Music History Today: August 25, 2022

August 25, 2014: Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was voted the greatest guitar riff of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in the UK. 

"Whole Lotta Love" came out on top from a list of 100 riffs drawn up by a panel of Radio 2 and 6 Music DJs, critics and record producers.

Jimmy Page

(sign up to follow by email)

Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'N' Roses was second in the poll, with Back In Black (AC/DC) and Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple) the next most popular. Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page said he was "knocked out" by winning the vote. 

Read more: BBC

August 25, 1962: Jimmy Clanton soared up Billboard's Hot 100 chart, from Number 74 to 47, with "Venus in Blue Jeans." 

Jimmy Clanton was one of the few white singers to emerge from New Orleans in the 1950s.

Jimmy Clanton

In 1958 he hit #4 with "Just A Dream," an R&B track co-written with Cosimo Matassa, who recorded Fats Domino. The following year, he starred in a movie called Go Johnny Go!, which set him up as a teen idol. 

Read more: Songfacts

August 25, 1973: The Stories' cover of Hot Chocolate's "Brother Louie" hit Number 1 in the US for the first of two weeks.

Composed by Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown and Tony Wilson, "Brother Louie" was the tale of a black girl, her white boyfriend and his racist parents. The song's chorus ("Louie, Louie, Louie, Loo-aye") was strongly inspired by the Kingsmen's 1963 classic "Louie, Louie," written by Richard Berry. 

Read more: Super Seventies

August 25, 1986: Paul Simon's Graceland was released. 

Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one.

The South African angle was a powerful marketing tool and the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar. 

Read more: Allmusic

 

August 25, 2001: Alien Ant Farm's cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" entered Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Whole Lotta Love
Led Zeppelin