Every Woodstock festival has been poorly organised. The original one in 1969 was lucky to be deemed a success. The rain was so severe that the PA system failed, and the stage started to sink. Every performance was delayed and at the last minute, the organisers made the festival free because there wasn’t enough staff… Continue reading 48: Festival, Fire, and Peace and Love?
Category: Music
47: Disco, Demolition, and Baseball
There is one sport I have never been into. I’ve tried to take an interest in it, but it’s never gripped my attention. Baseball. I can watch a five-day cricket test or a 24-hour motor race, but when a game of baseball is on the TV I can’t wait to turn the channel over. It… Continue reading 47: Disco, Demolition, and Baseball
46: Swimming Pools, Rolling Stones, and More Conspiracies
Although he’s mostly forgotten now, Brian Jones is arguably the most important member of the Rolling Stones. For a start, he named the band and was the one who managed them in their early days and got them early concerts. A talented multi-instrumentalist who was one of the first slide guitar players from the UK.… Continue reading 46: Swimming Pools, Rolling Stones, and More Conspiracies
45: Premieres, MTV, and Downfalls
In the mid-1980s MTV was the new go-to place for music. The television channel played nothing but music videos 24 hours a day with millions of households watching. It was a revolution in the way people consumed music. If an artist got their video in the rotation on the channel, then it was guaranteed… Continue reading 45: Premieres, MTV, and Downfalls
44: Reformation, Technology, and Disappearing
My first experience, like many of my generation, of Iron Butterfly is from the animated TV show The Simpsons. It was an episode that started with Bart, the troublemaking son in the family, changing the hymn for Sunday service to the song In the Garden of Eden or as it was released In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidda (the original… Continue reading 44: Reformation, Technology, and Disappearing
43: Beatles, Bangladesh, and Benefit Concerts
There’s an adage ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ which is not just used in music but is used in just about everything. Whether it’s a job promotion or moving house knowing a friend with a connection is always helpful more than a hindrance. So, when a member of the world’s most famous band… Continue reading 43: Beatles, Bangladesh, and Benefit Concerts
42: Sweden, Maps, and Comebacks
Max Martin is one of the biggest producers in the world right now. He is the third all-time hitmaker on the Billboard Hot 100 only behind pop royalty such as Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It hasn’t always been singing and dancing for the producer as in the mid-2000s he hit a lull in hitmaking… Continue reading 42: Sweden, Maps, and Comebacks
41: Telstar, Production Wizardry, and Tragedy.
The third of February is usually known as the day that music died. The plane that crashed while carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper J.P. Richardson was one of the first big music tragedies in the modern era. There is another tragedy that occurred on the same day a few years… Continue reading 41: Telstar, Production Wizardry, and Tragedy.
39: Barbados, Crack, and Bankruptcy
Before Britpop of the mid-1990s, there was a scene in Manchester that captured the country. A fresh new sound infused the 60s Psychedelic sound and the Acid House of the late 1980s which was described by the press as Madchester. The name stuck with its fans, and it soon spread throughout the UK. One of… Continue reading 39: Barbados, Crack, and Bankruptcy
40: Arnold Layne, LSD, and Crazy Diamonds
When you think of the band Pink Floyd, most people think of Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall but before they were record-breaking superstars, they were a psychedelic rock band with a different eccentric guitarist and singer. He wasn’t a virtuoso on the guitar like Jimi Hendrix or, the most talented songwriter like… Continue reading 40: Arnold Layne, LSD, and Crazy Diamonds