MAY 30-JUN 5: Historic events this week from Bob Seger, Roky Erickson, Ray Davies, Bruce Springsteen and U2
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MAY 30, 2017: SEGER’S GREATEST HITS CERTIFIED DIAMOND
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s Greatest Hits is their biggest selling
album with over 10 million sold in the US.
The solid collection of heartland rock contains five Top 5 hits: “Like a Rock” (#1), “Turn the Page” (#1), “Night Moves” (#4), “Still the Same” (#4) and “Against the Wind” (#5).
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MAY 31, 2019: ROKY ERICKSON DIES
Roky Erickson is another one of those artists who has flown under the radar while maintaining a very loyal cult following.
Classic rockers like Janis Joplin and ZZ Top consider(ed) themselves fans of Roky and his band The 13th Floor Elevators (one of the first psychedelic rock bands), and it’s even said that Janis based her singing style on Roky’s.
Roky’s sad story included paranoid shizophrenia, institutions, involuntary electroconvulsive therapy, and he later claimed an alien had inhabited his body.
No cause of death has ever been revealed. He was 71.
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JUNE 2, 1996: VH1 STORYTELLERS DEBUTS WITH RAY DAVIES
VH1 Storytellers, VH1’s answer to MTV Unplugged, began in 1996 with Ray Davies of The Kinks.
The 15 song set was dominated by classic Kinks tracks including “Lola”, “Tired of Waiting for You”, “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night”.
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JUNE 4, 1984: SPRINGSTEEN RELEASES BORN IN THE U.S.A.
Move over Born to Run. Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. was a game changer for him, selling 15 millions copies to date.
All seven singles released from the album would crack the Top 10 in the US.
“Dancing in the Dark” (#2), “Cover Me” (#7), “Born in the U.S.A.” (#9), “I’m on Fire” (#6), “Glory Days” (#5), “I’m Goin’ Down” (# 9), “My Hometown” (#6)
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JUNE 5, 1983: U2 PERFORM AT RED ROCKS
On the 31st date of the North American leg of their War Tour, U2 played Red Rocks Ampitheatre.
Two of the songs from that show would appear on their classic Under a Blood Red Sky live album.
The full Red Rocks show was later released on VHS/DVD as U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky.
The 20 song performance features tracks from the albums Boy (1980),
October (1981) and War (1983).