Today in rock history: on this date in 1954, one of the most entertaining and exciting rock and roll front men of all time, David Lee Roth, was born in Bloomington, Indiana. The charismatic and energetic lead singer fronted California hard rock band Van Halen from the time of its formation through the mid-1980s and led them to many gold and platinum-selling record awards throughout that time. After leaving the band, Roth led a successful solo career and scored several hit records of his own. The athletic singer has since returned to front Van Halen despite an on again, off again role with the band.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1975, British hard rock band Deep Purple released its tenth album, Come Taste The Band. The album was the band’s only release to feature guitarist Tommy Bolin who was brought on board to replace longtime axe man, Richie Blackmore at the suggestion of then lead singer, David Coverdale. Bolin co-wrote most of the album’s songs and toured with the band around the world in support of this highly regarded album, but sadly passed away at the age of 25 the year after the record’s release. The record was a hit all around Europe and was the last of the band’s albums to feature Coverdale who left soon afterwards to form his own band, Whitesnake.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1966, made for TV band The Monkees released its self-titled, debut album. As a direct result of the band’s popular weekly prime time television show, the album skyrocketed up to the no. 1 spot on Billboard’s album sales charts and held on there for a whopping 13 weeks. Driven by the popularity of its lead single, “Last Train To Clarksville,” the record was a swift seller and gained more momentum and attention with each passing weekly episode of the band’s sitcom which appealed to millions of teenage music fans all around the world. The album featured another hit, a ballad, “I Wanna Be Free,” which featured lead singer and heartthrob Davy Jones handling the vocals. The record sold in excess of four million copies in the U.S. alone and was replaced on album sales charts by the band’s second album, More Of The Monkees which knocked its predecessor out of the no. 1 spot when it came out in January of 1967. Early pressings of the album feature a typographical error: the Michael Nesmith country romp “Papa Gene’s Blues” was incorrectly listed as “Papa Jean’s Blues” initially but was soon corrected once the error was detected.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1988, U2 released its sixth album, the 2-LP set, Rattle and Hum. The album of all new material doubled as the soundtrack for a black and white documentary film that featured the band both onstage and off which was released just a few weeks after its counterpart album. Exploring the roots of American music, the film and the accompanying music found the band trying its hand at blues, gospel and folk and traveling around to different U.S. locales including the legendary Sun Studios recording facility in Memphis, Tennessee. The record was a massive success for the band: hit singles culled from the record included “Desire,” “When Love Comes To Town” featuring blues legend B.B. King, “Angel of Harlem” and “All I Want Is You.” The album went straight to no. 1 in just about every country in which it was released and sold in excess of fourteen million copies worldwide. Read our review of the band's latest Tampa show here.
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This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2017.