ME5SENGER_24

Fats Domino records his rendition of "Blueberry Hill" at Master Recorders in Hollywood. Rising to #2 on Billboard's Top 100, it will prove to be the highest charting of his thirty-seven Top 40 hits. The tune had been recorded by at least six other popular artists in the 1940s.

Elvis Presley played the final concert of his career at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis to a crowd of only half the venue's capacity. The top price ticket for the event was just $15. Before the show, Presley was presented with a plaque commemorating the two billionth record to come out of RCA's pressing plant. The last song...

Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention release their tenth and final album, "One Size Fits All". It would rise to #26 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" is released in America, where it would become their highest charting single, reaching #8. If you listen carefully, you can hear Ronnie Van Zant shout "Turn it up", asking producer Al Kooper and engineer Rodney Mills to turn up the volume in his headphones so that he could hear the track...

Jefferson Starship's LP "Red Octopus" was released. The album, marking the return of singer Marty Balin, went to number one in the US and became the band's biggest seller, eventually being certified 2X Platinum

English singer Robert Palmer releases the single, "Simply Irresistible", which will peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would also win a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at next year's ceremony. In the UK, the record was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Single, even though it had only risen...

"Hot Fun In The Summertime" by Sly And The Family Stone is released by Epic Records. It would peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, kept out of the top spot by "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations. The song would later be ranked by Rolling Stone at #247 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The three day Newport '69 Festival starts in Northridge, California. 150,000 people attend to hear Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, CCR, Ike And Tina Turner, Jethro Tull, The Rascals, Steppenwolf and others. Hendrix receives $125,000 for his appearance. At the time it was the highest fee ever paid to a Rock act for a single...

Carole King saw her "Tapestry" album hit number one in the US for the first of fifteen consecutive weeks. The LP contained such classic tracks as "It's Too Late" (#1), "I Feel the Earth Move" (#1), "So Far Away" (#14), "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", "You've Got a Friend" (#1) and "Smackwater Jack" (#14). The Grammy Award winning...

Bob Dylan finishes recording "Like A Rolling Stone" at Columbia Studios in New York City. A young session musician named Al Kooper played the now iconic organ riff for which the track is known for. At 6:13 long, the record company was hesitant to release the single, and disc jockey's shied away from playing it, but somehow the...

Donovan becomes the first high-profile Rock star busted for drugs by the newly vigilant London drug squad. The singer and his girlfriend were taken to Marylebone Police Station, booked, fingerprinted, and given a cup of tea. When they were finally released around 4 AM, a police sergeant asked for an autograph for his daughter.

Joe Walsh's comic depiction of Rock stardom, "Life's Been Good", is released. It would become his highest charting solo single, reaching #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Paul McCartney's "Ram" LP goes Gold in the US, where it would reach #2 and spend over five months in the Top Ten, eventually going Platinum. The album topped the chart in the UK.

The Clovers record "Love Potion Number Nine" at Capitol Studios in New York City. The song would rise to #23 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B chart.

Three dozen Grateful Dead fans are treated for hallucinations caused by LSD after they unwittingly ingested the drug while drinking spiked apple juice served at San Francisco's Winterland. Although members of the group are suspected of supplying the drug, they are not accused....

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/33260857...

The Allman Brothers Band temporarily disbanded after Greg Allman testified against Scooter Herring, his personal road manager, who was charged with drug trafficking. Herring was subsequently sentenced to seventy-five years in prison, but his conviction was later overturned as he pleaded guilty to lesser count, serving thirty...

I'll admit it: I hate classic rock radio because I've heard everything they play a zillion times....

Virgin Records releases the anti-establishment anthem "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols. UK sales will reach over 150,000 in the first five days, despite the fact that major retailers refuse to sell the record, and the BBC bans it from air-play. Against all odds the single still reached #2 on the UK chart

On May 5, 1973, Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" is released. The song is based on the true story of how someone had fired a flare gun into the ceiling of the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, during a concert by Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention. The resulting fire destroyed the building where Deep Purple was set to...

The Beatles masterpiece, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was released in the UK, one week before its American debut. The album took over 700 hours to record under the direction of George Martin and cost $75,000 to produce. A then state-of-the-art four track recorder was used to build each song layer by layer. The LP...

The Who perform a concert in London to be filmed for their documentary movie on the band's history, The Kids Are Alright. This will prove to be Keith Moon's last performance with the band before his death on September 7th.

After being diagnosed with throat cancer earlier in the year, 49-year-old Gene Clark, vocalist for The Byrds, died after suffering a heart attack. He wrote or co-wrote many of the Byrds' best-known originals from their first three albums, including "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "Set You Free This Time", and "Eight Miles...

The Doors begin their run as the house band at The Whisky a Go Go, opening for every group to play there from May 23 to August 21, 1966. For most dates, they performed two sets per night.

The Beatles attained their eighth Billboard number one hit with "Ticket To Ride". The song was the first of four number one singles in a row on the American charts, and their seventh consecutive number one hit in the United Kingdom. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney have given different meanings to the title, with McCartney...

Rudy Lewis, the lead singer of The Drifters on their hits "On Broadway" and "Up On The Roof", died under mysterious circumstances the night before the group was set to record "Under the Boardwalk". He was 28 years old. Rather than reschedule the studio session to find a new front man, former Drifters backup singer Johnny Moore...

Full statement:...

In May of 1969, the members of the band Chicago needed to unwind. After an exhausting tour opening for Jimi Hendrix, the band needed an afternoon away from the pressure of performing alongside one of the most prolific guitarists in the world. Peter Cetera, Walter Parazaider, Danny Seraphine, and Terry Kath headed down to...