Rock 'n' Roll History for
November 6


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1953 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Britain's BBC restricts the airing of Frankie Laine's "Answer Me" ("Answer Me Lord above") and Lee Lawrence's "Crying In The Chapel" after religious groups object to the lyrics. Laine's record would still rise to the top of the UK music chart a week later and stay there for eight weeks in total, while Lawrence's tune would reach #7.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Elvis travels to L.A. to begin filming Wild In The Country, in which he portrays a troubled young man from a dysfunctional family who pursues a literary career.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Jimmy Dean's "Big, Bad John" becomes the 100th US number one single of the Rock and Roll era. It would prove to be his only chart topper, although he would have another Top Ten record with "P.T. 109" the next year. Jimmy said he wrote the song in an hour and a half while flying to Nashville for a recording session.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
During their first promotional visit to the UK, The Beach Boys appear live on TV's Ready Steady Go!

1965 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Bill Graham opened The Fillmore West in San Francisco as a west coast partner to his Fillmore East in New York. The venue was the launching pad for The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Big Brother And The Holding Company and many other local bands. Both sites remained in operation until 1971. Graham died in a helicopter crash in October, 1991 at the age of 60.

November 6
Fontella Bass performs her Billboard #4 hit, "Rescue Me" on the ABC-TV program Shindig!. Also appearing on the program are The Rolling Stones, Billy Joe Royal, The Strangeloves and Jackie Wilson.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
The Monkees' three quarter of a million dollar feature film, Head debuts in New York. Instead of being aimed at their target audience of teeny boppers, the flick contains a dark theme about the manipulation of the group, seemingly pointless walk-on appearances by inappropriate guests, and scenes of Vietnam War atrocities. Reviews are harsh and the picture is a box office disaster. Head's total failure put an end to any studio plans for further films with the band.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Cher scored her first solo US number one hit with "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves", a song that reached #4 in the UK. It was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of one million copies across the United States. It had been four years since she last appeared on the Billboard singles chart with "You Better Sit Down, Kids".

November 6
Isaac Hayes' soundtrack LP "Shaft" hits #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Comprised of mostly instrumental tracks used in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film of the same name, the title track would top the Hot 100 two weeks later. In 2014 the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

1972 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
After a show at Imperial College in London, New York Dolls' drummer, 21-year-old Billy Murcia, is accidentally suffocated when his girlfriend tries to wake him by forcing him to drink coffee after he passed out from drugs and alcohol. The final gig of their tour, at the Manchester Hardrock, was canceled, and the band flew back to New York.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Singer Gram Parsons' manager Phil Kaufman is fined $300 for stealing Parsons' body from the Los Angeles International Airport. After he took the body, Kaufman had it cremated instead of taking it to the funeral home. Kaufman claimed it was Parsons' wish to be incinerated.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
The Sex Pistols play their first show at St. Martin's School of Art in London. The performance lasted about ten minutes.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
The Steve Miller Band scored their second US number one hit, "Rock'n' Me". It made #11 in the UK.

November 6
Blue Oyster Cult enjoy their biggest hit when "Don't Fear The Reaper" reaches #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Dealing with eternal love and the inevitability of death, the song was listed at #405 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 500 songs of all time in 2003.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
At London's Hammersmith Odeon, Paul Simon kicks off a tour of the UK by buying a drink for each member of the audience. The act of generosity will cost Paul around £1,000 ($2,000)

1982 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
The Oscar-winning song from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, led the US hit parade. Although their contrasting styles complimented each other perfectly, the singers had never met each other until the day they recorded the song. The tune sold more than one million copies in the US and was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of the Songs of the Century.

November 6
The first single from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine" enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #45. Despite heavy criticism from reviewers who described the tune as "wimpy," "tame," and "a sappy duet," the song would rise to #2 on the chart, #1 on the R&B Singles chart, and #8 on the UK's Official Chart. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 13, 1983, for shipments of one million copies.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
55-year-old Dickie Goodman, of the novelty duo Buchanan And Goodman, dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in North Carolina. The pair enjoyed hits with "The Flying Saucer (Back to Earth)" (US #3 in 1956), "Flying Saucer the 2nd" (US #18 in 1957), and "Santa and the Satellite" (US #32 in 1957).

1993 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Meat Loaf had the number one song in the US with "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)". It was the first we'd heard from him since his giant hit album, "Bat Out Of Hell" in 1977. The record was a commercial success around the globe, reaching number one in twenty-eight countries. It was later certified Platinum in the United States for sales of one million copies.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Queen release their fifteenth studio album, "Made in Heaven", mixing new instrumental work to vocals that Freddie Mercury had recorded before his death in 1991. The LP would reach the top of eleven different record charts in Europe, but quit climbing the Billboard 200 at #58.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Don Julian, who led The Larks on their 1964 #7 hit "The Jerk", died of pneumonia at the age of 61.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
59-year-old British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull announced that she has fully recovered from breast cancer and planned to resume her postponed world tour. She would go on to record five more albums that reached the UK charts between 2008 and 2021.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Meat Loaf was forced to cancel his European tour after developing a cyst on his vocal cords. Fortunately, only minor surgery was required and he was able to continue his career after about a month.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Daryl Hall And John Oates launched a law suit against music publisher Warner / Chappell Music in Manhattan Supreme Court, accusing the company of failing to protect the copyright to their 1982 hit "Maneater" after an unidentified singer had used the song in a 2006 recording.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Over thirty-eight years after his death, Elvis Presley topped the UK album chart for a 12th time with "If I Can Dream", a collection of Elvis classics featuring orchestral re-workings by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. That feat meant that Elvis has had more UK number one albums than any other male solo artist.

November 6
BBC Radio 4 gave The Ronettes' "I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls" its first air-play in the UK, marking their first release in over fifty years. Originally written in 1964 by Keith Richards and Andrew Oldham as "I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys", Ronnie Spector recently recorded the song in New York with her late sister Estelle's daughter and a cousin singing back-up.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
Hugh McDowell, cellist for Electric Light Orchestra during their hit making days, passed away after a long illness at the age of 65. The band placed nineteen songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and twenty-six more on the UK Official Chart between 1972 and 1986.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

November 6
The Beatles' company, Apple Corps Limited, showed income of £50,244,899 for the twelve months ending in January. That was the equivalent of £137,657 a day, despite the group having split more than fifty years ago. According to the Daily Mirror newspaper, surviving members Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr, along with John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and George Harrison's widow Olivia, received £6.1 million each.



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