31 Wednesday May 2017
Posted in Jefferson Airplane, rock music trivia
(Taken from VINTAGE VINYL NEWS)
The oldest album to recently receive an RIAA award was the Jefferson Airplane‘s 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow which went Gold on July 24, 1967 and received its Platinum certificate just three months short of fifty years later.
12 Sunday Oct 2014
Posted in rock music trivia
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IN TUNE AND IN TIME
JUST ELVIS and a few cohorts:
Undeniably, ELVIS PRESLEY served as a catalyst in the evolution of a genre that became known as” rock and roll”. We are also well aware of his significance to what is termed “popular music”. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi (1935), ELVIS at age 13 moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his mother and father,where he started his musical journey. Today, as his original recordings are studied,one finds it extremely difficult to label or categorize said recordings, as ELVIS sampled and mixed genres from a huge musical palette including gospel, hillbilly, and virtually anything and everything available to his ears.
Today, we will “tune” in to some of Elvis’ charting cohorts.
This true original was overweight, over thirty and not overly impressive on stage yet some musicologists claim he possesses the FIRST #1 Rock n Roll hit. He is A) BUDDY HOLLY B)BILL HALEY C)BIG JOE TURNER D)JERRY LEE LEWIS .
This song heard in the 1955 film BLACKBOARD JUNGLE has conviently been used as the “line of demarcation” between the “rock” era and what had preceded it. This record sold over ONE Million copies in each of The United States, Germany and Britain …This tune was: A) SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL B)THAT’S ALL RIGHT C)ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK D)HEY JUDE.
His names include THE REVEREND, THE MACON MANIAC, and Mr. PENNIMAN but you and I know him better as A) CHARLES MANSON B)KRIS KRISTOFFERSON C)RICHARD SIMMONS D)LITTLE RICHARD.
One of the true originals, CHUCK BERRY’S tune about a car started as a song entitled “IDA RED”…This tune is more familiar as A)LITTLE DEUCE COUPE B)MAYBELLINE C)LIVING IN THE USA D) CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? .0
CHUCK BERRY’S First #1 hit was…A) MAYBELLINE B)ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN C)JOHNNY B. GOODE D)MY DING A LING.
JILES PERRY RICHARDSON died in the same plane crash as did BUDDY HOLLY. JP was better known as A) SWEARING STEVEN “SHORT-SHORTS” SWARTZ B)RICHIE VALENS C)THE BIG BOPPER D)STEVIE RAY VAUGHN.
NAME THAT TUNE: The BIG BOPPER’s hit tune was………..
TRUE or FALSE: Along with JP Richardson AKA THE BIG BOPPER, BUDDY HOLLY and RICHIE HAVENS also died together in the same plane crash.
This CARL PERKINS tune was the FIRST song to TOP the POP, COUNTRY and RnB charts at the same time. It is: A)HONEY DON”T B)MATCHBOX C)BLUE SUEDE SHOES D)YELLOW SUBMARINE.
As the DJ of the nightly “MOONDOG ROCK nROLL PARTY” this gentleman tried to copyright the term ROCK AND ROLL, he was A)COUSIN BRUCE MORROW B)MURRAY THE K C)ALAN FREED D) B.MITCHELL REED.
JUST ELVIS:
The answers, the way I see it: (1)The last single was MY WAY with a b-side of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, released a few days AFTER Elvis’ death.
(2) ELVIS had an amazing career with 18 #1 hits; 38 TOP TENS. Musicologists debate this number because one record, the a-side of which was HOUND DOG was #1 for 5 weeks, while it’s B-side was #1 for the next 6 weeks. The B-side was… D) DON’T BE CRUEL
(3) Elvis had a few big hits on SUN RECORDS before RCA purchased his contract. THE KING’s first RCA hit was B)HEARTBREAK HOTEL .
(4) ELVIS recorded 24 songs during 1953-1955, some were self-financed demos. Of the 24, ten were released as 5 singles(a-sides,b-sides) on the SUN label. Today one of those 45’s or 78’s could fetch thousands of dollars for collectors (especially SUN209 released July 19,1954). The b-side was BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY….The A-side was B) THAT”S ALL RIGHT.
(5) Sam Phillips sold ELVIS’s contract to RCA for D) $35,000 plus $5000 which he owed ELVIS in royalties.
(6) ELVIS’s harmony group was known as B) The Jordanaires
(7) ELVIS served in the military from 1958 thru 1960. He left with the rank of.. D) SGT.
(8) THE MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET ,of which ELVIS was affiliated, got together at SUN Studios on December 4,1956.This quartet consisted of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and.. B)JERRY LEE LEWIS.
(9) and (10) and BONUS:
This TRAVELIN’MAN outsold everybody during the 1950’s except ELVIS and PAT BOONE. He usually performed at the end of the hit TV show, OZZIE AND HARRIET, his name was Rick/Ricky Nelson and HIS BROTHER was Dave/David.
Hope all is well….”tomorrow is another day”.
21 Sunday Sep 2014
Posted in rock music trivia
IN TUNE AND IN TIME for September 21,2014
Once upon a time I wrote a weekly, some say” weakly”, feature for our local newspaper. While I found it somewhat stimulating for my brain cells, I also found it to be a task that others demanded of with deadlines, while others suggested what was to be written, and/or were sometimes critical of what was written. So this, my blog- IN TUNE AND IN TIME, will not be an adventure like my previous experience. Oh, it will be financial as rewarding as I never asked for payment on anything written. Nor will I respond to any negative criticism about what is written, seriously,I write for me and for enjoyment. So HERE WE GO….again.
This is a little ditty I call THE NEXT ROUND:
Finish this line…. (try to avoid pondering too long).
1960 hit for Brian Hyland mentioned an ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE __________
Gary Lewis and the Playboys sung…..”Everybody loves a clown, ____________”
To Jim Morrison….”People are strange when you are lonely, faces look ugly _______________”
Sir Paul once exclaimed…..”She was just seventeen,___________________”
If you need a little lovin’, call on me, and If you want a little hugging, call on me….Finish the phone number…..634-5______.
In THUNDER ROAD Bruce Springsteen tells us…….”Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays Roy Orbison’s singing___________________”.
The Easy Beats FRIDAY ON MY MIND………”Monday morning feels so bad, everybody seems to nag me, Coming Tuesday I feel better even____________”.
Chuck Berry’s SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN has us…..”Really rockin’ on Bandstand, Philadelphia P.A, deep in the heart of Texas,___________________”.
“Hi everybody ,I’m Archie Bell and The Drells of Houston Texas, and we don’t only sing, we dance just_____________________”.
The ROLLING STONES……”Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of______________”_.
Route 66 written by BOB TROUP and recorded by virtual hundreds of artists takes us on a journey of “more than 2000 miles all the way, get your kicks on Route 66, St. Louis, Joplin Missouri and …Name the city that looks so pretty?
Confident that you are awaiting the answers for the previous posting…. those answers are:
ODE TO BILLIE JOE, Bobbie Gentry…PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE), U-2….The 21st of September (EWF)….the 3rd of September (The Temptations)….by May 10th Richmond had fallen (The Band)….1814 (Johnny Horton)….in May of 1941 (Johnny Horton)….The Tallahatchie Bridge (Bobbie Gentry)….Al Kooper……Jimmy.
EXTRA CREDIT:
As a follow up to #10:LEADER OF THE PACK- Whom did the girls question about “Is she really going out with him?”
and ” by the way where did you meet him?”……….
FYI: AL KOOPER has a terrific, informative, and well written blog for us “older” listeners of good music. It can be found at THE MORTON REPORT.COM/Features/new-music-for-old-people. Simply put, Al reviews a good amount of new and not so new music for us.
Hope all is well,….. “tomorrow is another day”.
18 Thursday Sep 2014
Posted in rock music trivia
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Since I was a young tyke I today remember the sound emulating from a small electric device located on top of what my folks called the “ice box”. That box was an AM (only) radio that had poor to good reception dependent on the weather conditions in suburbia and/or how one moved it around on top of the “ice box”. Tapping in time on the foot rests of my wooden high chair I recall some of those big band sounds as well as the emergence of later became ROCK N ROLL.
Todays quest is: MUSICAL TRIVIA
1)It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day…Name that tune….
2)April Four, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky…Name that tune..
3)Give The date mentioned in the title of this Earth, Wind and Fire November 1978 hit: Do You Remember the……….
4)The TEMPTATIONS informed us that PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE, and that Papa died on this date……..
5)In THE BAND’S historical masterpiece THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN, according to Robbie Robertson’s recollection “In the Winter of 65, we were hungry, just barely alive……on which date did Richmond fall?
6) 1959 RECORD OF THE YEAR was THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS by Johnny Horton. In what year did they take “a little trip along with Colonel Jackson along the mighty Mississippi…?
7)The following year of 1960 Johnny Horton had another smash hit with SINK THE BISMARK,historically accurate, what month and year does he mention?
8)Originally an 11 verse B-Side written by Miss Bobbie Gentry, this 1967 classic song was trimmed in half and re-released as an A side winning 4 Grammys and recognition as #412 of Rolling Stone Magazines TOP 500 GREATEST SONGS, ODE TO BILLIE JOE has Billie Joe McAllister jumping off which bridge?
9) The first TOP TEN hit for Gary Lewis and The Playboys was actually recorded by the legendary Wrecking Crew with heavily overdubbed vocals added to very weak vocals by Gary Lewis and of course The Playboys were nowhere near the record(s). Actually arranged by Leon Russell, this hit was written by Bob Brass, Irwin Levine, and another famous keyboardist who also provided the organ parts for Bob Dylan’s LIKE A ROLLING STONE. Name this artist.
10)The Shangri La’s had a hit June of 64 with THE LEADER OF THE PACK. What was The Leader’s name?
“…tomorrow is another day”
