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Today in rock history: on this date in 1978, a film adaptation based on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album premiered in New York City. The film starred The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton as the main characters of the film at a time when both artists were at the height of their popularity. The film featured musical appearances by artists like Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire and Billy Preston whose contributions also appeared on the film’s accompanying two-LP soundtrack album. Although the production was made with a huge budget, it was a complete flop at the box office. Reviews for the film were dismal and most fans of both The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton disassociated themselves with the film and the album.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1976, after several hit singles, Elton John finally scores his first no. 1 hit in his native England. After having already scored several chart-topping hits in the United States, Elton went to the top in the UK with his duet with British vocalist Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” The song reached the top spot in the States as well as in several countries around the world.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1982, American rock band Survivor reached the no. 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard singles chart with its hit, “Eye of the Tiger.” The song served as the theme of the third installment in the Rocky film franchise and benefitted from heavy radio airplay as well as heavy rotation on music video channel, MTV. The song held the top spot for six consecutive weeks and won the band a Grammy as well as an Oscar nomination. Several politicians have used the song to boost their campaign trails without proper clearance from the band and as a result have received swift action from Survivor to the extent of legal action, as in the case of a lawsuit against Newt Gingrich during his 2012 bid for the U.S. presidency.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1987, La Bamba, the autobiographical film about Mexican teenage singing star Richie Valens was released. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips portrayed the singer whose best known song was the inspiration for the name of the film. The film’s soundtrack served as the breakthrough for the fantastic California Mexican-American Band Los Lobos too. Their version of “La Bamba” reached the no. 1 spot on U.S. singles charts as did the film’s full soundtrack album. Notable performances in the film also included pop singer Marshall Crenshaw portraying 1950s legend Buddy Holly and Stray Cats lead singer Brian Setzer portraying rockabilly star Eddie Cochran. The soundtrack as well as the film were enormously successful and helped introduce a younger audience to the story of Richie Valens who died at age 17 in 1959 in the same plane crash that claimed the lives of Holly and fellow pop singer The Big Bopper.
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This article appears in Jul 20-27, 2017.