Historic events this week from The Doors, Queen, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds and Paul McCartney.
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.
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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 19, 1970: AFTER THE GOLD RUSH
Neil Young’s third solo album was inspired by a film script written by actor Dean Stockwell.
Having been suffering writer’s block, Young became inspired and envisioned his new songs fitting in well with the movie.
The film was never made, but it resulted in After the Gold Rush. Neil Young’s first masterpiece.
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SEPTEMBER 19, 1981: THE ROLLING STONES’ TATTOO YOU IS #1
Tattoo You was the Rolling Stones’ 9th straight US #1 album.
The album sold over 4 million copies thanks to the massive single, “Start Me Up”.
Their final album to go #1 in the US, Tattoo You would remain at the top for 9 straight weeks
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SEPTEMBER 20, 1973: GRAM PARSONS’ BODY STOLEN & BURNED
At a friend’s funeral, the former Byrd/Flying Burrito Brother told his road manager that he one day wanted his ashes scattered in The Joshua Tree desert.
Upon Parsons’ death, Phil Kaufman impersonated an undertaker, hijacked his friend’s remains, and burned the body in Joshua Tree.
Gram Parsons died of an overdose at age 26. Two months shy of the dreaded 27 Club.
A loose account of the body-theft was made into the movie, Grand Theft Parsons, starring Johnny Knoxville as Phil Kaufman.
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SEPTEMBER 22, 2018: EGYPT STATION IS #1
To celebrate the release of his 17th solo album, Paul McCartney played a private show at Grand Central Station.
Egypt Station became McCartney’s first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
It was his first #1 album since Tug of War in 1982.
