The British are coming, the British are coming...
The Beatles landing on American soil on this date in 1964 to begin the British invasion is well documented but there was another arrival of a British group on this date 15 years later that you may not know about...
When the Beatles Pan Am flight touched down at JFK all hell broke loose. Thousands were on hand to welcome the Fab Four to America and Beatlemania had officially begun...
The other arrival of a British band was more like an insurrection than an invasion. On February 7, 1979 we got our first look at The Clash, the anti-Beatles. The Clash arrived kicking and screaming against worldwide tyrrany and injustice for their first U.S. tour. The band was the hottest thing to hit England since, well, the Beatles. They sold tons of records in England from 1976 to their arrival in America in 1979. They weren't total strangers to record buyers here because of their best-selling imports...
Prior to The Clash opening at the University of California at Berkeley, the International Division of CBS Records hired one of Bill Paley's jets and I was lucky enough to accompany various departments of Epic Records to Berkeley so that the U.S. company could see their new act. Following the show, attended mostly by students and print media, Susan Blond, VP of Publicity for Epic had set up a photo session with Rolling Stone Magazine, The Clash and CBS Records people who had flown out for the occasion. The Clash got antsy, turned their backs on the photographer and stormed out. It was a rather rocky start to the band's entrance into America...
What do the Beatles and Clash have in common ? Nothing. Oh wait, there are a couple of things, both groups arrived in America from England on the same date (different year) and they're both in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
More February 7 Memories...
1922) DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace offer 5,000 copies of "Reader's Digest" for the 1st time...
1940) Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" premieres at the Center Theater in Manhattan...
1949) Joe DiMaggio becomes the 1st $100,000 player...
1959) A funeral for Buddy Holly is held in Lubbock, Texas...
1961) The Jive Five record "My True Story"...
1964) The Beatles arrive in America (feature story) and Baskin-Robbins introduces Beatle Nut ice cream in celebration...
1965) Cassius Clay becomes a Muslim and adopts the name Muhammad Ali...
1966) "Crawdaddy" magazine is published for the 1st time...
1969) "This Is Tom Jones" premieres on ABC-TV (the variety series features different acts each week until January 15, 1971)...
1970) "Hollywood Palace" airs for the last time on ABC-TV (it started 7 years earlier)...
1974) Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" opens in movie theaters...
1979) The Clash kick off their 1st American tour (feature story)...
1979) "Supertrain", the TV anthology debuts on NBC-TV (Fred Silverman's baby is one of the most expensive bombs in TV history)...
| 1979) Rod Stewart is #1 with "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy"... 1981) The TV mini-series "Elvis and Me" (based on Priscilla Presley's book) begins on ABC-TV... 1984) Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the 1st untethered space walk... 1985) "Sports Illustrated" releases its annual swimsuit edition. It becomes the largest regular edition (218 pages) and most read edition in the magazine's history... 1985) "New York, New York" becomes the official anthem of the Big Apple (don't know how many of you know this but when the Yankees win they play the Frank Sinatra version but use the Liza Minnelli version when they lose)... 1988) In a marriage not made in heaven, Robin Givens marries Mike Tyson... 1999) King Hussein of Jordan dies, his son is sworn in as the new king... To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline... Happy Birthday To... 1932) Author Gay Talese... 1920) Folk singer Oscar Brand... 1962) Garth Brooks... 1966) Chris Rock... 1978) Ashton Kutcher... Commentary... A special Happy Birthday to Oscar Brand, folksinger and host of "Folksong Festival" on WNYC now in its 51st year... Today is the 38th day of 2006 with 327 days remaining in the year, 41 days until Spring and only 9 days remaining until pitchers and catchers... |
