On this day in 1973, the Joe Walsh LP “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #180 (June 23)
Joe Walsh’s second studio album proved to be his commercial breakthrough, largely on the strength of the Top 40 hit single, "Rocky Mountain Way", which helped propel the album to #6 on the US Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Walsh shares the vocals and songwriting with the other three members of his band Barnstorm: drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, bassist Kenny Passarelli, and new member, keyboard player Rocke Grace.
The album however, is only credited to Walsh as a solo artist, and not to Barnstorm, which eventually contributed to the band's demise. After the success of this album, Walsh continued making albums as a solo artist.
Click on the link below to watch “Rocky Mountain Way”:
This week in 1968, the Donovan single “Hurdy Gurdy Man” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #76 (June 22)
In the London Daily Mail Weekend magazine dated May 20, 2006, Donovan said:
“I was intrigued by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's teachings of transcendental meditation, which were also followed by The Beatles.
I went with The Beatles and George's wife, Pattie Boyd, Cynthia Lennon and Jane Asher to stay with the Maharishi in the Himalayas for three months.
For a while, Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence, shared the bungalow next to mine. She inspired John Lennon to write 'Dear Prudence.'
‘Hurdy Gurdy Man' was influenced by the sounds I heard there."
In the chapter dedicated to the song in Donovan's autobiography, he says that he originally wanted it to be recorded by Jimi Hendrix.
Also in his autobiography, Donovan has said that there is also an additional verse that had been written by George Harrison that was not included on the radio single.
He played the song for Harrison when they were together in the Himalayas, and Harrison offered to write a verse for the song, which he recorded.
Since the running time had to be kept below the three-minute maximum generally allowed for singles at the time, the producer Mickie Most had to choose between the extra verse and the guitar solo, and ended up keeping just the solo.
Over the years there has been some conflicting stories about just who the musicians on the track were.
Songfacts reports that according to Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (who did play bass and book the session players) as:
Donovan on acoustic guitar, tambura and vocals
Alan Parker on Electric Guitar
John Paul Jones on bass, also the musical director
Clem Cattini on drums
John Bonham, Allan Holdsworth and Jimmy Page were not involved with this song; Jeff Beck, according to Page, did play on one version which was wiped.
Jimmy Page said, "I know it's rumored that I played on that, but I didn't... I heard about this story actually when I was in USA, it was about the time we were talking about the deal with Led Zeppelin.
And what the story was - and it's very true - that they had Jeff Beck go in, and Jeff Beck played on it, and the producer decided to wipe the track.
And Donovan had asked for me to do it, but of course I wasn't there. And they had a guitarist, he basically filled, you know.
He went into the session - and I wouldn't say filled my shoes - but he went in the door, and his name was Alan Parker. I mean, none of you even know of him. It's not the film producer. But anyway, he's the guy who played the guitar solo, so you know, as you say, some people might have thought Beck did it, or me, but it was neither of us.
But I think it was tragic that Beck got wiped off. That was absolutely crazy.
They just decided that they didn't like what he did. And I mean, perish the thought, you know."
On the charts, “Hurdy Gurdy man” went to #4 in the UK, #5 in the US, Australia, and Sweden, #7 in the Netherlands, #10 in Belgium, #11 in Germany, and #20 in Austria.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, The Charlie Daniels Band single “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #81 (June 23)
The legendary uptempo bluegrass song tells the classic tale of Satan’s failure to gain a young man's soul by losing a fiddle-playing contest (re-visited and slightly edited decades later in Tenacious D’s “Tribute”).
It eventually peaked at #3 in the US, #5 in Canada, #13 in New Zealand, and #14 in Australia and the UK.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Van Halen single “Panama” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #52 (June 23)
The song from their smash hit LP “1984” was reportedly written about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song.
Diamond Dave wrote the song after being accused by a reporter of "singing about only women, partying, and fast cars".
Realizing he had never actually written a song about fast cars, he decided to write one!
Eddie Van Halen said the song was musically inspired by AC/DC's straightforward three chord rock style.
It went to #13 in the US, #15 in Canada, #30 in Ireland, #61 in the UK, and #74 in Australia.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Kiss LP “Unmasked” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #139 (June 21)
Again, Peter Criss is credited, but Anton Fig played drums on the album, pretty much like the majority of the previous “Dynasty” LP.
There was a lot of advertising hype preceding the release of “Unmasked”, with suggestions that the makeup may come off, and the band would indeed become unmasked, but upon release, the comic book cover, designed by artist Victor Stabin, revealed that it was not going to happen on this occasion…
Critically, “Unmasked” was a fail, with even Gene Simmons commenting in 2004:
"My least favourite Kiss albums are probably the disco-era ones – probably Unmasked.
I took my eye off the ball and started to trust producers."
In the charts it wasn’t massive in the big US & UK markets, but still went all the way to #1 in New Zealand and Norway, #3 in Australia and Austria, #4 in Germany, #11 in Spain and Italy, #12 in Canada, #13 in the Netherlands, #15 in Japan, #17 in Sweden, #35 in the US, and #48 in the UK.
Click on the link below to watch “Shandi”:
This week in 1979, the Patrick Hernandez single “Born to be Alive” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #88 (June 23)
The song became a worldwide dance smash, and the long album version was a staple on dance floors across the globe for years.
It went to #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, and on the US Billboard Disco chart.
It was also #5 in the Netherlands, #6 in South Africa, and #10 in the UK.
Interestingly, when Patrick Hernandez was preparing for his 1979 US tour, he sent his producer Jean Vanloo and his friend Jean-Claude Pellerin to find a group of dancers to accompany him.
Auditions were held in New York City, and of the many who flocked to try out, a young Madonna was among those chosen to tour with Hernandez.
Click on the link below to watch:
Legendary drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood was born Michael John Kells Fleetwood in Redruth, Cornwall, England, on this day in 1947 (June 24)
He was born in England, but lived in Egypt and Norway for many of his childhood years.
Fleetwood has led the Mac since the 60s through an extraordinary number of personnel changes, style changes through blues, rock, and pop, and a spectacular array of complex relationship breakdowns, and he’s still going strong!
As of March 2022, Fleetwood had been a member of Fleetwood Mac for 54 years and is the only band member who has been in the band for its entire history.
In 1998, Fleetwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
The 1979 song “Tusk” here (live from “The Dance”) highlights his drumming, and appropriately is from the album of the same name that Mick Fleetwood rates as his favourite Fleetwood Mac LP….
Singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and co-founding member of Tears for Fears, Curt Smith was born in Bath, Somerset, England, on this day in 1961 (June 24)
He met fellow Tears for Fears member Roland Orzabal when both were teenagers and started their first band together.
Smith played bass, co-wrote several of the band's songs, and sang lead vocals on the hits "Mad World" and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World".
Tears for Fears went on to become one of the biggest acts of the 80s, with worldwide hit singles including their two US Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".
The latter song won the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986.
The band's debut album, “The Hurting” (1983), reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and their second album, “Songs from the Big Chair” (1985), reached #1 on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the US.
After his departure from Tears for Fears in 1991 Smith pursued a solo career and released five studio albums and one EP.
In 2021, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for 'Outstanding Song Collection' recognising their "era-defining Tears for Fears albums" and "critically acclaimed, innovative hit singles".
Here’s a great live version of Tears For Fears #3 US hit “Head Over Heels” which Curt Smith co-wrote….
Joe Walsh’s second studio album proved to be his commercial breakthrough, largely on the strength of the Top 40 hit single, "Rocky Mountain Way", which helped propel the album to #6 on the US Billboard 200 Album Chart.
Walsh shares the vocals and songwriting with the other three members of his band Barnstorm: drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, bassist Kenny Passarelli, and new member, keyboard player Rocke Grace.
The album however, is only credited to Walsh as a solo artist, and not to Barnstorm, which eventually contributed to the band's demise. After the success of this album, Walsh continued making albums as a solo artist.
Click on the link below to watch “Rocky Mountain Way”:
This week in 1968, the Donovan single “Hurdy Gurdy Man” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #76 (June 22)
In the London Daily Mail Weekend magazine dated May 20, 2006, Donovan said:
“I was intrigued by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's teachings of transcendental meditation, which were also followed by The Beatles.
I went with The Beatles and George's wife, Pattie Boyd, Cynthia Lennon and Jane Asher to stay with the Maharishi in the Himalayas for three months.
For a while, Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence, shared the bungalow next to mine. She inspired John Lennon to write 'Dear Prudence.'
‘Hurdy Gurdy Man' was influenced by the sounds I heard there."
In the chapter dedicated to the song in Donovan's autobiography, he says that he originally wanted it to be recorded by Jimi Hendrix.
Also in his autobiography, Donovan has said that there is also an additional verse that had been written by George Harrison that was not included on the radio single.
He played the song for Harrison when they were together in the Himalayas, and Harrison offered to write a verse for the song, which he recorded.
Since the running time had to be kept below the three-minute maximum generally allowed for singles at the time, the producer Mickie Most had to choose between the extra verse and the guitar solo, and ended up keeping just the solo.
Over the years there has been some conflicting stories about just who the musicians on the track were.
Songfacts reports that according to Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (who did play bass and book the session players) as:
Donovan on acoustic guitar, tambura and vocals
Alan Parker on Electric Guitar
John Paul Jones on bass, also the musical director
Clem Cattini on drums
John Bonham, Allan Holdsworth and Jimmy Page were not involved with this song; Jeff Beck, according to Page, did play on one version which was wiped.
Jimmy Page said, "I know it's rumored that I played on that, but I didn't... I heard about this story actually when I was in USA, it was about the time we were talking about the deal with Led Zeppelin.
And what the story was - and it's very true - that they had Jeff Beck go in, and Jeff Beck played on it, and the producer decided to wipe the track.
And Donovan had asked for me to do it, but of course I wasn't there. And they had a guitarist, he basically filled, you know.
He went into the session - and I wouldn't say filled my shoes - but he went in the door, and his name was Alan Parker. I mean, none of you even know of him. It's not the film producer. But anyway, he's the guy who played the guitar solo, so you know, as you say, some people might have thought Beck did it, or me, but it was neither of us.
But I think it was tragic that Beck got wiped off. That was absolutely crazy.
They just decided that they didn't like what he did. And I mean, perish the thought, you know."
On the charts, “Hurdy Gurdy man” went to #4 in the UK, #5 in the US, Australia, and Sweden, #7 in the Netherlands, #10 in Belgium, #11 in Germany, and #20 in Austria.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, The Charlie Daniels Band single “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #81 (June 23)
The legendary uptempo bluegrass song tells the classic tale of Satan’s failure to gain a young man's soul by losing a fiddle-playing contest (re-visited and slightly edited decades later in Tenacious D’s “Tribute”).
It eventually peaked at #3 in the US, #5 in Canada, #13 in New Zealand, and #14 in Australia and the UK.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1984, the Van Halen single “Panama” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #52 (June 23)
The song from their smash hit LP “1984” was reportedly written about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song.
Diamond Dave wrote the song after being accused by a reporter of "singing about only women, partying, and fast cars".
Realizing he had never actually written a song about fast cars, he decided to write one!
Eddie Van Halen said the song was musically inspired by AC/DC's straightforward three chord rock style.
It went to #13 in the US, #15 in Canada, #30 in Ireland, #61 in the UK, and #74 in Australia.
Click on the link below to watch:
This week in 1980, the Kiss LP “Unmasked” debuted on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart at #139 (June 21)
Again, Peter Criss is credited, but Anton Fig played drums on the album, pretty much like the majority of the previous “Dynasty” LP.
There was a lot of advertising hype preceding the release of “Unmasked”, with suggestions that the makeup may come off, and the band would indeed become unmasked, but upon release, the comic book cover, designed by artist Victor Stabin, revealed that it was not going to happen on this occasion…
Critically, “Unmasked” was a fail, with even Gene Simmons commenting in 2004:
"My least favourite Kiss albums are probably the disco-era ones – probably Unmasked.
I took my eye off the ball and started to trust producers."
In the charts it wasn’t massive in the big US & UK markets, but still went all the way to #1 in New Zealand and Norway, #3 in Australia and Austria, #4 in Germany, #11 in Spain and Italy, #12 in Canada, #13 in the Netherlands, #15 in Japan, #17 in Sweden, #35 in the US, and #48 in the UK.
Click on the link below to watch “Shandi”:
This week in 1979, the Patrick Hernandez single “Born to be Alive” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #88 (June 23)
The song became a worldwide dance smash, and the long album version was a staple on dance floors across the globe for years.
It went to #1 in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, and on the US Billboard Disco chart.
It was also #5 in the Netherlands, #6 in South Africa, and #10 in the UK.
Interestingly, when Patrick Hernandez was preparing for his 1979 US tour, he sent his producer Jean Vanloo and his friend Jean-Claude Pellerin to find a group of dancers to accompany him.
Auditions were held in New York City, and of the many who flocked to try out, a young Madonna was among those chosen to tour with Hernandez.
Click on the link below to watch:
Legendary drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood was born Michael John Kells Fleetwood in Redruth, Cornwall, England, on this day in 1947 (June 24)
He was born in England, but lived in Egypt and Norway for many of his childhood years.
Fleetwood has led the Mac since the 60s through an extraordinary number of personnel changes, style changes through blues, rock, and pop, and a spectacular array of complex relationship breakdowns, and he’s still going strong!
As of March 2022, Fleetwood had been a member of Fleetwood Mac for 54 years and is the only band member who has been in the band for its entire history.
In 1998, Fleetwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
The 1979 song “Tusk” here (live from “The Dance”) highlights his drumming, and appropriately is from the album of the same name that Mick Fleetwood rates as his favourite Fleetwood Mac LP….
Singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and co-founding member of Tears for Fears, Curt Smith was born in Bath, Somerset, England, on this day in 1961 (June 24)
He met fellow Tears for Fears member Roland Orzabal when both were teenagers and started their first band together.
Smith played bass, co-wrote several of the band's songs, and sang lead vocals on the hits "Mad World" and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World".
Tears for Fears went on to become one of the biggest acts of the 80s, with worldwide hit singles including their two US Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".
The latter song won the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986.
The band's debut album, “The Hurting” (1983), reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and their second album, “Songs from the Big Chair” (1985), reached #1 on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the US.
After his departure from Tears for Fears in 1991 Smith pursued a solo career and released five studio albums and one EP.
In 2021, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for 'Outstanding Song Collection' recognising their "era-defining Tears for Fears albums" and "critically acclaimed, innovative hit singles".
Here’s a great live version of Tears For Fears #3 US hit “Head Over Heels” which Curt Smith co-wrote….
