Time to take a look back into this day in rock history: January 19
He hangs with the Beatles, Bob Dylan considers him competition, and radio likes him a lot. Things are good for Donovan Leitch who is the focus of a British TV film titled A Boy Called Donovan. Maybe they shouldn’t have included the footage of him smoking reefer. Among those watching are London’s drug police who make Donovan an example with high profile bust. Next on the list? Beatles and the Stones.
Stars are stepping over each other to guest on TV’s hottest show, Batman. Not a problem for Lesley Gore. Her uncle Howie Horowitz is one of the producers and casts her as Catwoman’s able assistant Pussycat. A criminal who can sing!
The Easy Rider soundtrack is as hot as the movie, hitting gold status and rising to #6 on the Billboard album chart. Hendrix, the Holy Modal Rounders, and Steppenwolf teaches us about “heavy metal thunder”.
1974
Bruce Springsteen opens for Black Oak Arkansas at Kent State University for $4 a head…but buy your tickets ahead of time or you’ll pay an extra 50 cents at the door.
Poster courtesy of Raw Sugar Studio
A tour de force performance by Aretha Franklin as she belts out Samuel F. Smith’s “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in front of the Capitol at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee David Crosby dies after a long illness. He was 81. Crosby was a member of the Byrds and Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and had a reputation for speaking his mind.
