This Week in Music History | October 26 – November 1

October 26, 2020

Posted in: This Week in Music History

Whether you are throwing a Monster Mash this weekend, or plan on partying like it’s 1999, we have Faith that we’re covering some of your favorite artists with this week in music history!

1962 – October 26th, The Rolling Stones recorded their first demo tape at Curly Clayton Studios in London.

  • The band was then known as The Rollin’ Stones.
  • The lineup consisted of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart and Tony Chapman.
  • They recorded three songs, ‘Close Together’, ‘You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover’ and ‘Soon Forgotten.’

1962 – October 31st, ‘Monster Mash’ rules the airwaves, becoming the most popular Halloween song of all time.

  • The song has been described as a graveyard smash by nearly everyone who has heard it.
  • It was performed by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers.
  • The song tells the tale of a party thrown by Frankenstien’s monster from the Dr.s POV.
  • The original title was ‘Monster Twist’, then ‘Monster Mashed Potato’, and finally ‘Monster Mash’.

1971 – October 29th, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle.

  • The accident occurred on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer, Allman was thrown from the motorcycle.
  • The motorcycle bounced into the air, landed on Allman and skidded another 90 feet with Allman pinned underneath.
  • He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.
  • Duane Allman is still considered one of the greatest artists of all time.
  • “I told them, if it had been me instead of him, I know I would’ve wanted y’all to keep going, to keep trying to attain what we’re shooting for here. Sure enough, everyone held on. It felt at times like it gave us more incentive to work even harder.” – Gregg Allman

1972 – October 28th, Stevie Wonder released his 15th studio album Talking Book.

  • The album’s first track, ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’, hit No.1 on the Billboard charts, then earned Wonder his first Grammy Award.
  • The album featured a guest appearance of Jeff Beck on the track ‘Superstition’.
  • The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder’s keyboard work, especially with the synthesizers he incorporated.
  • Talking Book is often considered as the beginning of the turning point in Wonder’s career from a youthful prodigy to an independent and experimental artist.

1982 – October 27th, Prince releases his fifth album, 1999.

  • Prince’s breakthrough album included the hits ‘1999’, ‘Little Red Corvette’, ‘Delirious’, and ‘International Lover’
  • It became his first album to be recorded with his band the Revolution.
  • The music videos for both “1999” and “Little Red Corvette” were significant as two of the first videos by a black artist to receive heavy rotation on the newly launched music video channel, MTV.

1987 – October 30th, George Michael released his debut solo album, Faith.

  • It was the first album Michael released after five years in the popular band Wham!
  • Faith is jam packed with hits, ‘I Want Your Sex,’ ‘Father Figure,’ and of course the title track ‘Faith’.
  • Faith went to #1 in both the UK and US, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

2006 – October 27th, Amy Winehouse released her second and final studio album Back to Black.

  • The album spawned five singles: ‘Rehab’, ‘You Know I’m No Good’, ‘Back to Black’, ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ and ‘Love Is a Losing Game’ and won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
  • Back to Black sold 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK’s second best-selling album of the 21st century.
  • B2B has been cited as being a key influence to the widespread popularity of British soul throughout the late 2000s paving the way for artists such as Adele, Duffy, and Estelle.

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