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Today in rock history: on this date in 1967, American pop group The Young Rascals released its third full length album, Groovin' The album charted as high as no.5 on Billboard’s pop album chart and no.7 on the R&B chart. The record featured four hit singles including “How Can I Be Sure,” “A Girl Like You,” “You Better Run” (which would later be a hit for Pat Benatar in 1980 as well) and the chart-topping title track (which was additionally released in Spanish and Italian versions.) The record was the last to bill the band as The Young Rascals and by the time its follow-up album was released in 1968, the more psychedelic Once Upon A Dream, the band would be known simply as The Rascals. Groovin’ was the most successful and best-selling album by the New Jersey blue-eyed soul/pop band.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1981, American rock band Journey released its seventh album, the top selling and highly successful, Escape. The album went straight to the no.1 spot on Billboard’s album chart and contained the massive hit singles “Open Arms,” “Who’s Crying Now” and “Don’t Stop Believin’." The latter of the three songs holds the distinction of being the all-time leader in digital download sales, in great part due to the role it played in the 2007 final episode of the HBO drama series The Sopranos. The album has gone on to sell in excess of 12 million copies, making it the band’s best-selling album after its greatest hits collection album.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1955, Elvis Presley made his second-ever appearance at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory right here in Tampa, Florida. Presley’s manager, Col. Tom Parker, hired local photographer William V. “Red” Roberton to photograph the performance. One of the photos taken that night would go on to be one of the most recognizable and iconic pictures ever taken of the rock idol. Often referred to as the “tonsil” photo, the famous picture of Presley onstage singing, mouth agape and eyes shut, was used as the front cover photo for his very first, self-titled, full-length album for RCA Records in 1956.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1971, soft rock singer James Taylor scored his very first no.1 hit single with his version of the Carole King-penned ballad, “You’ve Got A Friend.” The song appeared simultaneously that year on Taylor’s Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon and King’s version on her mega-platinum blockbuster record, Tapestry. The performance won James Taylor a Grammy award that year for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Song of the Year. The now-classic song has been covered by many artists over the years and remains one of Carole King’s and James Taylor’s most recognizable songs.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 3, 2017.