There are few moments in music history that are as important as the arrival of The Beatles in NYC on February 7th 1964 – “Beatlemania” had finally hit the States and music in this region would be forever changed as result. The Fab Four of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had already been making their mark in England for a few years now (remember they had formed in 1960) and their sound was something so exciting to our nations musical ears that this visit was without a doubt one of the most anticipated events of its time.
This first US visit had a bunch of events for the band to attend to and one of the biggest parts of their arrival was to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show two times. The first appearance on the show would take place two nights after they arrived and according to historical note, the bands appearance on this television program was seen by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households which you can imagine was unheard of at this time. Imagine this was to happen today with all the millions of mobile devices in peoples hands. Staggering to consider. The band would also play in Washington for their first ever stateside concert and pay a visit to Florida as well. There would be two concerts in NYC at Carnegie Hall before they headed back home on the 22nd of the month. These fifteen days left our country in a frenzy but lucky for the fans of the time The Beatles would return two more times in the years ahead.
Continue reading 50 Years Ago Today: The Beatles Arrive In The USA!!!! →
I’ve really been enjoying sharing these “Music Milestones” with you and well, to be honest anything in the “Milestone” category brings a smile to my face because it’s fun to reflect upon something that I remember buying way back in the day or have looked upon fondly for many years. Today’s “Milestone” is actually the first of four related topics because we are at the 35th Anniversary of the KISS Solo Albums – Lifelong KISS fans of a certain age might recall how in 1978 on this very day, four distinct albums were released to the public that showcased the creative side of each of the bands members. I’ll start with Gene Simmons since he has long been my favorite member of the band but as far as deep analysis of the album goes I am going to leave that to the Official Wikipedia entry which is at the bottom. You don’t need me to repeat what is already documented.
Continue reading KISS’ “Gene Simmons” Solo Album Is 35 Years Old (1978-2013) →
Artist: KISS: Gene Simmons
Title: “Gene Simmons Solo” (remaster)
Label: Mercury/Universal
Release Date: 9/18/1978
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 3/5
In 1978, KISS did the unthinkable and released solo albums for each individual member of the group. It allowed the band to showcase what drove them musically on an individual level. Gene’s album would be the most diverse of the four recordings and would have a wide varity of musical guest stars offering up their help to be a part of the recording and I think this is what makes it “the biggest” in terms of the overall production in comparison to his other KISS peers. The guest stars included Michael Des Barres, Cher, Donna Summer and an at the time unknown Katey Sagal (you know her as Peg from “Married With Children of course). There were even members of “Beatlemania” and the legendary Bob Seger. Whew what a roster but what kind of album would this become with that kind of roster? Simply put a very “different” one from that which you might expect.
Continue reading “Gene Simmons Solo” (remaster) by KISS →
Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
