Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 17


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Actress Debbie Reynolds led the Cashbox chart with "Tammy", featured in the movie Tammy and the Bachelor. The song would go on to earn a Gold Record and was the best selling single of the year. It was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to "All The Way" from the film The Joker Is Wild, which finished at #15 in total sales.

1960 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
The Beatles perform for the first time using that name. They appear at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany, where they play for four and half hours a night and six hours on the weekend, during a forty-eight night stay.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
The Byrds were forced to cancel a concert during their UK tour at The Guildhall, Portsmouth when only 250 of the 4,000 tickets were sold.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
As if he hadn't said enough already, John Lennon makes another controversial statement when he expresses his admiration for American draft dodgers.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Gary Puckett And The Union Gap record "Woman Woman" at Columbia Studios in Hollywood. The song would break first in Cleveland in November and would rise to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart, but could only manage #48 in the UK. It was certified as a million-selling Gold disc in February 1968.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
The Rascals' "People Got to Be Free" reaches number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It will be awarded a Gold record a week later, eventually selling over four million copies. While some people thought the song was about the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, it was actually recorded before the latter's death. It was later revealed that the tune was inspired by a nasty encounter with group of Florida rednecks who had threatened The Rascals because of their long hair.

August 17
Cashbox magazine lists The Doors' "Hello, I Love You" as the best selling single in America. After charges of plagiarism, UK courts would rule that the tune was lifted from The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night" and British royalties would go to Ray Davies.

August 17
Deep Purple's version of "Hush" is released in the US where it will climb to #4 by mid-September. Recorded in just two takes, the song would be the band's first of eight Billboard Hot 100 hits.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Paul Williams of The Temptations died of a self inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 34. Williams had left the Temps in 1971 because of poor health, although he continued to supervise their choreography. At the time of his death he owed $80,000 in taxes and his celebrity boutique business had failed.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Keyboardist Patrick Moraz was hired to replace Rick Wakeman in Yes. Moraz would stay for three years, playing on only one album, "Relayer". Wakeman returned for the next Yes album, "Going For The One."

August 17
Nottingham England's Paper Lace had Billboard's top tune with a song about a gangster shoot out called "The Night Chicago Died". After the song became a hit, the band's manager contacted Chicago's mayor Richard Daley, hoping for a civic reception. What they got instead was "a rather rude letter" ending in ...are you nuts?

August 17
"When Will I See You Again" by The Three Degrees tops the UK chart for the first of a two week stay. It was a song that the Philadelphia trio didn't really care for, but changed their minds after it became a huge international hit, selling millions of copies.

August 17
Eric Clapton's album "461 Ocean Boulevard" hits #1 in America for the first of a four week run. A single from the LP, "I Shot The Sheriff" became a Top Ten hit in nine countries, and was Clapton's only number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
A fanzine called Sniffin' Glue, which chronicled of the early days of British Punk Rock, is first published in the UK. Although initial issues only sold about 50 copies, circulation soon increased to 15,000. Fearing absorption into the mainstream music press, publisher Mark Perry would cease operations in September, 1977.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
The day after Elvis Presley's death, President Jimmy Carter issues the following statement, "Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of White country and Black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense and he was a symbol to people the world over, of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of his country."

August 17
Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reports that in one day, the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland has surpassed the number for any other event in the company's history.

1987 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Gary Chester, one of the 20th century's busiest studio drummers, passed away at the age of 62. During the '50s, '60s and '70s, Gary logged over 15,000 studio sessions and appeared on thousands of tracks, including dozens of hit records like "Sixteen Candles", "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do", "Brown Eyed Girl", and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", to name just a few.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Eagles' drummer Don Henley expresses his displeasure over Joe Walsh performing "Life In The Fast Lane" while touring with Ringo Starr. "He wrote the little guitar riff in the intro and that's all", complained Henley.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Despite once being listed in the Guinness Book as the world's highest paid entertainer, Wayne Newton files for bankruptcy, claiming he owes $20 million. Much of that debt was accumulated while suing NBC for libel. He claimed the network had reported that he partnered with the Mafia to buy the Aladdin hotel and casino. By 1999, Newton was back on solid financial ground.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Police in Los Angeles began an inquiry into child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. The investigation began after the son of a Beverly Hills dentist told his therapist that Jackson sexually abused him. Jackson's security staff claimed the allegations followed a failed attempt to blackmail the singer for 20 million dollars. Although no criminal charges were ever laid, lawyers for the 13-year-old filed a civil suit a month later claiming damages for sexual battery, seduction and other allegations. The suit was settled out of court in January, 1994 for somewhere between $5 to $24 million.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
A pair of Elvis Presley's black underwear was stolen from the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum in Los Angeles.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Carlos Santana received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. The guitarist told the crowd of fans that he felt honored and ended his short speech by wishing those in attendance, "Peace, love, light and joy."

2004 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Dan Fogelberg announced that he has been diagnosed with advance stages of prostate cancer. The 53-year-old singer scored seven Top 20 albums in the US during the 1970s and '80s and charted with four hit singles, "Longer" (#2), "Same Old Lang Syne" (#9), "Leader of the Band" (#9), and "Hard To Say" (#7). He would pass away on December 16, 2007.

August 17
After thirteen years, General Motors stopped using Bob Seger's "Like A Rock" in their ads for the Chevy Silverado pickup. Seger would tell The New York Times that the song was actually inspired by the end of a long term relationship.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Harvey Kaye, the keyboard player for Spiral Staircase on their 1969, US #12 hit "More Today Than Yesterday", suffered a fatal heart attack just five days before his 70th birthday.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
A US court refused to allow music producer Phil Spector to appeal his 2009 murder conviction. The 71-year-old was jailed for 19 years for shooting actress Lana Clarkson at his California home in 2003.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
The Universal Music Group announced that Paul McCartney had signed a new world-wide recording agreement with Capitol Records, bringing his entire catalog of master recordings with him.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

August 17
Forty years after his death, Elvis Presley held down the #2 spot on the UK's Official Albums Chart with "50 Greatest Hits". It was his 52nd UK Top Ten album. Glen Campbell's final studio LP, "Adios" came in at #3 a week after he passed away.



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