Taylor from Pickens it's official now. Opening for Robert Plant in November.
Writes his lyrics and music. I believe he has a bright future ahead.
Artist, songwriter and musician Reg Mombasa was born Christopher O'Doherty in Auckland, New Zealand, on this day in 1951 (August 14)
He and his family emigrated to Australia when he was 17, then in 1976 he formed Mental as Anything with four fellow art school students: Martin Murphy (Martin Plaza), bass player Steve Coburn, and drummer David Twohill (Wayne de Lisle).
In the early days of the Mentals, the band would often invent pseudonyms for each other that combined an exotic last name with a common Australian firstname, which was the origin of “Reg Mombassa"..,
They originally formed just to play at parties, but Mental as Anything eventually became big, with Top 10 Australian singles like “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?" and "Too Many Times" (both from 1981), "Live It Up" (1985) and "Rock and Roll Music" (1988).
Internationally, "Too Many Times" made the Canadian Top 40 in 1982, and "Live It Up" peaked at #3 in the UK, #4 in Norway, and #6 in Germany, after it featured in the 1986 Australian film "Crocodile" Dundee.
On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
Reg Mombasa also has a parallel career as an artist, and his unique cartoon-style Australiana became legendary with surf brand “Mambo”.
He also does landscapes and portraits, and his artworks can be found in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia and other regional galleries.
In 1987, with brother Peter, Martin Plaza and members of GANGgajang, Mombassa recorded a country music album credited to The Stetsons, and in 1991, Mombassa formed the band Dog Trumpet, also with his brother Pete.
Click on the link below to watch the Mentals’ “Let’s Cook”:
On this day in 1971, The Who released the LP “Who’s Next” (August 14)
The album developed out of the aborted Lifehouse project, a multi-media rock opera conceived by guitarist Pete Townshend as a follow-up to the band's 1969 album “Tommy”.
The project was cancelled, but the group salvaged some of the songs, without the connecting story elements, to release as their next album.
Eight of the nine songs on “Who's Next” were from Lifehouse.
The album was an immediate success when it was released, and has since been viewed by many critics as the Who's best album, and one of the greatest albums of all time.
It went to #1 in the UK, #2 in the Netherlands and France, #4 on the US Billboard Album Chart, and #5 in Canada.
Some of The Who’s signature songs are on this one, like "Won't Get Fooled Again", “Behind Blue Eyes”, and “Baba O’Reilly”.
In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it #77 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
It was chosen by Time as one of the 100 best albums of all time, and in 2007, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "lasting qualitative or historical significance".
The album cover is one of the most iconic in rock history.
It was taken at Easington Colliery in County Durham, England.
The cover echoes Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which inspired the shoot of the band looking like they had just finished relieving themselves on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap.
This is one of the best LPs in rock, and one of my favourites.
Click on the link below to watch “Baba O’Reilly”:
On this day in 1975, 20th Century Fox released the musical comedy horror film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (August 14)
The cult musical parody/tribute to kitsch sci-fi/horror films stars Richard O’Brien, Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.
Still in limited release forty-seven years after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history, with many audiences dressing up as the characters and acting out, singing the songs and dancing as the movie plays.
The film has a large international cult following and has been considered by many as one of the greatest musical films of all time.
It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2005.
The soundtrack album peaked at #49 on the US Billboard charts in 1978.
It also reached #12 in Australia and #11 in New Zealand.
Many parties, weddings, and dances still have people “doing the Time Warp”…….click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1965, the Sonny & Cher single “I Got You Babe” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts (August 14)
It stayed at #1 in the US for three weeks.
The song also peaked at #1 in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand, and Top 10 in many other countries around the world, becoming somewhat of a hippy anthem and signature song of the duo.
In 2011, the song was named as one of the greatest duets of all time by both Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines. It was also listed at #444 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.
In 2017 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Click on the link below to watch:
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist David Crosby was born David Van Cortlandt Crosby in Los Angeles, California on this day in 1941 (August 14)
Crosby is one of the select few to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his work in the Byrds and again for his work with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
He was a founding member of both historically significant bands.
Five albums to which he contributed are included in Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, three with the Byrds and two with CSN(Y).
The legendary artist continued to record and perform despite a litany of health issues (including type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C, and a liver transplant), drug and alcohol addiction, multiple drug convictions (including heroin and cocaine possession), drink driving and multiple weapons offenses, and a nine month stint in a Texas state prison.
Crosby passed away in Santa Ynez, California, on January 18, 2023, at the age of 81.
An iconic figure in the music industry for decades…
Click on the link below to watch “Teach you Children”:
On this day in 1978, The Police released the single “Can’t Stand Losing You” (August 14)
This was the first Police song to chart.
This 1978 release only made it to #42 on the UK charts, but it was re-released in 1979 and went all the way to #2.
It was also a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands.
The song about teen suicide was controversial; even more so because of the picture cover released of an anonymous Stewart Copeland standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck…
Click on the link below to watch it live:
On this day in 1987, the Midnight Oil single “Beds are Burning” debuted on the Australian charts (August 14)
After Midnight Oil toured through the Outback in 1986, playing to remote Aboriginal communities and seeing first hand the seriousness of the issues in health and living standards, Peter Garrett, Jim Moginie and Rob Hirst wrote "Beds Are Burning" to criticize how Indigenous people were often forcibly removed from their lands, highlighted by the pre-chorus lines "it belongs to them, let's give it back".
The song also struck a chord overseas with those who could see parallels to the situation in their own countries.
Midnight Oil continue to raise awareness of and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues to this day with 2020’s “The Makarrata Project”
“Beds are Burning” was named by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and in 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) named “Beds are Burning” third behind the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock" in their list of The Best Australian Songs of All Time.
The song from the “Diesel &Dust” LP reached #1 in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, #3 in the Netherlands, #5 in France, #6 in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, and #17 in the United States and Sweden.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Olivia Newton-John single “Hopelessly Devoted To You” debuted on the Australian charts at #96 (August 14)
The love ballad from the hit movie “Grease” received an Oscar nomination for “Best Original Song”, and eventually peaked at #2 in Australia.
It was also a #1 hit in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands; got to #2 in the UK, and #3 in the US.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Johnny Cougar single “I Need a Lover” peaked on the Australian charts at #5 (August 14)
This is the story of how Australia launched the career of one of American heartland rock’s quintessential performers.
The song “I Need a Lover” was written by Mellencamp, and appeared on his 1978 album “A Biography”, which was released by Riva Records only in the UK, Germany and Australia.
His first album, “Chestnut Street Incident”, had been released two years earlier in 1976, didn’t chart, and only sold 12,000 copies, which lead to his then label MCA's refusal to release his next album and drop Mellencamp..
These records were released under John Mellencamp’s stage name at the time, “Johnny Cougar”.
It would take Mellencamp 15 years to have his full real name on an album, “Whenever We Wanted”, in 1991.
After its release, “I Need a Lover” became a surprise hit in Australia, peaking at #5.
Mellencamp remembered going to Australia to promote the record:
“When I landed, there were kids - a bunch of screaming girls, and some guys with a haircut just like mine - waiting for me," he said in his Plain Spoken DVD.
“I couldn't even get picked up in Bloomington, where I lived, if I was hitchhiking, but in Australia I had the #1 album and the #1 single in the country.
I couldn't even take it seriously - it was a joke. I thought it was an isolated incident."
“I Need a Lover” did so well there that Riva Records included it on his next self-titled LP released in the US, and the song climbed to #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, raising his profile in the States, and the rest is rock history…
On his inspiration for writing "I Need a Lover", Mellencamp said: "The song's about a friend of mine who goes to Concordia College. When that song was written, he was pretty sad. He was . . . livin’ in his bedroom. I told him, ‘You got to get the hell out of the house!’ He’d say, ‘Man, if I only had a girl, she’d make me forget my problems.’ I just said, ‘Well . . . ’"
Click on the link below to listen to the best 2 minute 30 second intro in rock:
Writes his lyrics and music. I believe he has a bright future ahead.
Artist, songwriter and musician Reg Mombasa was born Christopher O'Doherty in Auckland, New Zealand, on this day in 1951 (August 14)
He and his family emigrated to Australia when he was 17, then in 1976 he formed Mental as Anything with four fellow art school students: Martin Murphy (Martin Plaza), bass player Steve Coburn, and drummer David Twohill (Wayne de Lisle).
In the early days of the Mentals, the band would often invent pseudonyms for each other that combined an exotic last name with a common Australian firstname, which was the origin of “Reg Mombassa"..,
They originally formed just to play at parties, but Mental as Anything eventually became big, with Top 10 Australian singles like “If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?" and "Too Many Times" (both from 1981), "Live It Up" (1985) and "Rock and Roll Music" (1988).
Internationally, "Too Many Times" made the Canadian Top 40 in 1982, and "Live It Up" peaked at #3 in the UK, #4 in Norway, and #6 in Germany, after it featured in the 1986 Australian film "Crocodile" Dundee.
On 27 August 2009, Mental As Anything was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame.
Reg Mombasa also has a parallel career as an artist, and his unique cartoon-style Australiana became legendary with surf brand “Mambo”.
He also does landscapes and portraits, and his artworks can be found in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia and other regional galleries.
In 1987, with brother Peter, Martin Plaza and members of GANGgajang, Mombassa recorded a country music album credited to The Stetsons, and in 1991, Mombassa formed the band Dog Trumpet, also with his brother Pete.
Click on the link below to watch the Mentals’ “Let’s Cook”:
On this day in 1971, The Who released the LP “Who’s Next” (August 14)
The album developed out of the aborted Lifehouse project, a multi-media rock opera conceived by guitarist Pete Townshend as a follow-up to the band's 1969 album “Tommy”.
The project was cancelled, but the group salvaged some of the songs, without the connecting story elements, to release as their next album.
Eight of the nine songs on “Who's Next” were from Lifehouse.
The album was an immediate success when it was released, and has since been viewed by many critics as the Who's best album, and one of the greatest albums of all time.
It went to #1 in the UK, #2 in the Netherlands and France, #4 on the US Billboard Album Chart, and #5 in Canada.
Some of The Who’s signature songs are on this one, like "Won't Get Fooled Again", “Behind Blue Eyes”, and “Baba O’Reilly”.
In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it #77 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
It was chosen by Time as one of the 100 best albums of all time, and in 2007, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "lasting qualitative or historical significance".
The album cover is one of the most iconic in rock history.
It was taken at Easington Colliery in County Durham, England.
The cover echoes Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which inspired the shoot of the band looking like they had just finished relieving themselves on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap.
This is one of the best LPs in rock, and one of my favourites.
Click on the link below to watch “Baba O’Reilly”:
On this day in 1975, 20th Century Fox released the musical comedy horror film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (August 14)
The cult musical parody/tribute to kitsch sci-fi/horror films stars Richard O’Brien, Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.
Still in limited release forty-seven years after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history, with many audiences dressing up as the characters and acting out, singing the songs and dancing as the movie plays.
The film has a large international cult following and has been considered by many as one of the greatest musical films of all time.
It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2005.
The soundtrack album peaked at #49 on the US Billboard charts in 1978.
It also reached #12 in Australia and #11 in New Zealand.
Many parties, weddings, and dances still have people “doing the Time Warp”…….click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1965, the Sonny & Cher single “I Got You Babe” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts (August 14)
It stayed at #1 in the US for three weeks.
The song also peaked at #1 in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand, and Top 10 in many other countries around the world, becoming somewhat of a hippy anthem and signature song of the duo.
In 2011, the song was named as one of the greatest duets of all time by both Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines. It was also listed at #444 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.
In 2017 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Click on the link below to watch:
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist David Crosby was born David Van Cortlandt Crosby in Los Angeles, California on this day in 1941 (August 14)
Crosby is one of the select few to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once for his work in the Byrds and again for his work with Crosby, Stills & Nash.
He was a founding member of both historically significant bands.
Five albums to which he contributed are included in Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, three with the Byrds and two with CSN(Y).
The legendary artist continued to record and perform despite a litany of health issues (including type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C, and a liver transplant), drug and alcohol addiction, multiple drug convictions (including heroin and cocaine possession), drink driving and multiple weapons offenses, and a nine month stint in a Texas state prison.
Crosby passed away in Santa Ynez, California, on January 18, 2023, at the age of 81.
An iconic figure in the music industry for decades…
Click on the link below to watch “Teach you Children”:
On this day in 1978, The Police released the single “Can’t Stand Losing You” (August 14)
This was the first Police song to chart.
This 1978 release only made it to #42 on the UK charts, but it was re-released in 1979 and went all the way to #2.
It was also a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands.
The song about teen suicide was controversial; even more so because of the picture cover released of an anonymous Stewart Copeland standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck…
Click on the link below to watch it live:
On this day in 1987, the Midnight Oil single “Beds are Burning” debuted on the Australian charts (August 14)
After Midnight Oil toured through the Outback in 1986, playing to remote Aboriginal communities and seeing first hand the seriousness of the issues in health and living standards, Peter Garrett, Jim Moginie and Rob Hirst wrote "Beds Are Burning" to criticize how Indigenous people were often forcibly removed from their lands, highlighted by the pre-chorus lines "it belongs to them, let's give it back".
The song also struck a chord overseas with those who could see parallels to the situation in their own countries.
Midnight Oil continue to raise awareness of and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues to this day with 2020’s “The Makarrata Project”
“Beds are Burning” was named by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and in 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) named “Beds are Burning” third behind the Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock" in their list of The Best Australian Songs of All Time.
The song from the “Diesel &Dust” LP reached #1 in New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, #3 in the Netherlands, #5 in France, #6 in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, and #17 in the United States and Sweden.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Olivia Newton-John single “Hopelessly Devoted To You” debuted on the Australian charts at #96 (August 14)
The love ballad from the hit movie “Grease” received an Oscar nomination for “Best Original Song”, and eventually peaked at #2 in Australia.
It was also a #1 hit in Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands; got to #2 in the UK, and #3 in the US.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Johnny Cougar single “I Need a Lover” peaked on the Australian charts at #5 (August 14)
This is the story of how Australia launched the career of one of American heartland rock’s quintessential performers.
The song “I Need a Lover” was written by Mellencamp, and appeared on his 1978 album “A Biography”, which was released by Riva Records only in the UK, Germany and Australia.
His first album, “Chestnut Street Incident”, had been released two years earlier in 1976, didn’t chart, and only sold 12,000 copies, which lead to his then label MCA's refusal to release his next album and drop Mellencamp..
These records were released under John Mellencamp’s stage name at the time, “Johnny Cougar”.
It would take Mellencamp 15 years to have his full real name on an album, “Whenever We Wanted”, in 1991.
After its release, “I Need a Lover” became a surprise hit in Australia, peaking at #5.
Mellencamp remembered going to Australia to promote the record:
“When I landed, there were kids - a bunch of screaming girls, and some guys with a haircut just like mine - waiting for me," he said in his Plain Spoken DVD.
“I couldn't even get picked up in Bloomington, where I lived, if I was hitchhiking, but in Australia I had the #1 album and the #1 single in the country.
I couldn't even take it seriously - it was a joke. I thought it was an isolated incident."
“I Need a Lover” did so well there that Riva Records included it on his next self-titled LP released in the US, and the song climbed to #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, raising his profile in the States, and the rest is rock history…
On his inspiration for writing "I Need a Lover", Mellencamp said: "The song's about a friend of mine who goes to Concordia College. When that song was written, he was pretty sad. He was . . . livin’ in his bedroom. I told him, ‘You got to get the hell out of the house!’ He’d say, ‘Man, if I only had a girl, she’d make me forget my problems.’ I just said, ‘Well . . . ’"
Click on the link below to listen to the best 2 minute 30 second intro in rock:
