Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 10


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1939 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
The real Eleanor Rigby died in her sleep of unknown causes at the age of 44. The 1966 Beatles' song that featured her name wasn't really written about her, as Paul McCartney's first draft of the song named the character Miss Daisy Hawkins. Eleanor Rigby's tombstone was noticed in the 1980s in the graveyard of St. Peter's Parish Church in Woolton, Liverpool, a few feet from where McCartney and Lennon had met for the first time in 1957.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" entered the Billboard chart for a nineteen week stay. It was #1 for five of those weeks. The song, from Presley's first film of the same name, was adapted from the tune "Aura Lee", written in 1861.

1959 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Berry Gordy's first release on the newly established Motown Records, "Bad Girls" by The Miracles, enters the Billboard Pop chart. Unfortunately for all concerned, it will only stay there for two weeks, then fade into oblivion.

October 10
Just as Autumn was getting underway, Jerry Keller's "Here Comes Summer" tops the UK record chart. It had reached #4 in the US earlier in the year.


1960 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
A silly novelty song called "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne was the number one single in America. The record told a story about a US cavalry trooper who tries to talk his way out of fighting the Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn in 1876. The song failed to chart at all in the UK.

1962 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
While on the set of It Happened at the World's Fair, Elvis Presley is presented with the Silver Record Award of Norway for his single "Good Luck Charm".

1964 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack" is released. Of their six US Top 40 hits, this will be their only number one. It reached #11 in the UK.

October 10
After topping the UK chart last August, a London, England quintet called The Honeycombs enter the Billboard Top 40 with "Have I The Right". It will reach #5 in America and sell over two million copies world wide.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
The English Rock band King Crimson release their debut album, "In the Court of the Crimson King". Considered by some to be the first Progressive Rock LP, it would reach #5 on the UK Official Albums Chart and #28 on the Billboard 200. The album would later be certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 in the US.

1970 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a one week stay. The song was his first US number one record and his breakthrough single in the UK where it went to #3 for four weeks in November and December.

1976 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
The Who and The Grateful Dead play the second of two back-to-back shows at Oakland Stadium. Neither of the shows is a sell out.

1978 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith are injured at a Philadelphia concert after a firecracker is thrown on stage. From then on, the group performs from behind a cyclone fence.

1979 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Fleetwood Mac receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

October 10
A motion picture called The Rose, starring Bette Midler as a self-destructive 1960s Rock star, (transparently based on Janis Joplin) premieres in Los Angeles. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Frederic Forrest), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Midler, in her screen debut), Best Film Editing and Best Sound.


1987 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
The three members of ZZ Top made advance bookings for seats on the first passenger flight to the Moon.

1995 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Twenty-one years after "Frampton Comes Alive" sold over 16 million copies, Peter Frampton released "Frampton Comes Alive II", which contained live versions of many of the songs from his 1980s and 1990s solo albums. Although the LP would be heavily promoted, it did not sell well.

1999 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
A charity auction selling Elvis Presley's belongings was held at The Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. His wristwatch sold for $32,500, a cigar box for $25,000, an autographed baseball sold for $19,000 and his 1956 Lincoln Continental went for $250,000.

2006 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Mark David Chapman was told by a parole board that he must serve at least another two years in Attica Correctional Facility for murdering John Lennon. "While the panel notes your satisfactory institutional adjustment," the decision said, "due to the extremely violent nature of the offence, your release would not be in the best interest of the community."

2010 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Solomon Burke, a pioneering Soul singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, died at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport after a flight from Los Angeles. He was 70 years old.


2012 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
After Elton John had complained about two articles on "The secrets of tax avoiders", published by The Times in June of this year, Britain's High Court ruled that the singer was not libeled by the newspaper because he was not directly linked to the story.

2013 - ClassicBands.com

October 10
Cal Smith, who enjoyed a Country Cross-over hit with "Country Bumpkin" in 1974, passed away at the age of 81.



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