From the MCRFB music calendar:
Events on this date: MAY 10
1960: A group from Liverpool named the Beatals (sic) changes it’s name to the Silver Beatles after local scenester Brian Cassner declares the first name ridiculous. The five-piece band — at this point includes Stu Sutcliffe on bass (and Tommy Moore on drums) audition to become singer Billy Fury’s backing group. though they don’t get the main gig, they do score backing up fellow Liverpudllian Tommy Quickly on a Scottish tour.
1963: The Rolling Stones recorded their first recordings for Decca Records, including the Chuck Berry cover “Come On,” but were all critically rejected by the label as significantly “dreadful.”
1964: Dusty Springfield makes her first U.S. television appearance on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show, singing “I Only Want To Be With You.”
1965: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is recorded today by the Rolling Stones.
1965: The Beatles record two hits today, “Dizzy Miss Lizzie,” and Ringo sings lead in the second number, “Bad Boy.”
1966: Struggling singer Janis Joplin, back home in her native Texas, is invited back out to San Francisco by her friend Chet Helms, who invites her to audition with a group he’s managing called Big Brother and Holding Company.
1968: Reacting to alleged abuse of concert attendees by the police, Doors bad-boy Jim Morrison incites a riot at the Chicago Coliseum.
1969: Tricia Nixon, daughter of the U.S. President, invites the Temptations and the Turtles to perform at a White House ball. For some apparent reason, Turtle guitarist Mark Volman keeps falling off the stage; rumors started to run amuck that he and several members (unamed) of the group allegedly snorted coke before the gig on Lincoln’s desk.
1972: Slade begins their first tour as headliners, performing at St. George’s Hall in Bradford with the Status Quo as the opening act.
1974: Eric Clapton records today, “I Shot The Sheriff.”
1974: The Main Ingredient is awarded a gold record by the RIAA for their million-seller, “Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely.”
1974: Led Zeppelin launches their new record label, Swan Song, with a swank dinner at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles that quickly resorts into a food fight.
1975: The Commodores “Slippery When Wet” charted, becoming their first top 40 hit at No. 19 and their first No. 1 R&B hit. The group began their carreer playing the club circuit, but unlike other acts, it wasn’t the local club circuit. The group made their start in French resorts like St. Tropez.
2004: Glen Campbell is sentenced to 10 days in jail after he pleads guilty for drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving another vehicle the previous November in Phoenix. That’s him mugging a mean one on the left.
And that’s just a few of the events which took place in pop music history, on this day…. MAY 10.
