Throwback Thursday: This Week in History

This week in history – all you need to know about this week’s musical past lives.

1902: The Gibson Mandolin guitar company was formed. Gibson’s first electric guitar the ES-150 was produced in 1936, and in 1946 Gibson introduced the P-90 single coil pickup, which was eventually used on the first Les Paul model made in 1952. 1964: The Beatles spent the afternoon recording ‘Eight Days A Week’ at Abbey Road studios in London. Late evening was spent at The Ad Lib Club, London, partying with The Ronettes and Mick Jagger. 1966: Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapsed during a gig at Sussex University, England after playing a 20 minute drum solo. He later recovered in a local hospital. 1973: Elvis Presley and Priscilla divorced after six years of marriage. Priscilla was awarded property, $725,000 cash and $4,200 a month support. 1976: The Sex Pistols signed to EMI records for £40,000 ($68,000). The contract was terminated three months later with the label stopping production of the ‘Anarchy In The UK’ single and deleting it from its catalogue. EMI later issued a statement saying it felt unable to promote The Sex Pistols records in view of the adverse publicity generated over the last few months. 1976: John Lennon was awarded his ‘Green Card’ – permanent residency status, at a hearing in New York which overturned previous efforts by the US Government to deport him. The three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals ruled that his 1968 arrest in Britain for possession of marijuana was “contrary to US ideas of due process and was invalid as a means of banishing the former Beatle from America.” 1978: Australia’s ‘King of rock ‘n’ roll’ Johnny O’Keefe died aged 43 of a heart attack. He was the first Australian rock’n’roll performer to tour the United States, and Australia’s most successful chart performer, with 29 Top 40 hits between 1958 and 1974,. O’Keefe’s 1958 hit, ‘Real Wild Child’, was covered by Iggy Pop in 1986. 1985: Marking what would have been John Lennon’s 45th birthday, Yoko Ono formally opened the three and a half acre garden at the Strawberry Fields site in New York’s Central Park. The area was planted with trees, shrubs and flowers gathered from across the world and with a $1m donation from Yoko. 1987: The three members from ZZ Top made advance bookings for seats on the first passenger flight to the Moon. The boys are still waiting for confirmation of the trip. 1987: Chuck Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His film biography, Hail, Hail Rock & Roll also premiered on the same night. 1988: Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ finally left Billboard’s Hot 200 Album Chart after a record breaking 741 weeks. 1991: Michael Jackson gave away the bride at Elizabeth Taylor’s seventh wedding, held at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. The Groom was construction worker Larry Fortensky, whom Taylor would divorce in 1997. 1992: The US Postal Service issued a set of commemorative stamps to celebrate pop music legends. The stamps included Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter and Dinah Washington. 1993: Nirvana entered the US album chart at No.1 with ‘In Utero’, their third and final studio album. Kurt Cobain had originally wanted to name the album ‘I Hate Myself and I Want to Die. 2003: Coldplay singer Chris Martin asked Australian police to drop a charge of malicious damage after allegedly attacking a photographer’s car. Martin was charged in July after breaking a windscreen with a rock after being photographed surfing. Martin did not appear in court at Byron Bay, New South Wales, when his lawyer, Megan Cusack, asked for the charge to be dropped. 2007: Bruce Springsteen was being sued for $850,000 (£415,973) by a man who claimed he backed out of a contract to buy a horse. Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa were both named in legal documents filed in Florida by Todd Minikus. He claimed the couple pulled out of a deal to pay $650,000 (£358,097) for a horse, named Pavarotti. 2008: Paul McCartney, (a vegetarian for 30 years), was said to be furious when he heard that a Liverpool branch of McDonald’s restaurant displayed his picture, accusing them of using it to attract customers. Sir Paul was quoted as saying “What sort of morons do McDonald’s think Beatles fans are?” 2009: Monkees vocalist Davy Jones ruled out ever reuniting with his former band mates after launching a scathing attack on each of his old pals in The National Enquirer. “It’s not a case of dollars and cents. It’s a case of satisfying yourself. I don’t have anything to prove. The Monkees proved it for me.” 2010: A set of John Lennon’s fingerprints were seized by the FBI from a New York memorabilia dealer who intended to sell them for $100,000 (£62,621) minimum bid. The prints were taken at a New York police station in 1976 when Lennon applied for permanent US residence. The bureau believed the card was still government property and was investigating how it landed in private hands.  

Not to mention this weekend in history!

1955: The Chrysler Corporation launched high fidelity record players for their 1956 line-up of cars. The unit measured about four inches high and less than a foot wide and mounted under the instrument panel. The seven inch discs spun at 16 2/3 rpm and required almost three times the number of grooves per inch as an LP. The players were discontinued in 1961. 1969: A DJ on Detroit’s WKNR radio station received a phone call telling him that if you play The Beatles ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ backwards, you hear John Lennon say the words “I buried Paul.” This started a worldwide rumour that Paul McCartney was dead. 1978: Whilst living at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, Sex Pistol Sid Vicious called the police to say that someone had stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He was arrested and charged with murder and placed in the detox unit of a New York prison. Vicious died of a heroin overdose before the case went to trial. 1985: Ricky Wilson of the B-52’s died of complications from AIDS. The B-52’s, had the 1990 UK No.2 & US No.3 single ‘Love Shack’. 1989: Michael Jackson attended the opening ceremony of the Michael Jackson Auditorium at his former school, Gardner Street Elementary in Hollywood, California. In November, 2003, school officials covered over Jackson’s name with painted plywood, leaving only the word “Auditorium” showing, after receiving requests from angry parents when Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation. 1990: Drummer Dave Grohl played his first gig with Nirvana when they appeared at the North Shore Surf Club in Olympia. 1991: Apple Computers settled a lawsuit launched by The Beatles’ record company, Apple Corporation, over name and logo rights. The computer company reportedly paid $29 million to settle the suit. 1995: Tupac Shakur was released from Clinton Correctional Prison (again!) on $1.4 Million bail which was posted by Suge Knight. In return 2Pac signed a three album deal with Knight’s Death Row Records. 1997: The Backstreet Boys were forced to cancel a show in Madrid after over 7,000 fans arrived for the 5,000 capacity show. More than 300 young girls had to be treated after fainting in the heat. 2005: Freddie Mercury’s 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow was offered for auction on eBay by his sister, Kashmira Cooke, who had inherited the car from him. The luxury vehicle had not appeared in public since 2002, when it had been used to transport the Bulsara family to the premiere of the Queen stage musical We Will Rock You. It came with a box of Kleenex Mansize tissues left in the car by Freddie. 2006: Madonna adopted a one-year-old boy in Malawi, Africa, the boy’s father, Yohane Banda, told reporters “I know he will be very happy in America.” The boy’s mother had died a week after he was born.  

This week’s musical BIRTHDAYS:

1940: John Lennon, singer, songwriter, guitarist, The Beatles who sold over 20m singles worldwide, (1962-1970), and scored more UK & US No.1 albums than any other group. 1967 ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ is the UK’s biggest selling album ever. In 1990 Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’ was played simultaneously in 130 countries to commemorate what would’ve been Lennon’s 50th birthday. He was shot dead in New York by Mark Chapman on 8th December 1980. 1944: John Entwistle, bass, The Who, (1965 UK No.2 single ‘My Generation’ plus over 20 other UK Top 40 hits, 16 US Top 40 singles and rock opera albums ‘Tommy’ & ‘Quadrophenia’). Entwistle died in Las Vegas on 27th June 2002. 1952: Sharon Osbourne, wife of Ozzy and star of MTV The Osbournes TV Show 1955: David Lee Roth, vocals, Van Halen (1984 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Jump’) & solo, (1988 UK No.27 single ‘Just Like Paradise’).. 1962: Scott Johnson, Gin Blossoms, (1994 UK No.24 single ‘Hey Jealousy’). 1967: Mike Malinin, guitar, vocals, Goo Goo Dolls, (1999 UK No. 26 single ‘Iris’, 2002 US No.3 album ‘Gutterflower’). 1975: Sean Taro Ono Lennon, the only child of John Lennon by Yoko Ono. John Lennonretired from music for five years to become a house-husband. Sean went on to become a singer, songwriter, musician and actor. facts via