On this day in 1977, the Queen LP “A Day At The Races” re-entered the UK Albums Chart at #56 (July 9)
It re-appeared on the charts six months after it topped the charts in January 1977.
The follow-up LP to the hugely successful “A Night At The Opera” was similar in that both LPs were named after Marx Brothers movies, both LPs explored a wide variety of genres, both LPs had similar covers (Opera= white cover, Races = black cover), and both were anchored by a Queen epic single (Opera = “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Races = “Somebody to Love”).
The album peaked at #1 in the UK, Japan and the Netherlands, #3 in Norway, #4 in Canada, and #8 in Australia and Sweden.
It reached #5 on the US Billboard 200 and was Queen's third album to go gold in the US, subsequently reaching platinum status in the same country.
“A Day at the Races” was voted the 67th greatest album of all time in a national 2006 BBC poll.
Click on the link below to watch “Somebody to Love”:
On this day in 1981, the Go-Go’s released the LP “Beauty and the Beat” ( July 8 )
The Go-Go’s made rock history with this, their debut album, becoming the first all-female band with a chart-topping album of songs written entirely by the band.
It was, in fact, one of the most successful debut albums of all time, driven by its two big Hot 100 hit singles: "Our Lips Are Sealed" (#20) and "We Got the Beat" (#2)
After a long and steady climb, “Beauty and the Beat” reached #1 on the US Billboard album chart on March 6, 1982, the week before "We Got the Beat" entered the Top Ten of the Hot 100.
The album stayed at the top for six consecutive weeks, and ranked second in Billboard's year-end Top 100 of 1982 (behind the self-titled debut album of Asia).
It also went to #2 in Canada, #20 in Sweden, and #27 in Australia.
In 2020, “Beauty and the Beat” was ranked number 400 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"We Got the Beat" was also named one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Click on the link below to watch “We Got the Beat”:
The one and only Bon Scott from AC/DC was born Ronald Belford Scott, in Forfar, Angus, Scotland, on this day in 1946 (July 9)
His family moved to Australia when he was six years old.
He got the nickname "Bon" soon after starting school at Sunshine East Primary School in Melbourne; because there was another Ronald in the class, his classmates played on the phrase "Bonnie Scotland", shortening it to “Bon”.
Scott formed his first band, the Spektors, in 1964 and became the band's drummer and occasional lead vocalist. He performed in several other bands, including the Valentines and Fraternity, before replacing Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC/DC in 1974.
With Scott up front, AC/DC went from the glam rock combo into the cracking hard rock band that Australia fell in love with, that were on the brink of international superstardom when tragedy struck.
On 19 February 1980, Scott went on a drinking binge in a London pub that caused him to lose consciousness, so a friend let him rest in the back of his Renault 5 overnight.
The next morning, Scott was found unresponsive and rushed to King's College Hospital where medical personnel pronounced him dead on arrival.
The coroner ruled that pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, but the official cause was listed on the death certificate as "acute alcoholic poisoning" and classified as "death by misadventure".
He was 33.
AC/DC's seventh studio album “Back In Black” was released five months later as a dedication and tribute to Scott.
The record went on to become the second best-selling album in music history…
In 2003, Scott was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of AC/DC.
Bon Scott had a killer voice, and a smile and a fun-loving twinkle in his eye was never too far away when he performed, in his trademark bare chest and skin-tight jeans.
One of our best….
Click on the link below to watch “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’ Roll)” with Bon rockin’ the bagpipes:
On this day in 1979, the Two-Man Band single “Up There Cazaly” debuted on the Australian charts at #59 (July 9)
The song written by Mike Brady was used to promote Channel Seven's coverage of the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Released independently on Fable Records, the song went all the way to #1, and became the highest selling Australian single ever with sales of over 240,000 as of October 1979 and 260,000 by the end of 1980.
It held this record until February 1981.
One of the iconic motivational songs in Australian sport…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Gerry Rafferty LP “City to City” went to #1 on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart ( July 8 )
It was Rafferty's first solo release in six years—and first release of any kind since 1975—due to his tenure in the band Stealers Wheel and subsequent legal proceedings which prevented Rafferty from releasing any new solo recordings for the following three years.
The album also went to #3 in Australia and Germany, #5 in the Netherlands, #6 in the UK and New Zealand, and #9 in Sweden and Austria.
“Baker Street” was the worldwide smash hit that drove the album to the top, but it also produced two other US Top 40 singles, "Right Down the Line" (#12), and "Home and Dry" (#28).
Click on the link below to watch the classic “Baker Street”:
On this day in 1972, the Bill Withers single “Lean on Me” hit the #1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 ( July 8 )
The timeless song stayed at #1 for three weeks in the US, and peaked at #18 in the UK, #20 in Canada, and #24 in Australia.
It’s ranked #208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Interestingly “Lean on Me” is one of only nine songs in history to have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with versions recorded by two different artists, the other being the Club Nouveau version in 1987.
Withers recalled to SongFacts the original inspiration for the song:
"I bought a little piano and I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, 'OK, I like the way that phrase, Lean On Me, sounds with this song.'"
Withers stated in the same interview that he made an effort to keep the lyrics simple.
Click on the link below to watch Bill Withers do his stuff:
On this day in 1979, the M single “Pop Muzik” went to #1 on the Australian charts (July 9)
“Pop Muzik” was one of a number of what would be later considered real 80s-style songs, that started coming out in 1979…
M is the British musician Robin Scott, who wrote, produced and sang lead on the track.
He describes the genesis of "Pop Muzik":
“I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which somehow would summarise the last 25 years of pop music.
It was a deliberate point I was trying to make. Whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale.
That's why I really wanted to make a simple, bland statement, which was, 'All we're talking about basically (is) pop music.'”
It was a worldwide hit.
Not only in New York, London, Paris and Munich…
The song went to #1 in the US, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, #2 in the UK, Ireland and Austria, #3 in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Belgium, and #5 in Norway.
….and David Bowie contributed handclaps to the song.
Yes….you read that correctly!
Handclaps.
Bowie was a good friend of Robin Scott and happened to living in Montreux at the time, where the album (“New York-London-Paris-Munich”) was recorded at Queen’s recording studio, Mountain Studios.
Click on the link below to watch:
It re-appeared on the charts six months after it topped the charts in January 1977.
The follow-up LP to the hugely successful “A Night At The Opera” was similar in that both LPs were named after Marx Brothers movies, both LPs explored a wide variety of genres, both LPs had similar covers (Opera= white cover, Races = black cover), and both were anchored by a Queen epic single (Opera = “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Races = “Somebody to Love”).
The album peaked at #1 in the UK, Japan and the Netherlands, #3 in Norway, #4 in Canada, and #8 in Australia and Sweden.
It reached #5 on the US Billboard 200 and was Queen's third album to go gold in the US, subsequently reaching platinum status in the same country.
“A Day at the Races” was voted the 67th greatest album of all time in a national 2006 BBC poll.
Click on the link below to watch “Somebody to Love”:
On this day in 1981, the Go-Go’s released the LP “Beauty and the Beat” ( July 8 )
The Go-Go’s made rock history with this, their debut album, becoming the first all-female band with a chart-topping album of songs written entirely by the band.
It was, in fact, one of the most successful debut albums of all time, driven by its two big Hot 100 hit singles: "Our Lips Are Sealed" (#20) and "We Got the Beat" (#2)
After a long and steady climb, “Beauty and the Beat” reached #1 on the US Billboard album chart on March 6, 1982, the week before "We Got the Beat" entered the Top Ten of the Hot 100.
The album stayed at the top for six consecutive weeks, and ranked second in Billboard's year-end Top 100 of 1982 (behind the self-titled debut album of Asia).
It also went to #2 in Canada, #20 in Sweden, and #27 in Australia.
In 2020, “Beauty and the Beat” was ranked number 400 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
"We Got the Beat" was also named one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Click on the link below to watch “We Got the Beat”:
The one and only Bon Scott from AC/DC was born Ronald Belford Scott, in Forfar, Angus, Scotland, on this day in 1946 (July 9)
His family moved to Australia when he was six years old.
He got the nickname "Bon" soon after starting school at Sunshine East Primary School in Melbourne; because there was another Ronald in the class, his classmates played on the phrase "Bonnie Scotland", shortening it to “Bon”.
Scott formed his first band, the Spektors, in 1964 and became the band's drummer and occasional lead vocalist. He performed in several other bands, including the Valentines and Fraternity, before replacing Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC/DC in 1974.
With Scott up front, AC/DC went from the glam rock combo into the cracking hard rock band that Australia fell in love with, that were on the brink of international superstardom when tragedy struck.
On 19 February 1980, Scott went on a drinking binge in a London pub that caused him to lose consciousness, so a friend let him rest in the back of his Renault 5 overnight.
The next morning, Scott was found unresponsive and rushed to King's College Hospital where medical personnel pronounced him dead on arrival.
The coroner ruled that pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, but the official cause was listed on the death certificate as "acute alcoholic poisoning" and classified as "death by misadventure".
He was 33.
AC/DC's seventh studio album “Back In Black” was released five months later as a dedication and tribute to Scott.
The record went on to become the second best-selling album in music history…
In 2003, Scott was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of AC/DC.
Bon Scott had a killer voice, and a smile and a fun-loving twinkle in his eye was never too far away when he performed, in his trademark bare chest and skin-tight jeans.
One of our best….
Click on the link below to watch “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock’n’ Roll)” with Bon rockin’ the bagpipes:
On this day in 1979, the Two-Man Band single “Up There Cazaly” debuted on the Australian charts at #59 (July 9)
The song written by Mike Brady was used to promote Channel Seven's coverage of the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Released independently on Fable Records, the song went all the way to #1, and became the highest selling Australian single ever with sales of over 240,000 as of October 1979 and 260,000 by the end of 1980.
It held this record until February 1981.
One of the iconic motivational songs in Australian sport…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Gerry Rafferty LP “City to City” went to #1 on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart ( July 8 )
It was Rafferty's first solo release in six years—and first release of any kind since 1975—due to his tenure in the band Stealers Wheel and subsequent legal proceedings which prevented Rafferty from releasing any new solo recordings for the following three years.
The album also went to #3 in Australia and Germany, #5 in the Netherlands, #6 in the UK and New Zealand, and #9 in Sweden and Austria.
“Baker Street” was the worldwide smash hit that drove the album to the top, but it also produced two other US Top 40 singles, "Right Down the Line" (#12), and "Home and Dry" (#28).
Click on the link below to watch the classic “Baker Street”:
On this day in 1972, the Bill Withers single “Lean on Me” hit the #1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 ( July 8 )
The timeless song stayed at #1 for three weeks in the US, and peaked at #18 in the UK, #20 in Canada, and #24 in Australia.
It’s ranked #208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Interestingly “Lean on Me” is one of only nine songs in history to have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with versions recorded by two different artists, the other being the Club Nouveau version in 1987.
Withers recalled to SongFacts the original inspiration for the song:
"I bought a little piano and I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, 'OK, I like the way that phrase, Lean On Me, sounds with this song.'"
Withers stated in the same interview that he made an effort to keep the lyrics simple.
Click on the link below to watch Bill Withers do his stuff:
On this day in 1979, the M single “Pop Muzik” went to #1 on the Australian charts (July 9)
“Pop Muzik” was one of a number of what would be later considered real 80s-style songs, that started coming out in 1979…
M is the British musician Robin Scott, who wrote, produced and sang lead on the track.
He describes the genesis of "Pop Muzik":
“I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which somehow would summarise the last 25 years of pop music.
It was a deliberate point I was trying to make. Whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale.
That's why I really wanted to make a simple, bland statement, which was, 'All we're talking about basically (is) pop music.'”
It was a worldwide hit.
Not only in New York, London, Paris and Munich…
The song went to #1 in the US, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, #2 in the UK, Ireland and Austria, #3 in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Belgium, and #5 in Norway.
….and David Bowie contributed handclaps to the song.
Yes….you read that correctly!
Handclaps.
Bowie was a good friend of Robin Scott and happened to living in Montreux at the time, where the album (“New York-London-Paris-Munich”) was recorded at Queen’s recording studio, Mountain Studios.
Click on the link below to watch:
