On 14th of March 1995 “The Goo Goo Dolls” released their breakthrough fifth studio album, A Boy Named Goo, featuring their first major hit, “Name.” The American rock band were formed in 1986 starting off as a covers band,then developed a punk sound, before experiencing mainstream success following the release “Name”. The band has had seven top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including three top ten hits. They’ve also received four Grammy Award nominations.
Category: Flashback
This week in 1992 “Mr Big” started a three week run at number 1 on the US singles chart with To Be With You. The song would also top the charts in many other countries including New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
American hard rock band Mr. Big was formed in Los Angeles in 1988. To Be With you was the second single released from their second album, Lean Into It. Originally, To Be With You” had not been intended for release as a single. However, after the song started getting radio play out of the blue, they felt they had to release it. The rest is, as they say, history.
On the 8th of February 1990 American singer and songwriter Del Shannon died of self inflicted gunshot wounds. On the advice of his doctor, Shannon had begun taking the antidepressant Prozac on January 24. According to his widow, while testifying to the Food and Drug Administration in 1991 :
He was very much in charge of his business, but within days after he started taking Prozac I noticed a personality change in him. He developed severe insomnia, extreme fatigue, chills, racing heart, dry mouth, and upset stomach.” “Suicide was totally out of character for my husband. There was no note and no goodbye.”
Del Shannon scored the 1961 UK and US number 1 single “Runaway,” and many other Top 40 singles, including “The Wanderer.” In 1963 he became the first American to record a cover version of a song by the Beatles. His version of “From Me to You” charted in the US before The Beatles version did. Prior to his suicide he had been working with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and was rumoured to be replacing Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys.
In 1999 Del Shannon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It was released on the 6th of January 1976, was the best-selling album of that year in the USA and is one of the best-selling live albums of all time. “Frampton Comes Alive!” is a double live album by guitarist, singer and songwriter “Peter Frampton.”
Peter Frampton, a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, gained prominence as the lead singer for “The Herd” when he was only 16. Later, he formed the band “Humble Pie” with Steve Marriott from “The Small Faces.” During his time with Humble Pie, Frampton also engaged in session recording for other artists including George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, and Jerry Lee Lewis. After four studio albums and one live album with Humble Pie, Frampton left the band.
In 1971, after four studio albums and one live album with Humble Pie, Peter Frampton decided to pursue a solo career. His early albums did not achieve significant commercial success. However, everything changed with the release of “Frampton Comes Alive!” Three tracks from the album, “Show Me the Way”, “Baby, I Love Your Way”, and “Do You Feel Like We Do” were released as singles, with all three reaching the top 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
On December 28th, 1967, the “Bee Gees” topped the German singles chart with their song “Massachusetts.” The track had previously reached number 1 in the UK in October and marked the first of the group’s five UK number 1 hits. Notably, “Massachusetts” also served as the first single on which Robin Gibb sang the lead vocals.
In this poignant song, the singer expresses a longing to return to Massachusetts, a state located in the northeastern United States. Interestingly, the Bee Gees had never actually been to Massachusetts when they recorded the song; they were simply captivated by the sound of its name. Unfortunately, the memories associated with this time became bittersweet for Robin Gibb. On November 5th, while “Massachusetts” still held the number 1 spot, he was involved in a train crash that claimed the lives of 49 people, marking one of Britain’s most devastating rail disasters.
“Massachusetts” also reached the number 1 spot in numerous other countries. Notably, the Bee Gees became the first non-Japanese act to top the Japanese singles chart when “Massachusetts” spent a week at number one in April 1968.
On the 27th of December 2015 Stevie Wright died, aged 68, after lengthy battles with drugs and alcohol and years of poor health. From 1964 to 1969 he was the lead singer of Sydney-based band “The Easybeats,” who had a world-wide hit in 1966 with ‘Friday on My Mind’. The Easybeats were widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s.
On 16 December 1971 Don McLean’s 8:32 version of American Pie was released. According to McLean the song was originally inspired by the death of “Buddy Holly,” who died in a plane crash together with “Ritchie Valens” and “The Big Bopper” on the 3rd of February 1959. That day became known as “the day the music died.”
American Pie was one of the longest songs to ever hit the charts. It became a favorite among disc jockeys because there were few songs long enough at that time for certain toilet breaks. American Pie went on to top the charts in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
On 15 December 1979 “The Buggles” song Video Killed The Radio Star, which had hit number 1 in the UK in September, reached its American chart peak at number 40. On the 1st of August 1981 the song’s music video became the first to be played on “MTV” music television. Staff at USA Record stores in areas with high cable penetration were baffled when numbers of people suddenly showed up looking for the song.
Twenty-eight years ago, on the 15th of December 1995, it was released. It won the award for “Single of the Year” at the 1996 New Zealand Music Awards. In 2002, it was named as the 71st-greatest one-hit wonder of all time on a VH1 countdown hosted by William Shatner (better known as Captain James T. Kirk). It topped the singles charts in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Canada and Ireland. It became the anthem of the English 1997 FA Women’s Cup Final-winning Millwall Lionesses soccer team.
“How Bizarre” by “OMC” (Otara Millionaires Club) became one of the most successful New Zealand songs ever recorded.
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is a song by American rock band “Blue Öyster Cult” from the band’s 1976 album “Agents of Fortune.” This week in 1976 it became the band’s hit when it peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. The song was rumored to be about suicide, but it actually deals with the inevitability of death, and the belief that we should not fear it. “The Reaper” made it to number 7 in Canada and also charted in The UK and Ireland.