Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 8


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Johnny Kidd And The Pirates topped the UK chart with "Shakin' All Over". The song was ignored across the pond until recorded by The Guess Who, who took it to #22 in America and #1 in their home country of Canada in 1965.

August 8
16 year old Bryan Hyland's novelty tune, "Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Best Sellers list. Songwriter Paul Vance said he got the inspiration for the song when he saw his two year old daughter at the beach in a tiny little swimsuit. The record reached #8 in the UK.

August 8
England's Decca Records scrapped 25,000 copies of Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Lover Her" because they felt the song, which recounts the last thoughts of a teenager dying from a car accident, was "too tasteless and vulgar." A rival record company thought differently and recorded a cover version by a singer named Ricky Valance, which went to number one on the British chart. In the US, Peterson's rendition reached number seven on the Billboard Pop chart.

1961 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Britain's Lonnie Donegan has his biggest hit in the US when the novelty tune "Does You're Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight" reaches number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached #3 in the UK.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
A single by The Young World Singers called "Ringo For President" was released by Decca Records, just in time for the 1964 US presidential elections. The song would bubble under the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #132. When asked for a comment about the record, Ringo Starr replied, "I don't believe I will have the time."

June 19
"House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals is released in America. Although the band would put fourteen songs in the Top 40, this will be their only US number one. It has long been reported that the track that we all know was recorded in just one take. It was later ranked #122 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and in 1999 it received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
In response to John Lennon's remark about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus Christ, The South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles records.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
While a policeman held up traffic, the cover photo for The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album is taken, showing the Fab Four striding across a zebra crossing outside Abbey Road studios in London. Six shots were captured by photographer Iain MacMillan, and the session was completed in less than ten minutes. For you photo buffs, MacMillan used a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm lens, aperture f/22, and a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Canadian immigration officials turn back thousands of American fans on their way to the Strawberry Fields Rock Festival in Mosport, Ontario on the grounds that they "failed to produce adequate monies to support themselves." 8,000 Americans made it there.

August 8
Janis Joplin bought a headstone at the Mont Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia for the grave of her greatest influence, Bessie Smith. Smith died in 1937 after being refused admission to a whites only hospital.

August 8
"Blood, Sweat And Tears 3" tops the Billboard 200 album chart for the first of two weeks. Two singles were released from the album, "Hi-De-Ho" (US #14) and "Lucretia MacEvil" (US #29).

1971 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Gilbert O'Sullivan performed his third UK hit, "We Will" on the British variety show It's Lulu. He will crack the US market next year when "Alone Again, Naturally" tops the chart.

1974 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Eric Clapton receives a Gold record for his chart topping album, "461 Ocean Boulevard" that contains his number one hit, "I Shot the Sheriff".

1975 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Cannonball Adderley, whose version of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" went to #11 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart in 1967, died following a stroke. He was 46. The Jazz alto saxophonist released nearly sixty albums as a band leader and appeared as a sideman on dozens of others between 1955 and 1975.

1981 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Joey Scarbury led the Cashbox Best Sellers chart with "Theme From The Greatest American Hero". Although follow-up hits eluded him, he would go on to find songwriting success in 1990 when he co-wrote The Oak Ridge Boys' #1 Country hit, "No Matter How High".

1986 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
David Crosby of Crosby, Stills And Nash as well as The Byrds, is released from prison after serving eight months of a five-year sentence for drug and weapons possession. His conviction would be overturned by a Texas appeals court in November 1987.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Two of the jurors who voted to acquit Michael Jackson of child molestation and other charges said on NBC's Today show that they now regret their decisions.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Janet Jackson appeared on the cover of Vibe magazine wearing nothing but a skimpy bikini bottom and a necklace made of large shells. The 40-year-old singer had recently lost about sixty pounds.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
The US National Musical Publishers' Association joined Viacom, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central in seeking to sue YouTube, claiming that songwriters were not being properly compensated for performances that appeared on the site.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, had his parole hearing delayed until early September so that officials could gather additional information. The 55-year-old Chapman became eligible for parole in 2000 after serving twenty years, but he had been denied his freedom five times.

August 8
Ted Kowalski, a member of the Canadian quartet The Diamonds, died of heart disease at the age of 79. The vocal group had a string of fifteen Billboard Top 40 hits in the late 1950s, including "Little Darlin'" (#2), "Silhouettes" (#10) and "The Stroll" (#4).

2012 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Elton John launched a lawsuit against UK newspaper The Times for allegedly defaming him by implicating him in a tax avoidance scheme. The singer sued over an article published June 21st, 2012 with the headline "Screen Play: how movie millions are moved offshore", which said a former accountant of Elton's, Patrick McKenna, was one of two main providers of film investment schemes in the UK. The complaint was settled the following October when the British High Court ruled in favor of The Times.

August 8
The members of Motley Crue and KISS announced that they would donate $100,000 to support those affected by the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shootings where twelve people were killed and fifty-eight were injured. The musicians hoped that their gesture will encourage others to give.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Judge R. Gary Klausner denied Led Zeppelin's efforts to recoup roughly $800,000 in legal fees incurred during the recent trial to determine whether the band plagiarized a "Stairway to Heaven" chord progression. The Judge ruled that the plaintiffs didn't have "nefarious motives" and therefore shouldn't be on the hook for Zeppelin's legal fees.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Country/Pop superstar Glen Campbell passed away at the age of 81. During his career he enjoyed twenty-one Billboard Top 40 hits, seventy-five more on the Country chart, hosted his own TV show, appeared in several movies, and was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2020 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
A guitar that Jimi Hendrix played in the early 1960s sold at an auction for $216,000. He bought the Japanese electric guitar after he was discharged from the US Army in 1962 and played it when he was a sideman for Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike And Tina Turner, Jackie Wilson and The Isley Brothers. When Hendrix moved to the UK, the axe was left in New York at the apartment of his friend Mike Quashie, who provided a notarized letter of provenance for the instrument prior to his own death.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
Lamont Dozier, the Motown songwriter and producer who helped write songs for The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Isley Brothers, passed away at the age of 81. Along with Brian and Eddie Holland, the trio also crafted "Heat Wave" and "Quicksand" for Martha And The Vandellas, The Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey", as well as "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me" for The Supremes. They were also responsible for other Motown favorites, like Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" and The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and "Reach Out I'll Be There".

August 8
Olivia Newton-John, a British born singer and actress who scored fifteen Billboard Top Ten hits, died of breast cancer at her Ranch in Southern California at the age of 73. With sales of over 100 million records and four Grammy wins, she was also known for her starring role in the 1978 musical film Grease alongside John Travolta, the soundtrack of which sold over 28 million copies worldwide.

2023 - ClassicBands.com

August 8
A controversial song called "Try That in a Small Town", by Country singer Jason Aldean, dropped from the top of the Billboard Hot 100 to #21 in the latest edition of the chart. After conservatives and Aldean's fans pushed the tune #1 the week before, they seem to quickly tire of it. Critics bashed the record because they said it promoted white nationalism and painted protests against racial injustice as lawless and violent.



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