Rock 'n' Roll History for
August 5


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1957 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
American Bandstand, with 26-year-old host Dick Clark, premiered on the ABC television network. The program had been broadcast locally on Philadelphia station WFIL since 1952. The first record Clark played on the network debut show was "That'll Be the Day" by Buddy Holly and his first guests were The Chordettes. The smooth talking Clark hosted the show until 1989 when he was replaced by David Hirsch, but the program would be canceled five months later.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
The Beach Boys start recording "When I grow Up To Be A Man" at United Western Studios in Hollywood. The song would reach #9 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Cashbox Best Sellers chart. Personnel on the recording were listed as: Al Jardine - bass guitar and vocals, Mike Love – lead vocals and background vocals, Brian Wilson – piano, electric harpsichord, lead vocals and background vocals, Carl Wilson – lead and rhythm guitars and background vocals, Dennis Wilson – drums and background vocals, and Carrol Lewis – double-reed harmonica

1965 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Jan Berry of Jan And Dean is accidentally knocked off of a camera car and breaks his leg on the first day of shooting the film Easy Come, Easy Go. 17 others are also hurt, causing Paramount to cancel the movie entirely.

1967 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Pink Floyd released their debut album, "The Piper At the Gates of Dawn", which would reach #6 in the UK. The LP did not contain the two singles released earlier in the year, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play". It only managed to climb to #131 on The Billboard Hot 200 and took nearly 27 years to be certified Gold when it received the honor in March, 1994.


1968 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
40-year-old Luther Perkins, Johnny Cash's guitar player who is credited for creating the man in black's signature "boom-chicka-boom" style, dies two days after being trapped in a house fire in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Wayne Newton achieves his biggest hit when the million selling "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" leads the Cashbox chart. It would top out at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the only time he cracked the Top Ten. "Danke Schoen" went to #13 in 1963 and "Red Roses For A Blue Lady" stalled at #23 in 1965.

August 5
A Rock and Roll revival concert is held at Wembley Stadium near London, featuring Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Billy Fury, Bill Haley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The crowd is made up of mostly greasers, Teddy Boys and trouble makers who disrupt the show and at one point, boo Little Richard off the stage.

August 5
After a performance at Max's Kansas City in New York, Aerosmith signs a $125,000 recording contract with Clive Davis at Columbia Records.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Stevie Wonder signs a $37 million, seven-year, seven-album contract with Motown, the largest pact in the industry at that time. He also gained full artistic control of his music, an almost unheard of level of independence for an artist. The following year, he would release the double album "Songs in the Key of Life", which won the 1977 Grammy for Album of the Year.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
The Rolling Stones saw their only Disco-style effort, "Miss You", become their eighth number one single in the US. It reached #3 in the UK. It has been reported that the lyrics were inspired by Mick Jagger's deteriorating relationship with his wife, Bianca.

August 5
Steve Martin's novelty tune "King Tut" peaks at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, nearly three months after it was featured in a skit on TV's Saturday Night Live. Some of the backing musicians on the track, who called themselves the Toot Uncommons, were actually members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The record, which paid homage to Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, would go on to sell over a million copies.


1980 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Chrysalis Records releases Pat Benatar's second studio album, "Crimes Of Passion". The LP would rise to #2 on the Billboard 200 and stay there for five weeks in January 1981, behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy". The single release from the album, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" would climb to #9 on the Hot 100 and #7 on the Cashbox Best Sellers list. A second song, "Treat Me Right", rose to #18 on Billboard and #10 on Cashbox.

1983 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
David Crosby, reported to have slept through most of his trial, was sentenced to eight years in prison for drug and firearms possession. He was paroled in 1986.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Session drummer Jeff Porcaro, one of the most sought after musicians of the 1970s, died following cardiac arrest. Porcaro had played on Boz Scaggs' "Silk Degrees" before forming Toto. Over the years he would also perform on such albums as "The Wall", "Gaucho", "The End of the Innocence", "Luck of the Draw" and many others. Porcaro was just 38 years old.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Randy Hobbs, bassist for The McCoys on their 1965 hit, "Hang On Sloopy", passed away at the age of 45.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
55-year-old Wilson Pickett checked into a drug rehabilitation center after a New Jersey judge had given him the choice of rehab for his cocaine addiction or jail.


2002 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Diana Ross canceled the remaining dates of her Summer concert tour. No reason was given for scrubbing the 14-date, 10-city North American shows.

2005 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
A report by 560 UK undertakers revealed that bereaved families preferred Pop songs to Hymns at funerals. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler was the most requested song, along with Robbie Williams "Angels", Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Elton John's "Candle In The Wind". Among the most unusual songs played was Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust".

2009 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Plans for a free show to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock music festival were cancelled by Michael Lang, one of the original promoters. Lang told Rolling Stone magazine that the reason for the cancellation was "Money. No sponsors."

2013 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
The Turtles' Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman led a $100 million class action lawsuit against SiriusXM, claiming the satellite radio provider infringed on millions of old recordings from a multitude of artists.

2015 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards made headlines when he told Esquire magazine what he thought of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by saying "Some people think it's a genius album, but I think it's a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties. Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we."

August 5
Guitarist Kimberley Rew sold the rights to his song, "Walking On Sunshine", as well as the rest of his back catalog, to music company BMG for 16 million dollars. The record was a #9 hit for Katrina And The Waves in 1985.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
RCA / Legacy released an Elvis Presley anthology called "Way Down in the Jungle Room", a two-disc box-set featuring songs he recorded at his home studio during the final 18 months of his life.

August 5
Gregg Allman canceled the majority of his upcoming tour dates due to what were described as "serious health issues." Under a doctor's care at the Mayo Clinic, Allman released a statement that said, "I want to thank my fans and friends for supporting me while I rest up and focus on getting better and back on the road as soon as I can." Unfortunately, that was not to be, as Gregg would die from complications from liver cancer on May 27, 2017 at the age of 69.

2022 - ClassicBands.com

August 5
Judith Durham, the lead singer of The Seekers, died of lung-disease complications at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia at the age of 79. Her band scored three, Billboard Top 40 hits with "I'll Never Find Another You" (#4 in 1965), "A World Of Our Own" (#19 in 1965) and "Georgy Girl" (#2 in 1967).




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