Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Music History Today: May 11, 2021

May 11, 2002: Puddle Of Mudd peaked at Number 5 on the American music chart with "Blurry." 
In 2001 Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin was on a fast track to success, living in a Hollywood Boulevard hotel, which Flawless Records put him up in after Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst signed him to the Geffen affiliate. 

 

(sign up to follow by email)
What came out of that lonely hotel room would be Puddle of Mudd’s breakthrough record.   Scantlin was missing his family and his son most of all.  He was trying his best to cope with the whirlwind of the rock lifestyle the only way he knew how to —write a song.  That song, “Blurry” kick started a list of other chart-toppers from their breakthrough album, Come Clean.  
Read more: American Songwriter
May 11, 1963: "Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter Paul & Mary peaked at Number 2 on the US singles chart. 
The lyrics for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" are based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old Cornell University student. Lipton was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled "Custard the Dragon," about a "realio, trulio little pet dragon."

"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter Paul & Mary 

The lyrics tell a story of the ageless dragon Puff and his playmate, Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff to be with himself. The story of the song takes place "by the sea" in the fictional land of "Honah Lee." 
Read more: Wikipedia

 

May 11, 1972: To shed his teenybopper image, David Cassidy appeared shirtless (and pantless) on the cover of Rolling Stone.
In 1972, David Cassidy was faced with an interesting dilemma. The 22-year-old had a hit television series, The Partridge Family, and was selling out arenas across the country to legions of teenage girls. 

May 11, 1972 David Cassidy on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine
And yet the pop star was in real life an unreconstructed hippie who had knocked around San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district when he was seventeen, idolized Hendrix and done his share of “grass and speed and psychedelics.” That’s where Rolling Stone came in. “It was a very conscious decision to shed his image and become hip,” recalls Robin Green, who wrote Cassidy’s controversial 1972 cover story. 
Read more: Rolling Stone

  

May 11, 1985: Madonna's "Crazy For You," written for the movie Vision Quest, hit Number 1 in the US. 
Madonna’s first real film appearance is a quick scene in Vision Quest, one of many variations on the Rocky formula that came out in the ’80s. 

Poster for the movie Vision Quest
Vision Quest isn’t a huge movie, and Madonna’s appearance in it amounts to a one-scene cameo with no dialogue. But that one scene might still be the most famous thing about the movie.
Read more: Stereogum

 

May 11, 1991: "Joyride" by Roxette leads the Billboard Hot 100 list. 
March 28, 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Swedish pop duo Roxette's hit 1991 album, Joyride, the title track from which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May of that year.

Joyride peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 and featured three other top-40 singles -- "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)," "Spending My Time" and "Church of Your Heart," which respectively reached #2, #32 and #36 on the Hot 100. 
Read more: ABC News

 

Blurry
Puddle Of Mudd 

No comments:

Post a Comment