Every day on Radio Nova, just before 11am, we play a couple of songs key to “today in music history” Have a listen! But for now – here’s some light reading and watching. March 29th in Music History looks like this.
1966 Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger was injured during a gig in Marseilles, Southern France after a fan threw a chair at the stage. Jagger required eight stitches in the cut.
1975 The absolute LOVE in with the U.S. and Led Zepp continued! The band saw all six of their albums in the US Top 100 chart in the same week, alongside their latest album Physical Graffiti at No.1.
1979 After attending a Dire Straits show during their residency at the Roxy in Los Angeles, Bob Dylan asked Mark Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on the sessions for his next album. ‘Slow Train Coming’.
1980 Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon album spent its 303rd week on the US album chart, beating the record set by Carole King’s 1971 No.1 album Tapestry.
1981 Shakin’ Stevens was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Rosemary Clooney hit ‘This Ole House’, the Welsh singers first of four UK No.1’s. (I think this was the first record I ever bought. In Woolworths, Leeds! We all make mistakes!)
2000 Phil Collins took out a high court action against two former members of Earth, Wind & Fire. Collins claimed his company had overpaid the musicians by £50,000 in royalties on tracks including ‘Sussudio’ and ‘Easy Lover’.
2005 Neil Young was treated for a brain aneurysm at a hospital in New York. Doctors expected the 59 year old to make a full recovery.
2007 U2 singer Bono accepted an honorary knighthood at a ceremony in Dublin. He was not entitled to be called “Sir” Bono because he is not a British citizen. The U2 singer’s new title is Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE)
2017 George Michael‘s funeral took place, three months after his sudden death at the age of 53 over Christmas 2016.
2019, The Cure are inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of fame in the U.S.
2020, American singer/songwriter Alan Merrill died age 69 after contracting coronavirus. He was the co-writer of, and lead singer on, the first released version of the song ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’, which was recorded by the Arrows in 1975. The song became a breakthrough hit for Joan Jett in 1982.
March 29th birthdays include Bobby Kimball, one time vocalist with Toto and the mad man that is Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell.
Check out the weekly Podcast. Marty Miller’s This Week in Music History.