A 'Bad Boys' beginning...
There was never a more appropriate nickname ever given to a group than "The Bad Boys of Rock & Roll". The Rolling Stones, the anti-Beatles were that and more. They wore their hair long and grungy, looked like they slept in their clothes and their music was rougher and more R&B than the Fab Four. Add to that the drug-related arrests that would follow and viola, you had 'The Bad Boys of Rock & Roll'...
The longest continuous, running live show in history began on this date in 1962 at the Marquee Club in London. The first edition of the Rolling Stones contained names you might know, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones. Some names you might not know, Dick Taylor and Mick Avory, were also Rolling Stones. A year later they would be replaced by Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts...
43 years have gone by since the Rolling Stones made their debut in London. Is it possible 'The Bad Boys of Rock & Roll" will still be doing live shows 43 years from now or does it just seem like they will ? One thing for sure, their music will still be played but not on cell phones, iPods or MP3s. More likely it'll be through sound waves transmitted to our teeth...
More July 12 Memories...
1954) Elvis Presley quits his 'day job', driving a truck, to sign his first recording contract with Sun Records...
1959) Alan Freed begins a 13-week Rock & Roll show on ABC-TV...
1960) The first Etch-A-Sketch goes on sale...
1975) K.C. and the Sunshine Band make their pop chart debut with "Get Down Tonight"...
1979) Minnie ("Lovin' You") Riperton leaves us much too soon, at 30...
1979) WLUP disc jockeys, Steve Dahl and Garry Meier nearly blow up Comiskey Park in Chicago on "Disco Demolition Night"...(more on that event at): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/disco_demolition_night
1982) "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" breaks all box office records...
1984) Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale chooses U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro as his running mate creating the "Fritz and T--s" ticket. Ferraro is the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket...
1989) "Louisiana Lightning", Yankee Ron Guidry retires...
1990) The Top 20 cult favorite, "Northern Exposure" debuts. Show runs for 5 years...
1996) NBC network news anchor, John Chancellor says "Good Night" for the last time, at 68...
2000) "X-Men" premieres...
2001) Abner Louima agrees to an $8.7 million settlement in police brutality case...
Happy Birthday to...
1934) Pianist Van Cliburn...
1937) Bill Cosby...
1943) Fleetwood Mac's Christy McVie...
1948) Richard Simmons...
1948) Jay Thomas...
1951) Cheryl Ladd...
1971) Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi...
1978) Topher ("That 70s Show") Grace...
Commentary...
Prior to Alan Freed's ABC-TV Network show (see 1959 Memory), I was lucky enough to witness rehearsals of his earlier TV show on channel 7 in New York. My first fulltime job in the ABC mailroom gave me access to some legendary TV names: Mike Wallace, John ('What's My Line') Daly, Howard Cosell and yes, even Joe Franklin...
Mike Wallace had an office on the second floor, overlooking the studio that housed the Alan Freed Show and I would often stand outside Wallace's office to watch rehearsals for the show...
I also remember when Alan was hired by ABC radio in 1958 there was a corporate memo that stated that he was not to be referred to as "The King of Rock & Roll". With pending litigation involving payola, ABC wanted to avoid the issue entirely. Alan Freed's stay at ABC, brief as it was, gave me a chance to watch my idol in action but believe it or not, I never met the man...
