The Beatles spent today in 1965 filming scenes for their second movie Help! out on the Salisbury Plain, not far from Stonehenge, with some new friends: The British Army's Third Tank Division. Naturally the younger enlisted soldiers (the draft in England had ended in 1960) were hip to the band, while the officers were not.
Pink Floyd played a show at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Southport England tonight in 1967. Flyers for the show handed out gave no inkling of the psychedelic performance in store, and instead read "The Moulin Rouge Night Club. Wine! Dine! Dance! And have a Gay time!" In 1967 gay still meant "happy".
The Beach Boys started an American tour today in 1968 that went a bit farther than The Beatles. While the Fab Four had gone to India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Beach Boys brought him along as a co-headliner. They would play a set of tunes, and then treat the audience to a long Maharishi lecture on spiritual regeneration. The tour bombed, and more than half the dates were cancelled.
Led Zeppelin kicked off a tour of the European continent tonight in 1971 in Copenhagen. The show marked the first time they played Misty Mountain Hop live, and the only known live performance of Four Sticks.
Wings started their "Wings Over America" tour tonight in 1976 in Fort Worth Texas. It was the first time Paul McCartney had played in the U.S. since the last Beatles tour ten years earlier, and they would be the first rock show at Seattle's Brand-new Kingdome in June.
Robert Palmer was at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with Addicted To Love today in 1986. The song was originally recorded as a duet with Chaka Khan, but lawyers couldn't agree on details of the contract so her voice was erased.
Drummer Lee Kerslake and bass player Robert Daisley took their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, who rejected it today in 2004. They had been seeking royalties since 1997 for playing on the Ozzy Osbourne solo albums Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz, but Ozzy's manager/wife Sharon Osbourne said the two had harassed her family, and she had their contributions to the records overdubbed by other players because of their abusive and unjust behavior.
Rock and Roll Birthdays
Folkie Pete Seeger would 101 if he hadn't passed at 94. Bob Dylan idolized him from the beginning, and his song Turn Turn Turn was a huge hit for The Byrds.
The godfather of soul James Brown would be 87. He died at 73.
The Troggs bass player Pete Staples is 76.