This Day in Rock History Sept 12
 

Gerry Beckley, vocalist for America, and Rush drummer Neil Peart are born. (1952)

The Beatles "Yesterday" is released in the U.S. They also appear this evening on Ed Sullivan in a segment taped before a live audience a month earlier. (1965)

The Beatles receive a gold record for "Yellow Submarine." (1966)

The Monkees television show premieres on NBC. The show depicts the zany adventures of a loveable long-haired rock band-obviously modeled after the Beatles and their film, "A Hard Days Night." The group consists of Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz and at first they sang but did not play any of the instruments. The television show would remain on the air through 1969. (1966)

"Josie and the Pussycats," a Saturday morning cartoon about an all girl band, debuts on CBS. It runs through September 1972. (1970)

More than 18,000 people attended the Woody Guthrie memorial concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Among the performers were Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Woody's son, Arlo. (1970)

James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" is released. (1970)

Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" peaks at #4 on the pop singles chart. (1970)

Oasis singer Liam Gallagher is born. (1972)

South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko dies at age 30. Peter Gabriel later writes his classic song, "Biko" about him. (1977)

The Four Tops, who bolted Motown after many years to record with Casablanca Records, enter the soul LP charts with "Tonight!" It will peak at #5. It enters the pop LP chart and reaches #37. The single off the record, "When She Was My Girl," hits #11 pop and Number One soul for two weeks. (1981)

Morrisey leaves The Smiths for a solo career. (1987)

Los Lobos' version of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" hits #1 on the singles chart. (1987)

Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks both announce that they'll no longer perform with Fleetwood Mac. A little over two years later, they reunite with the group to sing at President Clinton's inauguration. Four years after that, they reunite for an MTV Unplugged special, which leads to a #1 album and immensely successful concert tour. (1990)

U2's "Even Better Than The Real Thing" peaks at #32 on the singles chart. (1992)

Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" LP enters the chart. The record would go on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, with sales reaching over 7 million. (1992)

The "Honeymoon In Vegas" soundtrack enters the LP chart. The soundtrack features all Elvis covers as performed by Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, Bono and others. (1992)

Oasis abruptly canceled its U.S. tour two-thirds of the way into it. The band said it was due to "internal differences." (1996)



(BOBBYORR)