Hope everyone has a great weekend.
The Greatest Band of All Time in my opinion.
On this day in 1970, the Led Zeppelin album “Led Zeppelin II” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts for the second time (January 31)
“Led Zeppelin II” was the band's first album to reach #1 on charts in the US, which it did on December 27, 1969, knocking the Beatles “Abbey Road” from the top spot.
“Abbey Road” regained the #1 ranking in the first week of 1970, but on January 31, “Led Zeppelin II once again sent “Abbey Road” back to #2 for the second time in just over a month.
Led Zeppelin’s second studio album has been hailed by critics as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time.
The album also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, "Whole Lotta Love" which reached #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970, after the record company went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45.
In 2020, the album was ranked #123 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Click on the link below to watch “Whole Lotta Love”:
Yesterday in 1970, The Jackson 5 single “I Want You Back” went to #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (January 31)
The song from the Jackson 5's first album, “Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5” was the group’s first single to be released by Motown, and was their very first #1 hit.
The song gained a new generation of fans when was included in the soundtrack for the 2014 film “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
"I Want You Back" was ranked #104 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
It also ranks #9 on Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Greatest Pop Songs since 1963'.
In 2020, it was ranked #2 on Rolling Stone's list of 'The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time'.
In 1999, "I Want You Back" was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame…
Click on the link below to watch:
Yesterday in 1978, the Van Halen single “You Really Got Me” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #91 (January 28)
The cover of the classic 1964 Kinks song had been a standard part of the Van Halen live set list for years, before the band released it as their debut single from their self-titled debut album.
Retrospectively, Eddie Van Halen would have preferred the band’s debut release to be one of their original songs, saying,
"It kind of bummed me out that [producer] Ted [Templeman] wanted our first single to be someone else's tune.
I would have maybe picked "Jamie's Cryin'", just because it was our own."
The Kinks’ Dave Davies told of how a concert-goer approached him after a live show and congratulated him on performing a "great cover of the Van Halen song"!
Ray Davies claimed to like the Van Halen version because it made him laugh.
The song, featuring trademark Eddie Van Halen guitar wizardry, did best in Australia, peaking at #12, and reaching #36 in the US.
Click on the link below to watch:
Yesterday in 1984, the Thin Lizzy LP “Live and Dangerous” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #189 (January 28)
The acclaimed live double album by the Irish rock band was originally released six years earlier in June 1978, when it climbed to #84 on the US Charts, also reaching #2 in the UK, #17 in New Zealand, #20 in Australia, and #27 in Sweden.
The album's sleeve notes credit two concerts as its source: Hammersmith Odeon, London, England on 14 November 1976, and Seneca College Fieldhouse, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 28 October 1977.
Producer Tony Visconti later revealed that shows at the Tower Theater, Philadelphia on 20 and 21 October 1977, a week earlier than the Toronto gig, had also been recorded.
"That was us at our best," observed guitarist Scott Gorham, "before the bad drugs came in."
In 2010 “Live and Dangerous” was ranked #1 in PlanetRock.com's The Greatest Live Album Top 40, and in 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the album at #46 in its list of the greatest live albums of all time.
Click on the link below to watch the single released from the album “Rosalie”:
On this day in 1983, the Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band LP “Against the Wind” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #173 (January 29)
Released three years earlier, and going all the way to the top of the US charts, “Against the Wind” was to be Seger's only US #1 album, spending six weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, knocking Pink Floyd's “The Wall” from the top spot.
The album also went to #3 in New Zealand, #6 in Australia, #11 in Sweden, and #17 in Germany and the Netherlands.
Glenn Frey helps out with harmonies on the title track, and joins with fellow Eagle Don Henley contributing harmonies to the lead single “Fire Lake”.
The title track had a revival in 1994 when it was included on the “Forrest Gump” soundtrack, and featured in a significant scene in the film.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the album “Against the Wind” and Capitol Records art director Roy Kohara won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Click on the link below to watch a great live version of “Against the Wind”:
On this day in 1979, the Ace Frehley single “New York Groove” debuted on the Australian charts at #88 (January 29)
"New York Groove" was written by English singer/songwriter Russ Ballard, and originally released by British glam rock band Hello, before Ace released his version on his solo album.
It was by far the highest-charting single from any of the four solo albums, going to #4 in South Africa, #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #24 in New Zealand, #25 in Canada, and #29 in Australia.
Frehley once told Rolling Stone magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in New York City's Times Square in the 1970s.
Click on the link below to watch Kiss doing it live:
On this day in 1977, the Wings LP “Venus and Mars” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #190 (January 29)
Originally released back in 1975, “Venus and Mars” had already peaked at #1 in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Norway, and reached #2 in Australia and Sweden, #5 in the Netherlands, and #9 in Japan.
The album re-entered the US charts buoyed by the success of the triple live LP “Wings Over America” which had just dropped out of the #1 spot.
During recording of “Venus and Mars”, a personality clash escalated between two of Wings’ more recent recruits, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, causing Britton – after a six-month tenure – to quit Wings, having played on only three of the new songs.
A replacement, American Joe English, was quickly auditioned and hired to finish the album.
Click on the link below to watch “Listen to What the Man Says”:
On this day in 1979, The Cars single “Just What I Needed” debuted on the Australian charts at #96 (January 29)
The song didn’t progress any higher up the charts in Australia, but got to #17 in the UK, and #27 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The cars debut single sung by Benjamin Orr and written by Ric Ocasek was one of the earliest and best, setting the standard for the synth-driven power pop new wave genre that swept in on the coat tails of punk, and continued to influence bands throughout the 80s (and also into the 90s and 00s with bands like “Fountains of Wayne”)
Classic fat analogue synth riff from keyboard player Greg Hawkes too…
Click on the link to watch it live:
The Greatest Band of All Time in my opinion.
On this day in 1970, the Led Zeppelin album “Led Zeppelin II” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts for the second time (January 31)
“Led Zeppelin II” was the band's first album to reach #1 on charts in the US, which it did on December 27, 1969, knocking the Beatles “Abbey Road” from the top spot.
“Abbey Road” regained the #1 ranking in the first week of 1970, but on January 31, “Led Zeppelin II once again sent “Abbey Road” back to #2 for the second time in just over a month.
Led Zeppelin’s second studio album has been hailed by critics as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time.
The album also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, "Whole Lotta Love" which reached #4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970, after the record company went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45.
In 2020, the album was ranked #123 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Click on the link below to watch “Whole Lotta Love”:
Yesterday in 1970, The Jackson 5 single “I Want You Back” went to #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (January 31)
The song from the Jackson 5's first album, “Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5” was the group’s first single to be released by Motown, and was their very first #1 hit.
The song gained a new generation of fans when was included in the soundtrack for the 2014 film “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
"I Want You Back" was ranked #104 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
It also ranks #9 on Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Greatest Pop Songs since 1963'.
In 2020, it was ranked #2 on Rolling Stone's list of 'The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time'.
In 1999, "I Want You Back" was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame…
Click on the link below to watch:
Yesterday in 1978, the Van Halen single “You Really Got Me” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #91 (January 28)
The cover of the classic 1964 Kinks song had been a standard part of the Van Halen live set list for years, before the band released it as their debut single from their self-titled debut album.
Retrospectively, Eddie Van Halen would have preferred the band’s debut release to be one of their original songs, saying,
"It kind of bummed me out that [producer] Ted [Templeman] wanted our first single to be someone else's tune.
I would have maybe picked "Jamie's Cryin'", just because it was our own."
The Kinks’ Dave Davies told of how a concert-goer approached him after a live show and congratulated him on performing a "great cover of the Van Halen song"!
Ray Davies claimed to like the Van Halen version because it made him laugh.
The song, featuring trademark Eddie Van Halen guitar wizardry, did best in Australia, peaking at #12, and reaching #36 in the US.
Click on the link below to watch:
Yesterday in 1984, the Thin Lizzy LP “Live and Dangerous” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #189 (January 28)
The acclaimed live double album by the Irish rock band was originally released six years earlier in June 1978, when it climbed to #84 on the US Charts, also reaching #2 in the UK, #17 in New Zealand, #20 in Australia, and #27 in Sweden.
The album's sleeve notes credit two concerts as its source: Hammersmith Odeon, London, England on 14 November 1976, and Seneca College Fieldhouse, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 28 October 1977.
Producer Tony Visconti later revealed that shows at the Tower Theater, Philadelphia on 20 and 21 October 1977, a week earlier than the Toronto gig, had also been recorded.
"That was us at our best," observed guitarist Scott Gorham, "before the bad drugs came in."
In 2010 “Live and Dangerous” was ranked #1 in PlanetRock.com's The Greatest Live Album Top 40, and in 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the album at #46 in its list of the greatest live albums of all time.
Click on the link below to watch the single released from the album “Rosalie”:
On this day in 1983, the Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band LP “Against the Wind” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #173 (January 29)
Released three years earlier, and going all the way to the top of the US charts, “Against the Wind” was to be Seger's only US #1 album, spending six weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, knocking Pink Floyd's “The Wall” from the top spot.
The album also went to #3 in New Zealand, #6 in Australia, #11 in Sweden, and #17 in Germany and the Netherlands.
Glenn Frey helps out with harmonies on the title track, and joins with fellow Eagle Don Henley contributing harmonies to the lead single “Fire Lake”.
The title track had a revival in 1994 when it was included on the “Forrest Gump” soundtrack, and featured in a significant scene in the film.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the album “Against the Wind” and Capitol Records art director Roy Kohara won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Click on the link below to watch a great live version of “Against the Wind”:
On this day in 1979, the Ace Frehley single “New York Groove” debuted on the Australian charts at #88 (January 29)
"New York Groove" was written by English singer/songwriter Russ Ballard, and originally released by British glam rock band Hello, before Ace released his version on his solo album.
It was by far the highest-charting single from any of the four solo albums, going to #4 in South Africa, #13 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #24 in New Zealand, #25 in Canada, and #29 in Australia.
Frehley once told Rolling Stone magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in New York City's Times Square in the 1970s.
Click on the link below to watch Kiss doing it live:
On this day in 1977, the Wings LP “Venus and Mars” re-entered the US Billboard 200 Album Chart at #190 (January 29)
Originally released back in 1975, “Venus and Mars” had already peaked at #1 in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Norway, and reached #2 in Australia and Sweden, #5 in the Netherlands, and #9 in Japan.
The album re-entered the US charts buoyed by the success of the triple live LP “Wings Over America” which had just dropped out of the #1 spot.
During recording of “Venus and Mars”, a personality clash escalated between two of Wings’ more recent recruits, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton, causing Britton – after a six-month tenure – to quit Wings, having played on only three of the new songs.
A replacement, American Joe English, was quickly auditioned and hired to finish the album.
Click on the link below to watch “Listen to What the Man Says”:
On this day in 1979, The Cars single “Just What I Needed” debuted on the Australian charts at #96 (January 29)
The song didn’t progress any higher up the charts in Australia, but got to #17 in the UK, and #27 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The cars debut single sung by Benjamin Orr and written by Ric Ocasek was one of the earliest and best, setting the standard for the synth-driven power pop new wave genre that swept in on the coat tails of punk, and continued to influence bands throughout the 80s (and also into the 90s and 00s with bands like “Fountains of Wayne”)
Classic fat analogue synth riff from keyboard player Greg Hawkes too…
Click on the link to watch it live:
