Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 29


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1955 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Billboard reviews Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and calls it "cleverly styled novelty with nonsense words, rapid fire delivery." The record's hard-driving sound and wild lyrics not only became a model for future Little Richard songs, but also for Rock and Roll itself.

October 29
Sun Records founder Sam Phillips launches America's first all-female radio station, WHER in Memphis with money he made by selling Elvis Presley's contract. The studio, called "the Doll Bin," was a tiny, pink and purple room that was decorated with bras and panties hanging from a clothesline. Women at the station spun records, read the news, and sold and created commercials. The call letters remained in place through 1973.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Bobby Helms records his version of "Jingle Bell Rock". By December it will be in the US Top 10, eventually selling over a million copies and becoming a Christmas standard. Over the years about a hundred other artists would also record the song.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Elvis Presley attends a Bill Haley concert in Stuttgart, West Germany while stationed there with the US Army.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
38-year-old Michael Holliday, who had a string of UK hits in the pre-Beatles era, including two number one singles, "The Story of My Life" and "Starry Eyed", committed suicide, dying from a suspected drugs overdose.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
After topping the Cashbox Magazine Best Sellers Chart two weeks earlier, ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears" reached number one on the Billboard chart. Although he closely guarded his true identity at the time, the man known as Question Mark turned out to be Rudy Martinez, from Saginaw Valley, Michigan.

October 29
It had been nearly two years since The Ronettes had a Top 40 hit in America with "Walking In The Rain". Now their version of "I Can Hear Music" entered the Billboard Hot 100 where it would last just one week at position #100 before disappearing completely. The Beach Boys would cover the tune in 1969 and take it to #24 in America and #10 in the UK.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Hair, advertised as the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, opens off-Broadway at the Public Theater in New York's East Village. The show moved to Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances, closing on July 1st, 1972. The play's original cast album spawned the hit singles "Aquarius" / Let the Sun Shine In", "Good Morning Starshine", "Easy To Be Hard" and "Hair" and helped launch the career of songwriter Galt MacDermont.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
B.J. Thomas' "Hooked On A Feeling" is released by Scepter Records. It will enter the Billboard chart in December and climb to #5, but was not a hit in the UK.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Neil Diamond is awarded a Gold record for "Cracklin' Rosie". The song was his first US #1 hit and his third to sell a million copies.

1971 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer. He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
The Who's double album, "Quadrophenia" received Gold record status. It stayed on the US charts for forty weeks and on Britain's charts for twelve weeks.

October 29
Apple Records releases John Lennon's fourth studio album, "Mind Games". While Rolling Stone magazine called it "his worst writing yet", the LP reached #9 in the US and #13 in the UK. The title track was also a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #26 on the UK Official Chart.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Officials at Lancaster Polytechnic, Coventry, England, halt a planned show by The Sex Pistols, saying that they didn't want "that sort of thing" in their town.

October 29
Elvis Presley's final studio recording session is held at his Graceland mansion in a mobile studio sent by RCA. Even in that atmosphere, Elvis struggled through the process, which would produce the LP "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee". That album would rise to #41 on the Billboard 200 chart and to #1 on the Top Country Albums chart. Included in the session was the song "Way Down", which would be Presley's last single released before his death on August 16th, 1977. It would reach #18 in the US and #1 in the UK.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Paul Davis' "I Go Crazy" enters the Billboard Hot 100, where it will reach #7. In a chart career spanning from 1974 to 1982, Davis would place eight songs in the Top 40, including "65 Love Affair", a #6 hit in '82.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" marks its 491st week on the Billboard album chart, surpassing the previous record holder, "Johnny's Greatest Hits" by Johnny Mathis. When it finally fell off of list in October 1988, "Dark Side" had set a record of 741 weeks on the chart.

October 29
"Islands In The Stream" gave Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers a #1 hit on the US Pop chart. The song was written by The Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Deep Purple release their eleventh studio album, "Perfect Strangers", their first LP in nine years. The effort contains the single "Knocking at Your Back Door". (US #61, UK #65).

1990 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame announces their newest inductees: The Byrds, LaVern Baker, John Lee Hooker, The Impressions, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Reed and Ike And Tina Turner.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Paul Anka is the featured guest on an episode of Fox-TV's The Simpsons.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
The surviving members of The Who, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, reunited for the first time in two years for a concert at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to launch Pixelon, a new internet video company.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
William Martin, the drummer for Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs, suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 56. The band enjoyed nine Billboard Hot 100 hits between 1965 and 1967, including "Wooly Bully" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood", both of which reached #2.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Research by Professor James Kellaris of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration found that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a 'brain itch' that can only be scratched by repeating a tune over and over. Songs such as the Village People's "YMCA" and the Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out" owe their success to their ability to create a 'cognitive itch'.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
The four original wax heads of The Beatles that were used for the cover of their Sgt. Pepper album were auctioned off after being discovered in a back room at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. The winning bidder paid £81,500 ($127,000) for the set.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Forbes Magazine reported that Michael Jackson had earned about seventy-two million dollars since his death on June 6th. That was good enough for third place on their list of dead celebrities making the most money. Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent came in first at $350 million, songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were second with $235 million, and Elvis Presley was fourth, earning $55 million.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

October 29
Keith Wilder, the lead singer of '70s Funk band Heatwave, died in his sleep at the age of 65. The band is most often remembered for their hits, "Boogie Nights" (#2 in 1977), "Always And Forever" (#18 in 1978) and "The Groove Line" (#7 in 1978).



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