Historic events this week from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Huey Lewis, Queen and The Doors
SEPTEMBER 12, 1975: PINK FLOYD RELEASES WISH YOU WERE HERE
The release of Wish You Were Here gave Pink Floyd their second straight US #1 album.
The album contains criticism of the music industry (“Have a Cigar”), self-reflection (“Wish You Were Here”) and a lengthy tribute to Syd Barrett (“Shine On You Crazy Diamond”).
With 6 million copies sold in the US, it remains their second biggest selling album behind The Dark Side of The Moon.
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2000: ALMOST FAMOUS
Stillwater, the fictitious band in Almost Famous, is a composite of the many artists Cameron Crowe covered as a journalist for Rolling Stone magazine.
One of those bands, Led Zeppelin, loved an early cut of the movie so much, they gave Crowe permission to use five of their songs in the final cut of the film.
“The Rain Song”, “Bron-Yr-Aur”, “Tangerine”, “Misty Mountain Hop” and “That’s the Way”
“That’s the Way” would be included on the Grammy award winning soundtrack album.
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SEPTEMBER 15, 1983: HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS’ SPORTS
Approaching 10 million records sold, Sports remains Huey Lewis and the News’ biggest album.
Sports, the band’s third album, was their first of two #1 albums, and contained the hits “Heart and Soul”, “I Want a New Drug”, “The Heart of Rock & Roll”, “If This Is It” and “Walking on a Thin Line”
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SEPTEMBER 17, 1978: QUEEN’S “BICYCLE RACE” VIDEO SHOOT
The final video for Queen’s “Bicycle Race” was banned in some countries, and heavily edited in others.
Queen hired 65 nude, professional models to ride bicycles around the race track at Wimbledon Stadium.
The video shoot also provided the images for promotional posters and the cover of the Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls single.
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SEPTEMBER 17, 1967: JIM MORRISON ANGERS ED SULLIVAN
Before singing “Light My Fire” on The Ed Sullivan Show, Morrison agrees to change the words “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher” to “Girl, we couldn’t get much better.”
He sings the offending line anyway, resulting in a lifetime ban from the show.
