This Week in Music History | September 7 – 13

September 7, 2020

Posted in: This Week in Music History

This week in music, we saw Heavier Things with the debut of Led Zeppelin, John Lennon released Imagine, and Pink Floyd let the world hear Wish You Were Here. Here’s everything you need to know about what went down this week in music history.

1968 – September 7th, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham made their live debut as Led Zeppelin.

  • They were billed as The New Yardbirds at Teen Club in Gladsaxe (a suburb in Copenhagen, Denmark).
  • Around 1,200 youngsters attended the show at Egegard School.
  • A local review stated; “Their performance and their music were absolutely flawless.”

1971 – September 9th, John Lennon released Imagine in the US.

  • The album was co-produced by Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono and Phil Spector.
  • The lyrics reflect peace, love, politics, Lennon’s experience with primal scream therapy.
  • It was a critical and commercial success, peaking at #1 on both the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200.
  • In 2012, Imagine was voted 80th on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

1975 – September 12th, Pink Floyd released the album Wish You Were Here.

  • The album contained hits like ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’.
  • It’s themes include criticism of the music business, alienation, and a tribute to founding member Syd Barrett.
  • Syd Barrett had left seven years earlier due to deteriorating mental health.
  • It reached #1 in the US and UK. Parent company EMI was unable to keep up with the demand.

1977 – September 10th, Meat Loaf released his debut studio album Bat Out Of Hell.

  • It was his first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren.
  • It’s one of the best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide.
  • It spawned two sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
  • A musical based on Bat Out of Hell opened at the Manchester Opera House on February 17, 2017.

1988 – September 10th, Guns N’ Roses started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart with ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’

  • It appeared on their debut album Appetite for Destruction and was the group’s first US #1.
  • Axl Rose declared that Lynyrd Skynyrd served as an inspiration “to make sure that we’d got that heartfelt feeling”.
  • Slash initially had disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a “string skipping” exercise.
  • The music video depicts the band rehearsing in the Mendiola’s Ballroom at Huntington Park.

2003 – September 9th, John Mayer released his second studio album, Heavier Things.

  • The disc’s title is a response to some critics who believed his previous songs were too soft.
  • The album debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
  • The singles on the album included ‘Bigger Than My Body’, ‘Clarity’, and ‘Daughters’
  • Mayer earned his first #1 single with “Daughters”, as well as a 2005 Grammy for Song of the Year.
  • Mayer’s secondary career pursuits extend to television hosting, comedy, and writing.
  • Since 2015, Mayer has been touring with the Grateful Dead as Dead & Company.

Artists We Lost This Week in Music History:

  • Keith Moon (8/23/1946 – 9/7/1978)
  • Tupac (6/16/1971 – 9/13/1996)
  • Johnny Cash (2/26/1932 – 9/12/2003)
  • Mac Miller (1/19/1992 – 9/7/2018)
  • Eddie Money (3/21/1949 – 9/13/2019)

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