Rock 'n' Roll History for
July 8


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
"(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" became Elvis Presley's eighth US number one hit in the past fifteen months. It would remain at the top of the Billboard Pop chart for seven weeks and even led the R&B and Country chart for a week.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
Hank Ballard records a self-penned tune called "The Twist" at Vee-Jay Records' studios in Gary, Indiana. A re-recorded version released by King Records would make a modest splash on the R&B charts in 1959, but it would take Chubby Checker to make a giant hit out of it in 1960.

July 8
The first Gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded to the soundtrack LP, "Oklahoma". The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first Gold single issued by the RIAA was "Catch a Falling Star" by Perry Como in March of 1958. A Gold single represented sales of one million records.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
The Dave Clark Five followed The Beatles onto the silver screen with a movie of their own called Catch Us If You Can. The film was renamed to Having a Wild Weekend for its US release and featured the group performing "Catch Us If You Can", "Having a Wild Weekend" and "I Can't Stand It".

1969 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
In what is ruled an attempted suicide, singer Marianne Faithful takes an overdose of barbiturates on the set of the Australian movie, Ned Kelly. She was dropped from the cast and entered hospital for treatment of heroin addiction.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
As a summer replacement for The Johnny Cash Show, The Everly Brothers TV series debuts on CBS-TV for the first of a ten week run.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
After scoring a US Top Ten hit in September, 1971 with "Ain't No Sunshine", 34-year-old Bill Withers had the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Lean On Me". The tune would go on to be ranked #208 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2010.

July 8
Donny Osmond scores the first of his three UK number one singles with "Puppy Love", a remake of Paul Anka's 1960 #2 hit. Donny's version reached #3 in the US.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
After a six month stay, the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever is finally knocked out of the top spot on the Billboard album chart by Gerry Rafferty's "City To City", which contained the hit singles "Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line". That LP would go on to be certified Platinum in the United States and reach #6 in the UK.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
After signing with Island Records, the B-52's make their live debut at London's Lyceum Ballroom. The band would go on to reach the Billboard Hot 100 eight times and the UK Top 100 fourteen times. In 2008, they dropped the apostrophe in their name, with vocalist / keyboard player Kate Pierson explaining, "It was not grammatically correct. It's not like a possessive. It just seemed superfluous."

1985 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night is admitted to the psychiatric ward of a Los Angeles hospital because of drug-induced problems. He would eventually recover, but was denied re-admission to the band and would be forced to tour as a solo act.

July 8
Playboy magazine runs a nude pictorial of Madonna, using black and white photos of her that were taken in 1977. Cover notes announced: Madonna Nude. Unlike a Virgin... for the very first time.

1989 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
A British Pop band who called themselves Fine Young Cannibals topped the Billboard Hot 100 with "Good Thing", the second single from their second and final album, "The Raw & the Cooked". The song peaked at #7 in the UK. Taking their name from the 1960 film All the Fine Young Cannibals, starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, the band had eight UK Top 40 singles and five in the US between 1985 and 1996.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
Michael Jackson spoke out against the music industry's treatment of artists, alleging that the business was rife with racism. Speaking at a civil rights meeting in New York, Jackson claimed there was a "conspiracy" among record companies, especially towards Black artists. A spokesman for Jackson's record label said the remarks were "ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful."

2003 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
One of Elvis Presley's teeth went up for auction on eBay. The tooth was owned by the King's former fiancee, Linda Thompson, until it went to the Elvis Presley Museum which later sold it. The current owner said he'd been contacted by a European company that wanted to extract DNA from the denticle, but he refused. The opening bid on the tooth, a lock of hair from his Army induction haircut and a Gold record for "Love Me Tender" was $100,000.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
A statue of Bill Cosby was removed from Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida in the wake of revelations the comedian admitted in court he gave a woman drugs before sex. Along with having hit TV shows, Cosby also reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September, 1967 with "Little Old Man (Uptight-Everything's Alright)".

2018 - ClassicBands.com

July 8
Tab Hunter, who appeared in over fifty Hollywood movies and topped the Billboard chart with "Young Love" in 1957, died of cardiac arrest three days before his 87th birthday. In total, he placed seven songs in the Top 100, including "Ninety-Nine Ways" (#11 in 1957) and "Apple Blossom Time" (#31 in 1959.)



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