Rock 'n' Roll History for
January 14


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1960 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Elvis Presley is promoted to Acting-Sergeant in the US Army, receiving a pay increase of $22.94 per month.

1966 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
David Jones changes his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single, "Can't Help Thinking About Me". He would later say that he chose "Bowie" because he likes that "big American bear-killin' knife."

1967 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Over 25,000 people attend The Human Be-In - A Gathering Of The Tribes at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event was a forerunner of major, outdoor Rock concerts and featured The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company.

January 14
A group of Florida teens called The Nightcrawlers see their only Billboard chart entry, "The Little Black Egg", peak at #90. The song has since gone on to be a garage band classic, with thousands of budding guitarists learning to play it. Despite its meaningless lyrics, by 2008 there were nearly forty known recorded versions of the tune. According to band member Sylvan Wells, the song was recorded in a home studio with the singer actually outside, over a tree branch. Unfortunately for the band, their two follow-up releases, "A Basket Of Flowers" and "I Don't Remember", failed to catch on.


1970 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Diana Ross performs for the last time with The Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries "Up The Ladder To The Roof" and "Stoned Love" later in the year.

1973 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii concert is broadcast live to an estimated one billion people around the world. The soundtrack was later released as a two record set and became one of the King's best selling LPs of the '70s, hitting number one later the same year.

1975 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Three Dog Night are awarded their 12th and final Gold record for the album, "Joy to the World - Their Greatest Hits".

January 14
Joe Walsh is presented a Gold record for his third solo album, "So What". Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner of The Eagles contributed background vocals.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
The Sex Pistols play their final gig at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The following day, Johnny Rotten (born John Lydon) will quit the band, effectively bringing their brief and tumultuous career to an end. Since 1996 and into the new millennium they have reunited from time to time.

January 14
An L.A. group called Player had the top tune in the US with "Baby Come Back". The song was written by band members Peter Beckett and John Crowley after both had broken up with their respective girl friends. The song reached #32 in the UK.


1989 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
The soundtrack to the 1987 film Dirty Dancing is awarded Diamond certification for sales of ten million copies. The album went on to sell over thirty-two million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It spent eighteen weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. With shipments of at least 3.25 million copies, it is the all-time best-selling album in Germany.

1992 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Jerry Nolan, drummer for The New York Dolls, died at the age of 45. He was being treated for bacterial meningitis and bacterial pneumonia at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, when he suffered a stroke and went into a coma from which he never recovered.

1996 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Ruby Starr, vocalist for Black Oak Arkansas on their 1974 hit "Jim Dandy" as well as having her own solo career, died of cancer at the age of 45.

1997 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
The Beach Boys guest star on an episode of ABC-TV's Home Improvement. They played the cousins of 'Wilson', Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor's next door neighbor and sang "Barbra Ann" with the show's cast.

1998 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
After a three-year legal battle, Shirley Bassey is cleared of charges brought against her by her longtime assistant, Hilary Levy, who claimed Bassey slapped her and used an anti-semitic slur against her.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Jerry Hall files for divorce from Mick Jagger, who contests it, claiming they were never actually married. Hall claims adultery, as the Brazilian model Luciana Morad is pregnant with Jagger's baby.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
The January issue of Rolling Stone magazine reveals that the two children of Melissa Etheridge and her partner Julie Cypher were fathered by David Crosby.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Guitar great Jimmy Page was honored with the United Nations' first ever Pathways To Peace Award. Pathways To Peace is an international peace building, educational and consulting organization which has consultative status with the United Nations.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
As her latest release "Haven't Seen the Last of Me" raced up Billboard's Dance Club Song chart, 64-year-old Cher was poised to mark the sixth decade in which she had a #1 hit. Her track record of achieving chart topping records includes: The 1960s - "I Got You Babe". The 1970s - "Gypsys, Tramps And Thieves", "Half Breed", "Dark Lady" and "All I Ever Need Is You." The 1980s - "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "After All" (with Peter Cetera) The 1990s - "Believe", "Strong Enough" and "All or Nothing". The 2000s - "Song For the Lonely", "A Different Kind of Love Song" and "When The Money's Gone".

2014 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Bruce Springsteen appears on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where he performs a reworked version of "Born To Run" titled "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam." In the song, Springsteen mocks a scandal where New Jersey governor's staff shut down parts of a road to retaliate against a mayor who didn't endorse him.


2015 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
According to a poll conducted by Forbes magazine, Fleetwood Mac tickets were the highest priced by scalpers.

2017 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Elton John and Mariah Carey were reportedly paid millions each to perform at a private wedding ceremony in London, England. Russian billionaire Valery Kogan footed the bill for the wedding of his grand-daughter Irene Kogan to Daniel Kenvey at the city's Landmark Hotel. Carey dedicated her 2005 chart-topping ballad "We Belong Together" to the young couple, while Elton dedicated his 1972 hit "Tiny Dancer" to the bride.

2018 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Brian Wilson returned to California's Hawthorne High School to receive an upgraded mark for his 1959 composition of "Surfin'". His music teacher, Fred Morgan had originally given Brian an "F" for the assignment, but the current principal, Dr. Landesfeind officially changed the mark to an "A". Two years after it was written, the song would become The Beach Boys' first national hit when it reached #75.

2019 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Nielsen Music reported that The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and other Classic Rock acts helped boost vinyl sales by 15 percent during 2018. The Beatles were the best-selling act on vinyl, with three albums, "Abbey Road", "The Beatles", (the White Album) and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" all in the Top 15. That gave them a total of 321,000 sales, followed by Pink Floyd (177,000), David Bowie (150,000), Fleetwood Mac (139,000), Led Zeppelin (138,000), Michael Jackson (131,000), Jimi Hendrix (119,000), Metallica (116,000) and Queen (113,000).

2020 - ClassicBands.com

January 14
Steve Martin Caro, vocalist for The Left Banke on their hits, "Walk Away Renee" and "Pretty Ballerina", died of heart disease at the age of 71. Originally known as Steve Martin, he added the family surname Caro in the 1980s to avoid confusion with the comedian of the same name.




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