James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend" Hit #1 In The US On July 31, 1971

James Taylor's cover of Carole King's "You've Got A Friend" hit #1 on the US singles charts on July 31st of 1971.

In this video James Taylor is playing "You've Got A Friend" live with Carole King on piano in 1971:



Carole King, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain take turns with the vocal lead in this performance of "You've Got A Friend":

Kate Bush was born on July 30, 1958

Kate Bush was born on July 30th of 1958 in England.

She has released 8 albums thus far in her career. Including 1980's Never for Ever which was the first album by a female British singer to reach #1 in the UK. 1985's Hounds of Love also reached #1. She had her first release 12 years in 2005 with the double album Aerial. It went to #3 on the UK charts.

Kate Bush is a favorite of Music Views contributer Mozart Breath. Read his Kate Bush articles. He has also written about a Kate Bush song at the Great Songs section of this website: Kate Bush - "Wow"

The video for "Running Up That Hill" which is the first track on Hounds of Love can be seen below.

Screaming Lord Sutch was arrested on July 29, 1972

Radical English musician/politician Screaming Lord Sutch was arrested on July 29th of 1972 in London for jumping from a bus with 4 nude women.

Sutch released a number of "horror" themed singles such as "Jack the Ripper" in the 60s. He also released a track called "Flashing Lights" which featured Jimmy Page on guitar.

Besides his unusual music career, Sutch also tried to play a part in politics throughout his life. He attempted to enter the Parliament in 1963 (he turned 23 that year.) He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983. Although he never won election he did gain a significant amount of votes in some of the over 40 elections he took part in.

He committed suicide on June 16th of 1999.

Below is a clip of a live cover of Sutch's "Flashing Lights" by Scumbo in 2006:

Mike Bloomfield was born on July 28, 1943

Guitarist Mike Bloomfield was born on July 28th of 1943 in Chicago, Illinois.

Bloomfield is probably best known for his work with Bob Dylan. Bloomfield was the lead guitarist on Dylan's first electric guitar based music (as he moved away from purely acoustic folk music.) Dylan played his first ever electric gig on July 25th, 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival and Bloomfield was the lead guitarist at that show.

Bloomfield's guitar work with Dylan is probably best featured on record on the Dylan album Highway 61 Revisited.

Bloomfield died on February 15, 1981 from a heroin overdose. He was 37 years old.

Listen to Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" which features Bloomfield on lead guitar:

The Spices Girls went to #1 on the UK charts with "Wannabe" on July 27, 1996

It was 11 years ago today on July 27th of 1996 when the Spice Girls hit the top of the UK singles charts with "Wannabe."

It stayed at #1 for 7 weeks in the UK. It wasn't released in the United States till January of '97 where it also went to #1. In song also went to #1 in many more countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. It went to only #2 in Austria and #3 in Italy. It is one of the most successful worldwide singles in the history of pop music. It has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

"Wannabe" was the Spice Girls first single from their first album Spice. It was also the lead track on the album. The album was not released until November 4th of 1996 in the UK and February 4th in most of the rest of the world (including the United States.)

The video for the song was also very well known:



iPod Downloads - Find The Spice Girls

Mick Jagger was born on July 26, 1943

Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones, was born on July 26th of 1943 in London, England.

Jagger teamed up with guitarist Keith Richards to write most of the Rolling Stones hit songs.

Some Rolling Stones videos:

"Angie"



"Satisfaction" on Ed Sullivan - 1966



"Ruby Tuesday" on Ed Sullivan - 1967

Bob Dylan played his first non-acoustic show on July 25, 1965

Bob Dylan played his first non-acoustic show on July 25th on 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival. The audience was mostly very hostile to his new sound.

The video below is a performance of "Maggie's Farm" from this July 25, 1965 show:

The Beatles pay for and sign a marijuana legalization petition printed in The Times of London on July 24, 1967

40 years ago today the marijuana legalization petition that the Beatles signed was ran as a full page ad (paid for by The Beatles) in the Times of London. All four Beatles signed the petition along with their manager Brian Epstein.

Sir Francis Crick and Francis Huxley also signed the petition.

Related: Very Important Potheads.

Barry Manilow went to #1 on the US singles chart with "Looks Like We Made It" on July 23, 1977

Barry Manilow went to #1 on the US singles chart with "Looks Like We Made It" on July 23rd of 1977.

The song was on his 1976 album This One's For You. It was written by Richard Kerr (music) and Will Jennings (lyrics.)

Fan made YouTube video using this song (it's a tribute to a figure skater named Sasha Cohen)

Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested for drug possession in Sweden on July 22, 1972

Paul and Linda McCartney were arrested for drug possession in Sweden on July 22nd of 1972.

Although often stereotyped as the "cute" Beatle or the "nice" Beatle; Paul McCartney has been arrested multiple times, always for drug related "crimes." Read about Paul McCartney's history with drugs.

Here's a video of a news report about McCartney being busted for growing marijuana on his farm in Scotland in 1973:



Here's McCartney being hounded by reporters after his 1980 marijuana bust in Japan:



In the above video he says marijuana should be decriminalized and that it's less harmful than cigarettes & alcohol (& glue!)

Cat Stevens was born on July 21, 1948

Cat Stevens turns 59 years old today although he is now known as Yusef Islam.

He was born as Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21st of 1948 in London.

Cat Stevens was his stage name from 1966 to 1978. In 1977 he converted to the Muslim religion and in 1978 he changed his name to Yusef Islam and left the music world behind.

He did not release another pop album until 2006 when he released An Other Cup.

Some live performances by Cat Stevens of some of his most famous songs:

"Father & Son"


"Wild World"


"Moonshadow"


"Peace Train" (this is from 2006's Nobel Peace Prize Concert as Yusef)

Kim Carnes was born on July 20, 1945

Kim Carnes was born on July 20th of 1945 in Pasadena, California.

She is best known for her 1981 mega hit single "Bette Davis Eyes" which topped the singles charts for 9 weeks.

The video for "Bette Davis Eyes" can be viewed below:



iPod Music Downloads

Elvis Presley released his first single "That's All Right Mama" on July 19, 1954

On July 19th the first Elvis Presley single "That's All Right Mama" was released through Sun Records. The single was backed with "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

Possibly the very first video of Elvis Presley (from 1955) is seen below. The music accompanying the video (which has no sound itself) is "That's All Right Mama"


Elvis playing "That's Alright Mama" in 1977 (he would die later that year.)


The recording of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" (the video is photos)


Elvis Presley iPod Downloads

The Beastie Boys went to #1 on the UK album charts with Hello Nasty on July 18th, 1998

On July 18th of 1998 The Beastie Boys became only the second rap group to hit #1 on the UK album charts with Hello Nasty. The first rap group to hit #1 on the UK album charts was the Wu-Tang Clan.

The album's biggest hit was "Intergalactic" which hit #5 on the UK singles chart.

The Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine premieres on July 17, 1968

It was 39 years ago today that the Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine premiered on July 17th of 1968 in London.

The movie featured some new songs (such as "It's All Too Much") but the soundtrack was mostly made up of past Beatles hits like the title track "Yellow Submarine," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

The album released with the same name as the film featured 6 Beatles songs (4 of which were new releases) along with 7 instrumentals written by their producer, George Martin.

A "Songtrack" also titled Yellow Submarine was released in 1999 to coincide with the re-release of the film. This songs on this version were remixed and instead of just 6 songs it had 15 songs with no instrumentals. This "Songtrack" is a pretty good introduction to the Beatles psychedelic period.

A clip from the movie with the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Coldplay go to #1 on the UK album charts with Parachutes on July 16, 2000

Coldplay's first album Parachutes went to #1 on the UK album charts on July 16th of 2000.

The album featured the huge hit single "Yellow" which won the NME Award for best single and was nominated for Grammy Awards for best rock song and best rock performance (it lost.)

Although the album never got above #51 on the US charts it has sold over two million copies in the States.

The video for "Yellow"


Coldplay iPod Downloads

Elton John went to #1 on the US album charts with Honky Chateau on July 15, 1972

Elton John had his first #1 US album when Honky Chateau went to #1 on July 15th of 1972. The album stayed at #1 for five weeks.

Honky Chateau ranked #357 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time released in 2003. The album does not rank as well on RateYourMusic.com (based on listener's ratings) where it currently sits at #2673 all time and #79 in 1972.

Track listing:

1. Honky Cat
2. Mellow
3. I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself
4. Susie (Dramas)
5. Rocket Man
6. Salvation
7. Slave
8. Amy
9. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
10. Hercules

Live performance of "Honky Cat"


Live performance of "Rocket Man"


Live performance of "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters"


Elton John iPod Downloads

Woody Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912

Folk music legend Woody Guthrie was born 95 years ago today on July 14th of 1912. He died in 1967 at the age of 45 due to complications from Huntington's disease.

Guthrie often had the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" attached to his guitar. Guthrie's most well known song is "This Land Is Your Land" from 1947.

Guthrie was hugely influential to Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and Pete Seeger among many.

Guthrie's son Arlo Guthrie performing "This Land Is Your Land" in 2006:

The Animals go to #1 in the UK with "House of the Rising Sun" on July 13, 1964

The Animals version of the American folk song "House of the Rising Sun" went to #1 on the UK singles charts on July 13th of 1964.

It became the first song to reach #1 in the UK with a running time of over 4 minutes.

Live performance of "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals in 1964:

The Rolling Stones made their live debut in London on July 12, 1962

45 years ago today the Rolling Stones played their first live gig. It was at the Marquee Club in London on July 12th of 1962.

They had a 6 man lineup at the time of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Dick Taylor, and Tony Chapman. Soon after Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts joined the band replacing Taylor and Chapman. Stewart officially left the group for publicity reasons (the manager Andrew Loog Oldham didn't think he had the right looks) but he stayed on with the band playing piano until his death in 1985.

The Rolling Stones have sold over 200 million albums worldwide and are still playing live today.

The video below has clips of many of their songs over the years:

Bob Dylan went to #1 in the UK album charts with Self Portrait on July 11, 1970

Self Portrait became Bob Dylan's 5th UK #1 album on July 11th of 1970.

The album is seen by many as Dylan's worst. Rock critics Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell go beyond saying it's Dylan's worst album to saying it's the 3rd worst album of all time.

The album features mostly cover versions of pop and folk songs. It also contain a few instrumentals, original compositions, live recordings of older songs ("Like A Rolling Stone" for example) with The Band.

The intent of the album has been debated with Dylan giving various explanations for why he made the album over the years. At some points he says that it was a basically a thrown together "bootleg" record since he was being heavily bootlegged at the time.

In other interviews he seems to be saying he made the album to purposely alienate some of his fans: "There'd be crowds outside my house. And I said, 'Well, fuck it. I wish these people would just forget about me. I wanna do something they can't possibly like, they can't relate to. They'll see it, and they'll listen, and they'll say, 'Well, let's get on to the next person. He ain't sayin' it no more. He ain't given' us what we want,' you know?"

In the same interview when asked why it's a double album Dylan replies: "Well, it wouldn't have held up as a single album — then it really would've been bad, you know. I mean, if you're gonna put a lot of crap on it, you might as well load it up!"

The Beatles went to #1 on the US album charts with Beatles VI on July 10, 1965

The Beatles began a 6 week run at the top of the US album charts with Beatles VI on July 10th of 1965.

As was the normal at the time Beatles VI was not a proper Beatles release but a collection of songs from various sources that Capitol put out in America to take advantage of their overwhelming popularity. The UK releases (the originals as the Beatles intended) were generally 14 tracks while the chopped up and thrown together American versions were 11 tracks.

It was not until 1967's Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that the same album that came out in the UK (as the Beatles intended) came out also in America.

Beatles VI contained 6 songs from Beatles For Sale, 3 songs from Help!, and 2 b-sides.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Beatles For Sale)
2. Eight Days a Week (Beatles For Sale)
3. You Like Me Too Much (Help!)
4. Bad Boy (b-side)
5. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Beatles For Sale)
6. Words of Love (Beatles For Sale)
7. What You're Doing (Beatles For Sale)
8. Yes It Is (b-side)
9. Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Help!)
10. Tell Me What You See (Help!)
11. Every Little Thing (Beatles For Sale)

The Beatles performing Kansas City live on the debut episode of Shindig!:


Beatles iPod Downloads

Bill Haley's "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" hits #1 in the US on July 9, 1955

"(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" as recorded by Bill Haley and his Comets hit #1 in the US on July 9th of 1955.

This was the first rock n roll song to ever hit #1. It stayed at #1 for 8 weeks in the states and became a hit all around the world.

It was written in 1952 by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers. Myers claims that the song was written specifically for Haley although Haley was not actually the first to record the song.

The song set off an avalanche of rock n roll hits in the 1950s. It was later used as the theme song for the TV show Happy Days for it's first season.

Here's a video of "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock"

Beck was born on July 8, 1970

Beck turns 37 years old today. He was born as Bek David Campbell on July 8th of 1970 in Los Angeles.

Beck first became popular with his 1994 hit single "Loser" which got to #10 on the US charts and #15 in the UK charts. It also made Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time at #200.

Loser was included on his debut album Mellow Gold which was released on March 1st of 1994.

Beck has now released 9 studio albums:

Mellow Gold - 1994
Stereopathic Soulmanure - 1994
One Foot in the Grave - 1994
Odelay - 1996
Mutataions - 1998
Midnite Vultures - 1999
Sea Change - 2002
Guero - 2005
The Information - 2006

Video for "Loser" from Mellow Gold


Video of a 1997 live performance of "One Foot In The Grave" from Stereopathic Soulmanure


Video of a 2000 live performance of "Hollow Log" from One Foot In The Grave.


Video for "The New Pollution" from Odelay


Video of a 2000 live performance of "Nobody's Fault But My Own" from Mutations


Video for "Sexx Laws" from Midnite Vultures


Video for "Round The Bend" from Sea Change


Video for "Girl" from Geuro


Video for "The Information" from The Information


iPod Downloads - Beck

Prince went to #1 in the US with "When Doves Cry" on July 7, 1984

Prince went to #1 on the US singles charts with "When Doves Cry" on July 7th of 1984. The song stayed at the top of the charts for 5 weeks. It also hit #4 in the UK.

It was the first single from his Purple Rain album. Purple Rain was also the name of the 1984 film staring Prince.

"Purple Rain" was the biggest selling single of 1984 in the United States.

The video:


Unlimited iPod Music Downloads - including Prince.

The Beatles Movie A Hard Day's Night Made It's Debut On July 6, 1964

The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night premiered on July 6th of 1964 in the UK. It was released just over a month later on August 11th in the United States.

The movie was joined by an album by the same name which was released on July 10th. The A Hard Day's Night album is the only Beatles album to contain only Lennon/McCartney originals this is because most of their other early albums contained some cover songs and their later albums had songs by George Harrison (and to a lesser extent Ringo Starr) as well.

A "Behind The Scenes" video:

The Rolling Stones Emotional Rescue hits #1 in the UK on July 5, 1980

The Rolling Stones album Emotional Rescue became their 9th #1 UK album on the 5th of July in 1980.

The album featured the singles "Emotional Rescue" and "She's So Cold."

Videos:

"Emotional Rescue"


"She's So Cold"


iPod Downloads - including The Rolling Stones

The Beach Boys had their first #1 single with "I Get Around" on July 4, 1964

The Beach Boys had their first #1 US single with "I Get Around" on July 4th of 1964.

It also went to #7 in the UK, making it the groups first top ten hit in the UK.

"I Get Around" on American Bandstand in 1964:


iPod Music Downloads - including The Beach Boys

Prince's Batman album goes to the top of the UK charts on July 3, 1989

Prince's album for the Batman movie in 1989 went to the top of the UK album charts on July 3rd of 1989. The album also went to #1 in the US and it has sold over 11 million copies worldwide.

The album featured the hit single "Batdance"

Video for "Badtance":

Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" hits #1 on July 2, 1988

On July 2nd of 1988 Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" hit #1 in the US. It also reached #4 in the UK and #3 in Germany.

The track was one of 5 #1 US singles on Michael Jackson's Bad album. No other album has ever had 5 #1 singles.

The video for "Dirty Diana"