This Week in
Rock History
Feb. 19 (1940) — William Robinson Jr. is born in Detroit, Mich. Smokey Robinson will become the founder and front man of the Miracles, one of the original acts signed by Motown Record Corp. The group will produce 25 Top 40 hits with Robinson as lead vocalist, principal songwriter and producer, including a 1970 No. 1, “The Tears of a Clown.”
Feb. 19 (1966) — Lou Christie’s “Lightning Strikes” reaches No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. A plea for a sexual double standard — “Listen to me, baby, it's hard to settle down/Am I asking too much for you to stick around” — it will remain atop the chart for only one week, and Christie won’t record another Top 10 hit.
Feb. 25 (1957) — Buddy Holly and the Crickets record their first charting single, “That’ll Be the Day,” in a Clovis, N.M., studio. The song is a No. 1 hit, and is considered a rock classic — but is not the first version Holly and his band recorded.
This Week in
Rock History
Jan. 11 (1964) — “Popsicles and Icicles” peaks at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It will be the only charting single for the Murmaids, the Los Angeles-based vocal trio of teenagers, sisters Carol and Terry Fischer and neighbor Sally Gordon. The Fischer sisters’ father, Carl Fischer, had composed songs recorded by Billie Holliday and Frankie Laine, and served as the latter’s musical director and arranger; their mother sang with big bands. Their hit song was written by David Gates, who would years later head the group Bread.
Jan. 17 (1974) — Columbia Records releases Planet Waves, Bob Dylan’s 14th studio album. Although six of Dylan’s previous LPs had reached No. 1 in the U.K., this one will be his first to top the U.S. charts. Accompanying him on the album are the members of the Band, who will perform with him on the tour supporting Planet Waves (the original title of which was Ceremonies of the Horsemen) — Dylan’s first concert series since 1966, when the Band, then known as the Hawks, also backed him. The LP includes two versions of one of Dylan’s best-known songs, “Forever Young,” written for his children.