2017Rock originator Chuck Berry dies at age 90.
2017Katy Perry accepts the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign for her work supporting LGBTQ causes. In her speech, she admits that she did more than just kiss a girl.More2001Thanks to airplay on British radio, Eva Cassidy's album Songbird goes to #1 in the UK, five years after the singer's death.
1978The Bee Gees'"Night Fever" hits #1 on the Hot 100 and stays there for eight weeks, becoming the longest-running chart-topper of 1978.
1965On Moosic Street in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a tractor-trailer carrying 15 tons of bananas loses control and crashes into cars, telephone poles, and houses on its way down the hill, injuring many people and killing the driver. Singer-songwriter Harry Chapin tells the story of the tragic event in his song "30,000 Pounds Of Bananas."
2016Gwen Stefani, recently split from Gavin Rossdale and dating Blake Shelton, releases This Is What the Truth Feels Like, her first solo album since 2006. The album deals with her divorce and subsequent renaissance - or you could say, "Gwenaissance."
2014Joe Lala (drummer for The Blues Image) dies of lung cancer at age 66.
2011Rock bassist Jet Harris (of The Shadows) dies of cancer at age 71.
2009New Orleans singer/pianist Eddie Bo dies of a heart attack at age 78.
2008Among other artists, Lou Reed, Damien Rice, and Moby take part in the Speak Up! concert (which benefits Iraq war veterans) held at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.
2002The Doobie Brothers, Dionne Warwickand Petula Clark are among the luminaries at Liza Minnelli's wedding reception.
2002Brenda Lee, Gene Pitney, Isaac Hayes, The Ramones, Talking Heads and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
2001John Phillips (of The Mamas & the Papas) dies of heart failure at age 65.
2001Four teenage girls are crushed to death in a shopping mall in Indonesia, when hundreds of fans panic while trying to catch a glimpse of British boy band a1. The four band members cancel the rest of their tour in Asia.
1997The second full-length album from Ben Folds Five is released, Whatever and Ever Amen. The album obtains platinum certification in the US, and spawns the group's biggest hit tune, "Brick."
1996The Sex Pistols announce that they are reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour, which they call the Filthy Lucre Tour. Lead singer Johnny Rotten, who once vowed never to reunite the group, says, "We have found a common cause to bring us back together again, and it's your money."
The Sex Pistols tour again in 2002 and 2007.
The Sex Pistols tour again in 2002 and 2007.
1994Kenner, Louisiana names a street "Lloyd Price Avenue" in honor of their native son.
1994Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones.
1994Courtney Love calls the police fearing that her husband, Kurt Cobain, is suicidal. Police confiscate four guns and 25 boxes of ammo from his home.
1992Donna Summer gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Neil Young Goes To #1 With "Heart Of Gold"
1972Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold," with backing vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, goes to #1 in the US.
It's not like Neil Young to use understandable metaphors like, "I've been a miner for a heart of gold," a sentiment far more scrutable than anything found on his first three albums. The song finds him searching from Hollywood to Redwood for the girl of his dreams - a long way from "Down By The River."
The lyric may be straightforward and a tad cliché, but the music is uncompromising. Recorded at a session in Nashville set up the night before (the first for Young's Harvestalbum), the musicians are all locals, including a pedal steel guitar player named Ben Keith, who made his mark on the 1961 Patsy Cline classic "I Fall To Pieces." After recording "Old Man," they do two takes of "Heart of Gold," which is all they need.
The next day, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, who like Young are in Nashville to appear on The Johnny Cash Show, add backing vocals.
Young, slowed by a debilitating back injury, completes the rest of Harvest over the next six months. Released in February 1972, it shoots to #1 in America on March 11. It stays there the next week as "Heart of Gold" claims the top spot on the Hot 100, putting Young in the position of reluctant hitmaker. Critics take him to task. "'Heart of Gold's' basic conceit would be laughed off the airwaves coming from another solo troubadour," sniffs Rolling Stone.
Young does what he can to put some distance between him and his hit. His next three albums reflect the pain and heartache he feels from a series of setbacks: his son Zeke was born with cerebral palsy, and his friend Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose. "Heart of Gold" proves an abberation rather than a shift to the mainstream. "I thought the record was good, but I also knew that something else was dying," he says of it.
The lyric may be straightforward and a tad cliché, but the music is uncompromising. Recorded at a session in Nashville set up the night before (the first for Young's Harvestalbum), the musicians are all locals, including a pedal steel guitar player named Ben Keith, who made his mark on the 1961 Patsy Cline classic "I Fall To Pieces." After recording "Old Man," they do two takes of "Heart of Gold," which is all they need.
The next day, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, who like Young are in Nashville to appear on The Johnny Cash Show, add backing vocals.
Young, slowed by a debilitating back injury, completes the rest of Harvest over the next six months. Released in February 1972, it shoots to #1 in America on March 11. It stays there the next week as "Heart of Gold" claims the top spot on the Hot 100, putting Young in the position of reluctant hitmaker. Critics take him to task. "'Heart of Gold's' basic conceit would be laughed off the airwaves coming from another solo troubadour," sniffs Rolling Stone.
Young does what he can to put some distance between him and his hit. His next three albums reflect the pain and heartache he feels from a series of setbacks: his son Zeke was born with cerebral palsy, and his friend Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose. "Heart of Gold" proves an abberation rather than a shift to the mainstream. "I thought the record was good, but I also knew that something else was dying," he says of it.
.webp)
.jpg)
