Everywhere Music

Today in Music History: September 5

Music is everywhere we go. Not only is it nature's way of speaking but it is piped into shopping malls, airports, train and bus stations, and at doctors' offices. Music accompanies television shows and is added as the soundtrack in movies with surround sound in order to feel the vibrations. Even the commercials use music as marketing ploys in order to sell products. There is music during half time at ball games to add entertainment and excitement. Of course, what is a spa or massage parlor without the relaxing comfort of some form of music with waterfalls or rain as the background? In addition to so much music being exposed as an accent and/or background, music simply provides listening pleasure to calm the nerves at the end of an exhausting day or liven a party on a Saturday night.

1954 Kitty Kallen was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Little Things That Mean A Lot'. The American singer's only hit making her the first ever UK one hit wonder. The song had already reached No.1 on the U.S. Billboard chart and also reached No.1 on the Cash Box chart the same year.

1964 The Animals started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'House Of The Rising Sun'. When first released the record company printed the time of the song on the record as three minutes feeling that the real time of four minutes was too long for radio airplay.  

1965 The Rolling Stones recorded their eighth single 'Get Off Of My Cloud' at RCA studios in Hollywood. The song peaked at No.1 in the US and the UK. This song followed "Satisfaction" as The Stones second #1 hit in the US.

1981 Soft Cell were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of 'Tainted Love'. The song had been a hit for Gloria Jones in 1964. (Jones who became Marc Bolan's girlfriend was the driver of the car, that crashed and killed Bolan on 16 September 1977. Jones nearly died in the accident).

 

1981 Stevie Nicks went to No.1 on the US album with Bella Donna, featuring the tracks ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ (the Tom Petty duet), ‘Leather and Lace’ (with Don Henley), ‘Edge of Seventeen’ and ‘After the Glitter Fades'.

1998 Aerosmith scored their first US No.1 single with the Diane Warren written song 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing'. The song which was featured in the 1998 film Armageddon gave the band their first No.1 single after 28 years together. 

1998 Manic Street Preachers scored their first UK No.1 single with 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next'. This is about the Spanish civil war, and the idealism of people from around the world who volunteered to join the International Brigade Franco's fascist army, hence the line, "So if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists." The group's 19th hit and the first Welsh act to have a No.1 single since Shakin' Stevens in 1985. The song is in the Guinness World Records as the longest title for a No.1 single without brackets. 

1999 After spending 58 weeks on the UK album chart, Shania Twain went to No.1 with 'Come On Over'. It became the best-selling country music album, and the second best-selling studio album by a female act. To date, the album has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. 

1956 Elvis Presley surprised his mother with a gift of a pink Cadillac. The car remained in the Presley family and eventually went on display at Graceland.

1970 Janis Joplin started recording sessions with a version of the Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster song 'Me and Bobby McGee'. Joplin, (who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson's from the beginning of her career to her death), topped the US singles chart with the song in 1971 after her death, making the song the second posthumous No.1 single in US chart history after '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' by Otis Redding.

2008 Over the course of three years, Professor Adrian North of Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh in the UK completed a study of more than 36,000 people in more than 60 countries to rate a wide range of musical styles in order of preference. Professor North is an expert on music psychology and has carried out extensive research on the social and applied psychology of music, in particular the relationship between pop music culture and deviant behavior in adolescence, music and consumer behavior, and the role of musical preference in everyday life.

Check out the results:

Blues fans: high self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Jazz fans: high self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease
Classical music fans: high self-esteem, creative, introvert and at ease
Rap fans: high self-esteem and outgoing
Opera fans: high self-esteem, creative and gentle
Country and western fans: hardworking and outgoing
Reggae fans: high self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease
Dance fans: creative and outgoing but not gentle
Indie fans: low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, & not gentle Bollywood fans:  creative and outgoing
Rock/heavy metal fans: low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease
Chart pop fans: high self-esteem, hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease
Soul fans: high self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...