Today in rock history: on this date in 1980, after only a little more than two weeks following his shocking murder, John Lennon went to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts. His most current album, Double Fantasy started an eight-week run at the No. 1 spot and the album's lead single, "(Just Like) Starting Over" also snaked the No. 1 spot of the Hot 100 singles chart where it stayed for five consecutive weeks. The album, Lennon's seventh solo release during his lifetime, would go on to win the prestigious Grammy award in the Album of the Year category as well.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1964, The Supremes appeared on the popular weekly television variety program, The Ed Sullivan Show for the very first time. The successful Motown Records singing group performed its hit "Come See About Me" for its very first appearance on the show. The Supremes would go on to be the group that appeared on the show the most of any other pop or rock act for the show's duration with a total of twenty appearances until the show went off the air in 1971.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1967, legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen released his very first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. The album wasn't an instant success in the States but fared much better all over Europe. In particular, the album performed especially well in England where it peaked at No. 13 on British charts and remained on sales charts for more than a year. Cohen's first of 14 studio albums until his passing in 2016 featured the classic tracks from his repertoire "Suzanne," "So Long, Marianne" and "Sisters of Mercy." The album received mostly positive reviews, drew many comparisons to the work of Bob Dylan and helped introduce this vital and important artist to the world.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1985, the "Krush Groove Christmas Party" became the first every hip-hop event scheduled at New York City's world famous arena, Madison Square Garden. The event was booked in conjunction with the promotion of Krush Groove, the hip-hop inspired feature length film released the same year of the concert. Acts on the bill included LL Cool J, Run DMC, Doug E. Fresh and Kurtis Blow. Unfortunately the historic event is mired in bad press as fourteen arrests are made onsite throughout the duration of the concert.
