Rock 'n' Roll History for
March 24


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1945 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Billboard magazine published their first album chart with Nat King Cole's "A Collection of Favorites" named as #1.

1958 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
23 year old Elvis Presley is sworn in as Private 53310761 for a two year hitch in the US army, where he would earn $78 per month. Accompanied by his parents and newspaper reporters from all over the world, Elvis answered an onslaught of nonsensical questions before summing up his feelings: "I simply want to be treated like all the other fellows." After his final goodbyes to family and friends, Presley and his fellow recruits were taken by bus to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

March 24
Perry Como appears on the cover of Newsweek magazine. Under his picture is the question, "Can anyone last on TV?" Como had done a regularly scheduled television show since 1948 and would continue to do so until the Fall of 1963.

1963 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The Beatles were the opening act for American Pop stars Chris Montez and Tommy Roe in the quartet's hometown of Liverpool, England.

1965 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The Rolling Stones' bass player Bill Wyman is knocked unconscious by an electrical shock from a microphone stand in Odense, Denmark.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The New York State Assembly passes a bill making it a misdemeanor to sell unauthorized copies of records or tapes, commonly known as bootlegs.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
MGM Records releases Herman's Hermits' fifth album, "There's A Kind Of A Hush All Over The World". The LP would peak at #13 on the Billboard 200 album chart and included four hit singles, "There's A Kind Of A Hush" (#4), "Dandy" (#5), "This Door Swings Both Ways" (#12) and "No Milk Today" (#35). The album would be awarded a Gold Record in America, but failed to chart at all in the UK.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Dick Clark Productions airs a show on ABC called Soul Unlimited, which was meant to compete with With Soul Train. The copycat program came off as amateurish and lasted just one episode before it caved to pressure from several, prominent, Black leaders. Soul Train, which began in 1971, would air a total of 1,117 episodes before being canceled at the conclusion of the 2005–06 season.

March 24
The O'Jays followed their Billboard #3 hit, "Back Stabbers" by topping the chart with "Love Train".

1975 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Lynyrd Skynyrd released their third studio LP "Nuthin' Fancy". It would become the band's first album to reach the Top 10, peaking at #9 on the Hot 200. The LP was certified Gold on June 27th, 1975 and Platinum on July 21st 1987 by the Recording Industry Association of America. One single from the collection, "Saturday Night Special" would climb to #27 on the Billboard Top 40. The effort included new drummer Artimus Pyle and would be the last with guitarist Ed King until the reformation of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the release of "Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991".

1978 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The British courts grant record companies the right to seize bootleg and pirated recordings.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The Bee Gees scored their eighth US number one hit when "Tragedy" topped the Billboard chart. It had gone to the top of the UK chart the month before and did the same in six other countries around the globe.

1984 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Former Commodores lead singer Lionel Richie held the top spot on the UK singles chart with "Hello".

1991 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
The Black Crowes were dropped as the opening act on ZZ Top's tour for repeatedly criticizing Miller Beer, who was sponsoring the tour.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
A Chicago judge settles the Milli Vanilli class-action suit by approving cash rebates of up to $3 to anyone proving they bought the group's music before November 27, 1990, the date the lip synching scandal broke. Arista Records and its parent, BMG, paid out more than $400,000. About 80,000 claims were filed, most of them by people who bought compact discs.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
57 year old Harold Melvin, leader of the Philadelphia Soul group Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, died of heart related problems. The group is remembered for their 1972, US #3 hit, "If You Don't Know Me By Now".

2001 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Duane Allman Boulevard is dedicated in Macon, Georgia, near where he died in a motorcycle crash.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Randy Newman, who had been previously nominated fifteen times, finally won his first Oscar for "If I Didn't Have You", from the animated feature Monsters Inc.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Rod Price, a founding member of Foghat, died after falling down a stairway at his home. The 57-year-old guitarist was with the band for three Platinum and eight Gold records, including their highest charting US single, "Slow Ride". in 1976.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Henson Cargill, who reached the top of the US Country chart and #25 on the US Pop chart in 1968 with "Skip A Rope", died following complications from surgery at the age of 66.

2008 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Neil Aspinall, who became The Beatles' road manager when the group was still a local dance band and later went on to manage the band's production and management company, Apple, died of cancer at the age of 66. When the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, George Harrison made a point of saying that Neil should be considered the fifth Beatle.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Deputy District Attorney Truc Do, the prosecutor in the Phil Spector murder trial, described Spector as a "demonic maniac" when he drinks and "a very dangerous man" around women. During her closing argument she also accused Spector of demonstrating a "conscious disregard for human life" and urged the jury to find the music producer guilty of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. On April 13th the jury would return a guilty verdict and Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in the California state prison system.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Johnny Maestro died of cancer at the age of 70. He was the lead singer for The Crests on their seven US Top 40 records, including the 1959, #2 hit "Sixteen Candles". He also led The Brooklyn Bridge to #3 with "The Worst That Could Happen" in 1969.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Albums by The Doors, Steve Martin and Sly And The Family Stone were selected for inclusion into America's Library of Congress National Recording Registry. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers, "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford and "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King were also chosen.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
Pete Shotton, a former member of John Lennon's pre-Beatles group The Quarrymen, passed away at the age of 75. In 1956, Lennon formed a Skiffle group named after Quarry Bank High School, and Shotton joined on percussion, playing a washboard. He left shortly after Lennon met Paul McCartney because they were moving more towards Rock 'n' Roll, thus negating the need for a washboard.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

March 24
A collection of unseen Beatles photos documenting the Fab Four's earliest American concerts in 1964 were sold by English auction house Omega for over $358,000. The cache of 413 negatives and their copyrights came from the collection of photographer Mike Mitchell, who as an 18-year-old took photos of the Beatles' February 11th concert in Washington, D.C. and in Baltimore on September 13th. The photographs show the band both on stage and in pre-show activities.

March 24
Paul McCartney attended a March Of Our Lives protest in New York City. Macca told CNN, "One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here, so it's important to me," referring to the murder of John Lennon on December 8th, 1980.



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