March 31, 1958, Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll classic 'Johnny B. Goode' single was released. It entered the US charts six weeks later and peaked at No.8 on the chart. The song's original lyrics referred to Johnny as a "colored boy", but Berry later acknowledged that he changed it to "country boy" to ensure radio play.
Jack White's Third Man Records has some things for record store day that they're REALLY excited about...MORE HERE
This Concert dates back to 1979, when the band was in their prime. The group, which had built its career on rock parodies and comic-driven hard rockin' epic tales, was continually dancing atop the fence that divided good honest rock with a pinch of outrage and pop culture obscenity.
In the spring of 2012 the Playing For Change Band went on tour across North America. One of the standout shows took place toward the end of their run, in Folsom, California. Grandpa Elliott gives an unbelievably soulful performance in PFC's rendition of this beautiful blues number. MORE HERE
March 30, 1963, 16 year-old Lesley Gore recorded her breakthrough hit, 'It's My Party'. The song produced by Quincy Jones went on to be a US No.1.
March 30, 1957, Buddy Knox became the first artist in the Rock 'n' Roll era to write his own number one hit when 'Party Doll' topped the US singles chart. Knox would go on to score four more US Top 40 hits between 1957 and 1961.
The B-side to Party Girl is even better ...here's Devil Woman...
March 29, 1975, Labelle went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Lady Marmalade', the group's only No.1.
March 29, 1969, Blood Sweat & Tears went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self- titled album.
Earl Scruggs, the bluegrass banjo player whose hard-driving picking style influenced generations of players and helped shape the sound of 20th-century country music with his guitar-playing partner, Lester Flatt, died on Wednesday March 28, 2012 in a Nashville hospital. He was 88. MORE HERE
March 28, 1973, Led Zeppelin released Houses Of The Holy in the UK. The album title was a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed 'Houses of the Holy'.
Jack White's Third Man Records recently celebrated its third anniversary. At their anniversary party, they gave away-- get this-- the world's first 3 RPM record. No, not 33 RPM. THREE RPM. That means it's intended to spin on a record player at three revolutions per minute, which is pretty much impossible --it's cut at the slowest speed yet it plays faster than anything you've ever heard. It's a compilation of 7 inch records but it's packaged like a 12 inch. Whoa! MORE HERE
Garbage have released a new song, "Blood for Poppies," marking the band's official return after a nearly seven-year silence. The cut is the first single from the group's upcoming record, "Not Your Kind of People", you can pre-order the album and for the next week you can grab the track as a free download HERE
Fans will be able to snag a physical copy of "Blood for Poppies" when it's released as a limited edition, white vinyl 7-inch on April 21, 2012 for Record Store Day. MORE HERE
1993, Hot Chocolate went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Their Greatest Hits' album.
March 27, 1972, Elvis Presley recorded what would be his last major hit, 'Burning Love,' a No.2 hit on the US chart and No.7 in the UK.
Tenacious D put this video out announcing their glorious return.
The D - Jack Black and Kyle Gass - were last seen failing to rock the masses in the 2006 film Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny and the album of the same name.
The video is a giant trailer for their new album, Rize of the Fenix, which comes out in May. Pre order HERE
Tour schedule HERE
March 26, 1977, Hall and Oates started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Rich Girl', the duo's first US No.1
This clip features a friend of Strictly Hardly Vinyl; WTFs own Marc Maron...
After a chicken-fried steak dinner, Buck Owens performs for the last time at his Crystal Palace theater in Bakersfield March 24, 2006. He dies in his sleep the following morning. His last song: "Big In Vegas"
March 24, 1973, Alice Cooper went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Billion Dollar Babies.' Also a No.1 in the US.
Complete List of Record Store Day (April 21, 2012) Releases Announced... It's a long one, so start budgeting appropriately. GO HERE
March 24, 1966, Simon and Garfunkel made their UK singles chart debut with 'Homeward Bound.' Simon is said to have written the song at Farnworth railway station, Widnes, England, while stranded overnight waiting for a train. A plaque is displayed in the station to commemorate this, although memorabilia hunters have stolen it many times. The song was also a No.5 hit in the US.
In order to make the film that Johnny Winter deserves, and have complete creative control in doing so, funds are being raised via Kickstarter.
This is your chance to be part of the definitive portrait of blues guitar legend Johnny Winter, directed and produced by Greg Olliver, the filmmaker who co-directed and produced “LEMMY” - the highly acclaimed documentary about the lead singer of Motorhead, Lemmy Kilmister.
Donate HERE
The Beatles’ classic 1968 animated feature film, Yellow Submarine, has been restored in 4K digital resolution for the first time by Paul Rutan Jr. and his team at Triage Motion Picture Services. No automated software was used in the clean-up of the film’s restored photochemical elements. This was a job painstakingly done by hand, a single frame at a time. The absolutely stunning Yellow Submarine restoration premiered last weekend at the SXSW festival and will be coming on Blu-Ray DVD at the end of May with a new 5.1 multi-channel audio soundtrack. MORE HERE
Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years.
The song is called Akira Kurosawa and it is from the Bollywood movie Chintu Ji
Keith Relf, vocals, The Yardbirds, (1965 UK No.3 & US No.6 single 'For Your Love'). Relf died on May 14th 1976 from an electric shock received while playing his electric guitar at home.
March 21, 1994, Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for the song 'Streets of Philadelphia.
Leo Fender, the inventor of The Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars died from Parkinson's disease. He started mass producing solid body electric guitars in the late 40s and when he sold his guitar company in 1965, sales were in excess of $40 million a year.
March 21, 1987, U2 scored their third UK No.1 album with 'The Joshua Tree'. The album became the fastest selling in UK history and the first album to sell over a million CDs, spending a total of 156 weeks on the UK chart. Also a US No.1.
KISS and Mötley Crüe gathered L.A.'s Roosevelt Hotel to announce "The Tour," a joint summer package that kicks off July 20, 2012 in Bristow, Virginia and runs through September 23, 2012 in Hartford, Connecticut. Each band will play about 90 minutes and KISS will close every night. MORE HERE
Gene Simmons: 'Come out, we’ll blow shit up, go home and f*ck your girlfriend'
SPEED OF LIFE, the new publication born out of a 40-year collaboration between musician, actor and producer, David Bowie, and photographer and designer, Masayoshi Sukita.
In their fine bound edition, the authors have opened up Sukita's archives to assemble a 300-page photo essay which, captioned with their own recollections and memories.
2000 signed copies to be made available SEE HERE
March 18, 1978, Blondie were at No.2 in the UK with their version of Randy & The Rainbows 1963 US hit, 'Denis.'
March 17, 1956, Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" reaches #1 on the Billboard country singles chart
March 16, 1970, Motown singer Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumour at the age of 24. She had collapsed onstage on October 14, 1967 into Marvin Gaye's arms during a concert in Hampton, Virginia. Initially Terrell recorded solo, but from 1967 onwards she recorded a series of duets with Marvin Gaye, including the 1967 US No.5 'Your Precious Love' and the 1968, ‘Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing’. Marvin Gaye reacted to her death by taking a four year hiatus from concert performance and went into self-isolation.’
Willie's guitar playing was exceptional last night! A marvel to behold.
I'll post pics soon.
It’s been a bad week for controversial radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Following offensive comments he made after Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke’s testimony before Congress, more than 35 companies have pulled their advertising from his syndicated radio show. Earlier in the week, Peter Gabriel demanded that his songs not be used by Limbaugh, and now Rush has joined Gabriel. MORE HERE
So has Tom Morello SEE HERE
And, The Fabulous Thunderbirds SEE HERE
The Rolling Stones will not tour to mark their 50th anniversary this year, Rolling Stone has learned after separate interviews with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. "Basically, we're just not ready," says Richards. Instead, 2013 is the new goal. "I have a feeling that's more realistic," he adds.
But Stones insiders say that one reason for the delay is Richards' health, which has raised questions about his ability to make it through a worldwide tour.MORE HERE
March 13, 1960, Johnny Preston was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Running Bear', also No.1 in the US.
On Thursday July 12, 1962 six young lads took to the stage of the Marquee Club and a legend was born.
They have rocked the world for 50 years and the Mirror’s photographers have captured all the ups and downs so when the Stones decided to release a book to mark the milestone, they knew where to come to find the best images.
The Rolling Stones: 50 is crammed with amazing snaps hand-picked by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood.
Lots of pics HERE
March 12, 1971, The Allman Brothers Band played the first of two nights at the Fillmore East, New York. Both show's were recorded and released as The Allman Brothers live double album, which became the groups breakthrough album.
March 11, 1978, The debut single from Kate Bush, 'Wuthering Heights' a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. Record company, EMI had originally chosen another track, 'James and the Cold Gun' as the lead single, but Bush was determined that 'Wuthering Heights' would be the first release from the album.
March 11, 1972, Neil Young went to No.1 on the US & UK album chart with 'Harvest.'
March 11, 1965, Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'It's Not Unusual.' The Welsh singers first of 16 UK Top 40 hits during the 60's.
March 10, 1960, UK trade paper Record Retailer published the UK's first ever EP (extended player) chart and LP chart. No. 1 EP was 'Expresso Bongo' by Cliff Richard & The Shadows and No.1 LP 'The Explosive Freddy Cannon.'
March 9, 1991, 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' gave The Clash their only UK No.1 single after the track was used for a Levi's TV advertisement. The track was first released in 1982 from their album Combat Rock album.
March 9, 1964, Capitol Records releases a song called 'Letter To The Beatles' by The Four Preps. The lyrics describe a boy lamenting the fact that he's lost his girlfriend to The Fab Four. On its first day, the record shot to No.85 on the charts and it looked like The Preps were going to have another hit on their hands. Unfortunately they had included a few bars from 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' without permission and Capitol was forced to withdraw the single to avoid a lawsuit.
Jimmy Ellis, the soulful lead singer of the Trammps, whose 1970s hit “Disco Inferno” was immortalized in the film “Saturday Night Fever,” died Thursday March 8, 2012. He was 74.
Lana Del Rey visited the Kevin & Bean radio show... was interviewed...HERE
...and performed an in studio rendition of her hit 'Video Games'...
Falling Off the Sky is the first new dB’s album in a quarter-century. It’s also the first in three decades to feature the band’s original lineup of singer/songwriter/guitarists Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, bassist Gene Holder and drummer Will Rigby — the same lineup that recorded the beloved early-’80s classics Stands for deciBels and Repercussion. Street date is set for June 12, 2012 on Bar/None Records. The band is also performing at this years SXSW festival. MORE HERE
March 6, 1970, Charles Manson released an album called 'Lie' to help raise money for his defense in the Tate-LeBianca murder trial. The album jacket was made to look like a cover of Life magazine with the letter f removed from the word Life. In the mid sixties, Manson had been a wanna-be musician who befriended Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson, eventually talking the group into recording one of his songs, 'Cease To Exist'. The title was changed to 'Never Learn Not To Love' and was released as the B side of the single 'Bluebirds Over The Mountain', which eventually climbed to number 61 in the US in early 1969.
It takes an artist like Björk to turn the complex process of DNA replication and transcription into something as simple and beautiful as a pop song. For the video of her song "Hollow," from last year's app-based album Biophelia, Björk has collaborated with biomedical animator Drew Berry to create a partly-scientific representation of the haunting song. MORE HERE
Songwriter Robert Sherman, best known for penning the infectious Disney tunes “It’s a Small World After All” and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," died Monday, March 5, 2012. MORE HERE
Here's a less annoying version of 'small world' ...
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious by Diana Ross & The Supremes...
Over the years, record label Victory Records has worked up quite the... um.... reputation from artists it has signed. Let's just say that a number of them are less than pleased. The latest such example: the band Streetlight Manifesto has put up a, well, manifesto, asking fans to boycott its albums, because of an ongoing dispute with the label, who it claims isn't passing along royalties owed.
March 5, 1963, Country singers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee. They were traveling to Nashville after appearing at a benefit concert for the widow of Kansas City disc jockey 'Cactus' Jack Call, who had died in a car crash. On 7 March, country singer Jack Anglin was killed in a car crash on his way to Cline's funeral. Cline was the first country singer to cross over as a pop artist.
Michael Jackson's entire back catalogue has been stolen by Internet hackers.
Sony music suffered its second major security breach in a year, with thieves targeting songs and unreleased material by Jackson. The company will not confirm how many tracks or what material was taken in the online attack. MORE HERE & HERE
