Rock 'n' Roll History for
December 6


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1877 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Thomas A. Edison finished his first phonograph design and gave a sketch of the machine to his mechanic, former Swiss clock maker John Kruesi, to build. Thirty hours later the machine was finished, but Kruesi bet the inventor $2 that it would not work. Edison immediately tested the machine by speaking a nursery rhyme into the mouthpiece, "Mary had a little lamb." To his amazement, the machine played his words back to him. Kruesi would go on be involved in many of Edison's key inventions, including the quadruplex telegraph, the carbon microphone, the phonograph, and the incandescent light bulb and system of electric lighting.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Elvis Presley visits radio station WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee, where he meets two of his idols, Little Junior Parker and Bobby Bland. The next day Elvis was quoted as saying: "Their music is the real thing. Right from the heart."

1965 - ClassicBands.com.

December 6
The Rolling Stones record "19th Nervous Breakdown" and "Mother's Little Helper" at RCA's Hollywood Studios in Los Angeles. Released the following year, "Breakdown" would reach #2 in the US and #1 in the UK. "Mother's Little Helper" would peak at #8 on the Hot 100, but was banned from air play by the BBC duo to its explicit drug references.

1966 - ClassicBands.com.

December 6
With "Strawberry Fields Forever" completed, The Beatles begin working on "When I'm Sixty-Four" for their upcoming album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Paul McCartney would later say that it was one of the first tunes he ever wrote, when he was around fourteen years old. His manuscript for the song sold for $55,700 at Sotheby's of London in September, 1994.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Aides to US President Richard Nixon send out 66,000 letters signed by Nixon to potential administrative office holders. Among those receiving one is Elvis Presley.

December 6
Decca Records releases The Rolling Stones' album "Beggars Banquet" in the United Kingdom. It would be issued in the US the following day. Because of Brian Jones' increasing unreliability, Keith Richards played most of the rhythm and lead guitar tracks. The LP reached #5 in America and #3 in Great Britain.


1969 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
An eighteen year old man by the name of Meredith Hunter died of knife wounds inflicted by a member of The Hell's Angels at a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Raceway in California. The youth, who was sitting in the front row, had pulled out a gun before he was attacked.

December 6
A group called Steam was given credit for this week's Billboard chart topping tune, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye". The song was actually recorded by vocalist Gary De Carlo along with producers Paul Leka and Dale Frashuer, who laid down the entire tune with only keyboards and a pre-recorded drum track, using no guitars or bass. The trio of friends intended it to be the "B" side of De Carlo's first single, "Sweet Laura Lee", but when record company executives heard the songs, they wanted to release both of them separately as an "A" side and hire a band to tour as Steam. De Carlo was even offered the chance to record an entire album, but the group, whose picture would appear on the LP, would take full credit for the effort even though they wouldn't sing or play a single note on it. De Carlo wanted nothing to do with the scheme and walked away from a record that went on to sell over six and half million copies.

December 6
Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" enters the Billboard Top 40. It went on to reach #4 and was the first of six of the band's singles to reach that chart. It was not issued as a 45 in the UK.

1972 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
While reading the morning newspaper in Nice, France, The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards is surprised to learn that arrest warrants had been issued for him and his girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg for drug possession.

1975 - ClassicBands.com.

December 6
Rev. Charles Boykin, a preacher in Tallahassee, Florida, organized the burning of about $2,000 worth of records by Elton John and The Rolling Stones, claiming they were "sinful." The Reverend had condemned Rock 'n' Roll for its "appeal to the flesh". He further stated that he had seen a survey which showed that "of 1,000 girls who became pregnant out of wedlock, 984 committed fornication while Rock music was being played." When questioned about the source of his statistics, he initially said he couldn't remember, but later declared that the numbers came from a 1968 poll in Time magazine. That claim was never substantiated.

December 6
Paul Simon reached #1 on the Billboard 200 chart with "Still Crazy After All These Years", which produced four US Top 40 hits, "Gone at Last" (#23), "My Little Town" (#9), "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" (#1) and the title track (#40).

1978 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Sid Vicious, out on bail from Riker's Island Detention Center in New York after being charged with the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, smashes glass in the face of Patti Smith's brother, Todd, during an altercation at a New York club.

1980 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Two days before he is murdered, John Lennon gives an interview with BBC Radio 1 in which he tells deejay Andy Peebles that the great thing about living in New York City was that people leave him alone.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
The teaming of former Chicago bassist Peter Cetera with Gospel singer Amy Grant resulted in a Billboard number one smash, "The Next Time I Fall". It was later nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, but lost to "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder.


1988 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
After spending the day flying model airplanes with his sons and eating dinner at his mother's home, Roy Orbison suffered a fatal a heart attack at the age of 52. Since his recording career took off in 1960 he had achieved 23 Billboard Top 40 hits and had recently regained a huge fan following with a million selling album as a member of The Traveling Wilburys in 1987.

1991 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Mimi Smith, the aunt who raised John Lennon for most of his childhood, passed away at the age of 85 at the Varcoe Nursing Agency in Poole, Dorset, England. According to auxiliary nurse Lynne Varcoe, Mimi's last words were "Hello, John."

1993 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
The Eagles tape a video for Country star Travis Tritt's version of "Take It Easy". Although they didn't actually play their instruments during the filming, the shoot brought back old memories of their former shared camaraderie, and their get-together will eventually lead to the band's reunion.

1994 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Tower Records releases The Beatles' "Live At The BBC", a 69 track, double album of tunes recorded for BBC shows such as Top Gear, Easy Beat, Saturday Club and Pop Go The Beatles. The LP will rise straight to the top of the UK chart, selling over 600,000 copies by the end of the year and 2,000,000 in the US four weeks later.


1995 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Michael Jackson collapses and is treated for dehydration while rehearsing for the HBO special Michael Jackson: One Night Only at The Beacon Theater in New York. His latest release, "Earth Song" is currently the top tune in the UK, where it will sell over a million copies and become his all-time biggest hit.

2007 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Billy Joel released a new Pop single called "Christmas in Fallujah", which featured the vocals of 21-year-old singer Cass Dillon. At 58, Joel said he felt he was too old to sing the song, which was inspired by letters he received from soldiers in Iraq.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
Dobi Gray, who reached #13 in 1965 with "The In Crowd" and #5 in 1973 with "Drift Away", died at the age of 71 from complications following cancer surgery. The singer's will stated that all of his musical assets and royalties were to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Tennessee School for the Blind.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
The electric guitar played by Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival was sold at auction in New York for a record $965,000. The Fender Stratocaster had been in the possession of a New Jersey family for forty-eight years after the musician left it on a private plane. The previous record for a guitar sold at auction was a 1950s era Stratocaster owned by Eric Clapton, nicknamed "Blackie", which sold at Christie's for $959,500 in 2004.

2014 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
During a chat with British TV host Jonathan Ross, Paul McCartney called John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, "the jerk of all jerks." Macca went on to say, "For me, it was just so sad that I wasn't gonna see him again..."

2021 - ClassicBands.com

December 6
The Rolling Stones, including their former bassist Bill Wyman, got together at the tiny London club Ronnie Scott's to honor their late drummer Charlie Watts with a special tribute show. The event, hosted by Charlie's granddaughter Charlotte and others members of the Watts family, was limited to about 200 people and attendees were strongly discouraged from taking photos or video.



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