May 16 Music et al
Alan Freed
May 16, 1958: Freed pleaded innocent in Massachusetts Superior Court to two indictments in connection with disturbances that followed his rock ‘n’ roll show in Boston on May 3. (see July 19)
May 16 Music et al
Kingston Trio
May 16 – May 22, 1960: the Kingston Trio’s Sold Out is Billboard’s #1 album.
May 16 Music et al
see Mary Wells for more
May 16 – 29, 1964 – “My Guy” by Mary Wells #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first #1 hit for Motown Records. Motown Records would go on to release another 32 #1 hits in the next 10 years, but “My Guy” would be the last solo hit for Mary Wells, on Motown or any other label.
May 16 Music et al
Blonde on Blonde
May 16, 1966: Bob Dylan released Blonde on Blonde. He had recorded it in during January, February, and March 1966
Well, maybe. It seems that May 16 was the officially planned date, but Dylan wanted to do a few things with things and that date came as passed.
For a good article on the confusion (and seemingly no conclusive answer) see Jake Browns 2016 Glorious Noise article.
In any case…
The cover shows Dylan in front of a brick building, wearing a suede jacket and a black and white checkered scarf. The jacket is the same one he wore on his next two albums: John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.
Photographer Jerry Schatzberg described how he took the photo: I wanted to find an interesting location outside of the studio. We went to the west side, where the Chelsea art galleries are…. At the time it was the meat packing district of New York and I liked the look of it. It was freezing and we were very cold. The frame he chose for the cover is blurred and out of focus. Of course everyone was trying to interpret the meaning, saying it must represent getting high on an LSD trip. It was none of the above; we were just cold and the two of us were shivering. There were other images that were sharp and in focus but, to his credit, Dylan liked that photograph. (see July 29, 1966)
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May 16 Music et al
see “Pet Sounds” for more
May 16, 1966: the Beach Boys released “Pet Sounds“. The LP has been called one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows”.
Pet Sounds was created several months after Brian Wilson had quit touring with the band in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. In it, he wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars.
Pet Sounds has been ranked at number one in several music magazines’ lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine.
Richie Unterberger wrote in All Music: The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound.
It was ranked number two in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. (see June 20)
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