Rock 'n' Roll History for
May 31


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1956 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Buddy Holly, sees the John Wayne movie The Searchers and gains some song writing inspiration when Wayne utters the line "That'll be the day."

1961 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Chuck Berry opens an amusement park that he calls Berry Park, in Wentzville, Missouri near St. Louis. The 30-acre complex features a swimming pool, miniature golf course, Ferris wheel, a children's zoo, and a picnic grove with barbecue pits.

May 31
Jimi Hendrix officially enlisted in the United States Army and was sent to Fort Ord, California to complete eight weeks of basic training. From there he would he assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. He would be honorably discharged on June 29th, 1962. The story of him leaving the military after breaking his ankle following a parachute jump has been brought into question by his fellow soldiers, who said that Hendrix fabricated the event.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
The Dave Clark Five appear on The Ed Sullivan Show where they perform "Can't You See That She's Mine" (US #4, UK #10) and "Do You Love Me" (US #11, UK #30).

1974 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Gordon Lightfoot is awarded a Gold record for his LP "Sundown" on the strength of the title tune, which went to #1, and "Carefree Highway" which climbed to #10.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
The Eagles release "One Of These Nights", which will become the second of their five US number one singles. It reached #23 in the UK. The B-side, "Visions", features lead vocals by guitarist Don Felder, the only Eagles song to do so.

May 31
Seventeen weeks after entering the Billboard Hot 100, Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" made it all the way to number one. The song was written in the late 1960s and had already been recorded more than two dozen times. Fender would later recall, "The recording only took a few minutes. I was glad to get it over with and I thought that would be the last of it."

1976 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
The Who appear at the Charlton Athletic Grounds in England and put their name into the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest Rock band ever when their set measures at 120 decibels. That record has since been surpassed.

May 31
Nearly ten years after it first appeared on the album, "Revolver", The Beatles' "Got To Get You Into My Life" is released as a single. It would reach #7 on the Hot 100, #3 on the Cashbox chart, and would earn a Gold record for sales of 500,000 units in the United States.

1977 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Britain's BBC announced a ban on the Sex Pistols' anti-royalist song "God Save The Queen", saying it is 'in gross bad taste'. The cover of the single showed a picture of The Queen with a safety pin through her lip. Shops and pressing plant workers refused to handle the record, but it still managed to reach #2 on the UK chart.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Supertramp perform at New York's Madison Square Garden, where they receive a Gold record for their million selling album "Breakfast In America". That LP spawned three Billboard Hot 100 singles: "The Logical Song" (#6), "Goodbye Stranger" (#15), and "Take the Long Way Home" (#10).

1980 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Although the Disco craze was running out of steam, a group from Minneapolis, Minnesota called Lipps, Inc., that featured Cynthia Johnson on vocals, reached the top of the Hot 100 with a tune called "Funkytown". It was a UK #2 hit. The record would be certified Platinum, but the group's only other chart entry, "Rock It", would stall at number 83.

May 31
The Theme From M*A*S*H* ("Suicide Is Painless"), was at the top of the UK singles chart, ten years after it was first recorded.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Elsbeary Hobbs, the bass singer for The Drifters, died of throat and lung cancer at Veterans Hospital in Manhattan. He was 59. The New York vocal group placed sixteen songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1959 and 1964, including the chart topping "Save The Last Dance For Me" in 1960.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Johnnie Taylor, best remembered for 1968's "Who's Making Love" and 1976's "Disco Lady", died following a heart attack in a Texas hospital. He was 62 years old.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
Ali-Ollie Woodson, who led The Temptations in the 1980s and '90s and helped restore them to their hit-making glory with songs including "Treat Her Like A Lady", "Sail Away" and "Lady Soul", died of cancer at the age of 58.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
More than twenty years after his death, Jerry Garcia's favorite guitar was sold at a New York auction for 3.2 million dollars. The money raised was donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

2024 - ClassicBands.com

May 31
The four members of ABBA received the Swedish version of a knighthood when Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson became Commanders of the First Class. Candidates were nominated by the general public and the Swedish government, with the final choices made by King Carl XVI Gustaf.



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