1967: The Monkees saw their second album, "More of The Monkees" leap from position 122 to number 1. The Fabricated Four only provided the vocals and were backed by some of the finest studio musicians around, like Glen Campbell and Neil Sedaka. The L.P. contained the hits, "I'm a Believer" and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and was produced by Carole King, Carole Bayer Sager, Tommy Boyce and others. After being pressured by the press, The Monkees later announced that they would play their own instruments on all future recordings.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1967: The Beatles and George Martin added the orchestral crescendos to "A Day In The Life", using a 40-piece orchestra. Martin would later recall that when he told some of Britain's finest musicians that they were to play twenty-four bars of cacophonous, improvised crescendo, "They all looked at me as though I were completely mad."
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1959: Lloyd Price reached number one on the Billboard Pop chart with "Stagger Lee", an up-dated version of an 1911 Folk song called "Stack-O-Lee" that was based on the murder of William "Billy" Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton. Wilson Pickett would take the song to number 22 in 1967.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1975: The Ohio Players top the Billboard singles chart with "Fire" and the Hot 200 album chart with an LP of the same name.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
1981: A Jersey City sextet called Kool And The Gang, which featured Robert "Kool" Bell on lead vocals, had the top tune in America with "Celebration". It would reach #7 in the UK and the Top Ten in six other countries.
Courtesy of classicbands.com, YouTube, and Spirit of Resistance Radio!
