This Day in Music: January 20th

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Born on this day:
1924, Slim Whitman, country singer
1933, Ron Townson, vocals, The 5th Dimension
1945, Eric Stewart, vocals, guitar, songwriting, Mindenders, Hotlegs, 10cc
1952, Paul Stanley, guitar, vocals, KISS
1965, Greg Kriesel, bass, The Offspring
1966, Tracii Guns, guitarist, L.A. Guns
1971, Gary Barlow, singer, songwriter, Take That
1971, Derrick Green, vocals, Sepultura
1971, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, drums, The Roots
1979, Rob Bourdon, drums, Linkin Park

1965, American DJ Alan Freed died from uraemia at the age of 42. Freed called himself the “father of rock and roll,” appeared in the movies such as Rock Around the Clock and Don’t Knock the Rock. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.

1966, The Spencer Davis Group were at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Keep on Running.”

1967, The Monkees TV show was shown for the first time in the U.K.

1968, One-hit wonders John Fred and the Playboy Band started a two week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Judy in Disguise, (With Glasses),” it made #3 in the U.K. The song was inspired by The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

1972, On the first date of a U.K. tour, Pink Floyd premiered their new album The Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, England.

1982, During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, Iowa, a member of the audience threw an unconscious bat onto the stage. Thinking it was one of his rubber fakes, Ozzy picked it up and bit off its head. The singer was taken to hospital to be given a rabies injection. For more on this story, see This Day in Music Spotlight.

1985, Foreigner had their only U.K. #1 single with “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

1986, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan appeared at a concert to celebrate the first Martin Luther King Day in the U.S.

1997, Ben and Jerry’s introduced Phish Food, a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge.

2000, Tourism chiefs in Liverpool were banned from putting up motorway signs saying “Liverpool, the Birthplace of The Beatles,” because the Highways Agency thought the signs would distract motorists.

2002, George Harrison had the posthumous U.K. No.1 single with the re-release of the 1971 former #1 “My Sweet Lord.” Harrison’s single replaced Aaliyah’s “More Than a Woman,” the only time in chart history that one deceased artist had taken over from another at #1.

2006, American music executive Johnny Bienstock died of complications from heart disease at age 83. He wwned Moss Rose Music, worked with Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Del Shannon and Meat Loaf.

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