Hope everyone has a good weekend.
On this day in 1978, the Kate Bush single “Wuthering Heights” debuted on the Australian charts at #33 (April 17)
I’m not sure what’s more impressive, the fact that she wrote this aged just 18, or that she recorded the vocal track in only one take....
“Wuthering Heights” was based on the famous Emily Brontë novel, and with it, Kate Bush became the first female artist to have an entirely self-penned #1 hit in the UK, with the song staying at the top for a month.
"Wuthering Heights" also spent three weeks at #1 in Australia, five weeks at #1 in New Zealand, and also topped the charts in Ireland and Portugal.
Her debut single from her debut album “The Kick Inside” also reached the Top 10 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, as well as the Top 20 in Austria and West Germany.
Fun fact: Kate Bush and Emily Brontë were both born on 30 July, Bush in 1958 and Brontë in 1818, 140 years apart.
Hauntingly beautiful and unique song....
Click on the link below to watch one of the classic clips released to promote the song:
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Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and teen phenom Eddie Cochran passed away on this day in 1960 (April 17)
In early 1959, two of Cochran's friends, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, along with the Big Bopper, were killed in a plane crash while on tour., on “the day the music died”.
Cochran's friends and family later said that he was badly shaken by their deaths, and developed a morbid premonition that he also would die young.
Cochran passed away a little over a year later, aged just 21, when the taxi he was traveling in crashed into a lamppost in Chippenham, Wiltshire in England.
Gene Vincent (of “Be-Bop-A-Lula” fame) was also one of others in the car to escape with injury.
Cochran was the writer and performer of such enduring teen rebel classics as “Summertime Blues”, “C’mon Everybody” and “Somethin’ Else”.
Cochran was one of the first rock-and-roll artists to write his own songs and overdub tracks. He is also credited with being one of the first to use an unwound third string to "bend" notes up a whole tone.
Another aspect of Cochran's short but brilliant career is his work as backup musician and producer.
Testimony to how good he was is the list of some of the artists to perform or record his songs:
Led Zeppelin
The Who
Jimi Hendrix
The Beach Boys
T. Rex
Rush
The Rolling Stones
Bruce Springsteen
Van Halen
Bon Jovi
Joan Jett
Jimmy Buffett
The Sex Pistols
Bryan Adams
Tom Petty
The glam rock artist Marc Bolan had his main Gibson Les Paul guitar refinished in a transparent orange to resemble the Gretsch 6120 played by Cochran, who was his music hero.
In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His pioneering contribution to the genre of rockabilly has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Click on the link below to watch “Summertime Blues”
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On this day in 1973, Eagles released the single “Tequila Sunrise” (April 17)
Glenn Frey and Don Henley didn’t write any songs together for their debut album, “Eagles”, but afterwards decided that it would be a good idea to try and collaborate.
In the first week of writing together, they wrote "Tequila Sunrise" and "Desperado".
This song was a favorite of Glenn Frey.
He said in the “Eagles: Very Best Of” liner notes: "'Tequila Sunrise' was written fairly quickly, and I don't think there's a single chord out of place."
Henley said that "take another shot of courage" refers to tequila because they used to call it "instant courage."
He said: "We very much wanted to talk to the ladies, but we often didn’t have the nerve, so we’d drink a couple of shots and suddenly it was, "Howdy, ma’am.""
The first single from the “Desperado” LP was not a hit at the time, peaking at a lowly #64 in the US, and #68 in Canada, but over time became a fan favourite.
Click on the link below to watch:
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On this day in 1971, the Three Dog Night song “Joy To The World” went to #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (April 17)
JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG!!
Apparently the original lyrics were “Jeremiah was a prophet..” but no-one liked it so they changed it...
The song not only spent six weeks at #1 in the US, it was also Billboard’s #1 song of 1971.
When the song hit #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, songwriter Hoyt Axton and his mother, Mae Axton, became the first mother and son to each have written a #1 pop single in the rock era. Mae Axton co-wrote "Heartbreak Hotel", which was the first #1 hit for Elvis Presley.
The song has been one of the most popular and enduring song in rock history, played at parties around the globe, sung by countless cover bands and karaoke hopefuls, and has featured in numerous tv series including “Sex and the City”, “Friends”, “The X-Files”, and “Outlander”, and movies such as “The Big Chill” and “Forrest Gump”.
Click on the link below to watch:
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On this day in 1978, the Blondie single “Denis” debuted on the Australian charts at #95 (April 17)
Blondie’s cover of the 1963 hit “Denise” by American doo-wop group Randy & the Rainbows, used the masculine form of the name in French, with a silent "s".
Debbie Harry sang a verse with partly improvised French lyrics to justify the name and gender change, which was initially going to be cut, but she insisted on keeping it, so the verse stayed.
"Denis" was the only single released in the US from the LP “Plastic Letters” (with "I'm on E" as the B-side) though it never charted.
The song did go all the way to #1 in the Netherlands and Belgium, #2 in the UK (where it was kept off the top spot by Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”), #3 in Ireland, #9 in Germany, #10 in Austria, and #12 in Australia.
The song won Blondie their first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance…
Click on the link below to watch:
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On this day in 1976, the Queen LP “A Night At The Opera” peaked at #4 on the US Billboard 200 Album Chart (April 17)
Queen’s magnum opus, containing not only the incomparable “Bohemian Rhapsody”, but diverse treasures such as Roger Taylor’s “I’m In Love With My Car”, the vitriolic “Death on Two Legs”, the epic “Prophet’s Song”, “You’re My Best Friend”, and “Love of My Life”, the song that gives you goosebumps listening to thousands of concert-goers singing it in unison.
Following the trend on their previous album “Sheer Heart Attack”, and continuing through their next few albums, the songs explore a wide range of styles and genres, such as ballads, music hall, dixieland, jazz, hard rock, folk rock, skiffle, and progressive rock influences.
A modern masterpiece.
It went to #1 in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, #2 in Canada, #4 in the US and Norway, #5 in Germany, #9 in Japan and Austria, and #10 in Sweden.
In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #128 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Click on the link to watch the magic of “Love of My Life” live in Rio:
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On this day in 1976, the Heart single “Crazy on You” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #86 (April 17)
After “Magic Man” was released in Canada, “Crazy on You” was the first single released in the US from the landmark LP “Dreamboat Annie”, peaking at #2 in the Netherlands, #13 in Belgium, #25 in Canada, #35 in the US, and #70 in Australia.
Starting with an acoustic guitar intro called "Silver Wheels", the song turns into the classic rock song that was the band's signature sound in their early years…
“Crazy on You" attracted attention both for the relatively unusual combination of an acoustic guitar paired with electric guitars, and the fact that the acoustic guitarist was a woman – a rare thing in rock for that time.
According to co-writer and guitarist Nancy Wilson, the rapid acoustic rhythm part was inspired by The Moody Blues's 1970 song "Question".
It goes down in rock history as an iconic 70s Heart rock song, delivered with all of their trademark passion…
In 2013, the original lineup of the band performed the song for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first performance together in over 30 years.
This video clip starts with some brilliant backstage footage, well worth a look; click on the link:
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On this day in 1971, the Black Sabbath LP “Paranoid” peaked at #12 on the US Billboard 200 Album Chart (April 17)
The album's classic title track was written as an afterthought.
As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony (Iommi) just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom."
The album name “Paranoid” was originally going to be titled “War Pigs”, but the record company allegedly changed it out of fear of a backlash from supporters of the ongoing Vietnam War. Additionally, the band's label felt the title track was more marketable as a single.
It went all the way to #1 in the UK and the Netherlands, #2 in Germany, #4 in Australia and Finland, and #5 in Italy and Norway.
Click on the link below to watch the title track:
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On this day in 1980, Pink Floyd released the single “Run Like Hell” (April 17)
“Run Like Hell” is a significant song, as it’s the last original composition written by both Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters, the last of such under the Pink Floyd banner, and is the last composition ever recorded by all four members of the classic 70s-era Floyd lineup together, within their traditional instrumental roles of Waters on bass, Gilmour on guitars, Nick Mason on drums, and Richard Wright on keyboards, on the same song.
Taken from the smash hit concept LP “The Wall”, the single peaked at #15 in Canada, #18 in Sweden, #30 in New Zealand, #46 in Germany, and #53 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Click on the link below to watch them do it live back in 1980:
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Singer, songwriter and guitarist Pete Shelley was born in Leigh, Lancashire, England, on this day in 1955 (April 17)
Pete Shelley was the Godfather of melodic power pop punk, and seminal punk giants Buzzcocks were one of the most influential bands to emerge from the burgeoning music scene of the day.
His voice was unique, and when Howard Devoto left Buzzcocks in 1977, Shelley flourished.
His melodies flowing and swirling around the power chords of Steve Diggle, driven on relentlessly by Steve Garvey (bass) and John Maher (drums) produced classic LPs “Another Music in a Different Kitchen” (1978), “Love Bites” (1978) and “A Different Kind of Tension” (1979).
After going solo, his first single “Homosapien” was a Top 10 hit in Australia and Canada.
Buzzcocks reunited in 1989 and released a new full-length album, “Trade Test Transmissions” in 1993.
They continued to tour and record and released the album “The Way” in 2014.
In 2016, the band embarked on their 40th-anniversary tour, dubbed "Buzzcocks 40".
Shelley passed away in 2018 from a suspected heart attack in Tallinn, Estonia, aged 63.
Click on the link below to watch the Buzzcocks classic “I Don’t Mind”:
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On this day in 1981, the Stiff Little Fingers LP “Go For It” was released (April 17)
This was the last album Fingers would record with what many regard as the classic line-up of Burns, Cluney, McMordie and Reilly.
It was another musical progression for the band, and yeah, ok, it doesn’t have the vitriol and barely controlled anger of “Inflammable Material”, or even the slightly more controlled anger of “Nobody’s Heroes”.
It does however have some great songs which are more musically diverse than before, and still lyrically very strong.
The instrumental title track has gone on to be a great show opener for the Irish punk legends, who continue to play to this day.
I was fortunate to have seen them play a few years ago.
Still excellent…
There’s a great interview about the album with Jake Burns and Ali McMordie released to coincide with its 40th anniversary:
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Or click on the link below to watch “Roots, Radicals, Rockers and Reggae”:
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