfriend Jim Barber, drove over her foot. This had forced her to forfeit her role in a forthcoming film and lost her the £200,000, ($340,000) fee that went with it.

2001 - Liam Gallagher

Madame Tussaud's waxworks in London revealed that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher had come third in 'The Most Hated Characters' list of exhibits, behind Adolf Hitler and Slobodan Milosevic.

2001 - Vanilla Ice

US rapper Vanilla Ice spent the night in jail after allegedly ripping out some of his wife's hair. Ice (born Robert Van Winkle) told police he pulled out some of his wife's hair to prevent her from jumping out of their truck's window. He was released the following morning from Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale on $3,500 bail.

2004 - Britney Spears

Britney Spears had her surprise marriage annulled less than 55 hours after tying the knot at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas with childhood friend Jason Alexander. They couple married on Saturday morning, during a night out in Las Vegas, but immediately her lawyers filed for an annulment, saying Spears 'lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage.'

Class act . . . . . 

2005 - Eminem

The owner of a recording studio where Eminem recorded his 'Slim Shady' LP was found shot dead. AJ Abdallah, who was 36, was discovered by a business colleague at the Detroit studio, it was thought he had been dead for at least two days. Police suggested that a robbery may also have taken place. Mr Abdallah had lived in a apartment above the studio on Eight Mile Road, the Detroit street which inspired the title of Eminem's 2002 film '8 Mile.'

2006 - Johnny Cash

The house where Johnny Cash lived for 35 years was bought by Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb. The rustic house near Nashville, Tennessee went on the market in June 2005 with an asking price of $2.9m (£1.7m). Gibb said he planned to preserve the house to honour the Cash memory. Unfortunately Gibb's ownership of the house was short-lived. In April 2007, the house burned to the ground. Gibb was having the house renovated when a flammable spray sealer caused fire to break out during construction.

2008 - Beyonce

Beyonce won a long-running legal wrangle over claims her hit song 'Baby Boy' infringed the copyright of another artist's work. The appeals court in Houston, Texas upheld a 2006 decision which dismissed musician Jennifer Armour's claims that its lyrics were based on her work. Ms Armour claimed she had posted 'I Got A Little Bit Of Love For You' to Beyonce's manager and record company in early 2003.

2008 - Britney Spears

Britney Spears was carried out of her home on a stretcher and taken into custody after police were called in a dispute involving her children. Police were called to Spears' home over a family custodial dispute that they tried to resolve, after nearly three hours, Spears handed over her children, two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James, to her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

2009 - Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was voted the Greatest Voice In Rock by listeners of radio station Planet Rock. Plant beat Queen's Freddie Mercury, Free's Paul Rodgers and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan to the top spot in the UK poll.

2011 - Gerry Rafferty

Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty died aged 63 after a long illness. Rafferty had been a member of Stealers Wheel, who had the 1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single 'Stuck In The Middle With You' and had the solo 1978 UK No.3 and US No.2 single 'Baker Street.'


2016 - Robert Stigwood

Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, Robert Stigwood died aged 81. He was best known for managing Cream and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar and film productions including the hugely successful Grease and Saturday Night Fever.

Stigwood and Eric

BIRTHDAYS 

I am not given to believing in superstitious mumbo jumbo and things for which there is no scientific reasoning but looking at today's birthdays it is interesting how on some days hardly anyone in the music world was born and then like today the most extraordinary list of really interesting people all share todays birthdays . . . . . .

1965 - Cait O'Riordan

Cait O'Riordan, from Irish-British Celtic punk band The Pogues who scored the 1987 UK No.8 single 'The Irish Rover' and the 1987 UK No.2 single with Kirsty MaCcoll, 'Fairytale Of New York'.

1965 - Beth Gibbons

Beth Gibbons, vocals, Portishead, (1995 UK No.13 single 'Glory Box').

1962 - Robin Guthrie

Scottish musician, songwriter Robin Guthrie, from Cocteau Twins. The group released the album Heaven or Las Vegas in late 1990 which became the most commercially successful of their many recordings.

1962 - Martin McAloon

Martin Mcaloon, bassist and founder member from pop band Prefab Sprout who had the 1988 UK No.7 single 'The King Of Rock 'n' Roll'. 

The McAloons- well I don't mind if I do . . . . . .

1960 - Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe, American singer, songwriter, musician, R.E.M. The band was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre. They scored the 1991 UK No.6 & US No.10 single 'Shiny Happy People' plus over 20 Top 40 UK singles, and the 1992 UK No.1 & US No.2 album Automatic For The People.

Michael joins Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant to cover a John Prine classic . . . . . . . of course

1956 - Nels Cline

Nels Cline, guitarist from American alternative rock band Wilco who released the albums Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky and Wilco (The Album).

1956 - Bernard Sumner

Bernard Sumner, guitar, vocals, Warsaw, Joy Division, (1980 UK No.13 single 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'), New Order, (1983 UK No.9 single 'Blue Monday'), Electronic, (1991 UK No.8 single 'Get The Message'),

1955 - Mark Hollis 

Mark Hollis, English musician and singer-songwriter. He achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band Talk Talk. Hollis wrote or co-wrote most of Talk Talk's music, including hits like 'It's My Life' (1984) and 'Life's What You Make It' (1986). He died aged 64 late February 2019. 

1955 - Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson, singer, songwriter, and leader of late 70s Stiff Records band Any Trouble, one half of Gregson & Collister folk duo.

1946 - Arthur Conley

Arthur Conley, US soul singer, known for the 1967 US No.2 & UK No.7 single 'Sweet Soul Music. He first recorded in 1959 as the lead singer of Arthur & the Corvets. Conley died of cancer on 17th November 2003.

1942 - John McLaughlin

Born on this day in Doncaster, England, John McLaughlin, who formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra and has also worked with Carlos Santana, Stanley Clark and Jaco Pastorius. Prior to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, in the 1960s, he played with Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation and Brian Auger. In 1969 he moved to New York to join Tony Williams' Lifetime. On March 25th of that year he jammed with Jimi Hendrix at the Record Plant, recalling ‘we played from 2 until 8 in the morning. In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin ‘the best guitarist alive’.

1937 - John Gorman

John Gorman, singer, The Scaffold, (1968 Christmas UK No.1 single 'Lily The Pink')
such water talent frittered away on chip butties and bottles of corporation pop!










with thanks to 'On This Day in Music' as ever . . . .