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Today in rock history: On this date in 1995, Britpop superstar group Oasis released its sophomore album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Following the breakout success of its 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe, expectations were high for the band’s follow up. What came was an unprecedented and completely overwhelming response to the group’s second album. Although reviews weren’t all favorable, the album sold nearly 350,000 copies in its first week of release and topped British album sales charts for 10 straight weeks. Singles from the album were plentiful; besides the stellar “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Roll With It,” the album also included the two songs that are arguably the band’s best-known and most beloved songs of its career: “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova.” The best-selling album in the sometimes controversial and fractured Oasis story, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? sold over 20 million copies worldwide, with 5 million of those sold in Great Britain alone and was the best-selling album of the 1990s in England.
LATER, LIAM
Today in rock history: Oasis finally called it quits on this day 2009
Today in rock history: On this date in 1960, the doo-wop classic “Stay,” recorded by Nashville-based singing group, Maurice White and the Zodiacs entered the Billboard pop singles chart. The song steadily climbed up the charts until it reached the #1 spot in November, 1960. The song clocked in at only just over 90-seconds long making it the shortest single to ever reach the top spot on any singles chart in the history of rock of roll. The song would later be covered by a variety of artists like The Four Seasons, The Hollies, Jackson Browne and Cyndi Lauper, to name a few, and each rendition was a hit of its own.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1971, while an active member of fantastic rock band The Faces, singer Rod Stewart achieved an almost unthinkable feat. In a true testament to his enormous and steadily climbing success on both sides of the Atlantic, Stewart simultaneously held down the No. 1 spot on both singles charts and album charts in both England and the United States . Rod’s classic “Maggie May,” a song detailing the complicated relationship between a young man and a much older woman was originally a b-side not intended to be a hit. A cover of folk singer Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe” had gotten the nod as the song to be released, but radio DJs in both America and England decided to place more emphasis on the flipside of the single, making “Maggie May” a hit based on the incredible reaction it received. The song wound up becoming the first of many singles to top the charts in England for Rod and, at the very same time, the album from which the song hailed, the fantastic Every Picture Tells a Story also held the No. 1 spot in both regions meaning Rod Stewart occupied the four most influential and prestigious spots on sales charts in both America and England at the same time.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1992, pop icon Madonna made history again when the music video for her sultry and sexy single “Erotica” debuted on MTV. Proving to be shocking and highly controversial upon its release, the song served as the title track of Madonna’s fifth, eagerly-awaited album. Released to coincide with the steamy coffee table book she’d assembled, the directly and appropriately titled tome “Sex,” the video clip included a series of bold and somewhat pornographic vignettes. While critics, the religious right and many parents were less than thrilled with the video that featured Madonna in sadomasochistic gear, kissing supermodel Naomi Campbell and appearing topless in several scenes, it was agreed that the clip would be shown only after 10 p.m.. Viewed by some detractors as nothing more than an overt advertisement for her book, the video was shown only three times on television before being permanently banned, making it the second Madonna clip to achieve that status following her seductive clip for “Justify My Love” in 1990. The controversy paid off: The “Erotica” single climbed as high as No. 3 on Billboard’s singles chart and the album of the same name made it all the way to No. 2.
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This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 5, 2018.
