Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 24


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Colonel Tom Parker sends a telegram to Sam Phillips, asking for a firm price to release Presley from his Sun Records contract. In the end, the price would be $40,000, an unheard-of sum at the time.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Neil Sedaka records "Calendar Girl", which will reach #4 in the US and #8 in the UK early the following year.

October 24
Brenda Lee reaches the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time with "I Want To Be Wanted". It was her fourth US Top Ten hit of the year, but only reached #31 in England.

October 24
Frank Sinatra had the #1 LP in the US with "Nice 'n' Easy", which will spend nine weeks at the top of the Billboard stereo album chart. The disc would be nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy, but lost to the comedy LP, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart".

1962 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
James Brown's appearance at the Apollo Theatre in New York was recorded for an album called "Live At the Apollo". The self-financed LP cost Brown $5,700, but would go on to sell over a million copies and earn a reputation for being one of the finest concert albums ever made. It was ranked at #24 in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "Live At The Apollo" was the first album recorded just the way it was performed, with no separation in the tracks. This technique made it nearly impossible for the record company to issue single releases, forcing record buyers to purchase the entire LP.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Bob Dylan records "The Times They Are a-Changin'" at Columbia Recording in New York City. The song would reach #9 on the UK Official Chart, but was not released in America. It was ranked at #59 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
In a speech to a White House radio broadcasters conference, US President Richard Nixon appeals for Rock lyrics to be screened and those promoting drug use to be banned.

October 24
Pink Floyd were at the top of the UK album chart with "Atom Heart Mother", the group's first #1 LP. In the US it peaked at #55 and went Gold in March 1994.

October 24
Santana achieve their first #1 album in America when "Abraxas" pushes CCR's "Cosmo's Factory" out of the top spot. The track list includes "Oye Como Va" (US #13) and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" (US #4).

1971 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Don McLean's second album, "American Pie" is released by United Artists Records. The LP would top the Billboard 200 chart for seven consecutive weeks starting next January 22nd, and has since been certified 2X Platinum in the United States. McLean garnered two hit singles from the collection, the title track, which reached #1 in America and #2 in Great Britain, as well as "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)", which went to #12 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the UK Official Chart.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Art Garfunkel is awarded a Gold album for sales of 500,000 units of his first solo LP "Angel Clare". It is his highest charting single-handed album, peaking at number 5, and contains his only Top 10 hit in the US, "All I Know", which reached number 9. The LP also included "I Shall Sing" which topped out at number 38, as well as "Traveling Boy" which bubbled under at number 102.

October 24
John Lennon launches another round of litigation against the US government, claiming that his phone has been tapped and that he is under constant surveillance.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Bob Dylan finishes recording "Hurricane" at Columbia Studios in New York. The song, about the imprisonment of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, would reach #33 next January.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Keith Richards was convicted in a Canadian court on a drug charge and received a one year suspended sentence, as well an order to play a benefit concert. The Rolling Stones fulfilled that obligation by performing at a charity concert for the blind in Oshawa, Ontario early the next year.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
The British government presented Paul McCartney with a rhodium-plated medallion for being named "The best selling songwriter and recording artist in history", by The Guinness Book of Records. Since 1962, McCartney wrote or co-wrote 43 million-selling songs and sold over 100 million records.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Michael Jackson reached the top spot on the Billboard singles chart with "Bad". It was a #3 hit in the UK and made the Top Ten in ten other countries. It would later be granted Platinum status for sales of over one million copies.

1988 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
The court case begins between John Fogerty and Fantasy Records, who claimed that John plagiarized his own song, "Run Through The Jungle", when writing his 1985 #10 hit, "The Old Man Down The Road", which he released on Warner Records. Fogerty had signed over the rights to the songs he recorded for Fantasy when he and the other members of Creedence Clearwater Revival first inked a contract with Fantasy. At the trial, John would use an acoustic guitar to show how many other songs had used the same short series of notes that appeared in both recordings. In the end, Fogerty emerged victorious.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Motown founder, 66-year-old Berry Gordy Jr. receives a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker opened a sold-out, three-night stand at New York's Madison Square Garden.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Rock 'n' Roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in support of his new album, "Rock And Roll Time". Along with the title song, Jerry Lee also performed some of his hits during commercial breaks, including "Great Balls Of Fire" and "Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On".

October 24
John Denver was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, seventeen years after his death. Denver's son, Zak Deutschendorf, who retained his father's original last name, and daughter Jesse Belle Denver, attended the unveiling.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Bobby Vee, who reached the Billboard Top 40 fourteen times between 1960 and 1968, died from complications of early onset Alzheimer's disease at the age of 73. His hits included "Take Good Care Of My Baby" (#1 in 1961), "Run To Him" (#2 in 1961), "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" (#3 in 1963) and "Come Back When You Grow Up" (#3 in 1967).

2017 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Fats Domino, a Rock 'n' Roll pioneer who placed thirty-seven songs on the Billboard Top 40 between 1955 and 1963, passed away at the age of 89. Born Antoine Domino, he was among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and at the height of his career was second only to Elvis Presley in record sales.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

October 24
Tony Joe White, who reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1969 with "Polk Salad Annie", died of natural causes at the age of 75. He was also a successful songwriter, penning Brook Benton's #4 hit, "Rainy Night In Georgia".



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