January 20 Music et al

Meet The Beatles!

January 20, 1964: Meet The Beatles! released. (see Beatles for more) (AllMusic dot com review.

January 20 Music et al

Alan Freed died

January 20, 1965: Freed was the man who first played Rock and Roll on the radio and was one of the first to use the term “Rock’N’Roll” in the early 1950’s. Freed is commonly referred to as the “Father of Rock’N’Roll”. He helped bridge the gap of segregation among young teenage Americans, presenting music by African-American artists (rather than cover versions by white artists) on his radio program, and arranging live concerts attended by racially mixed audiences. Freed appeared in several motion pictures as himself. In the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed tells the audience that “rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer obituary)

“Mr Tambourine Man”

January 20, 1965: The Byrds entered the studio to record “Mr Tambourine Man,” what would become the title track of their debut album and, incidentally, the only Bob Dylan song ever to reach #1 on the U.S. pop charts. Aiming consciously for a vocal style in between Bob Dylan and John Lennon, Roger McGuinn sang lead, with Gene Clark and David Crosby providing the complex harmony that would, along with McGuinn’s jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, form the basis of the Byrds’ trademark sound. (2016 Financial Times article)

Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert

January 20, 1968, Bob Dylan and the Band performed Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert, Carnegie Hall. The concert was Dylan’s first public appearance since his motorcycle accident on August 20, 1966. Pete Seeger & Richie Havens sng Jackhammer John; Bob Dylan with the Band sing Grand Coulee Dam, Mrs Roosevelt, and I Ain’t Got No Home. (Rolling Stone magazine article)

January 20 Music et al

Judy in disguise

January 20 – Feb 2, 1968: “Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)” by John Fred & His Playboy Band #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Judy in disguise, well that’s what you are Lemonade pies with a brand new car Cantaloupe eyes come to me tonight Judy in disguise, with glasses

January 20 Music et al

Beatles Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

January 20, 1988, The Beatles inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Paul McCartney did not attend the ceremony, leaving surviving Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, to be inducted by Mick Jagger. McCartney released a brief statement that read: ‘’After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences, which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven’t been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.’’

and…

January 20 Music et al

January 15 Music et al

Motown Records

January 15, 1961: Motown Records signed The Supremes. Their first release will be “I Want A Guy.” (see Motown Records Begins)

January 15 Music et al

see Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go for more

January 15, 1964: the Los Angeles Whisky a Go Go opened. The club’s opening night featured Johnny Rivers as the headlining act. The club quickly became famous for its music (rock ‘n’ roll), dancing (the patrons on the floor and the go-go dancers inside elevated glass cages) and the Hollywood celebrities it attracted.

The Whisky played an important role in many musical careers, especially for bands based in southern California. The Byrds, Alice Cooper, Buffalo Springfield, Smokestack Lightning, and Love were regulars, and The Doors were the house band for a while – until the debut of the “Oedipal section” of “The End” got them fired. (see Whisky a Go Go for more) (see August 13, 1965)

January 15 Music et al

Acid Test

January 15, 1966: Portland, Oregon Acid Test. From Searching for the Sound – Phil Lesh (pages 72-73) “There was one more out-of-town tryout for us, the Beaver Hall Test in Portland. The Test itself has receded into the mists of antiquity, except for the vague memory of playing in an upstairs warehouse with concrete pillars everywhere and bare lath and wiring on the walls. What mattered about the Portland Acid Test was the journey toward it.

It began as our first trip together on Further, Kesey’s fabled bus. Bobby and I had day-tripped on the bus to see the Beatles at the Cow Palace earlier that year, but for the majority of the band it was a first. Leaving Palo Alto as early as possible, by midafternoon or so, we were halfway up the Central Valley bound for Shasta and points north, and then: Catastrophe! The bus breaks down! Never let it be said that the show did not go on! What to do?

We rent a U-Haul truck; we strip the bus and cram all of us — the band, the Pranksters — and everything else into the truck. I jump into the shotgun seat up front, and we cruise off into the darkening storm of the worst blizzard in years: over the Siskiyou Mountains in the dead of night. Neal pressing ever onward, the rhythm of the falling snow sweeping through the headlights, sliding in and out of synch with the music piped into the cockpit by means of our patented two-way distort-o-phonic communication system, set up so that those in the back could also hear Neal’s multiple personalities conversing with one another. If ever the magic of the open road was distilled into a single experience, it was, for me, that night sitting next to Neal, hurtling into the dazzling play of light and shade on the whirling snow with his voice turning every sentence into a poem, all sensory input synched up (or sometimes not, and that’s good too) with the rhythm of the wipers and whatever music happened to randomly penetrate our awareness.

Upon our return from Portland, all the scuttlebutt was ablaze with the plans for the “Big One”; the Trips Festival, to take place in San Francisco’s Longshoreman’s Hall.”  (see Jan 17)

And from Owsley “Bear” Stanley: Portland acid test was either on Dec 18 ’65, or Jan 15 ’66. There were two which I didn’t go to after my “initiation” at the Dec 11 Muir Beach event, one was in Palo Alto and the other one was in Portland. There were two before that also. Only one other one did I miss, the first one in LA in late Feb in Northridge. So I missed a total of five of the AT’s. The Dead were always the centerpiece of the Acid tests, the real reason for its existence, and it could not have taken place without them. The band at the time rated their participation above any other activity in importance.

January 15 Music et al

The Rolling Stones

January 15, 1967: The Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. At Ed Sullivan’s request, the band changed the lyrics of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s spend some time together.” (more from the ultimateclassicrock site)

January 15 Music et al

Notorious Byrd Brothers

January 15, 1968: Byrds released Notorious Byrd Brothers album.

Richie Unterberger from AllMusic dot com writes: The recording sessions for the Byrds’ fifth album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, were conducted in the midst of internal turmoil that found them reduced to a duo by the time the record was completed. That wasn’t evident from listening to the results, which showed the group continuing to expand the parameters of their eclecticism while retaining their hallmark guitar jangle and harmonies. With assistance from producer Gary Usher, they took more chances in the studio, enhancing the spacy quality of tracks like “Natural Harmony” and Goffin & King’s “Wasn’t Born to Follow” with electronic phasing. Washes of Moog synthesizer formed the eerie backdrop for “Space Odyssey,” and the songs were craftily and unobtrusively linked with segues and fades. But the Byrds did not bury the essential strengths of their tunes in effects: “Goin’ Back” (also written by Goffin & King) was a magnificent and melodic cover with the expected tasteful 12-string guitar runs that should have been a big hit. “Tribal Gathering” has some of the band’s most effervescent harmonies; “Draft Morning” is a subtle and effective reflection of the horrors of the Vietnam War; and “Old John Robertson” looks forward to the country-rock that would soon dominate their repertoire.

January 15 Music et al

January 15, 1969: with George Harrison still not with the band, all four Beatles met to discuss their future, Harrison was in a commanding position, following a series of dismal sessions at Twickenham Film Studios, and was able to set down his terms for returning to the group. During the five-hour meeting he made it clear that he would leave the group unless the idea of a live show before an audience was dropped. (see Jan 30)

January 15 Music et al

Motown Records Begins

January 12, 1959

On January 12, 1959 Billboard’s #1 Pop single was David Seville’s “The Chipmunk Song.” “Lonely Teardrops” by Jackie Wilson was the Billboard #1 R & B single.

Berry Gordy Jr., Gwendolyn Gordy (Berry’s sister) and Roquel “Billy” Davis wrote “Lonely Teardrops” which the Brunswick label released in 1958.

Motown Records Begins

Berry Gordy, Jr

Berry Gordy, Jr was born in Detroit on November 28, 1929. He always loved music and writing songs, but his early life had many stops before he founded Motown Records.

Dropping out of high school, briefly becoming a successful boxer, a stint in the Army where he received his GED, opening a record store that eventually closed, and working on a Lincoln-Mercury plant assembly line whose monotony at least gave him time to mentally compose songs.

At 27, Barry Gordy followed his dream. In 1957 he helped write “Reet Petite” Jackie Wilson’s first hit.

In 1958, after helping to write a few other singles, he received a royalty check of $3.19. He borrowed $800 loan from his family’s saving’s to open his own record company.

Motown Records Begins

Motown Records Begins

Gordy began Tamla Records in Detroit on January 12, 1959. Berry had wanted to call the label Tammy, after the 1958 hit record of that name by Debbie Reynolds, but  changed it to Tamla after learning that another record company had already taken it.

On April 14, 1960, he incorporated as Motown Record Corporation. Motown became one of the most famous recording companies in music history. In its first decade alone, it would have 79 Billboard top ten singles.

Tamla’s first single was Marv Johnson’s “Come To Me,” co-written by Gordy.

Motown label’s first release was the Miracle’s “Bad Girl.” It would be the Miracles, with it star singer Smoky Robinson, that put Gordy and Motown on the map. Robinson also became the vice president of the company.

Motown Records Begins

Hitsville U.S.A.

Part of Motown’s lore is it’s recording studio. Also in 1959, Gordy bought 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. The building had been a photo studio. Gordy renamed it “Hitsville U.S.A.” A clever name, to be sure, but one that lived up to its name.

Tamla’s first #1 hit was “Please Mr. Postman,” by the Marvelettes. It topped the Hot 100 on Dec. 11, 1961.

On May 16, 1964 the Motown Records label celebrated its first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with Mary Wells’ “My Guy.” Smokey Robinson wrote and produced it.

Motown Records Begins

The Funk Brothers

The Funk Brothers is another part of that lore, the back up band behind most of those hits. Early members included bandleader Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke (piano and organ); Clarence Isabell (double bass); James Jamerson (bass guitar and double bass); Benny “Papa Zita” Benjamin and Richard “Pistol” Allen (drums); Paul Riser (trombone); Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina (guitar); Jack Ashford (tambourine, percussion, vibraphone, marimba); Jack Brokensha (vibraphone, marimba); and Eddie “Bongo” Brown (percussion).  When Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, the members of the Funk Brothers did not move with it.

The surviving core members of the Funk Brothers reunited for Paul Justman’s documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown, which he released in 2002

Motown Records Begins

No Mo’ Motown

Motown and Gordy’s story of success sadly parallels many success stories whose internal Sturm und Drang led to artists leaving the label for greater freedom despite Gordy’s original guidance to their successes.

In 1988 Gordy sold Motown to MCA for $61 million,

The list of names associated with Motown’s first decade alone is astounding. In 1992, Hitsville USA, The Motown Singles Collection, 1959 – 1971 was released. It consists of four discs, each covering a few of those thirteen years.

There are over 100  songs on those discs without a filler among them.

History of Motown from Motown Museum dot org

Motown Records Begins