Today in rock history: on this date in 1974, Bob Marley and the Wailers released Natty Dread, the first album to credit Marley as the band’s leader as opposed to earlier releases that listed the band simply as The Wailers. With the departure of longtime members Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer who’d left to find their own successful solo careers, Marley was left to carry on the modern traditional reggae music sound the group had developed. The record also marked the first appearance of backing singers The I Threes which featured Marcia Griffiths (who’d later spark the electric slide line dance craze with her hit, “Electric Boogie”), Judy Mowatt, and Marley's wife, Rita Marley. The politically and spiritually motivated album was a success; reviews were positive and it charted well around the world including in America and in England. The album features a slew of Marley classics like “Lively Up Yourself” and “No Woman, No Cry” whose songwriting credit was given to a gentleman who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, a section of Kingston, Jamaica where Marley grew up so that the royalties earned from the song would guarantee the establishment would continue to survive. Bob Marley once brought that album to Tampa, and you can read a little about it in our recent Music Issue.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1944, Jon Anderson was born in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The diminutive singer with the unmistakable high-pitched voice formed the psychedelic band Yes with co-founder and extraordinary bassist, the late Chris Squire, in 1968. As the band morphed into a more progressive, orchestral rock ensemble, itspopularity grew. Anderson led the band through several multi-platinum albums and sold-out tours throughout the 1970s making Yes one of the leaders of the genre it so boldly represented. Anderson’s on-again, off-again involvement with Yes afforded him the ability to lead a successful solo career that found him working with new age musician Vangelis and jazz performer Jean-Luc Ponty. Read our review of Yes featuring Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman's latest Bay area show here.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1964, as the “British Invasion,” the wave of young English bands who made a huge splash on American record sales charts, was in full swing, The Rolling Stones made their debut on the popular weekly music program, The Ed Sullivan Show. Hoping to achieve the same accolades and attention their contemporaries The Beatles received earlier in the year when they appeared on the program, The Stones were met with a rousing ovation of loud, screaming teenage girls who more than gave them a hearty welcome. Kicking off their appearance with a scorching version of Chuck Berry’s “Around and Around,” show host Ed Sullivan had to repeatedly ask the mostly female audience to quiet down (to no avail) so that he could properly introduce the guests that followed the band. The hysteria was high and the girls were loud. The band came back at the end of the show to perform its current single, “Time Is On My Side” and the theater where the show was filmed erupted. Again. Sullivan was supposedly none too pleased with the outrageous ovation the band received and vowed to never book them on the program again but later changed his mind as the band’s popularity continued to soar. While many teenage fans were elated, many of Sullivan’s regular viewers of a more mature age were not amused in the slightest.
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Dear Jethro: A heart-to-heart with British rock legend Ian Anderson (w/playlist)
Today in rock history: on this date in 1968, another leading progressive rock band, Jethro Tull, released its very first album entitled This Was. The record was the only of the band’s lengthy catalog to feature guitarist and songwriter Mick Abrahams who left the band shortly after this record was released. The record was well received by the British press which lavished it with glowing reviews. With the inclusion of Abrahams in the mix, who leaned more to a blues/rock style, the record had more of a blues feel to it than the band’s later prog-rock epics would suggest. The record boasted three moderately successful singles in the band’s native England and reached the No. 10 spot on U.K. album charts marking the arrival and the long tenure this legendary band would achieve. Read our recent interview with Jethro, err, Ian Anderson, here.
