This Day in Rock Music History: July 20

    1954:  Elvis Presley, with Scotty Moore and Bill Black as the Blue Moon Boys, gave his first concert in the flat bed of a truck in Memphis, Tennessee.





    1959:  Lloyd Price scored another week at #1 on the R&B chart, his fourth, with "Personality".
    1961:  Producer Bert Kaempfert signed a contract with the Beat Boys (who would later become the Beatles), paving the way for them to perform in Germany.
    1963:  The Beatles performed at the Ritz Ballroom in Rhyl, North Wales.
    1963:  The Rolling Stones got down at the Wiebech Corn Exchange in England.
    1963:  The Essex had the top R&B song with "Easier Said Than Done".





    1965:  Bob Dylan released the single "Like a Rolling Stone".
    1965:  Frank Sinatra left his hand prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to promote his new film "Von Ryan's Express".
    1968:  Jane Asher announced that Paul McCartney broke off their engagement.


                                        Mason Williams was going somewhere in a hurry on the chart


    1968:  "Grazing in the Grass" by Hugh Masekela became the new #1 song.  Gary Puckett (from Twin Falls, Idaho) and the Union Gap rose to #2 with their latest "Lady Willpower" while the Rolling Stones remained at 3 with "Jumpin' Jack Flash".  Herb Alpert fell form #1 with "This Guy's in Love With You".  The rest of the Top 10:  Cliff Nobles & Company fell from 2-5 with "The Horse", the 5th Dimension with "Stoned Soul Picnic", Donovan was the first of three strong movers (12-7) with "Hurdy Gurdy Man", Mason Williams moved from 29 to 8 with "Classical Gas", the Doors climbed from 22-9 with "Hello, I Love You" and the Cowsills remained at 10 with "Indian Lake".  It seems appropriate that three instrumentals are part of the Top 10 on this date since Inside the Rock Era is featuring The Top 100 Instrumentals of All-Time*; it is one of the only times in the Rock Era that this occurred.
    1969:  Roy Hamilton, one of several artists who had a hit with "Unchained Melody", died after suffering a stroke at the age of 40 in New Rochelle, New York.
    1970:  Chicago released the single "25 or 6 to 4".
    1970:  The Carpenters were guests on the ABC television show "The Dating Game".





    1971:  The Carpenters hosted their NBC television summer series Make Your Own Kind of Music, with guests Herb Alpert and Mark Lindsay, the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders from Boise, Idaho.
    1974:  Drummer Joey Ramone became the lead singer for the Ramones.
    1974:  The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison and the Allman Brothers performed at the Knebworth Festival in England.
    1974:  George McCrae and Rufus were on "American Bandstand".
    1974:  John Denver captured the #1 spot on the Adult Contemporary chart for the third week with "Annie's Song". 





    1974:  George McCrae remained at the #1 slot with "Rock Your Baby", a song that would go on to sell 11 million copies--the top song of the 70's!  "Annie's Song" by John Denver was #2 while the Righteous Brothers made their move (10-3) with "Rock and Roll Heaven", their 19th hit and sixth Top 10.  Elton John was up to 4 with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me".  The rest of the Top 10:  "On and On" from Gladys Knight & the Pips, Steely Dan had a winner with "Rikki Don't Lose That Number, up 13 to 7, Anne Murray remained at 8 with "You Don't See Me", the Hollies were at 9 with "The Air That I Breathe" and Olivia Newton-John reached the Top 10 for the second time with "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)".





    1975:  Steve Van Zandt performed in concert for the first time as one of the members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
    1976:  The Eagles were at Olympic Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.
    1977:  Gary Kellgren, famous engineer, drowned in a swimming pool in Hollywood.  Kellgren worked on Jimi Hendrix's album Electric Ladyland, albums by John Lennon, George Harrison and Barbra Streisand and was the operator of the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles.
    1979:  ELO dedicated the release of "Don't Bring Me Down" to Skylab.
    1981:  Tom Petty released the single with Stevie Nicks--"Stop Dragging My Heart Around".
    1985:  DeBarge completed the climb to #1 on the AC chart with "Who's Holding Donna Now".





    1985:  Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears was #1 again on the album chart with No Jacket Required from Phil Collins still at #2.  Bryan Adams was at #3 in his 35th week with the great album Reckless.  Prince & the Revolution held down #4 with Around the World in a Day and Bruce Springsteen's album Born in the U.S.A. was at #5 after 57 weeks.  The rest of the Top 10:  The Soundtrack to "Beverly Hills Cop", The Power Station at 7 with their self-titled album, Madonna was at #8 with Like a Virgin, the Eurythmics found their album Be Yourself Tonight at #9 and Ratt finished the list with Invasion of Your Privacy.
    1986:  Carlos Santana played a concert with the original members of his band on his 39th birthday.
    1987:  Prince completed work on his third movie, "Sign O' the Times" in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
    1990:  Madonna played at Wembley Stadium in London.





    1991:  Van Halen remained at #1 on the album chart with For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge but Natalie Cole was challenging with Unforgettable with Love.  Skid Row fell with Slave to the Grind and Paula Abdul was at 4 with Spellbound.  The rest of the Top 10:  Gonna' Make You Sweat from C + C Music Factory, Luck of the Draw by Bonnie Raitt, the Soundtrack to "Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves" debut at #7, R.E.M. was at #8 with their album Out of Time, EFIL4ZAGGIN by N.W.A. was #9 and Garth Brooks was still in the Top 10 after 44 weeks with No Fences.






    1991:  EMF reached #1 in their 15th week with "Unbelievable".
    1991:  Paula Abdul made it four weeks in a row at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Rush Rush".
    1996:  Kim Thayil of Soundgarden was arrested for assault. 
    1996:  Gary Barlow had the #1 song in the U.K. with "Forever Love".
    1999:  The Rolling Stones reported an income of $337 million for two years of touring.
    2005:  R. Kelly had the top album with TP.3 Reloaded.
    2008:  In today's episode of "Inmates Run Rap Music", DMX was arrested for giving a false name to get out of paying for hospital expenses. 

    Born This Day:
    1933:  Buddy Knox ("Party Doll" in 1957) was born in Happy, Texas; died February 14, 1999 of lung cancer in Bremerton, Washington


    Dennis Yost


    1943:  Dennis Yost, the great lead singer of the Classics IV, was born in Detroit, Michigan;died December 7, 2008 of respiratory failure (had been hospitalized since December of 2006 with a brain injury)




    1945:  John Lodge, bassist, singer and songwriter for the Moody Blues, was born in Birmingham, England





    1946:  Kim Carnes was born in Los Angeles





    1947:  Carlos Santana was born in Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico
    1952:  Jay Jay French, guitarist of Twisted Sister
    1955:  Marisa DeFranco of the DeFranco Family
    1956:  Paul Cook, drummer of the Sex Pistols and later producer of Bananarama, was born in London
    1958:  Michael MacNeil, keyboardist and songwriter of Simple Minds, was born in Isle of Barra, Scotland
    1962:  Dig Wayne of the JoBoxers
     1964:  Chris Cornell, lead singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave, was born in Seattle, Washington
    1966:  Stone Gossard, rhythm guitarist of Pearl Jam, was born in Seattle, Washington
    1972:  Vitamin C (real name Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick), who had the hit "Graduation (Friends Forever)", was born in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey
    1978:  Elliott Yamin, former "American Idol" contestant ("Wait for You"), was born in Los Angeles Source URL: http://acsblogrock.blogspot.com/2011/07/this-day-in-rock-music-history-july-20.html
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