Doctor Don, Minneapolis, MN (2025)

10/08/2025

Music notes for Oct. 8:

1992 - The US Postal Service issued a set of commemorative stamps to celebrate pop music legends. The stamps included Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter and Dinah Washington.

1989 - After Rolling Stones' Ron Wood suggests that The Who were re-forming for the money alone, Who guitarist Pete Townshend publicly answers: "Mick needs a lot more than I do. His last album was a flop," referring to The Rolling Stones' ill-received Dirty Work.

1988 - Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon finally left Billboard's Hot 200 Album Chart after a record breaking 741 weeks. That’s 14 years!!

1983 - ”Total Eclipse Of The Heart" by Bonnie Tyler stays at #1 in America, with "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply at #2, a configuration that holds for three weeks. Both songs were written and produced by Jim Steinman, making him the first solo writer and producer to hold the top two spots.

1971 - Led Zeppelin II featuring “Whole Lotta Love” is the band's first album to hit No.1, knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks. When first released the album had advance orders of 400,000 copies. The advertising campaign was built around the slogan Led Zeppelin II Now Flying).

1968 - Mama Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas, makes her solo debut at the Circus Maximus theater at Caesars' Palace in Las Vegas, where she is scheduled for two shows a night for three weeks at a rate of $40,000 per week. She gets sick before the first show but does both anyway, straining to get through them. The rest of the run is cancelled, and Elliot undergoes throat surgery.

10/07/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1965:

1 YESTERDAY –•– The Beatles
2 HANG ON SLOOPY –•– The McCoys
3 TREAT HER RIGHT –•– Roy Head and the Traits
4 EVE OF DESTRUCTION –•– Barry McGuire
5 THE “IN” CROWD –•– The Ramsey Lewis Trio

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT NO. 64 — GET OFF OF MY CLOUD –•– The Rolling Stones

IT WOULD GO ALL THE WAY TO NO. 1

10/07/2025

Music notes for Oct. 7:

Happy birthday John Mellancamp. At one time he used a name suggested by his manager: Johnny Cougar. The guy thought it sounded more like a “rock star” John hated it. He has had fourteen top 20 hits and was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2008. He had Spina bifida, but survives thanks to an experimental surgery performed at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.

2009 - Barbra Streisand surprised many music industry watchers when she topped the Billboard Hot 200 for the ninth time with her latest release, 'Love Is the Answer'. The CD extended Streisand's lead as the female act with the most chart toppers in the history of the Billboard Hot 200.

2009 - Yikes! Monkees vocalist Davy Jones ruled out ever reuniting with his former band mates after launching a scathing attack on each of his old pals in The National Enquirer. "It's not a case of dollars and cents. It's a case of satisfying yourself. I don't have anything to prove. The Monkees proved it for me."

1976 - John Lennon was awarded his ‘Green Card’ - permanent residency status, at a hearing in New York which overturned previous efforts by the US Government to deport him. The three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals ruled that his 1968 arrest in Britain for possession of ma*****na was "contrary to US ideas of due process and was invalid as a means of banishing the former Beatle from the country.

1967 - Promoter Sid Bernstein, who had promoted The Beatles at their first two Shea Stadium concerts, offers one million dollars to the group, who is retired from the road, to perform a third concert there. They refuse. That’s $9.7 million today!

10/06/2025

Music notes for Oct. 6:

2020 - songwriter Johnny Nash died. He is best known for his 1972 hit 'I Can See Clearly Now' As well as “Stir it Up” and “”Hole Me Tight”. Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.

2020 - Eddie Van Halen, the revered guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen died at the age of 65. Halen and his brother Alex began performing together as teens, but formed the core of what would later become Van Halen after meeting David Lee Roth in the early seventies. Van Halen have sold more than 80 million worldwide, making them one of the best-selling groups of all time.

2019 - Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer and co-founder of rock band Cream died at the age of 80. The drummer co-founded Cream in 1966 with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. The band released four albums before splitting in 1968, after which he formed the short-lived band Blind Faith with Clapton, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. Baker is considered one of the most innovative and influential drummers in rock music.

2000 - The TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation debuts on CBS with "Who Are You?" by The Who as the theme song. Three more series in the franchise appear, all with theme songs by The Who: CSI: Miami ("Won't Get Fooled Again"), CSI: NY ("Baba O'Riley") and CSI: Cyber ("I Can See For Miles").

1979 - Gotta Serve Somebody' gave Bob Dylan his twelfth top 40 hit when it entered the chart for the first time. Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the song won Dylan the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980.

1973 - Cher started a two-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Half-Breed', the singer's second No.1 after “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves”.

1969 - George Harrison's song ’Something’ was released as the "A" side of a Beatles' 45, a first for Harrison. Along with Lennon and McCartney's 'Come Together', the single went on reach No.1 on the chart the following month. Both tracks were lifted from the Abbey Road album.

10/05/2025

Music notes for Oct. 5:

Happy birthday singer, guitarist and songwriter Steve Miller, who formed the Steve Miller Band in 1966. The Joker marked the start of the second phase of Miller's career. The band's two most successful studio albums were in 1976 and 1977, Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock Hall of Fame with his band and also as a solo artist.

2000 - Beatles fans across the world rushed out to buy copies of the Fab Four's autobiography. Stores in Japan and Britain opened at midnight to satisfy demand for the book, the first written by the band members.

1990 - singer Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations died aged 52. His was the lead voice on ‘The Way You Do The Things You Do’, ‘Get Ready’, and ‘Just My Imagination’. As a solo artist, Kendricks recorded several hits of his own during the 1970s, including the No.1 single 'Keep On Truckiing”.

1979 - ABBA visits the White House while on tour for the first and only time in the U.S. They meet President Carter's daughter Amy, who is a big fan.

1974 -Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You" hits #1 for the first of two weeks, making it her first chart-topper.

1973 - Elton John released his seventh studio album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Under the working titles of Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to the album in two and a half weeks, with John composing most of the music in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has now sold over 30 million copies worldwide and is his best-selling studio album.

10/04/2025

Music notes for Oct. 4:

2022 - Loretta Lynn passed away. She was the first woman to be named Country Music Artist Entertainer Of The Year. Since her first No.1 'Fist City', in 1967 she has scored another 16 chart toppers. Lynn wrote more than 160 songs and released 60 albums and won three Grammy Awards. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography was made into an Academy Award-winning film, Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones in 1980.

2014 - Paul Revere, organist and leader of Paul Revere And The Raiders died following a battle with cancer. Between 1961 and 1971, the band placed 15 songs on Billboard's Top 40, including the US Top 10 hits 'Kicks', 'Hungry', 'Good Thing' and 'Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?'

1980 - Queen started a three-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Another One Bites The Dust.' Written by bassist John Deacon, the song was featured on the group's eighth studio album The Game . The song spent 15 weeks in the Billboard top 10 (the longest-running top ten song of 1980) and is credited as Queen's best-selling single, with sales of over 7 million copies.

1980 - Fleetwood Mac members Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join the USC Trojan Marching Band, which performed on their hit "Tusk," during halftime of the football game between USC and Arizona State

1970 - Janis Joplin was found dead at the Landmark Hotel Hollywood. Joplin had the posthumous 1971 No.1 single 'Me And Bobby McGee', and the 1971 No.1 album 'Pearl'. She was known as "The Queen of Psychedelic Soul" and as "Pearl" to her friends, Joplin remains one of the top-selling musicians in the United States, with over 15.5 million albums sold.

1969 - Creedence Clearwater Revival started a four week run at No.1 on the album chart with 'Green River', the group's first chart topper.

10/03/2025

Music notes for Oct. 3:

The late Stevie Ray Vaughn born this date. He was one of the most influential guitarists in the revival of blues in the 1980s. Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash on August 27th 1990 age 35. In the months that followed his death, Vaughan sold over 5.5 million albums in the United States.

Happy birthday Lindsey Buckingham. Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, replacing guitarist Bob Welch, and convinced the group to recruit his musical (and, at the time, romantic) partner Stevie Nicks as well. Hit songs Buckingham wrote and sang with Fleetwood Mac include 'Go Your Own Way', 'Never Going Back Again', 'Tusk', and 'Big Love'. Buckingham has released seven solo studio albums and three live albums.

Happy birthday Chubby Checker. He is known for popularising many dance styles, including the Twist, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song 'The Twist', and the Pony, with his 1961 cover of the song 'Pony Time'. The Twist' was the only song to go to No.1 on the singles charts twice. Once in 1960 and again in 1962. This would not happen for another song for nearly 59 years until December 2020, when Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' reached the summit after previously topping in another separate chart run in December 2019.

2011 - According to new scientific research, Queen's 'We Are The Champions' was found to be the catchiest song ever written. Musicologist Dr Alisun Pawley from the University of London, England, conducted research into what makes a song memorable and compiled a list of the ten "catchiest" songs of all time. During the research, they discovered that sing-along songs contained four key elements: long and detailed musical phrases, multiple pitch changes in a song's 'hook', male vocalists, and higher male voices making a noticeable vocal effort

1980 - Paul Simon's semi-autobiographical movie One-Trick Pony, in which he stars, is released. It gets mixed reviews and does poorly at the box office, but does include a hit song: "Late in the Evening."

10/02/2025

Music notes for Oct. 2:

Happy birthday Sting, real name Gordon Sumner. Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No.1 studio albums. As a solo artist over 15 other Top 40 singles and as a member of The Police, he received 16 Grammy Awards and has sold over 100 million records. The band was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2003.

Happy birthday Don McClean, best known of course is best for his 1971 No.1 single 'American Pie', a song inspired by the death of Buddy Holly. His other hit singles include 'Vincent', (a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh), as well as a cover of Roy Orbison's 'Crying'.

1983 - Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler was at No.1 on the singles chart with the Jim ’ Total Eclipse Of The Heart'. It made her the only Welsh artist to score a No.1.

1982 - John Mellancamp started a four week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Jack and Diane', his first No.1.

1971 - Rod Stewart started a five week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Maggie May / Reason To Believe', his first solo No.1. Stewarts album Every Picture Tells A Story also started a four-week run on this day at No.1.

1971 - Soul Train makes its debut, with guests Gladys Knight & the Pips, Eddie Kendricks, and Honey Cone. It stays on the air an astonishing 35 years.

1965 - Featuring lead singer Rick Derringer, The McCoys were at No. 1 on the singles chart with ‘Hang On Sloopy’. The song was originally released the previous year as "My Girl Sloopy" by the R&B group The Vibrations. That version went to #26.

1954 - Elvis makes his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, where he sings "Blue Moon Of Kentucky." It doesn't go over well with the crowd, which does not approve of his take on traditional country music. The Opry's talent director, Jim Denny, reportedly tells Presley he should go back to driving a truck. Elvis swears never to return.

10/01/2025

Music notes for Oct. 1:

Irish actor, and singer Richard Harris Born this far. He had the 1968 US single MacArthur Park. It over 7 minutes, it is one of the longest songs to the top 10.

2015 - An original tape of The Beatles performing at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1962 was found after 50 years languishing in a desk drawer. It featured the Fab Four playing 'Some Other Guy' in September 1962, four weeks before their debut single came out.

1977 - #1 on the Hot 100 is "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco. It's a 15-minute song made up of Star Wars music set to a disco beat. There's even an R2-D2 bleeping solo.

1965 - Bob Dylan appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He introduced his new touring band on this tour, made up of guitarist Robbie Robertson, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manual and drummer Levon Helm. They will become known simply as The Band.

1964 - The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, becomes the first movie to debut behind the "Iron Curtain" of Communist countries when it is shown in Prague.

1962 - The Beach Boys release their first album, Surfin' Safari, which includes their debut single, "Surfin'." The album climbs to #32.

09/30/2025

WDGY’s Doctor Don presents the Top 5 songs this week in 1988:

1 DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY –•– Bobby McFerrin
2 LOVE BITES –•– Def Leppard
3 I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU –•– Taylor Dayne
4 ONE GOOD WOMAN –•– Peter Cetera
5 RED RED WINE –•– UB40

HIGH DEBUT OF THE WEEK: AT No. 50 — DESIRE –•– U2

IT WOULD PEAK AT NO. 3

09/30/2025

Music notes for Sept. 30:

Happy birthday Marilyn McCoo Davis of the Fifty Dimension.

2016 - A schoolboy from Philadelphia who skipped class to meet his musical hero handed his teacher an absence note with a difference. The typewritten note was signed by Bruce Springsteen. Fifth-grader Michael Fenerty met the star at a "meet-and-greet" in the Free Library of Philadelphia when Springsteen was in town signing copies of his new autobiography, Born to Run.

1989 - 1989Bette Midler is awarded $400,000 (over $1 violent today)in her lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, which had her former backing singer Ula Hedwig sing Midler's hit "Do You Want To Dance" in a 1985 commercial for the Mercury Sable. The verdict means that companies can't purposely imitate the vocals of a famous singer in advertisements without consent.

1993 - George Harrison and David Crosby play their animated selves on the Season 5 premiere of The Simpsons, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet."

1987 - Fleetwood Mac open their Shake The Cage Tour in Kansas City, Missouri, but without Lindsey Buckingham, a key contributor to the album they're touring behind, Tango In The Night. Buckingham, who had a falling out with the group the previous month, is replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. He doesn't return to the group until 1997.

1978 - Exile's "Kiss You All Over" hits #1 on the Hot 100, where it stays for four weeks. The group doesn't place another song higher than #40, but returns as a country act in the '80s and score 10 Country chart-toppers.

1965 - Donovan made his US television debut on Shindig! along with The Hollies, The Turtles and the Dave Clark Five.

1964 - The Beatles continued recording sessions at Abbey Road for their fourth UK album Beatles For Sale, recording various takes of 'Every Little Thing', 'What You're Doing' and 'No Reply', which became the opening track on Beatles For Sale. In the U.S., most of the songs would appear on the “Beatles ‘65” album.

09/29/2025

Music notes for Sept. 29:

Happy birthday Mark Farner, lead singer and guitarist for Grand Funk. They were he most successful heavy metal band of the 70’s, selling over 25 million albums.

In a related note, on this day in 1973 Grand Funk went to No. 1 with ”We’re an American Ban”, the group’s first of two No. 1’s, the other being “The Loco-Motion”.

2020 - singer, songwriter, and actor Mac Davis passed away. During his early career he wrote for Elvis Presley, providing him with the hits 'Memories", "In the Ghetto', 'Don't Cry Daddy', and 'A Little Less Conversation'. A subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as 'Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me', “One Hell of a Woman and “Stop and Smell the Roses” Davis also starred in his own variety show, a Broadway musical, and various films and TV shows.

2020 - Australian Helen Reddy passed away. During the 1970s she placed 15 singles on the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six made the top 10 and three reached number one, including her signature hit 'I Am Woman'. The other two No. 1’s were “Delta Dawn” and “Angie Baby”.

1984 - Prince and the Revolution started a two week run at No.1 on the singles chart with 'Let's Go Crazy', his second No.1. It was the opening track on both the album and the film Purple Rain.

1967 - Working at Abbey Road in London, The Beatles mixed the new John Lennon song ‘I Am The Walrus‘. Lennon composed the song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words

Doctor Don

10/08/2025

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