On March 31, 1967 Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire on stage for the first time. He was performing that night in London at the London Astoria Club.
Hendrix burned his hands during the stunt and was taken to the hospital.
Watch & Hear Hendrix play "Wild Thing" on June 18, 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival in San Francisco. At the end of this performance he sets his guitar on fire as he had done on March 31st for the first time.
The British guitarist, songwriter, & vocalist is sometimes known by the nickname "Slowhand." This nickname was given to him for his guitar playing ability.
Clapton has played in numerous bands over the years including The Yardbirds, Jack Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek & The Dominoes.
Clapton played lead guitar on The Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
This is Clapton with Cream performing "Sunshine Of Your Love" live:
Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros was born today 48 years ago in New York City.
His stage name Perry Farrell is a pun on "peripheral" as his birth name was Perry Bernstein.
Farrell, Ted Gardener, and Marc Geiger created the Lollapalooza festival in 1991 as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction. It ran until 1997 as a traveling festival.
Here's Porno For Pyros performing at Woodstock '94:
Carey has been one of the most commercially successful recording artists in the history of pop music. She has had 17 #1 singles in the United States which is second only to The Beatles with 20. Elvis Presley also had 17 #1 US singles. FYI, Michael Jackson is next on the list with 13.
She was born in Long Island, New York. Her mother was an opera singer and she was her vocal coach from a very young age.
Unlike most modern pop stars Carey actually has input on the writing of her songs. She has co written most of her hit songs.
Her first album was self titled "Mariah Carey" and it came out in 1990. She was an overnight sensation with 4 #1 singles. She earned the Grammy for best new artist.
Steven Tyler the lead singer for Aerosmith turns 59 today, March 26th.
He was born Stephen Victor Tallarico in New York.
Aerosmith has sold over 140 million albums worldwide and over 66 million in the United States alone. Although they are often said to be a Boston band none of the members are actually from Boston. They did base the band in Boston.
(learn guitar like Joe Perry, the lead guitarist of Aerosmith)
Aerosmith performing one of their biggest hits "Dream On" at the Super Bowl:
49 years ago today, March 24th, Elvis Presley joined the Army. He served for nearly two years. He was honorably discharged on March 5, 1960.
Presley had received a draft board notice on December 20, 1957. His managers were able to get a deferment so that Presley could finish the movie he was about to begin work on which was called King Creole.
Ocasek was main vocalist for the new wave rock band The Cars. He's also been a producer for many bands including Weezer, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt.
Ocasek was the sole lyricist and main songwriter for The Cars and was the lead singer on about 60% of their songs. Benjamin Orr sang lead on the remaining songs.
See the Cars performing two of their hits live in 1979: "Just What I Needed" & "Good Times Roll"
The Beatles very first album Please Please Me was released in the UK 44 years ago today, March 22nd.
The album contained 8 originals by the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team and 6 covers including "Twist & Shout" which The Beatles made their own by making the original version irrelevant. The 8 originals were attributed to McCartney/Lennon rather than the more familiar Lennon/McCartney which was how the songwriting team was attributed from their second album on.
The albums recording and release were very rushed. The Beatles had had a minor UK hit with their first single "Love Me Do" and a major UK hit with their second single "Please Please Me" so there was a feeling that they must capitalize on this new popularity by releasing their first album as soon as possible.
They already had four songs from the two sides of each of their first two singles. They wanted 10 more to make a 14 song album. All 10 of these songs were recorded in less than 10 hours on February 11, 1963. There were very few edits or overdubs. The last recording of the day was "Twist & Shout" which was saved for last due to the intense stress it put on John Lennon's voice particular because Lennon was suffering from a cold. Producer George Martin didn't want Lennon's voice to be shot for the day so it was saved for last.
The album went to #1 in the UK but was not released in America. The Beatles wouldn't hit it big in the States till the following year.
On this day, 43 years ago, "She Loves You" by the Beatles hit #1 in the US.
The song had been recorded & released in 1963 to little fanfare in America. It was released as a single again after the success of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and "I Want To Hold Your Hand."
"She Loves You" was never included on a proper Beatles album as was often the case with The Beatles singles. Their reasoning was that they didn't want to cheat their fans by including a song that they already had as a single on the album as well.
But in America the record companies chopped up the official UK Beatles albums and released them in different forms without The Beatles consent. For example "She Loves You" was included on an American LP release The Beatles' Second Album.
The Beatles recorded German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" and Beatlemania was so strong at this time that the German version of "She Loves You" which is called "Sie Liebt Dich" was released in America and charted at #97 on the singles charts.
You can hear this German version today on the Past Masters Volume 1 CD.
In this video you can see The Beatles performing "She Loves You" live in 1963 in Manchester before they broke big in the States.
John and Yoko were married on this date 38 years ago.
This time in their life was written about in the John Lennon penned Beatles song "The Ballad of John & Yoko" and Gibraltar is mentioned in the lyrics.
Gibraltar is a small UK overseas territory that is only 2 and a half square miles and has a population of about 25,000 people. It shares a land border with Spain to the north.
"The Ballad of John & Yoko"
Interesting Beatles trivia: Only John Lennon and Paul McCartney are on the the recording of "The Ballad of John & Yoko" and Paul played the drums. McCartney also played the drums on "Back in the USSR" and "Dear Prudence"
Bob Dylan has arguably been the most influential and important solo music artist of the last 50 years. It was 45 years ago today that he got his start with his very first album being released. His first album was self titled and features mostly folk standards but it also includes 2 original songs. One of the covers was "House Of The Risin' Sun" which would later be a hit for The Animals.
Here's Dylan in 1963 playing an original composition from his next album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The song is the classic "Blowin' In The Wind."
Three members of the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman) were fined five pounds each for urinating on the wall of a London gas station on March 18th, 1965. They had asked to use the restroom but it was out of order.
Check out this live performance of the Stones classic 1965 hit "Satisfaction"
Billy Corgan is the lead singer, main songwriter, and lead guitarist for the Smashing Pumpkins.
The Smashing Pumpkins enjoyed much commercial success in the 1990s with many hit songs and albums. Perhaps their best known song is the single "Today" released in 1993.
The Smashing Pumpkins broke up in 2000 but they have now reformed with Corgan stating that their new album Zeitgeist will be released in July of 2007.
Flavor Flav was born as William Jonathan Drayton Jr. on March 16th, 1959.
He became famous as a rap star with the groundbreaking group Public Enemy in the late 1980s. Public Enemy was formed by Chuck D, Flavor Flav, DJ Terminator X, and Professor Griff and they released their first album Yo! Bum Rush the Show in 1987.
With Public Enemy Flavor Flav provided the light hearted comedic relief to Chuck D's heavy political messages. Most PE tracks featured Chuck D as the "lead rapper" but Flavor Flav took center stage on some tracks such as "911 Is A Joke."
See the video and hear the song "911 Is A Joke" (You may have trouble doing both at the same time as the video & audio don't sync up perfectly)
Bret Michaels, lead vocalist for the 80s rock band Poison, was born on March 15th of 1964.
Poison's biggest hits include "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" "Nothing But A Good Time" and "Talk Dirty To Me" which all feature Michaels on vocals and C.C. DeVille on lead guitar.
Here's a photo montage of Bret Michaels with "Talk Dirty To Me" as the soundtrack.
Hanson's lead singer & keyboard player Jordan Taylor Hanson was born on this date, March 14th, 24 years ago today.
Hanson is best known for their 1997 hit "MMMBop" which became a hit when Taylor Hanson was only 14 years old.
"MMMBop" was actually first recording as a ballad but was later made into a much more upbeat track with the help of the producing team The Dust Brothers.
36 years ago today, March 13th, The Allman Brothers Band finished recording the live album At Filmore East. The recording for the album was actually spread over two days: March 12th & March 13th, 1971.
In 2003 At Filmore East was ranked as the 49th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine and it is generally regarded as one of the greatest live albums in the history of rock music.
Famed producer Tom Dowd produced the album and he condensed the running time of some songs and sometimes even merged multiple performances onto one track.
Beatle George Harrison was arrested on this date, March 12th, 38 years ago for marijuana possession.
Sergeant Norman Pilcher was the man behind the arrest. He was also behind John Lennon's arrest for drugs the previous year. Pilcher showed up at the house of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd with a team of men, a pack of dogs, and a search warrant. Harrison was not home at the time but came home upon the call of Pattie. When he arrived home he found his house torn apart by the police. He was quoted as saying "You needn't have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you would have had to do is ask and I would have shown you where I keep everything." Pilcher had already found 120 marijuana joints.
When a photographer showed up as the police led them out of the house his temper flared and he chased down the photographer and stomped on his camera when it was dropped.
Harrison thought the bust was a frame and that the joints had been planted in his house. He said that the police failed to find the drugs that he actually kept in his house and that this bust was set up to take away from the fact that on this very same day fellow Beatle Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman.
Lending much credence to Harrison's claim is the fact that in 1972 Sergeant Pilcher was charged with "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice" for having planted drugs in many cases. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Besides Lennon and Harrison, Pilcher also arrested Mick Jagger and Donovan on drug charges.
It's possible that it is Pilcher being referenced in the Beatles classic I Am The Walrus with the line "Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower" but Lennon never explained the lyric. Pilcher was the subject of a song by the band Primus called "Pilcher's Squad."
10 years ago today, March 11th, former Beatle Paul McCartney became Sir Paul McCartney.
Sir Paul McCartney is arguably the most successful recording artist in history (in fact according to the Guinness Book of World Records he is just that.) which is of course exactly how he became a Knight! He's done a lot of good for the British economy.
Paul's one Knight who has taken LSD, listen to him speak about it. Well really he's speaking more about the reaction to him saying he's taken it than the experience itself which he doesn't get into in this clip. Also the sound is all off from the picture so close your eyes:
10 years ago on this day, March 9th, hip hop star the Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed at the age of 24.
He was shot in a drive by incident in Los Angeles, California. His killer is still not known but the shooting is believed to stem from the east coast/west coast hip hop rivalry of the times.
Biggie was born and raised in Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His birth name is Christopher Wallace.
Biggie worked with producer Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and was signed to Combs' record label Bad Boy Records. After Biggie's death Puff Daddy began to release solo albums and became known as a rapper as well as a record producer and the man behind Bad Boy Records.
"Hypnotize" was the last music video recording that Biggie was involved in before his death. It went on to become one of his biggest hits after his death.
34 years ago today, March 8th, Paul McCartney was fined 100 pounds (about 170 in US dollars) for growing cannabis (aka marijuana) on his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland.
McCartney had been enjoying marijuana for quite some time and says that the McCartney written and sung Beatles classic "Got To Get You Into My Life" is actually about Marijuana.
See McCartney performing "Got To Get You Into My Life" with Wings during a live 1979 concert:
20 years ago today, March 7th, The Beastie Boys became the first rap group to have a #1 album in the United States with Licensed to Ill. The album stayed at #1 for seven weeks before being replaced in the top spot by U2's The Joshua Tree on April 25, 1987.
The album had been released in November of 1986 and was recorded earlier in 1986 with the help of famed producer Rick Rubin.
Licensed To Ill includes the classic Beastie Boys songs Girls, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, and Fight For Your Right.
61 years ago today, March 6th, David Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England.
Gilmour was asked to join Pink Floyd in late 1967 because of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett's breakdown. Briefly the band was a five piece with both Barrett and Gilmour but soon the band decided they could no longer go on with Barrett due to his increasingly erratic behavior. Gilmour took over for Barrett as the lead guitarist of Pink Floyd and shared lead vocals with bassist Roger Waters.
Gilmour went on to have huge success with Pink Floyd on albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.
Gilmour's guitar solos are among the most famous in rock n roll history.
41 years ago today, March 4th, The London Evening Standard publishes an interview with John Lennon in which he claims that the Beatles are "bigger than Jesus."
This was barely noticed in the UK but when the news of this interview spread to America via an article published in a US Teen magazine called Datebook it started a backlash against John Lennon & The Beatles. Most of this backlash was in the Bible Belt region of the US.
Conservative Christian groups staged public Beatles record burnings and many radio stations in banned the Beatles music. Some venues even canceled Beatles concerts.
Lennon's quote was "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I don't know what will go first, rock n' roll or Christianity. We're more popular than Jesus now. Jesus was alright but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
Here's a clip from a documentary called Beatles Revolution that features the Beatles during this time period.
76 years ago today, March 3, The Star Spangled Banner officially became the national anthem of the United States of America.
The lyrics were written as a poem entitled Defence of Fort McHenry in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. He was a lawyer and an amateur poet. The poem was written in recollection of the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships during the war of 1812.
The lyrics were set to the tune of a popular British drinking song known as To Anacreon in Heaven to become the song we know as The Star Spangled Banner. The song was recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889, by the White House in 1916, and was made the official national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3rd of 1931.
The song has four stanzas but today only the first one is commonly sung.
It has of course been performed by countless vocalists & musicians. Here's a sampling:
Whitney Houston at Super Bowl 25 in 1991
Mariah Carey at Super Bowl 36 in 2002
And for a completely different take on the song: Jimi Hendrix at the Woodstock Festivial in 1969.
Billy Joel making use of the autotune at this year's Super Bowl:
11 years ago today, March 2nd, Oasis topped the UK charts for the second time with Dont Look Back In Anger taken from their second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
The song also made it to #1 on the Irish singles chart and #10 on the US modern rock chart.
Like all the Oasis songs from this time period it was written by Noel Gallagher. Unlike most Oasis songs it was also sung by Noel. Liam Gallagher was the lead singer for the rest of the tracks on the Morning Glory? album.
Dont Look Back In Anger is the closing track on the recent Oasis greatest hits album Stop The Clocks.
Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks hit #1 on the US album charts 32 years ago today, March 1st.
The album stayed at #1 for the next week as well before being replaced in the top spot on March 15th by Olivia Newton-John's Have You Never Been Mellow.
Blood On The Tracks includes the single "Tangled Up In Blue" which hit #31 on the US singles charts.
