Notorious funk legends SLY & THE FAMILY STONE (San Francisco / 1966-1983 / 10 LPs) released their single FAMILY AFFAIR today, 55 years ago, on 6 November 1971.
The late great Billy Preston (who played quite some
time with The Stones) featured on electric piano.
It topped the US Singles Chart. It was
their 4th and final No. 1 in America.
It went to No. 1 in the UK, Ireland and Canada, No. 2 in Australia, No. 3 in the US.
Stewart Copeland: “I remember saying, ‘Okay put up Sting’s original demo and I’ll show you how crummy it is.’ So Sting stood over me and waved me through all the changes. I did just one take, and that became the record. Then Andy did the same thing on the guitar. We just faced the music, bit the bullet, and used Sting’s arrangements and demo. Damn.”
Sting:“I had to fight hard to put that song on the record. I convinced them and eventually Stewart played fantastically on the demo. It took a lot of work but I knew he could do it. He’s
a fantastic drummer.”
Co-songwriter Bernie Taupin said: “It’s a pretty simple idea, but one that I think everyone can relate to at one point or another in their life. That whole idealistic feeling people get when they want to save something from dying when they basically know deep down inside that it’s already dead.
It’s that heartbreaking, sickening part of love that you wouldn’t wish on anyone
if you didn’t know that it’s inevitable that they’re going to experience it one day.”
It peaked at #6 in the US, #11 in the UK, and #3 in Canada.
Band: ? AND THE MYSTERIANS (Michigan, US) Who: Organ pop band fronted by Question Mark,
later identified as Rudy Martinez from Saginaw Valley, Michigan.
60 years ago today the group topped the American Singles Chart with 96 TEARS.
Also #1 in Canada.
American singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys covered the song in 1981.
And English punk band The Stranglers‘ cover was a hit in the UK in 1990.
Vocalist/keyboardist Steve Winwood, who joined the band at the age of 16 and who
had a successful solo career later on, lifted this firecracker to impressive heights with
his room-filling soul voice.
It went to #2 in the UK, #7 in the US and #1 in Canada.
Spencer Davis: “Once in the studio we started to mess about with riffs, and it must
have been eleven o’clock in the morning. We hadn’t been there half an hour, and this
idea just came. We thought, bloody hell, this sounds really good.
We fitted it all together and by about twelve o’clock, we had the whole song.
Steve had been singing ‘Gimme, gimme some loving’ – you know, just yelling
anything, so we decided to call it that.”
British rock prodigees THE WHO released their mastestroke single BABA O’RILEY (more than 775 million streasm on Spotify) 55 years ago,
on 23 Octobre 1971.
Pete Towshend said about the song’s inspiration: “The absolute desolation
of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid
and 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners considered
the song a teenage celebration: ‘Teenage Wasteland, yes! We’re all wasted!”
British punk pioneers THE DAMNED were the first
UK band to release a single, LP, and to tour the US.
That gangbuster debut single was NEW ROSE, released via the notorious
and legendary label Stiff Records (“If it ain’t stiff, it ain’t worth a fuck”).
It featured on their smashing first LP DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED
Unquestionably one of the best punk albums ever.
“Is she really going out with him?
I gotta a feelin’ inside of me It’s kinda strange like a stormy sea I don’t know why, I don’t know why I guess these things have gotta be I gotta new rose, I got her good Guess I knew that I always would I can’t stop to mess around
Like a brand new rose in town See the sun, see the sun it shines Don’t get too close or it’ll burn your eyes Don’t you run away that way You can come back another day”
Scottish rock & pop icon ROD STEWART (aged 81 now) scored a No. 1 hit
in the UK and the US with MAGGIE MAY (more than 440 million streams
on Spotify) today 55 years ago, on 9 October 1971.
The song was co-written with his guitarist Martin Quittenton and
appeared on his 3rd dolo LP, titled Every Picture Tells A Story.
It also hit the top spot #1 in Canada and Australia.
Written from Stewart‘s personal experience, Maggie May expresses the ambivalence
and contradictory emotions of a boy involved in a relationship with an older woman.
The woman’s name was not Maggie May. Rod The Mod has stated that
the name was taken from “an old Liverpudlian song about a prostitute”.
“Wake up, Maggie, I think I got somethin’ to say to you.”
The song title – also also referred to as “Track #1” due to the perceived offensiveness of
the actual title and perceived subject matter – fisting and drug addiction – caused changes to be made to the originally released version by TV and radio programmers, who also shortened the track.
Maynard Keenan (vocalist) explained: “‘Stink” and “fist” and the resulting perception
of “fist fucking” is actually symbolic in dealing with a friend of drummer Danny Carey who
“isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty” rather than a “write-off” of the sexual term. Instead, fisting is a metaphor for the real cause of ailment.”
#1 in Canada, #17 in the US.
More than 185 million streams on Spotify.
The video clip has, as of today, more than
27 million views.
The music video for the song was created with stop-motion animation techniques featuring live actors, and was directed by the band’s guitarist Adam Jones (who had previous experience in art direction and animation)
