Some days in music history the hits, both as singles and in albums, just keep coming and coming and coming. A bit of trivia seeps in enough to keep history interesting bringing on a smile or two as the trip down memory lane spans decade after decade. There is sadness along with happiness, songs of rhythm and soul, and compilations for charity. It's all about the music...where it has been, where it is going!
1957 After a show at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, local police told Elvis Presley that he was not allowed to wiggle his hips onstage, the local press also ran headlines saying Elvis would have to clean up his act. The next night, the Los Angeles Vice Squad filmed his entire concert, to study his performance.
1958 Buddy Holly appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, where he lip-synched ‘It's So Easy’ and ‘Heartbeat’. It would be Holly's last major TV appearance. Many of Holly's fans consider 'It's So Easy' one of his best songs, but it was never released as a single. Linda Ronstadt had a hit with this in 1977 charting at #5 in the US. The last Buddy Holly single to be released during his lifetime, 'Heartbeat', was only a minor hit in the US with a No. 82 Billboard Hot 100 peak. It was only a few short months later when America experienced the day the music died. In 1972, Don McLean commemorated that ill-fated event in the lyrics "So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie."
1967 'Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits' started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart. Although original member Florence Ballard is pictured on the cover and sings on all the tracks, by the time the LP was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.
1972 The United States Council for World Affairs announced it was adopting The Who song 'Join Together' as it's official theme tune. A call to "join together with the band" seemed a little out of character for The Who, and especially Pete Townshend, who famously threatened to kill anyone who came on stage during their Woodstock performance. Taken less literally, the song makes more sense as a plea to young people, urging them to unite and take action. The World Affairs Councils of America represents and supports the largest national non-partisan network of local councils that are dedicated to educating, inspiring and engaging Americans in international affairs and the critical global issues of our times. The network consists of almost 100 councils in over 40 states.
1978 Nick Gilder went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hot Child In The City', not a hit in the UK, but also a hit in Canada. The song lyrics were written and recorded by Gilder as an ode to runaways.
Despite the song's innocent and catchy pop stylings, the tune is based on Gilder's experiences witnessing child prostitution. "I've seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher – in the guise of an innocent pop song." Source: en.wikipedia.com
1978 The animated cartoon, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, was shown on NBC-TV in the U.S. The four rock stars had to deal with a mad scientist who went crazy in an amusement park. All four members of Kiss had just released their individual solo albums.
1989 Janet Jackson started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'. The album blends dance-pop and rhythm and blues with industrial music and funk. Only one of three albums to produce seven Top-ten US singles, the other two being Thriller by Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA.
2001 The album God Bless America, went to No.1 on the US charts on October 28, 2001. Featured on the album are tracks from various artists contributing their time and talents for charity. The selections ranged over many decades, with recordings being used going back to 1945. God Bless America was a 2001 charity album composed of American patriotic or spiritual songs, released on October 16 of that year in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It was released specifically to benefit the Twin Towers Fund, directing what the album cover said would be a "substantial portion of the proceeds" towards families of firefighters, police officers, and other responders lost in the rescue response to the September 11 attacks. The artists and recordings featured were largely from Columbia Records.
"Touching the worlds of pop, folk, rock, gospel, country, and more, God Bless America was designed with the feelings of troubled Americans in mind."
Following the September 11 attacks, Canadian pop star Celine Dion performed a new arrangement of "God Bless America" on the telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes. The recorded version of this, done the day before the telethon in the event something happened and Dion could not appear, became the title track of this compilation.
John Mellencamp's "Peaceful World" lyrics led it to be somewhat of a song of comfort following the September 11, 2001 attacks, being performed during The Concert for New York City along with a live acoustic version without Arie being included in Columbia Records' October 2001 benefit album God Bless America.
Lee Greenwood is best known for his single and signature song "God Bless the USA", which was popular when it was originally released in 1984, and became popular again after the September 11, 2001 attacks (becoming his highest charting pop hit, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100).
Bruce Springstein & The E Street Band's "Land of Hope and Dreams" was recorded during a performance at Madison Square Garden on July 1, 2000 following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The same recording was included on the God Bless America charity album, released on October 16, 2001.
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), published in 1779. With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.
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