Today’s issue celebrates the enduring magic of Beatles solos, a brand-new Elvis Presley release, intimate looks at David Bowie, and fresh stories from Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Dolly Parton at 80 and more…
Have a Rockin Day,
Hippy Pete
TODAY IN CLASSIC ROCK
1957 – Tommy Steele & the Steelmen hit No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Singing the Blues,” marking one of the earliest homegrown British rock ’n’ roll chart-toppers and paving the way for the UK beat boom to come.
1958 – Jerry Lee Lewis reaches No. 1 on the UK singles chart with “Great Balls Of Fire,” a high‑octane rock ’n’ roll classic whose UK success helped carry American rock across the Atlantic and into European charts.
1964 – The first US Beatles album, Introducing… The Beatles, is released on Vee‑Jay Records, rushing early hits to American shelves just ahead of Meet The Beatles! It sells about 1.3 million copies before legal action forces the label to stop.
1964 – Rolling Stones record their cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” at London’s Olympic Studios. The track becomes their first US single and a key early step in establishing the band’s American profile.
1965 – John Lennon appears on the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore TV show Not Only But Also, playing a doorman named Dan in a surreal nightclub sketch. The cameo shows Lennon’s growing comfort as a TV personality beyond Beatles performances.
1969 – During the troubled Let It Be sessions, George Harrison walks out on the Beatles, frustrated with Paul McCartney’s dominance and the lack of space for his growing song backlog. He reportedly quips “See you around the clubs” as he leaves, returning only after a tense band summit.
1976 – Novelty trucker anthem “Convoy” by C.W. McCall reaches No. 1 on the US pop chart, riding the CB‑radio craze into mainstream culture and briefly putting country‑flavored storytelling at the center of American pop.
1976 – British boogie‑rockers Foghat see “Slow Ride” become their first Billboard Hot 100 entry and only Top‑20 US hit, cementing it as their signature song and later earning a spot on VH1’s list of the greatest hard‑rock tracks.
1976 – Chicago blues titan Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett) dies from complications following surgery, aged 65. His raw, electrified blues—songs like “Smokestack Lightning” and “Little Red Rooster”—profoundly shaped later rock acts including Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and countless British blues‑rock bands.
1979 – Richard Carpenter of Carpenters enters a chemical‑dependency treatment center in Topeka, Kansas, taking a year off after treatment. The move effectively pauses the duo at the tail end of the 1970s soft‑rock era that had made them global stars.
