10/01/2026
Happy Hump Day!
Sept 30: TODAY IN ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY:
1955, Actor, James Dean, dies in a car crash, at the age of 24. His rebellious style becomes influential on early rockers. He also becomes the subject of a song by The Eagles.
1957, The first stereo album in America is recorded! It's "Louis Armstrong Plays King Oliver" by Louis Armstrong, but nobody owns a stereo turntable system and the album fails to chart. (It also sounds like an odd concept album, too.)
1964, The Beatles record several takes of their songs, "No Reply," "Every Little Thing" and "What Your Doing" during sessions for their fourth studio album, "Beatles For Sale!"
1965, Donovan makes his TV debut in America on the show Shindig! Also appearing during the weeks episode are The Turtles, The Hollies and The Dave Clark Five!
1965, The Rolling Stones headline a package tour across the UK, including The Moody Blues, Spencer Davis Group, The End and The Habits. The tour played Gaumont Theatre in Hanley, Staffordshire UK on this night.
1965, Elvis Presley and Tom Jones meet for the first time on the set of an Elvis movie, "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" where they become friends!
1967, BBC Radio One debuts, taking pop radio back from the pirate stations (whom the government forced to shut down) which fed the craze in years prior! Their first song was, "Flowers In The Rain," by The Move and played by former pirate DJ, Radio Caroline's Tony Blackburn!
1971, Isaac Hayes releases "Theme From Shaft." The song debuts on The Billboard Hot 100 on October 16th, 1971 and peaks at #1 for the first of two weeks on November 20th!
1972, David Cassidy has a #1 hit in the UK with a cover of The Rascals, "How Can I Be Sure," for the first of two weeks. The song only reached #25 in the US.
1974, Police were called in to respond to a fight between the road crews for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blue Oyster Cult over a sound mixing dispute, during a concert! Skynyrd's sound engineer claimed that their sound was turned off on purpose during their set.
1977, Electric guitar innovator, Les Paul loses his wife/ hit making partner, Mary Ford who fell into a 54-day diabetic coma only to die from liver cancer. In the days before the first-wave of rock and roll when pop music was a little more wholesome and not as much fun, (1951-54) the pair had 16 Top Ten hits!
1978, "Summer Nights" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, goes #1 in the UK for the first of seven weeks, after peaking at only #5 in the U.S.
1978, Meanwhile in the US, "Kiss You All Over" by Exile hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of four weeks!
1982, Bruce Springsteen releases his solo acoustic album, "Nebraska." The album debuts on The Billboard Top 200 album charts on October 9th, but only peaks at #3 on October 30th for the first of four weeks!
1987, Fleetwood Mac open their "Shake The Cage" tour without Lindsey Buckingham, who is replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito, after Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac have a fall out the month prior!
1987, A Roy Orbison concert special is filmed for Cinemax. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne and J.D. Souther are all guest performers during the show, which–to give it an extra retro feel--is filmed in black and white!
1988, John Lennon gets a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 1750 Vine Street.
1989, Neil Young plays "Rockin' In The Free World," on SNL!
1993, George Harrison and David Crosby play animated versions of themselves on an episode of The Simpsons!
1994, VH-1 UK debuts with the video, "Dolphin" by The Artist Formerly Known As Prince or as the Brits called him, T.A.F.K.A.P.
1995, Mariah Carey's song "Fantasy" debuts at #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 for the first of eight weeks. It's only the second song to ever debut at the top of the chart following "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson earlier in the same month on September 2nd!
1997, Fleetwood Mac, on their "The Dance" reunion tour, sets a new house record at the New Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford NJ, when their reunion concert grossed one-million, 94-thousand, five-hundred and 20 dollars for one show!
1997, U2 stir controversy at a show in Tel Aviv, Israel when Bono appeals for the release of Mordechai Vanunu, a nuclear technician who became a peace activist and revealed Isreali nuclear secrets to the British Press.
1998, Slash (guns n' roses), Dusty Hill (ZZ top), Dave Mustaine (megadeth), Johnny Lang, Joey Ramone (the ramones), Joe Walsh (the james gang and the eagles) and Rick Neilsen (cheap trick) all audition to be in Drew Carey's Band on The Drew Carey Show. Joe Walsh gets the job!
1999, Singer Chris DeBurgh's website was closed down for maintenance after a "fan" posted two four-letter long curse words over and over a total of 3500 times on his guest book. Yikes!
2002, The Rolling Stones release "Forty Licks!" [Trivia: The album debuts on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart on October 19th and peaks at #2]
2003, Elton John cleaned out his London home and auctioned off items he didn't want anymore, earning £1.4 million pounds!
2004, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics announced they were working together on the soundtrack for the re-make of the movie, "Alfie!"
2006, Farm Aid plays its 21st Anniversary Show at the Pavilion @ Wiggins Park in Camden NJ! Performers include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Gov't Mule, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gov't Mule, Steve Earle and more.
2010, The John Lennon Museum in Tokyo, Japan closes its doors so it can move to a new location, because Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono wants it to periodically move, so it doesn't become a grave, but a living, touring tribute! The museum was in Tokyo for ten years.
2011, Marv Tarplin of The Miracles dies at 70.
2016, A 5th-grade Bruce Springsteen fan submitted a note from The Boss himself, asking that he be excused from skipping school the day before because he went to a book signing by Springsteen in Philadelphia to get a signed copy of his autobiography, "Born To Run!"
2021, 95-year-old Tony Bennett releases his album of standards with Lady Gaga called, "Love For Sale," making him the oldest recording artist ever to release an album of new material.
ROCK N' ROLLERS BORN TODAY:
1933, Cissy Houston, singer (would be 93 in 2026)! [Trivia: She is Whitney Houston's mom!]
1935, Johnny Mathis, singer (90 in 2025)!
1940, Dewey Martin, drums for Buffalo Springfield and session work for The Monkees (would be 86 in 2026)! [Trivia: Buffalo Springfield is best known for their only Top Ten Hot 100 Hit "For What It's Worth" which peaked at #7 in 1967!]
1942, Frankie Lymon, singer for Frankie Lyman & The Teenagers – born in Harlem NYC – (would be 84 in 2026)! [Trivia: Lymon & The Teenagers are best known for their Top Ten Billboard Pop hit, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" which peaked at #6 on "Best In Stores" singles sales chart in 1956, as well as the follow up Top 15 hit "I Want You To Be My Girl" which peaked #13 and the 1957 Top 20 Hit, "Goody Goody" which peaked at #20!]
1942, Gus Dudgeon, producer for Elton John (would be 84 in 2026)!
1943, Marilyn McCoo, singer for The 5th Dimension and TV host for the show, Solid Gold -born in Jersey City NJ- (83 in 2026)! [Trivia: The 5th Dimension is best known for their songs "Up Up And Away" ( #7 Hot 100 Hit in 1967), "Stoned Soul Picnic" (a #3 Hot 100 Hit 1n 1968), "Aquarius/ Let The Sun Shine In" ( #1 Hot 100 Hit for 6 weeks in 1968), "Wedding Bell Blues" ( #1 Hot 100 Hit for 3 weeks in 1969-which prominently features McCoo.), "(Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All" (a #8 Hot 100 Hit in 1972 (which also prominently features McCoo) and of course, a her 1977 #1 hit, "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)" which she had with her husband and fellow 5th Dimension member, Billy Davis Jr.]
1946, Sylvia Peterson, vocals for The Chiffons (would be 80 in 2026)!
1947, Marc Bolan, singer for T.Rex (would be 79 in 2026)! [Trivia: T. Rex is best known in America for their sole Top 10 hit, "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" which peaked at #10!]
1952, John Lombardo, guitar for 10,000 Maniacs (74 in 2026)!
1954, Patrice Rushen, singer (72 in 2026)! [Trivia: Rushen is best known for her 1982 hit, "Forget Me Nots!"]
1956, Basia, singer (70 in 2026)!
Our chart is from today, September 30th in 1978!
