The new cut off of their 2nd album. Really enjoyed their first album. It's Ritchie Kotzen of Poison and The Winery Dogs. Also Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden and he killed it live last week with Iron Maiden. Both are outstanding guitarist and vocalist which the song shows both in video below.
On this day in 1980, ADRIAN SMITH made his first public appearance with Iron Maiden. Shortly after Dennis Stratton was allegedly fired for liking The Eagles (that's not a joke, he maintains that he was terminated because of his fondness for soft rock), Adrian made his debut "performance" with the band on a German TV show called Rock and Pop. Even though it was actually just a lip-synced rendition of "Running Free," it marked the beginning of a new era for the mighty Iron Maiden.
On this day in 1972, the Stevie Wonder single “Superstition” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #82 (November 18)
The lead single from his fifteenth studio album, “Talking Book” went on to become Stevie Wonder’s second US #1, coming 10 years after his first US #1 in 1963.
Stevie Wonder invited guitar legend Jeff Beck to be involved in the “Talking Book” sessions, and it was Beck that came up with the opening drum beat.
Wonder told Beck to keep playing while he improvised over the top of it.
He improvised most of the song, including the riff, on the spot.
Beck and Wonder created a rough demo for the song that day.
After finishing the song, Wonder decided that he would allow Beck to record "Superstition" as part of their agreement.
Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, however due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that "Superstition" would be a huge hit and greatly increase the sales of “Talking Book”, Wonder released the song as the “Talking Book” lead single months ahead of Beck's version, the latter being issued in March 1973 on the Beck, Bogert & Appice album.
In addition to the song going to #1 in the US, it also went to #6 in Canada, #10 in the Netherlands, and #11 in the UK, and became one of his most popular hits, retaining its popularity over the decades thanks to that recognizable riff and classy brass runs.
At the 16th Grammy Awards, “Superstition” won Stevie Wonder two Grammys for writing (Best Rhythm & Blues Song) and performing (Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male).
In 2021 Rolling Stone ranked the song #12 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Click on the link below to watch him do it on Soul Train:
On this day in 1978, the Billy Joel LP “52nd Street” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts (November 18)
“52nd Street” was the first of four Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, and it earned him two Grammys.
Three songs reached the Top 40 in the US, contributing to the album's success: "My Life" (#3), "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24).
It was similarly well received by critics, earning the 1980 Grammy for Album of the Year.
“52nd Street” was also one of the first albums commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982 in Japan (it was one of fifty CDs released that day, including “The Stranger”, but bore the first catalogue number in the sequence, 35DP-1, and so is frequently cited as the first to be released).
In keeping with this history, it was also the first release when Sony returned to manufacturing vinyl records in 2018…
The album also went to #1 in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and peaked at #10 in the UK.
In 2012, “52nd Street” was ranked #354 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Click on the link below to see the original clip to one of the album’s hits, “My Life”:
On this day in 1972, the Slade single “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #96 (November 18)
The glam rock anthem written by lead singer Noddy Holder and bass player Jim Lea, from their third studio album “Slayed?”, went all the way to #1 in the UK and Ireland, #5 in Switzerland, #6 in Germany and Austria, #7 in the Netherlands, #11 in Belgium, #14 in Australia, and #76 in the US.
In his 1999 biography “Who's Crazee Now?”, Holder recalled:
“We had hit on our benchmark sound.
It was perfect for Slade, very raucous, but catchy and pop. It was a real powerhouse record. Everyone loved it and everyone knew all the words."
According to Holder, he got the idea for the lyrics after the band's concert at Wembley Arena in London, when he looked at the remains of the auditorium's smashed seating and thought "Christ, everyone must have been crazy tonight."
There were a number of cover versions of this one, including from US metal band Quiet Riot (who also covered Slade’s "Cum On Feel the Noize"), and the Runaways.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, the Van Morrison single “Bright Side Of The Road” debuted on the Australian charts at #95 (November 19)
The track from the LP “Into the Music” was not a huge chart success, peaking at a modest #48 in the Netherlands, #63 in the UK, and #75 in Australia, but went on to become one of the Irish legend’s most popular songs.
"Bright Side of the Road" is featured as the opening track on the 1990 compilation album “The Best of Van Morrison”, and also features on the collection of outtakes on the 1998 compilation album “The Philosopher's Stone”.
Dan Penn, one of the writers of the song's inspiration, the James Carr single “The Dark End of the Street”, covered "Bright Side of the Road" on the 2003 tribute album “Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison”.
Click the link below for Van doing it live:
This week in 1974, the Olivia Newton-John single “I Honestly Love You” went to #1 on the Australian charts (November 18)
The ballad written by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen, was Olivia’s first ever #1 song on the US Billboard charts, and went on to spend a few weeks in the #1 spot in Australia.
It was also #1 in Canada and Sweden, and #5 in South Africa.
At the 17th Grammy Awards in 1975, the single won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
VH1 placed the song at #11 on its "40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs" list.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Boomtown Rats single “Rat Trap” went to #1 on the UK Singles Chart (November 18)
Written by Bob Geldof, and produced by the legendary Robert John "Mutt" Lange, “Rat Trap” replaced "Summer Nights", the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Grease single, at #1 in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign.
In doing so, it became the first single by a punk or new wave band to make it to #1 in the UK.
When Boomtown Rats performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song) as the new UK #1, the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair - who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts - had finally been deposed.
Bob Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra on TOTP, a jest he explained in his autobiography Is That It?:
“The Musicians' Union had forbidden me to play saxophone on the video, as obviously I hadn't done so on the record.
But I saw a candelabra on the piano at the shoot and I put a mouthpiece in the central candle holder and played it.
The impact of video came home when during the next few British gigs kids pulled out candelabras from nowhere and began playing them during the sax solo in 'Rat Trap'".
In addition to topping the charts in the UK, “Rat Trap” also made it to #2 in Ireland, and #94 in Australia…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, the Gary Numan single “Cars” debuted on the Australian charts at #69 (November 19)
“Cars” was Numan’s debut solo single after dropping the Tubeway Army name, and went to #1 in the UK and Canada, #5 in Ireland, #9 in the US and Australia, and #18 in New Zealand.
Numan explained to Rolling Stone how he came up with this song's synthesizer hook:
“I have only written two songs on bass guitar and the first one was 'Cars.'
I had just been to London to buy a bass and when I got home the first thing I played was that intro riff.
I thought, 'Hey, that's not bad!' In 10 minutes, I had the whole song.
The quickest one I ever wrote. And the most famous one I'd ever written. More people should learn from that."
According to Numan, the song's lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage:
“I was in traffic in London once and had a problem with some people in front.
They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car.
I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It's kind of to do with that.
It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world...When you're in it, your whole mentality is different...It's like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it.”
This live version with Nine Inch Nails is brilliant…..
On this day in 1979, the Styx single “Babe” debuted on the Australian charts at #84 (November 19)
The song from their “Cornerstone” LP eventually made it to #3 on the Australian charts, and was Styx's first, and only, US #1 single, spending two weeks at #1 in December 1979.
The love song was also #1 in Canada for six weeks, and #1 in South Africa.
It was also the band's only UK Top 40 hit, peaking at #6.
The song was written by member Dennis DeYoung as a birthday present for his wife Suzanne, and was not originally intended to be a Styx track, but Styx members James "J.Y." Young and Tommy Shaw convinced DeYoung to put the song on “Cornerstone”.
In 1999, "Babe" was included in the soundtrack to the film “Big Daddy”, starring Adam Sandler, whose character is a huge fan of Styx.
Click the link below for the clip of this classic song:
This week in 1982, The Cure released the single “Let’s Go To Bed” (November 15)
The dancy, upbeat track was not your typical Cure song…
Robert Smith recalled the moment when he first played the demo to the Cure’s record label Fiction Records:
When I took “Lets Go to Bed” to Fiction and played it to them, it was like silence…
They looked at me, like, “This is it. He’s really lost it.”
They said, “You can’t be serious. Your fans are gonna hate it.”
I understood that, but I wanted to get rid of all that. I didn’t want that side of life anymore;
I wanted to do something that’s really kind of cheerful.
I thought, “This isn’t going to work. No one’s ever gonna buy into this.
It’s so ludicrous that I’m gonna go from goth idol to pop star in three easy lessons.”
However, the song became a success much to Smith’s surprise:
“Suddenly, ‘Let’s Go to Bed’ was turning into a big hit, on the West Coast particularly, and we had a young, predominantly female, teenage audience.
It went from intense, menacing, psychotic goths to people with perfect white teeth. It was a very weird transition, but I enjoyed it.
I thought it was really funny!”
The stand-alone single did best in Australasia, reaching #15 in Australia (for two weeks) and #17 in New Zealand, and was a dance floor hit, on high repeat in the clubs there.
It also reached #44 in the UK, and #32 on the US Billboard Dance Club Chart.
Click on the link below to watch them do it live:
On this day in 1983, the Spandau Ballet single “Gold” debuted on the US Billboard charts at #68 (November 19)
The song is Spandau Ballet's second-highest charting single in both the UK and the US, behind their previous release, "True", reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart (KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" held it off the top of that chart), and eventually reaching #29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It was also a Top 10 hit in Australia, Spain, Poland, New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands and France.
Click the link below to watch the video of this classic 80s hit:
Guitarist and songwriter Danny Whitten passed away this week in 1972 (November 18)
“I've seen the needle and the damage done"….
Whitten is best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for writing the excellent ballad "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a big hit for Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge, and Everything but the Girl among others.
Whitten and Young sang "Cinnamon Girl" together, the opening track of Young's second album, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, and the pair shared lead guitar duties on "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand".
These tracks arguably influenced the grunge movement of the 1990s, and all three songs remain part of Young's performance repertoire.
During his time with Crazy Horse though, Whitten began using heroin, and developed an addiction which would dominate his all-too-short life.
Whitten and the rest of Crazy Horse were dropped about halfway through the recording sessions for “After the Gold Rush” in 1969, in part because of Whitten's heavy drug use.
Young wrote "The Needle and the Damage Done" during this time, with direct references to Whitten's addiction and its role in the destruction of his talent…
Then a few years later, early in 1972, Young asked Whitten to be a part of The Stray Gators, his backing band for the “Harvest” LP.
Whitten struggled however, and Young had no choice but to drop him from the project.
He dismissed Whitten from the band on November 18, 1972, giving him $50 and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles.
Later that night Whitten passed away, reportedly from ingesting a combination of diazepam, which he was taking for severe knee arthritis, and alcohol, which he was using to try to get over his heroin addiction.
He was just 29.
Neil Young recalled, "We were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.'
He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?'
And he split.
That night the coroner called me and told me he'd died.
That blew my mind. ****ing blew my mind.
I loved Danny. I felt responsible.
And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and ... insecure."
Years later, Young told biographer Jimmy McDonough that for a long time after Whitten died, he felt responsible for Whitten's death.
It took him years to stop blaming himself. "Danny just wasn't happy", Young said. "It just all came down on him. He was engulfed by this drug. That was too bad. Because Danny had a lot to give, boy, he was really good."
Sad story.
“Ohhh…..the damage done”….
Click on the link below to watch Young’s tribute:
On this day in 1980, ADRIAN SMITH made his first public appearance with Iron Maiden. Shortly after Dennis Stratton was allegedly fired for liking The Eagles (that's not a joke, he maintains that he was terminated because of his fondness for soft rock), Adrian made his debut "performance" with the band on a German TV show called Rock and Pop. Even though it was actually just a lip-synced rendition of "Running Free," it marked the beginning of a new era for the mighty Iron Maiden.
On this day in 1972, the Stevie Wonder single “Superstition” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #82 (November 18)
The lead single from his fifteenth studio album, “Talking Book” went on to become Stevie Wonder’s second US #1, coming 10 years after his first US #1 in 1963.
Stevie Wonder invited guitar legend Jeff Beck to be involved in the “Talking Book” sessions, and it was Beck that came up with the opening drum beat.
Wonder told Beck to keep playing while he improvised over the top of it.
He improvised most of the song, including the riff, on the spot.
Beck and Wonder created a rough demo for the song that day.
After finishing the song, Wonder decided that he would allow Beck to record "Superstition" as part of their agreement.
Originally, the plan was for Beck to release his version of the song first, with his newly formed power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, however due to the combination of the trio's debut album getting delayed and Motown CEO Berry Gordy's prediction that "Superstition" would be a huge hit and greatly increase the sales of “Talking Book”, Wonder released the song as the “Talking Book” lead single months ahead of Beck's version, the latter being issued in March 1973 on the Beck, Bogert & Appice album.
In addition to the song going to #1 in the US, it also went to #6 in Canada, #10 in the Netherlands, and #11 in the UK, and became one of his most popular hits, retaining its popularity over the decades thanks to that recognizable riff and classy brass runs.
At the 16th Grammy Awards, “Superstition” won Stevie Wonder two Grammys for writing (Best Rhythm & Blues Song) and performing (Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male).
In 2021 Rolling Stone ranked the song #12 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Click on the link below to watch him do it on Soul Train:
On this day in 1978, the Billy Joel LP “52nd Street” went to #1 on the US Billboard charts (November 18)
“52nd Street” was the first of four Joel albums to top the Billboard charts, and it earned him two Grammys.
Three songs reached the Top 40 in the US, contributing to the album's success: "My Life" (#3), "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24).
It was similarly well received by critics, earning the 1980 Grammy for Album of the Year.
“52nd Street” was also one of the first albums commercially released on the compact disc format, reaching store shelves on October 1, 1982 in Japan (it was one of fifty CDs released that day, including “The Stranger”, but bore the first catalogue number in the sequence, 35DP-1, and so is frequently cited as the first to be released).
In keeping with this history, it was also the first release when Sony returned to manufacturing vinyl records in 2018…
The album also went to #1 in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and peaked at #10 in the UK.
In 2012, “52nd Street” was ranked #354 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Click on the link below to see the original clip to one of the album’s hits, “My Life”:
On this day in 1972, the Slade single “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #96 (November 18)
The glam rock anthem written by lead singer Noddy Holder and bass player Jim Lea, from their third studio album “Slayed?”, went all the way to #1 in the UK and Ireland, #5 in Switzerland, #6 in Germany and Austria, #7 in the Netherlands, #11 in Belgium, #14 in Australia, and #76 in the US.
In his 1999 biography “Who's Crazee Now?”, Holder recalled:
“We had hit on our benchmark sound.
It was perfect for Slade, very raucous, but catchy and pop. It was a real powerhouse record. Everyone loved it and everyone knew all the words."
According to Holder, he got the idea for the lyrics after the band's concert at Wembley Arena in London, when he looked at the remains of the auditorium's smashed seating and thought "Christ, everyone must have been crazy tonight."
There were a number of cover versions of this one, including from US metal band Quiet Riot (who also covered Slade’s "Cum On Feel the Noize"), and the Runaways.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, the Van Morrison single “Bright Side Of The Road” debuted on the Australian charts at #95 (November 19)
The track from the LP “Into the Music” was not a huge chart success, peaking at a modest #48 in the Netherlands, #63 in the UK, and #75 in Australia, but went on to become one of the Irish legend’s most popular songs.
"Bright Side of the Road" is featured as the opening track on the 1990 compilation album “The Best of Van Morrison”, and also features on the collection of outtakes on the 1998 compilation album “The Philosopher's Stone”.
Dan Penn, one of the writers of the song's inspiration, the James Carr single “The Dark End of the Street”, covered "Bright Side of the Road" on the 2003 tribute album “Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison”.
Click the link below for Van doing it live:
This week in 1974, the Olivia Newton-John single “I Honestly Love You” went to #1 on the Australian charts (November 18)
The ballad written by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen, was Olivia’s first ever #1 song on the US Billboard charts, and went on to spend a few weeks in the #1 spot in Australia.
It was also #1 in Canada and Sweden, and #5 in South Africa.
At the 17th Grammy Awards in 1975, the single won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
VH1 placed the song at #11 on its "40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs" list.
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1978, the Boomtown Rats single “Rat Trap” went to #1 on the UK Singles Chart (November 18)
Written by Bob Geldof, and produced by the legendary Robert John "Mutt" Lange, “Rat Trap” replaced "Summer Nights", the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Grease single, at #1 in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign.
In doing so, it became the first single by a punk or new wave band to make it to #1 in the UK.
When Boomtown Rats performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song) as the new UK #1, the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John to emphasise the fact that the pair - who had spent a total of 16 weeks out of the preceding 22 at the top of the charts - had finally been deposed.
Bob Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra on TOTP, a jest he explained in his autobiography Is That It?:
“The Musicians' Union had forbidden me to play saxophone on the video, as obviously I hadn't done so on the record.
But I saw a candelabra on the piano at the shoot and I put a mouthpiece in the central candle holder and played it.
The impact of video came home when during the next few British gigs kids pulled out candelabras from nowhere and began playing them during the sax solo in 'Rat Trap'".
In addition to topping the charts in the UK, “Rat Trap” also made it to #2 in Ireland, and #94 in Australia…
Click on the link below to watch:
On this day in 1979, the Gary Numan single “Cars” debuted on the Australian charts at #69 (November 19)
“Cars” was Numan’s debut solo single after dropping the Tubeway Army name, and went to #1 in the UK and Canada, #5 in Ireland, #9 in the US and Australia, and #18 in New Zealand.
Numan explained to Rolling Stone how he came up with this song's synthesizer hook:
“I have only written two songs on bass guitar and the first one was 'Cars.'
I had just been to London to buy a bass and when I got home the first thing I played was that intro riff.
I thought, 'Hey, that's not bad!' In 10 minutes, I had the whole song.
The quickest one I ever wrote. And the most famous one I'd ever written. More people should learn from that."
According to Numan, the song's lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage:
“I was in traffic in London once and had a problem with some people in front.
They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car.
I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It's kind of to do with that.
It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world...When you're in it, your whole mentality is different...It's like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it.”
This live version with Nine Inch Nails is brilliant…..
On this day in 1979, the Styx single “Babe” debuted on the Australian charts at #84 (November 19)
The song from their “Cornerstone” LP eventually made it to #3 on the Australian charts, and was Styx's first, and only, US #1 single, spending two weeks at #1 in December 1979.
The love song was also #1 in Canada for six weeks, and #1 in South Africa.
It was also the band's only UK Top 40 hit, peaking at #6.
The song was written by member Dennis DeYoung as a birthday present for his wife Suzanne, and was not originally intended to be a Styx track, but Styx members James "J.Y." Young and Tommy Shaw convinced DeYoung to put the song on “Cornerstone”.
In 1999, "Babe" was included in the soundtrack to the film “Big Daddy”, starring Adam Sandler, whose character is a huge fan of Styx.
Click the link below for the clip of this classic song:
This week in 1982, The Cure released the single “Let’s Go To Bed” (November 15)
The dancy, upbeat track was not your typical Cure song…
Robert Smith recalled the moment when he first played the demo to the Cure’s record label Fiction Records:
When I took “Lets Go to Bed” to Fiction and played it to them, it was like silence…
They looked at me, like, “This is it. He’s really lost it.”
They said, “You can’t be serious. Your fans are gonna hate it.”
I understood that, but I wanted to get rid of all that. I didn’t want that side of life anymore;
I wanted to do something that’s really kind of cheerful.
I thought, “This isn’t going to work. No one’s ever gonna buy into this.
It’s so ludicrous that I’m gonna go from goth idol to pop star in three easy lessons.”
However, the song became a success much to Smith’s surprise:
“Suddenly, ‘Let’s Go to Bed’ was turning into a big hit, on the West Coast particularly, and we had a young, predominantly female, teenage audience.
It went from intense, menacing, psychotic goths to people with perfect white teeth. It was a very weird transition, but I enjoyed it.
I thought it was really funny!”
The stand-alone single did best in Australasia, reaching #15 in Australia (for two weeks) and #17 in New Zealand, and was a dance floor hit, on high repeat in the clubs there.
It also reached #44 in the UK, and #32 on the US Billboard Dance Club Chart.
Click on the link below to watch them do it live:
On this day in 1983, the Spandau Ballet single “Gold” debuted on the US Billboard charts at #68 (November 19)
The song is Spandau Ballet's second-highest charting single in both the UK and the US, behind their previous release, "True", reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart (KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up" held it off the top of that chart), and eventually reaching #29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It was also a Top 10 hit in Australia, Spain, Poland, New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands and France.
Click the link below to watch the video of this classic 80s hit:
Guitarist and songwriter Danny Whitten passed away this week in 1972 (November 18)
“I've seen the needle and the damage done"….
Whitten is best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for writing the excellent ballad "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a big hit for Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge, and Everything but the Girl among others.
Whitten and Young sang "Cinnamon Girl" together, the opening track of Young's second album, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”, and the pair shared lead guitar duties on "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand".
These tracks arguably influenced the grunge movement of the 1990s, and all three songs remain part of Young's performance repertoire.
During his time with Crazy Horse though, Whitten began using heroin, and developed an addiction which would dominate his all-too-short life.
Whitten and the rest of Crazy Horse were dropped about halfway through the recording sessions for “After the Gold Rush” in 1969, in part because of Whitten's heavy drug use.
Young wrote "The Needle and the Damage Done" during this time, with direct references to Whitten's addiction and its role in the destruction of his talent…
Then a few years later, early in 1972, Young asked Whitten to be a part of The Stray Gators, his backing band for the “Harvest” LP.
Whitten struggled however, and Young had no choice but to drop him from the project.
He dismissed Whitten from the band on November 18, 1972, giving him $50 and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles.
Later that night Whitten passed away, reportedly from ingesting a combination of diazepam, which he was taking for severe knee arthritis, and alcohol, which he was using to try to get over his heroin addiction.
He was just 29.
Neil Young recalled, "We were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.'
He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?'
And he split.
That night the coroner called me and told me he'd died.
That blew my mind. ****ing blew my mind.
I loved Danny. I felt responsible.
And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and ... insecure."
Years later, Young told biographer Jimmy McDonough that for a long time after Whitten died, he felt responsible for Whitten's death.
It took him years to stop blaming himself. "Danny just wasn't happy", Young said. "It just all came down on him. He was engulfed by this drug. That was too bad. Because Danny had a lot to give, boy, he was really good."
Sad story.
“Ohhh…..the damage done”….
Click on the link below to watch Young’s tribute:
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