Rock ‘n’ roll never forgets - and we don’t either

Bill Knight column for Thursday, Friday or Saturday, Aug. 24, 25 or 26

A recent column about the world and the music 50 years ago sparked some reader memories, mostly fond ones that agreed with looks back using popular tunes as touchstones. One e-mailer pointed out that I’d missed the impressive record releases that started 1967: The Doors’ debut came out that Jan. 4, Jefferson Airplane’s “Surrealistic Pillow” Feb. 1, Jimi Hendrix’ “Are You Experienced?” March 1 and the Grateful Dead’s debut March 17, the Turtles’ “Happy Together” April 29, and the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” coming out 10 May 26.

Yow!

That provoked a similar exercise: What happened in rock ‘n’ roll THIS month – this WEEK – in previous years? For example, Hendrix on Aug. 26, 1967, released his single “Purple Haze,” based in part on his love of the late, great Peoria science-fiction author Philip Jose Farmer’s novella “Night of Light” (which describes “purple haze” as an atmospheric condition that causes another world’s inhabitants exposed to it to experience life in an awakened state).

Of course, I suppose every day has a kernel of Yow! waiting to pop like corn of another sort, but late August sure seems to have been a busy time for pop music and its fans.

It would have been too much, weirdly synchronous even, for Neil Sedaka’s hit song “Calendar Girl” to have hit the charts this week with lyrics like “(July!) Like a firecracker / I'm aglow / (August!) When you're on the beach you steal the show / … Yeah, yeah, my heart's in a whirl. I love, I love, I love my little calendar girl every day (every day!), every day (every day!) of the year (every day of the year!).”

Still, Sedaka DID have the Number-1 hit (“Breaking Up is Hard to Do”) this week in 1962. And here are a few other historical moments and memories:

Aug. 21 – Mixed-Message Music: Lovin Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic” and Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” both came out (1965).

Aug. 22 – More Material Girl: Madonna hit the top of the charts for the sixth time with “Who's That Girl” (1987).

Aug. 23 – Fine Funny Film: On Who drummer Keith Moon’s birthday, the Beatles’ second movie, “Help!” has its U.S. premiere (1966).

Aug. 24 – A Wonder: Stevie Wonder became the first recording artist to score a Number-1 album AND single the same week. His album was “Little Stevie Wonder: The 12-Year-Old Genius” and the single was “Fingertips Part 2” – also the first live recording to be Number 1 (1963).

Aug. 25 – ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy: On Kiss bassist Gene Simmons’ 28th birthday, the band recorded a sold-out concert at the Los Angeles Forum, later released as “Kiss Alive II” (1977).

Aug. 26 – No American Idiots: Green Day, the proto punk-pop group with a fun political edge, was named Best Live Act and Best Band on the Planet at Kerrang! Magazine’s 12th annual awards (2005).

Aug. 27 – Gone Too Soon: Blues-rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn is killed in a helicopter crash at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin (23 years to the day after Beatles impresario manager Brian Epstein died of a drug overdose) (1990).

Aug. 28 – First and Last: The Jacksons’ Victory Tour – the last (and only) tour featuring all six Jackson brothers: Michael, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Randy and Tito – breaks the record for concert ticket sales, topping the 1.1 million mark in two months (1984).

Whew!

And just think, as Sedaka would’ve warbled, such moments happen “every day (every day!), every day (every day!) of the year!”

[PICTURED: Detail from the Jimi Hendrix section of the Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle showing his "Purple Haze" derivation from Philip Jose Farmer's novella "Night of Light," from pjfarmer.com.]