1860
Okay, don’t listen to this in a dark room. It’s not rock and roll but opened the door for all future recordings (if only by accident.) It’s thought to be the world’s oldest recording. French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville inadvertently recorded a young lady, thought to be his daughter, singing “Au Clair de la Lune”. The song was captured on a device that engraved sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke of an oil lamp. It was designed solely for the visual design. Called a “phonautograph”, the recording took place 17 years before Thomas Edison invented his phonograph.
1966
Denny Doherty couldn’t understand why the Mamas and the Papas would try to follow up their megahit “California Dreamin’” with “Monday Monday”. He was quoted as saying, “Nothing about it stood out to me; it was a dumb f–kin’ song about a day of the week.” John Phillips insisted it be recorded, the studio musicians called the Wrecking Crew backed them and Doherty was proven wrong. Another big hit!
1976
Folk singer Phil Ochs, who was also a former Greater Clevelander, commits suicide by hanging at his sister’s Queens, New York, home. He suffered from alcoholism and mental illness. Ochs was obsessed with Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle who would exit radio station WERE by a back door when told Ochs was in the lobby. Bob Dylan respected Ochs’ songwriting, and he also opened for John Lennon at the Ann Arbor Ten for Two concert.
2018
Don’t let that door hit you on the way out. Fleetwood Mac gives notice to guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who is replaced by Mike Campbell, who was with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn, who was with Crowded House. Speculation surrounds fellow bandmate Stevie Nicks possible role in the departure.
