Happy Independence Day Weekend!
On this day in 1977, the Eagles single “Life in the Fast Lane” peaked at #11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (June 25)
Here’s how this classic Eagles song came to be…
Joe Walsh had replaced original Eagle Bernie Leadon, and the band heard him mucking around with the riff.
It was a riff Walsh used to warm up his fingers up.
Walsh recalled Glenn Frey saying “What the hell’s that?”, to which Walsh replied “I don’t know, I just do it to get ready to play…”
Frey said: “Keep that; that’s an Eagles song!”
Don Henley recalled saying “We've got to figure out to make a song out of that."
Henley and Frey helped Walsh flesh out the riff into a song, and came up with the lyrics.
In a 1981 interview with the BBC, Frey explained: "Life In The Fast Lane' kind of expressed the stereotyped LA 'run around in your Porsche' 24 hour boogie mode that unfortunately is too true for a lot of people.
It wasn't really a statement about the guys in the band, or about anybody in particular – just it's kind of disturbing to see the extremes that the bourgeois jet set will involve themselves in.
For instance, disco almost turned into a lifestyle, and it's such a non-meaningful thing on which to base one's life."
Frey revealed that the title came to him one day when he was riding on the freeway with a drug dealer known as "The Count".
He asked the dealer to slow down and the response was, "What do you mean? It's life in the fast lane!"
Sung by Henley, the song peaked at #11 in the US and #12 in Canada.
It became a signature song for Joe Walsh, and the term “life in the fast lane” became a commonly used term in society to describe living life to excess on the edge.
Click on the link below to watch it live:
On this day in 1984, Prince released the LP “Purple Rain” (June 25)
The soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name became Prince’s first US #1 album, and spent a massive 24 consecutive weeks at the top, and a staggering 122 weeks on the Billboard charts.
Its total sales stand at 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Prince and the Revolution won Grammy Awards for “Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” and “Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media”, while Prince also won the Academy Award for “Best Original Song Score” for the film “Purple Rain”.
Singles “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” went to #1 in the US, while the title track made it to #2.
The album also went to #1 in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Rolling Stone ranked “Purple Rain” #2 on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s and #8 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
In the Rolling Stone list of The 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time, “Purple Rain” was ranked 2nd, behind the Beatles' “Help!”.
Click on the link below to watch the title track:
Singer, songwriter and musician Carly Simon was born in New York City on this day in 1943 (June 25)
Simon rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, including "You're So Vain" (#1), and "Nobody Does It Better" (#2) from the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”.
Her 1971 self-titled debut album won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and her third album, “No Secrets” (1972) stayed at #1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks.
With her 1988 hit "Let the River Run", from the film “Working Girl”, Simon became the first artist to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist.
All up, Carly Simon has had 24 Billboard Hot 100-charting singles, has won two Grammy Awards (from 14 nominations), and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "You're So Vain" in 2004.
She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, and on November 5, 2022, Simon will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following an announcement on the successful inductees earlier this year.
“You’re So Vain” is one of the songs with which Simon is most identified, and upon its release, reached #1 in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The song is ranked at #92 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.
“You're So Vain" was voted #216 in RIAA's Songs of the Century, and in August 2014, the UK's Official Charts Company crowned it the ultimate song of the 1970s.
In 2021, the song was ranked #495 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoirs, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty)" and added that while "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him", he is the subject of that verse only, with the remainder of the song referring to two other, still unnamed men.
Mick Jagger contributed uncredited backing vocals for the song.
When asked how this collaboration occurred, Carly Simon said:
“He happened to call at the studio. … I said ‘We're doing some backup vocals on a song of mine, why don't you come down and sing with us?’”
Click on the link below to watch a stunning live version:
On this day in 1966, The Troggs single “Wild Thing” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #75 (June 25)
The song written by American songwriter Chip Taylor was originally recorded and released by the American rock band the Wild Ones in 1965, but it did not chart.
The Troggs' single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK Singles Chart and in Canada, also reaching the Top 10 in Austria, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
The Troggs version of "Wild Thing" was ranked at #257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song is also possibly the most covered song in the history of rock, by garage bands and cover bands all around the world.
The most iconic cover though was probably Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, at the conclusion of which he famously set his guitar on fire.
In 1993, the Australian band Divinyls recorded a cover of the song for the film “Reckless Kelly”, which was released as a single, peaking at #39 on the Australian Singles Chart.
Click on the link below to watch the Troggs do their stuff:
On this day in 1979, the Squeeze single “Cool for Cats” debuted on the Australian charts at #65 (June 25)
The song features a rare lead vocal performance from cockney-accented Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford, one of only three occasions he sang lead on a Squeeze single A-side (the others were 1979's "Slap & Tickle" and 1989's "Love Circles").
Squeeze singer and guitarist Glenn Tilbrook recalled,
“Originally it was written about the social circle we were moving in at the time, being young and being... we were almost entirely centered in our own little world.
I remember hearing Chris sing those lyrics for the first time and thinking he's just nailed what our lives are about now.
It's lovely to be able to look back on that and see how we were as youngsters."
The song from the LP of the same name went to #2 in the UK, #5 in Australia, and #11 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch the original film clip:
On this day in 1979, the Cheap Trick single “I Want You To Want Me” debuted on the Australian charts at #91 (June 25)
This version peaked at #43 in Australia, #23 in New Zealand, #18 in Germany, #7 in the US, #2 in Canada, and #1 in Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
It was also the band's highest charting single in the UK, where it reached #29.
It was the first single released from their second album “In Colour”, but it failed to chart in the US in its original studio version.
Nineteen months later, a more rock-oriented live version from the band's successful “Cheap Trick at Budokan” album was released as a single and became one of their biggest hits, and eventually one of their signature songs…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1977, the Ted Nugent LP “Cat Scratch Fever” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #50 (June 25)
The song with the catchy riff of the same name went to #30 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #37 in Canada.
Nugent’s biggest hit was one of the rare early tracks that he actually sang lead vocals on.
He only sang lead on one song on his debut solo LP, two on the second (the rest of which Meatloaf sang lead on), and three off the “Cat Scratch Fever” LP.
Vocalist Derek St. Holmes, who had left the band during the recording of the album “Free-for-All” had come back for touring in 1976 and was again the principal lead singer on this album.
The album went to #14 in Sweden, #17 in the US, #25 in Canada, #28 in the UK, and #90 in Australia.
Click on the link below to watch Ted Nugent in live action:
Exactly forty years ago, on this day in 1983, the Goanna LP “Spirit of Place” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #194 (June 25)
In a golden era of Australian live rock, Goanna were unique.
Their sound was unique, in that they were the first mainstream rock band to incorporate the didgeridoo on a hit album, and indeed, into a hit song “Solid Rock”.
Lyrically, “Spirit of Place” was one of the records that first drew the Australian record-buying public’s attention to the impact of European settlement on our First Nations people, and Indigenous rights to their land.
“Solid Rock”’s brilliant Oz rock cult-classic follow-up single “Razor's Edge" (a reworking of a song from their 1979 EP), is also on this album.
On 19 April 1983, Goanna won three Countdown Music and Video Awards for their work in 1982: Spirit of Place won 'Best Debut Album', "Solid Rock" won 'Best Debut Single' and the band itself won 'Best New Talent (Johnny O'Keefe Memorial Award)'.
The album released in late 1982 went to #2 in Australia, and #179 in the US.
In 2022 Goanna embarked on a national tour to commemorate this iconic album’s fortieth anniversary…
Click on the link below to watch “Razor’s Edge”:
On this day in 1977, the Eagles single “Life in the Fast Lane” peaked at #11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (June 25)
Here’s how this classic Eagles song came to be…
Joe Walsh had replaced original Eagle Bernie Leadon, and the band heard him mucking around with the riff.
It was a riff Walsh used to warm up his fingers up.
Walsh recalled Glenn Frey saying “What the hell’s that?”, to which Walsh replied “I don’t know, I just do it to get ready to play…”
Frey said: “Keep that; that’s an Eagles song!”
Don Henley recalled saying “We've got to figure out to make a song out of that."
Henley and Frey helped Walsh flesh out the riff into a song, and came up with the lyrics.
In a 1981 interview with the BBC, Frey explained: "Life In The Fast Lane' kind of expressed the stereotyped LA 'run around in your Porsche' 24 hour boogie mode that unfortunately is too true for a lot of people.
It wasn't really a statement about the guys in the band, or about anybody in particular – just it's kind of disturbing to see the extremes that the bourgeois jet set will involve themselves in.
For instance, disco almost turned into a lifestyle, and it's such a non-meaningful thing on which to base one's life."
Frey revealed that the title came to him one day when he was riding on the freeway with a drug dealer known as "The Count".
He asked the dealer to slow down and the response was, "What do you mean? It's life in the fast lane!"
Sung by Henley, the song peaked at #11 in the US and #12 in Canada.
It became a signature song for Joe Walsh, and the term “life in the fast lane” became a commonly used term in society to describe living life to excess on the edge.
Click on the link below to watch it live:
On this day in 1984, Prince released the LP “Purple Rain” (June 25)
The soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name became Prince’s first US #1 album, and spent a massive 24 consecutive weeks at the top, and a staggering 122 weeks on the Billboard charts.
Its total sales stand at 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Prince and the Revolution won Grammy Awards for “Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” and “Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media”, while Prince also won the Academy Award for “Best Original Song Score” for the film “Purple Rain”.
Singles “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy” went to #1 in the US, while the title track made it to #2.
The album also went to #1 in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Rolling Stone ranked “Purple Rain” #2 on its list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s and #8 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
In the Rolling Stone list of The 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time, “Purple Rain” was ranked 2nd, behind the Beatles' “Help!”.
Click on the link below to watch the title track:
Singer, songwriter and musician Carly Simon was born in New York City on this day in 1943 (June 25)
Simon rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, including "You're So Vain" (#1), and "Nobody Does It Better" (#2) from the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me”.
Her 1971 self-titled debut album won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and her third album, “No Secrets” (1972) stayed at #1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks.
With her 1988 hit "Let the River Run", from the film “Working Girl”, Simon became the first artist to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist.
All up, Carly Simon has had 24 Billboard Hot 100-charting singles, has won two Grammy Awards (from 14 nominations), and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "You're So Vain" in 2004.
She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, and on November 5, 2022, Simon will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following an announcement on the successful inductees earlier this year.
“You’re So Vain” is one of the songs with which Simon is most identified, and upon its release, reached #1 in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The song is ranked at #92 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time.
“You're So Vain" was voted #216 in RIAA's Songs of the Century, and in August 2014, the UK's Official Charts Company crowned it the ultimate song of the 1970s.
In 2021, the song was ranked #495 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In November 2015, Simon, promoting her about-to-be-published memoirs, said, "I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren (Beatty)" and added that while "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him", he is the subject of that verse only, with the remainder of the song referring to two other, still unnamed men.
Mick Jagger contributed uncredited backing vocals for the song.
When asked how this collaboration occurred, Carly Simon said:
“He happened to call at the studio. … I said ‘We're doing some backup vocals on a song of mine, why don't you come down and sing with us?’”
Click on the link below to watch a stunning live version:
On this day in 1966, The Troggs single “Wild Thing” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #75 (June 25)
The song written by American songwriter Chip Taylor was originally recorded and released by the American rock band the Wild Ones in 1965, but it did not chart.
The Troggs' single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK Singles Chart and in Canada, also reaching the Top 10 in Austria, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
The Troggs version of "Wild Thing" was ranked at #257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song is also possibly the most covered song in the history of rock, by garage bands and cover bands all around the world.
The most iconic cover though was probably Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, at the conclusion of which he famously set his guitar on fire.
In 1993, the Australian band Divinyls recorded a cover of the song for the film “Reckless Kelly”, which was released as a single, peaking at #39 on the Australian Singles Chart.
Click on the link below to watch the Troggs do their stuff:
On this day in 1979, the Squeeze single “Cool for Cats” debuted on the Australian charts at #65 (June 25)
The song features a rare lead vocal performance from cockney-accented Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford, one of only three occasions he sang lead on a Squeeze single A-side (the others were 1979's "Slap & Tickle" and 1989's "Love Circles").
Squeeze singer and guitarist Glenn Tilbrook recalled,
“Originally it was written about the social circle we were moving in at the time, being young and being... we were almost entirely centered in our own little world.
I remember hearing Chris sing those lyrics for the first time and thinking he's just nailed what our lives are about now.
It's lovely to be able to look back on that and see how we were as youngsters."
The song from the LP of the same name went to #2 in the UK, #5 in Australia, and #11 in New Zealand.
Click on the link below to watch the original film clip:
On this day in 1979, the Cheap Trick single “I Want You To Want Me” debuted on the Australian charts at #91 (June 25)
This version peaked at #43 in Australia, #23 in New Zealand, #18 in Germany, #7 in the US, #2 in Canada, and #1 in Japan, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
It was also the band's highest charting single in the UK, where it reached #29.
It was the first single released from their second album “In Colour”, but it failed to chart in the US in its original studio version.
Nineteen months later, a more rock-oriented live version from the band's successful “Cheap Trick at Budokan” album was released as a single and became one of their biggest hits, and eventually one of their signature songs…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1977, the Ted Nugent LP “Cat Scratch Fever” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #50 (June 25)
The song with the catchy riff of the same name went to #30 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and #37 in Canada.
Nugent’s biggest hit was one of the rare early tracks that he actually sang lead vocals on.
He only sang lead on one song on his debut solo LP, two on the second (the rest of which Meatloaf sang lead on), and three off the “Cat Scratch Fever” LP.
Vocalist Derek St. Holmes, who had left the band during the recording of the album “Free-for-All” had come back for touring in 1976 and was again the principal lead singer on this album.
The album went to #14 in Sweden, #17 in the US, #25 in Canada, #28 in the UK, and #90 in Australia.
Click on the link below to watch Ted Nugent in live action:
Exactly forty years ago, on this day in 1983, the Goanna LP “Spirit of Place” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #194 (June 25)
In a golden era of Australian live rock, Goanna were unique.
Their sound was unique, in that they were the first mainstream rock band to incorporate the didgeridoo on a hit album, and indeed, into a hit song “Solid Rock”.
Lyrically, “Spirit of Place” was one of the records that first drew the Australian record-buying public’s attention to the impact of European settlement on our First Nations people, and Indigenous rights to their land.
“Solid Rock”’s brilliant Oz rock cult-classic follow-up single “Razor's Edge" (a reworking of a song from their 1979 EP), is also on this album.
On 19 April 1983, Goanna won three Countdown Music and Video Awards for their work in 1982: Spirit of Place won 'Best Debut Album', "Solid Rock" won 'Best Debut Single' and the band itself won 'Best New Talent (Johnny O'Keefe Memorial Award)'.
The album released in late 1982 went to #2 in Australia, and #179 in the US.
In 2022 Goanna embarked on a national tour to commemorate this iconic album’s fortieth anniversary…
Click on the link below to watch “Razor’s Edge”:
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