Rock 'n' Roll History for
October 18


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1947 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
On his twenty-first birthday, Chuck Berry leaves jail after serving three years for armed robbery. He would go on to hang bumpers on cars in an automotive factory, a janitor in an apartment building, and then as a beautician before recording "Maybellene" for Chess Records in 1955.

1956 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
21 year old Elvis Presley pulls into a Memphis gas station where he starts to attract a crowd of autograph seekers. After repeatedly asking Elvis to move on so he can resume normal business, station manager Edd Hopper slaps Presley on the head and finds himself on the receiving end of a punch in the eye from Elvis. Station employee Aubrey Brown tries to help his boss, but is no match for Presley. After police are called, Hopper and Brown are charged with assault and are eventually fined $25 and $15 respectively.

1957 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Playing lead guitar, Paul McCartney makes his first appearance with The Quarry Men at the New Clubmoor Hall Conservative Club, in Norris Green, Liverpool. The band's line-up was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Eric Griffiths, Colin Hanton and Len Garry. A nervous McCartney flubs the solo on "Guitar Boogie", but the group is still booked as a regular attraction at the Saturday night dances.


1959 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The evils of Rock 'n' Roll were front page news again when 75 teenagers were arrested at a concert in Kansas City after a drunken brawl broke out at the Municipal Auditorium.

1964 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The Animals' first UK tour as headliners opens in Manchester, England, with Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Tommy Tucker and The Nashville Teens as supporting acts.

October 18
At a nine-hour session at Abbey Road Studios, The Beatles work on "Eight Days A Week", "Mr. Moonlight", "I Feel Fine", and "I'll Follow The Sun".

1967 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The movie, How I Won the War, starring John Lennon as Private Gripweed, premiered in London, England, with all four of The Beatles in attendance.

1968 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The Scotland Yard Drug Enforcement Squad search John Lennon's Montague Square home and find a quantity of marijuana. Lennon and Yoko Ono are promptly charged with possession and willful obstruction of a search. The pair were released on bail the same afternoon and later paid a 150 Pound fine.

1969 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The Temptations continued their long string of hit singles when the second of their four Billboard number one hits, "I Can't Get Next To You" tops the Hot 100. It made #13 in the UK.

October 18
At a Rock 'n' Roll revival concert at New York's Madison Square Garden, Bill Haley is given an eight minute standing ovation.

October 18
The Jackson 5 make their US network TV debut on Hollywood Palace where they perform "I Want You Back". The group includes Jackie (18), Tito (15), Jermaine (14), Marlon (12) and Michael (10).

1974 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Following an argument, Al Green's girlfriend, Mary Woodson, burst in while the singer was taking a bath and poured boiling grits over him, inflicting second-degree burns on his back, stomach and arm. After assaulting Green, Woodson killed herself with his gun.


1975 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Paul Simon hosts NBC's Saturday Night Live and is joined by his former partner Art Garfunkel for a performance of their hits "Scarborough Fair" and "The Boxer".

October 18
Dickie Goodman had the best selling single in the US with the novelty tune, "Mr. Jaws", which mixed his rapid-fire mock interviews with answers that were snipped from contemporary hit singles. Goodman first entered the US charts in 1956 when he and his partner Bill Buchanan used a similar format on a record called "The Flying Saucer".

October 18
John Denver's ninth studio album, "Windsong" hits number one on the Billboard 200 chart, replacing "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. The LP contained the double-sided hit, "I'm Sorry / "Calypso", which had topped the Billboard Hot 100 on September 27th, as well as "Fly Away", which rose to #13.

1982 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson released "The Girl is Mine", which will rise to #2 on the Billboard Pop chart. Even though it was a hit, the song was never performed live by Jackson.

1986 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac married Eduardo Quintela, a Portuguese composer twelve years her junior. They would divorce in 1998.

1993 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Rod Stewart adds his vocals to tracks recorded two days earlier by Bryan Adams and Sting for the single "All For Love", the main music theme for the upcoming film The Three Musketeers.

2000 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Julie London, an American singer and actress who reached #9 on the Billboard Top 100 with "Cry Me A River" in 1955, died following cardiac arrest at the age of 74. Over the course of her career, she appeared in twenty-four motion pictures and released thirty-two albums of Pop and Jazz standards.

2002 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The New York Court of Appeals ruled that The Ronettes cannot collect movie and advertisement royalties from music they recorded for Phil Spector in the 1960s. The ruling threw out a $3 million judgment that lower courts had made in favor of the group. The Ronettes had been in court seeking royalties since 1988.

2003 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
The latest collection of Elvis Presley's number one hits, "2nd To None" went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart in its first week of release, selling over 180,000 copies.


2008 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Singer Dee Dee Warwick died in a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey at the age of 66. She had placed several songs on the Billboard R&B chart during her career, including "We're Doing Fine" (#28 in 1965), "I Want To Be With You" (#9 in 1966) and "Foolish Fool" (#14 in 1969). Her sister, Dionne Warwick, was at her side when she passed. Both siblings were born with the surname Warrick, which Dionne changed when it was mis-spelled on her first hit record, "Don't Make Me Over" in 1962.

2009 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
A clump of hair trimmed from Elvis Presley's head when he joined the US Army in March, 1958, sold for $15,000 at the Leslie Hindman auction house in Chicago. Also among the 200 Elvis-related items up for bid was one of Presley's shirts which went for $52,000.

2010 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
A re-worked version of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" hit radio stations as part of a CD called "Viva Elvis - The Album" being released later this year. The disc featured newer, more contemporary takes on many of his hits.

2011 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Brian Wilson announced that despite an upcoming reunion with The Beach Boys, he was still working on another solo album.

2012 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
Barbra Streisand became the first act to take multiple new albums into the Billboard 200 chart's Top 10 in every decade since the 1960s when "Release Me," debuted at #7.

2016 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
On his 90th birthday, Chuck Berry announced his first new album in 38 years. He dedicated the LP, simply called "Chuck", to his wife of 68 years, Thelmetta. "This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy. My darlin' I'm growing old! I've worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!"

2021 - ClassicBands.com

October 18
95-year-old Tony Bennett was acknowledged by the Guinness Book Of World Records as the oldest musician to release a collection of new material for his collaboration with Lady Gaga called "Love For Sale". He was also cited for being the oldest person to reach number one on U.S. album charts for a newly recorded album. In total, Bennett, an eighteen time Grammy winner, held five world records, which included the longest time between U.K. top 20 albums at age 39, the oldest person to enter the U.K. top 20 album chart at age 80, and longest time between the release of an original recording and a re-recording of the same single by the same artist.




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