June 5, 1971: Grand Funk Railroad broke The Beatles' box office record by selling out Shea Stadium in 72 hours.
Grand Funk Railroad's sold-out show at New York's Shea Stadium on July 9, 1971, is famous for selling its 55,000 tickets in 72 hours, faster than the Beatles had in August 1965.
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| Mark Farner |
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That record at the home of baseball's Mets stood until the ballpark was demolished in 2008. Humble Pie, with Steve Marriott on vocals and Peter Frampton on guitar, rocked the crowd as the headliners approached the stadium by helicopter.
Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock
June 5, 1958: "Johnny Mathis' Greatest Hits" album went to Number 1 in the US.
Johnny's Greatest Hits is a compilation album by vocalist Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records on March 17, 1958, and has been described as the "original greatest-hits package".
The LP collected all but one of the songs from the first six singles he recorded, including eight A- and B-sides that made the singles charts in The Billboard as well as three B-sides that did not chart and one new track ("I Look at You") that was co-written by Mathis but not released as a single.
Read more: Wikipedia
June 5, 1965: The Byrds hit song, "Mr. Tambourine Man," climbed from Number 55 to 17.
As far as I can tell, the Byrds‘ recording of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was the first time anyone put really good poetry on the radio The Beatles hadn’t gotten to “Eleanor Rigby” or “A Day in the Life” — they were still writing “Ooh, baby.” But Bob’s lyrics were exquisite. He was finding himself as a poet. He was learning to be beautiful.
Read more: Rolling Stone
June 5, 1971: James Taylor released "You've Got a Friend."
Carole King and I were playing the Troubadour in Los Angeles together. She had just written "You've Got a Friend," which she later said was a response to "Fire and Rain." The chorus to "Fire and Rain" is "I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend." Carole's response was, "Here's your friend." As soon as I heard it, I wanted to play it.
Read more: Rolling Stone
June 5, 1972: Gilbert O'Sullivan released the single "Alone Again (Naturally.)"
In the US, 1972 was a time of deep divisions and scrambled priorities. Richard Nixon was reelected in a landslide just a few months after his underlings broke into the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel. A few months before Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” hit #1, Nixon ordered the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam — a completely necessary move that should’ve happened years earlier.
Read more: Stereogum
June 5, 1972: Looking Glass released the single "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl.)"
There’s a fun little subplot that runs through the history of ’70s rock: all the bands competing to see who could write the most compelling f*ck-and-run anthem. The f*ck-and-run anthem is, of course, a staple of popular music. We have many decades of songs about dudes who didn’t want to settle down with one woman and who came up with grand, sweeping lyrics to justify that refusal. That story line was there in the blues. It was there in the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.
Read more: Stereogum
I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home
Grand Funk Railroad
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