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Today in rock history: On this date in 1978, the year-end poll in Rolling Stone magazine found Some Girls — the multi-platinum selling album by The Rolling Stones — named Album of the Year on both the critic’s and reader’s poll. Regarded as a return to form for the band, the album dominated sales charts for most of 1978 and spawned several hit singles including the band’s foray into disco “Miss You” and its soulful classic, “Beast of Burden.” The recognition from both rock journalists and record buyers capped off a highly successful and memorable year for the group.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1946, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Edgar Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas. The younger brother of blues-rock artist Johnny Winter, Edgar’s musical career veered into a slightly different direction thanks to a foray into hard rock that found him notching two monster hits: The whirlwind instrumental “Frankenstein” and the catchy rock tune “Free Ride.” Born an albino as his older sibling was, Winter’s striking white hair and pale features made him look like no one else in popular music. Playing a variety of instruments including keyboards, saxophone and guitar, Winter has played with a vast array of musicians — including Ronnie Montrose, Rick Derringer, Dan Hartman, David Lee Roth and Ringo Starr — throughout his career and remains active as a touring artist.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1963, “Surfin’ Bird,” the garage rock classic as recorded by Minneapolis-based surf rock band The Trashmen made its debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. The nonsensical, revved up tune is often cited as an early catalyst for punk-rock, a genre which wouldn’t rise to prominence until many years later. The influential song inspired two important American bands, The Cramps and Ramones, which both went on to cover the tune. The song rose to No. 4 on U.S. singles charts, and The Trashmen would release subsequent follow-up singles, but none surpassed the chart success of this cornerstone of garage rock.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1975, the No. 1 spot on British singles charts belonged to “Saturday Night” by Scottish pop band Bay City Rollers. The original recording — sung by original vocalist Noddy and completed by the recognizable chanting chorus which spells out the word “Saturday” — made no chart impact when released two years earlier, so a new version featuring vocals from Bay City Rollers’ replacement singer, Les Mckeown, was recorded, released and turned into a worldwide success.
This article appears in Dec 27, 2018 – Jan 3, 2019.