1978 It takes place during World War II, but Peter Frampton doesn’t have to cut his hair when he guest-stars on NBC-TV’s drama, Black Sheep Squadron. 1991 Another Beatle guests on…

Our Mike Olszewski is going to take a look at some of the controversies that come up about bands “borrowing” from other musicians. This will be a series of stories…

1971  Time to go!  Rolling Stones Leave England as tax-exiles. Mick Jagger told Roy Carter of the NME just before the release of Exile on Main Street, “So after working for…

1964Yeah, that sounds kinda familiar.  A court orders a band called The Trashmen out of Minneapolis to pay royalties to Beechwood Music. That publishing house holds the copyright for The…

1959The word “spitball” results in a BBC ban on The Coasters‘ song “Charlie Brown”.   A couple weeks later there’s a change of heart and they start to play the single,…

1987 Great drummer, equally great pain in the ass.   Jazz titan Buddy Rich dies after complications caused by a brain tumor. Rich was 69, and just about everybody including…

April 1 1966 The Troggs recorded “Wild Thing” in London. The song was a hit in the US and number two UK hit in 1977, but the Jimi Hendrix version…

March 31 1958 “Johnny B. Goode” is released on this date, but not before some tinkering.  Chuck Berry’s original lyrics reference Johnny as a “colored boy”, but it was changed…

March 302011Men at Work, the famed Australian band, lost a Federal Court appeal of a ruling thatfound their 1983 hit “Down Under” was partly copied from a Folk song called“Kookaburra…

It’s been said that Sixties pop culture was defined by three B’s:  Bond, Batman and the Beatles.  Yeah, James Bond was a game changer filling movie theaters and inspiring shows…