On this day in 1970, the three day Atlanta International Pop Festival opened its gates

The Atlanta Festival had its inaugural event the year before, in 1969, and was a relatively small affair, organised by a tight knit seventeen-person crew. Nonetheless they managed to bring in some impressive acts such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin, drawing a significant enough crowd to warrant a follow-up in 1970.

For the second edition the organisers planned for a much bigger event, organising a crew that worked for over a month erecting the stage, as well as many more big performers to appear. Among them were huge names like B.B. King, Procol Harum, The Allman Brothers, Richie Havens and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Tickets were sold for $14 each and much like 1969’s Woodstock, the event advertised itself as “three days of peace, love and music”. Also like Woodstock, the festival became free after a large crowd gathered outside of the gates and demanded the organisers open up with chants of “Free, free free. Music belongs to the people”.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was organised to headline the first night, the 4^th of July. He came out at around midnight, to the largest American crowd of his career and performed his usual raucous act, culminating in his unique version of the “Star-Spangled Banner”, accompanied by a vibrant fireworks display to mark the occasion.

The event continued over the next two days, and was notable for its extremely high temperature, and for its widespread nudity and drug use. Law enforcement were present, but generally stayed outside the gates and kept a hands-off approach as they knew they were vastly outnumbered by the festival-goers. This angered Georgia’s Governer, Lester Maddox, who vowed after the event to pass legislation forbidding any rock festivals to take place in the state. While no laws were passed, new restrictions made it extremely difficult to plan events in Georgia, leading the second Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1970 to also be the last.

On this day in 1966, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention release their debut album, Freak Out!

The Mothers of Invention formed in California as the Soul Giants in 1964 with the line-up of Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. In 1965, Frank Zappa was asked to take over as guitarist after Hunt was fired from the band, and he insisted they perform his original material, leading Coronado to leave the band as well. On Mothers Day of 1965, they changed their name to The Mothers, and after label executives demanded another change they became the Mothers of Invention.

After a string of successful shows in the LA underground scene, the group signed a deal with Jazz label Verve Records as part of the company’s plans to diversify into other genres. They started recording in March 1966 with producer Tom Wilson, who was already highly regarded thanks to his work with Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel. The songs produced were very experimental, and heavily focused on Zappa’s satirical takes on pop culture and the so-called “freak scene” of LA. The recording continued for a month, and ran well over budget, costing MGM $25-35000 (equivalent to over $300,000 today).

Eventually, the album was completed, with so much material being recorded that it was necessary to release the project as a double album. This marked the first time a rock debut was released as a double, and only the second rock album ever to be a double, after Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde a week earlier. Freak Out! is also often credited as being one of the first examples of a rock concept album.

The album released on June 27^th and made the band immediate darlings of the underground scene. However, Freak Out! only peaked at number 130 on the Billboard chart and was not popular amongst critics, with many criticising the album’s length and inherent “weirdness”. The band and Zappa himself soon earned themselves a cult following, along with the album, and their popularity only continued to grow throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. Critics eventually changed their tune as well, and Freak Out! came to earn itself a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, as well as being ranked at 243 on Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

On this day in 1948, The Toast of the Town, which would become the Ed Sullivan Show, premiered on CBS-TV

Producer Marlo Lewis had convinced executives at television network CBS to hire host and ex-newspaperman Ed Sullivan for a Sunday night variety show that he was planning titled The Toast of the Town. The show would premiere at 9pm on the 20^th of June and changed to an 8pm timeslot in it’s second season, which it would keep for over two decades until the show ended in 1971. Much of the programs audience referred to it as “The Ed Sullivan Show” and in 1955 the name was officially changed.

The premiere episode featured up and coming stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as singer Monica Lewis and Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II who were previewing the score to their new show South Pacific.  The host himself was often described as wooden, awkward, and fumbling, though these qualities only seemed to endear him to the public. Sullivan grew to have a keen understanding of the demographics that watched his show, as well as the cultural phenomenons that would bring in a wider audience.

The Toast of the Town and The Ed Sullivan Show would become known for the wide range of musical guests the show hosted. It is widely credited with launching the US career of The Beatles when they appeared on three consecutive shows. Other notable guests included Elvis Presley, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and many more.  These guests increasingly grew the popularity of the show amongst the teenage crowd, with the Sunday night viewing becoming a rite of passage for many.

In the late 1960s, Sullvian claimed that the shows popularity was waning, and that viewers were only watching for the best and brightest stars that appeared. Reports also showed that the audience was getting older, with younger viewers moving away from the program. This demographic was considered undesirable by CBS and in 1971, the decision was made to cancel the show, with the final episode appearing on March the 28th.

On this day in 1970, The Beatles had their final original number one song in the US

After the Beatles announced their breakup in April, they prepared for the release of their final album Let It Be. Recorded over the prior two years, Let It Be was the final attempt to reinvigorate the band by returning to more simple rock’n’roll songwriting. The sessions were also recorded visually which would be released simultaneously as a feature film documentary. Just a week before the North American release of the album, on the 11th of May, the band issued The Long and Winding Road as a single in the US.

The Long and Winding Road was written by Paul McCartney after one of his first visits to his property, High Park Farm, where he saw a road stretching up into the hills. It was also inspired by the growing tensions among the Beatles, contrasting with the peaceful surroundings of his property. After recording a demo, he offered the song to Tom Jones on the condition he release it as his next single, though Jones  turned it down as his next release was already planned. McCartney brought it to the Beatles in January of 1969 and they recorded several takes with a guest keyboardist, Billy Preston. 

The song was then handed to infamous producer Phil Spector, who made some dramatic changes, adding orchestral overdubs to the song. Ringo Starr was the only member of the band present during Spector’s edits and all attendees remember it being a peculiar session that ended with the orchestra refusing to play any further after becoming annoyed with Spector’s behaviour. Engineer Peter Bown even left for home before being called by Spector to return after Starr had told him to calm down. Nonetheless, the edits were completed and all four band members sent telegrams of their approval, and the song was prepared for release.

The track was released on the 11th of May 1970, with For You Blue as a B-side and it continued the Beatles trend of shooting up the charts. On the 13th of June it became the band’s twentieth single to reach number one on the US Billboard charts. Though the band would have various reissues of classic songs, The Long and Winding Road would be their final original composition to achieve the top spot.

On this day in 1962, The Beatles recorded with George Martin for the first time

In late 1961, new Beatles manager Brian Epstein visited London to meet record executives from both EMI and Decca Records in the hopes of getting a recording contract for the band. He was able to get a demo tape recorded with Decca Records, though they then refused to sign the group, leading him to focus his efforts on EMI. He was able to contact a music publisher associated with the label, who organised a meeting with one of four A&R directors, George Martin, for February of 1962.

At the meeting, Epstein showed Martin the failed Decca Records audition that had been recorded back in January. Accounts differ as to Martin’s reaction, with Epstein claiming that he said he like George Harrison’s guitar playing and preferred Paul McCartney’s singing voice to John Lennon’s. Martin himself recalls that he “wasn’t knocked out at all” by the “lousy tape”. Nonetheless, Martin was ordered to sign the band by EMI management to appease a colleagues strong interest in the band and a deal was struck. 

Martin and Epstein met again in May at EMI Studios in London, and Epstein was informed that The Beatles would be given a standard recording contract with Parlophone, to record a minimum of six tracks in the first year, with a one penny royalty paid for each record sold on 85% of records. This figure would have to be split between the four musicians and Epstein himself. They also set up the band’s first recording date, which would be held on the 6th of June.

This first session was intended as both an audition and an opportunity to record some early material to be used for the band’s first single. They recorded four songs on the day, Besame Mucho, Love Me Do, Ask Me Why and P.S. I Love You. Martin arrived partway through the session and made some changes to the arrangement, though he remained unimpressed. He did however start to take a liking to the band members after they began joking with him about his corporate look, in particular his tie. After a few more sessions he started to change his mind about the music as well and saw the potential for a hit, causing him to focus more time on the group. By the end of 1962 he had found his hit with Love Me Do and they were soon on their way to stardom.

George Martin remained with the band throughout their entire career as a performing band, and even worked on some of their solo albums after the eventual breakup. For his work he earned numerous awards, including two Grammy’s for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, as well as a 1977 BRIT Award for Best British Producer (of the past 25 years) and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His commitment to The Beatles made him an integral part of their success and he eventually came to be known as the “fifth Beatle”.

On this day in 1968, The Beatles began recording “The White Album”

By 1968, The Beatles were cemented as the biggest act in the world, and were still riding high form the release of their previous album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For their next project, the band decided to take a more stripped back approach with both the music and the art direction. The album would simply be called The Beatles and would feature a plain white cover, with only the bands name appearing in a basic font. This led to the album being commonly known as The White Album. 

On the 30th of May, the group returned to EMI Studios and began recording for the new album, using a number of demos they had written during their stay at a Transcendental Meditation course in India. The first track to be properly recorded was “Revolution”, written by Lennon to be a fast and loud rock song which was released as a B-side to “Hey Jude”. This was then slowed down to the more bluesy version that appears on The Beatles. 

The recording continued until mid-October, and was plagued by problems during that time. Examples include producer George Martin taking an unexpected holiday, engineer Geoff Emerick quitting mid-session and Ringo Starr leaving the band for two weeks in August. Several members of the band were also frustrated by Yoko Ono’s attendance at the sessions, violating a “no wives or girlfriends policy” that had been in place for several years. The tensions between the band built during recording and continued into the following year, culminating in the break-up of the group.

The Beatles released to highly favourable critical reviews to the majority of critics, with many praising its fragmentary style and the variety of genres utilised, such as folk, country, blues, ska and avant-garde. Interestingly, this would also be the feature highlighted in the few negative reviews drawn by the album, as well as the length. Commercially, the album was a huge success, reaching number one in multiple countries around the world, and in the years since has been certified twenty-four times platinum in the US alone and become one of the band’s most recognisable releases. 

On this day in 1966, The Doors began their residency at the legendary LA venue the Whisky a Go Go

The Doors formed in mid-1965 and set about recording their first demo in September, which earned them their first residency at a sleazy Los Angeles venue called London Fog. They stayed at the Fog from February to May 1966, and that’s where actress Ronnie Haran, who doubled as talent booker for the Whiskey a Go Go caught one of their shows, and organised for them to audition at the venue. The Whiskey a Go Go had opened in 1964 and was already gaining a reputation as the place to go to see exciting up and coming acts.

Their audition on May 9th caught the eye of the owner, Mario Maglieri and he immediately signed them to be the house band, starting on the 23rd. Over the next three months, The Doors played host to a number of legendary moments, one of them being opening for Van Morrison’s band Them during their two weeks of shows at the Whiskey. On the final night, The Doors joined Them on stage to perform In the Midnight Hour and an extended 20 minute jam of Gloria. Famed frontman for The Doors Jim Morrison also developed his skills extensively over the course of the residency, turning from a sometimes standoffish singer into a charismatic and flamboyant performer.

The residency was going well for both The Doors and the Whiskey a Go Go, with the band drawing huge crowds of fans to see the exciting new band perform. They played two sets almost every night, with their set list including future hits like Light My Fire and Break On Through, as well as their famous closer The End. However, ironically enough it was The End that would finish the band’s residence, on August the 21st. After a rocky night that saw Morrison miss the first set (as he was reportedly tripping on LSD at the Tropicana Hotel), the band began their second set ordinarily enough. Shortly after, Morrison and the band decided that they would mix up their setlist, and play The End early on, with Morrison adding a number of strange vocal ad-libs throughout the brought the venue to a standstill. Towards the end, the adlibs got stranger and included a profanity-riddled take on Oedipus Rex that shocked the crowd, and they were fired by Maglieri as soon as they left the stage.

Fortunately for The Doors, just three days earlier a representative from Elektra Records had attended the show and offered the band a deal, which they’d accepted, allowing them to graduate to making their own albums and touring. Regardless, the bands residency is remembered fondly as being instrumental to the formation of the band, and solidifying the reputation of the Whiskey a Go Go as a place where the next big acts get their start.

On this day in 1966, The Beach Boys released their most well-known album, Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys formed in 1961 as an American garage-band and enjoyed huge success over the following years with a string of hits inspired by surfing. They are often credited with launching the “surf music” craze that took over the US and spread to other countries around the world, including Australia. The band would release ten albums between 1961 and 1966, and Pet Sounds would be their eleventh.

Since The Beatles’ rapid rise to fame in 1964, they were considered as rivals to The Beach Boys by the media, though many noted the similarities between the groups aesthetics and sounds. When Rubber Soul was released by The Beatles in December of 1965, Beach Boys singer, musician and producer Brian Wilson was impressed by the album and its lack of filler, and the conceptual production. Inspired, he set about making his own album, utilising similar production techniques to the “Wall of Sound” method popularised by producer Phil Spector. Other sources of inspiration included popular music trends of the time,  as well as spirituality and psychedelia. 

The resulting album was an interesting blend of elements from a variety of genres, ranging from jazz, to classical, to avant-garde. Reviews from critics were mixed, with a number of negative reviews in the US and overwhelmingly positive reviews in the UK. Even negative reviews however, did praise several songs from the album and the progressive nature of the production. It was also overwhelmingly popular amongst other musicians, with members of the Spencer Davis Group and Cream publicly praising the album, and Paul McCartney later listing it as one of his favourite albums of all time. 

Despite the positive reviews, Wilson was disappointed by the commercial results of the album, with it selling less than their previous album. Some of this could be attributed to lacklustre promotion efforts by Capitol Records, that did little to differentiate the album from previous releases. Regardless, it did perform well enough to peak at number ten on the Billboard LP charts, and to stay on the chart for a total of ten months. Since then Pet Sounds has come to be considered a classic, and as the most renowned and well-known album from The Beach Boys. It has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, appeared on numerous greatest albums of all time lists and been preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

On this day in 2019, a John Lennon owned copy of Yesterday and Today sold at auction

The 1966 album Yesterday and Today was the band’s ninth release with Capitol Records, and their twelfth American release overall. It attracted controversy on release due to the cover, which showed the band dressed in white coats and surrounded by decapitated baby dolls and raw meat. This artwork, known as the “butcher cover” led to the album being recalled and the cover replaced with a photo of the band posed around a steamer trunk. The change of covers caused the original to become a rarity and a collectors album, with some fans even scratching off the trunk artwork on their records, hoping to find the “butcher cover” underneath.

In 1971, a Beatles fan by the name of Dave Morrell saw an ad in the back of Rolling Stone for a Beatles album called Yellow Matter Custard, which featured songs that he’d never heard of before. Morrell purchased the album and sent a letter to John Lennon, who arranged a meeting shortly after. Lennon identified Yellow Matter Custard as an audition tape made for Decca records, and asked to keep the album, as well as a compilation called the Savage Young Beatles. Morrell obliged, and when asked what items he was looking for, he named the “butcher cover” version of Yesterday and Today. Lennon phoned his assistant and arranged him to pick it up from his apartment where it had been displayed on the wall and drop it to him, before signing the album and giving it to Morrell. 

Morrell kept the album for many years, and even got Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to sign the album as well, before it was eventually sold to another collector. The album then went up for auction at Julien’s Auctions’ The Beatles in Liverpool event, which featured over 300 items of memorabilia. It fetched $234,000, a world record for a “butcher cover” album and the third highest price paid for a vinyl record overall, with the first being Ringo Starr’s copy of The White Album, and the second a copy of Elvis Presley’s My Happiness. The anonymous buyer is a US based collector, who believes the album to be an investment that could be worth over $500,000 in a few years.

On this day in 1963, The Beatles earned their first number one hit in the UK

As the band prepared for the release of Please Please Me in late March, they continued with recording sessions for numerous new songs. On the 5th of March they headed in to EMI Studios to record a new single, From Me To You. The track had been written on a coach, while the group was on tour with Helen Shapiro, with the title inspired by the name of the letters section in the New Musical Express newspaper, “From You to Us”. 

John Lennon later recalled the song being written in a more blues fashion, even stating that “we nearly didn’t record it because we thought it was too bluesy at first, but when we’d finished it and George Martin had scored it with harmonica, it was alright.” The song was recorded quickly, in just six takes and would be released just a couple of weeks after their debut album on the 11th of April. Soon after, on the 2nd May it became the band’s first number one single.

Many fans assume that the song Please Please Me, which helped launch the band to stardom, would be their first number one, but while it did top the New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts, it failed to reach the top spot on the Record Retailer chart, which later became the UK Singles Chart and was considered the definitive chart of the time. The band themselves also considered it their first big hit, with Paul McCartney saying “the first time I thought we’d really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling From Me to You.”

After the UK success, it was decided by Vee-Jay Records to release the song in the US on the 27th of May. Similarly to the already released Please Please Me it was initially a failure, but after the first song took off, From Me to You took off, reaching number 116 on the Billboard chart. This, coupled with the band’s successes later in the year prompted a second release in January 1964, this time peaking at number 41.

From Me to You was never made part of an original studio album, only appearing on compilation albums, including 1, the 2000 compilation of the band’s number one hits.