Tuesday, August 2, 2011

This Week in Rock History

1957—The official Elvis Presley fan club is launched. The fan club is still in operation today.

1964—Rockabilly singer Johnny Burnette died in a boating accident while fishing at Clear Lake.

1966—John Lennon's comment that The Beatles were “bigger than Jesus Christ” was printed in Datebook magazine. The comment caused a public outcry in the US where Beatles albums were burned and many radio stations refused to play Beatles music. Lennon's full quote was: “Christianity will go. It will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that, I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus Christ now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me." ”

1981—MTV goes on the air for the first time with the announcement “Ladies and Gentleman, rock and roll...” The network was intended as a 24 hour music channel, but quickly moved into animated series and reality programming.

1983—David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, and Nash is sentenced to eight years in prison for drug and firearms possession. Crosby, who slept through most of his own trial, would serve only three years before being paroled.

1987—The Grateful Dead chart for the only time in their thirty year career when the single “Touch of Grey” reached #9 on the Billboard charts.

2005—A report by 560 UK undertakers revealed that bereaved families preferred Pop songs to Hymns at funerals. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler was the most requested song, along with Robbie Williams "Angels", Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Elton John's "Candle In The Wind". Among the most unusual songs played was Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust".

No comments:

Post a Comment