HC's Rock Rewind: December 18 - 31

HC's Rock Rewind

A look back at the past two weeks in Rock History

by Team HC

Week of December 18 - 24

Historically speaking, the third week in December has been marked by a trove of memorable rock events. Carl Perkins recorded a rock and roll classic, one of Motown’s best-loved vocal groups performed together for the last time, and one of alternative rock’s greatest bands began work on their first album. A spate of classic LPs was released as well, including landmark records by Spirit, the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison and Friends. Read on for a look back at other significant moments that shaped rock and roll during this historically eventful week.

Events

1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes.”

1957 – Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the U.S. Army.

1961 – The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” begins a three-week run atop the U.S. singles chart.

1962 – The Beatles kick off their final series of shows at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

1967 – Jethro Tull is formed.

1968 – Crosby, Stills and Nash stage their first public performance.

1969 – Peter, Paul and Mary’s recording of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – a song written by John Denver three years earlier -- tops the U.S. singles chart.

1969 – The Supremes perform together for the last time, singing “Someday We’ll Be Together” on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

1970 – Elton John’s first U.S. hit, “Your Song,” enters the Billboard Hot 100.

1971 – Sly and the Family Stone top the U.S. album chart with There’s a Riot Going On.

1971 – The New York Dolls stage their first live show, performing at a Christmas party in Manhattan.

1972 – Filming begins for Bob Dylan’s role in the movie, “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid.”

1975 – Ronnie Wood leaves the Faces to join the Rolling Stones.

1975 – Joe Walsh joins the Eagles, replacing Bernie Leadon.

1978 – Kenney Jones, former drummer for the Faces, joins The Who. Original Who drummer Keith Moon had died two months earlier.

1988 – Nirvana begin recording Bleach, their first album. The sessions are financed with a $600 loan from a friend of the band.

1998 – Alice Cooper celebrates the opening of Cooper’stown, his restaurant in Phoenix, by performing with his original bandmates Michael Bruce and Neal Smith. It’s the first time the three have appeared on-stage together since 1974.

2004 – A Gibson SG played by John Lennon and George Harrison during the Beatles years sells for approximately $570,000 at auction.

2013 – Leonard Cohen performs what turns out to be his last concert, wrapping up his five-year “Grand Tour” with a show in Auckland, New Zealand.

2015 – Michael Jackson’s Thriller album becomes the first album to sell more than 30 million copies in the U.S.

Releases

1964 – The Dave Clark Five:  Coast to Coast         

1965 – The Pretty Things:  Get The Picture?

1966 – Fred Neil:  Fred Neil

1967 – The Beach Boys:  Wild Honey

1968 – Spirit:  The Family That Plays Together

1968 -- The Soft Machine:  The Soft Machine

1969 – The Jackson 5:  Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5

1970 -- T. Rex:  T. Rex

1970 – Nico:  Desertshore

1970 – Free:  Highway

1970 -- Ry Cooder:  Ry Cooder

1970 – Ten Years After:  Watt

1971 -- George Harrison and Friends:  The Concert for Bangladesh

1971 – The Rolling Stones:  Hot Rocks 1964–1971

1973 -- Bachman–Turner Overdrive:  Bachman–Turner Overdrive II

1973 – Donovan:  Essence to Essence

1973 – The Ozark Mountain Daredevils:  The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

1984 – Frank Zappa:  Thing-Fish

1989 – Peter Murphy:  Deep

1997 -- A New Found Glory:  It's All About the Girls (EP)

1999 – The Specials:  Best of the Specials

1999 – Frank Zappa:  Everything Is Healing Nicely

2002 -- Yngwie Malmsteen:  The Genesis              

2005 – Ryan Adams:  29

Deaths

Bobby Darin – Dec. 20, 1973

Jimmy Nolen – Dec. 18, 1983

Albert King – Dec. 21, 1992

Eddie Hazel (Funkadelic) – Dec. 23, 1992

Kirsty MacColl – Dec. 18, 2000

“Pops” Staples – Dec. 19, 2000

Robert Buck (10,000 Maniacs) – Dec. 19, 2000

Joe Strummer – Dec. 22, 2002

Larry Knechtel (Bread) – Dec. 20, 2009

Lee Dorman (Iron Butterfly) – Dec. 21, 2012

Joe Cocker – Dec. 22, 2014

Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) – Dec. 24, 2016

Births

Professor Longhair – Dec. 19, 1918

Chas Chandler – Dec. 18, 1938

Phil Ochs – Dec. 19, 1940

Frank Zappa – Dec. 21, 1940

Jorma Kaukonen – Dec. 23, 1940

Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire) – Dec. 19, 1941

Tim Hardin – Dec. 23, 1941

Carla Thomas – Dec. 21, 1942

Keith Richards – Dec. 18, 1943

Bobby Keys – Dec. 18, 1943

Zal Yanovsky (The Lovin’ Spoonful) – Dec. 19, 1944

Alvin Lee – Dec. 19, 1944

Peter Criss – Dec. 20, 1945

Lemmy Kilmister – Dec. 24, 1945

Carl Wilson – Dec. 21, 1946

Ariel Bender (Mott the Hoople) – Dec. 23, 1946

Jan Akkerman (Focus) – Dec. 24, 1946

Paco de Lucia – Dec. 21, 1947

Alan Parsons – Dec. 20, 1948

Rick Nielsen – Dec. 22, 1948

Maurice Gibb – Dec. 22, 1949

Robin Gibb – Dec. 22, 1949

Adrian Belew – Dec. 23, 1949

Elliot Easton (The Cars) – Dec. 18, 1953

Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) – Dec. 23, 1956

Billy Bragg – Dec. 20, 1957

Victoria Williams – Dec. 23, 1958

Eddie Vedder – Dec. 23, 1964

Chris Robinson (Black Crowes) – Dec. 20, 1966

Week of December  25th - 31st

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas, rockers! This week kicks off with a batch of important musical events, from the births of Jimmy Buffett and Lars Ulrich to the sad passings of Lemmy Kilmister and George Michael. Read on for some major events, historic record releases and notable births and deaths happening from December 25 through 31. 

Events 

1960 – A 12-year-old James Taylor receives his first guitar as a Christmas present.

1963 – Capitol Records releases the first Beatles single in America- “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” along with “I Saw Her Standing There.”

1967 – The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour movie debuts on Great Britain’s BBC television network.

1968 – The Miami Pop Festival takes place, marking the first major rock festival held on America’s East Coast. Fleetwood Mac, Chuck Berry, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, the Grateful Dead and more perform.

1968 – Led Zeppelin sets off on their first U.S. tour, opening in Denver, Colorado, for Vanilla Fudge and Spirit.

1973 – AC/DC hit the stage for the first time in Sydney, Australia.

1974 – Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham are recruited to become members of Fleetwood Mac.

1975 – The Faces formally call it quits.

1981 – The J. Geils Band performs for prisoners at Boston's Norfolk Correctional Center,

1984 – Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his left arm after crashing his Corvette. He remains the drummer of Def Leppard.

1985 – Country rocker Rick Nelson is killed, plus six other passengers, when the chartered airplane that they are flying crashes.

1999 – George Harrison is stabbed by a mentally disturbed intruder who breaks into his home.

1994 – Green Day performs at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Earlier that year, the band was playing small clubs, so this is a major change.

Releases  

1967 – Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding

1967 – Leonard Cohen: The Songs of Leonard Cohen

1969 – Grand Funk Railroad: Grand Funk

1969 – Blue Cheer: Blue Cheer

1971 – America: America

1975 – Bachman-Turner Overdrive: Head On

1976 – Blondie: Blondie

1979 – Todd Rundgren’s Utopia: Adventures in Utopia

1980 – Steve Winwood: Arc of a Diver

Deaths

Bert Berns (wrote “Hang on Sloopy” and “Twist and Shout”) – Dec. 30, 1967

Freddie King – Dec. 28, 1976

Chris Bell (Big Star) – Dec. 27, 1978

Tim Hardin – Dec. 29, 1980

Dennis Wilson – Dec. 28, 1983

Rick Nelson – Dec. 31, 1985

Dean Martin - Dec. 25, 1995

Clarence “Satch” Satchell (The Ohio Players) – Dec. 30, 1995

Floyd Cramer – Dec. 31, 1997

Curtis Mayfield – Dec. 26, 1999

Meri Wilson – Dec. 28, 2002

Hank Garland – Dec. 27, 2004

Delaney Bramlett – Dec. 27, 2008

Stevie Wright (The Easybeats) – Dec. 27, 2015

Lemmy Kilmister – Dec. 28, 2015

George Michael - Dec. 25, 2016

Births

Pops Staples – Dec. 28, 1915

Johnny Otis – Dec. 28, 1921

Bo Diddley – Dec. 30, 1928

Odetta – Dec. 31, 1930

Scotty Moore – Dec. 27, 1931

Del Shannon – Dec. 30, 1934

Felix Pappalardi (Mountain) – Dec. 30, 1939

Phil Spector – Dec. 26, 1940

Mike Pinder (The Moody Blues) – Dec. 27, 1941

Ray Thomas (The Moody Blues) – Dec. 29, 1941

Rick Danko (The Band) – Dec. 29, 1942

Michael Nesmith (The Monkees) – Dec. 30, 1942

Pete Sinfield (King Crimson) – Dec. 27, 1943

John Denver – Dec. 31, 1943

Mick Jones (Foreigner) – Dec. 27, 1944

Noel Redding (bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Dec. 25, 1945

Davy Jones (The Monkees) – Dec. 30, 1945

Jimmy Buffett - Dec. 25, 1946

Edgar Winter – Dec. 28, 1946

Marianne Faithfull – Dec. 29, 1946

Patti Smith – Dec. 30, 1946

Cozy Powell – Dec. 29, 1947

Jeff Lynne – Dec. 30, 1947

Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) – Dec. 31, 1947

Donna Summer – Dec. 31, 1948

Alex Chilton – Dec. 28, 1950

Robin Campbell (lead guitarist for UB40) - Dec. 25, 1954

David Knopfler (Dire Straits) – Dec. 27, 1951

Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith) – Dec. 31, 1951

Annie Lennox - Dec. 25, 1954

Paul Westerberg – Dec. 31, 1959

Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) – Dec. 29, 1961

Lars Ulrich – Dec. 26, 1963

Dexter Holland (The Offspring) – Dec. 29, 1965

Noel Hogan (guitarist for the Cranberries) - Dec. 25, 1971

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