New York’s Fillmore East closed its doors after its last show on June 27, 1971. Randy Bachman, songwriter and lead guitarist of the Guess Who, played his final show with the band at Fillmore East in May 1970. He returned with Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) when it reopened as the New Fillmore East (N.F.E.) in 1974.

Novelty songs first appeared in the late 19th century and were popular on the radio into the 1980s. One of the weirdest and most successful was 1966’s “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV.

Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty abhorred the recording industry. His first success as a member of Stealers Wheel, 1972’s “Stuck in the Middle With You,” was a parody of Bob Dylan’s style that poked fun at an industry cocktail party.

In this excerpt from the book Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever, two people who worked at promoter Bill Graham’s historic concert hall describe for the first time the night Paul McCartney — in disguise — and future wife Linda Eastman attended a show.

Bob Dylan said, “Everything you need to know about love is in ‘A Teenager in Love’” in the liner notes of Dion’s album, Blues with Friends.

Pacific Gas & Electric formed in Los Angeles in 1967 and was named after the West Coast power company, which forced the band to change its name to PG&E in 1971. The New York Times at the time called them “among the best and most underexposed talent in the country.”

'Rock Quiz: 1000 Question Classic Rock Challenge!' Book Excerpt Frank Mastropolo Atlantic 1. Aretha Franklin sang it in Blues Brothers 2000 A. “Think” B. “Respect” C. “Rock Steady”   2. “Silence Is Golden” was first recorded by A. The Soul Survivors B. The Tremeloes C. The Four Seasons   3. It plays at the end of the Breaking Bad finale A. “Blue Velvet” B. “Baby Blue” C. “Crystal Blue Persuasion”   4. He played the saxophone solo on “Baker Street” A. Raphael Ravenscroft B. Bo

“Disco Inferno” was first recorded as the title track of the Trammps’ 1976 album. Released as a single, “Disco Inferno” only reached №53. When the Philadelphia group’s tune was included in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, “Disco Inferno” was re-released and shot up to №1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.

Billboard magazine called Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” the №1 single of 1967. Critics have disputed The King’s contribution to the song, though Presley and Otis Blackwell are listed as its songwriters.

‘200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt Frank Mastropolo Rising Son Records As Arlo Guthrie returned on a flight home to Los Angeles from London in the mid-’60s, he discovered that his friends had slipped a small amount of drugs into his gifts. Guthrie’s fear of getting busted by US Customs inspired the song “Coming Into Los Angeles.” Guthrie admits that his lyric “Coming into Los Angeles / Bringing in a couple of keys” exaggerated the size of his stash. Guthrie recorded “

For their final album Goodbye the members of Cream — bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton — decided each would contribute one studio track; the rest of the album would be live cuts. The guitarist said in Conversations with Eric Clapton that The Band’s debut album inspired him to pursue a new direction for his last song.

Brian Regan’s debut album was 1997’s Brian Regan: Live. The album features the comedian’s witty, self-deprecating style. “I don’t like other people’s discomfort, you know?” Regan told the Boseman Daily Chronicle.

As the Artemis II mission continues around the Moon, it seemed like a good time to revisit this 2021 interview with keyboardist Rick Wakeman. Wakeman cemented his reputation as one of the godfathers of progressive rock after joining Yes in 1971. The keyboardist’s first album with the band, Fragile, included two staples of classic rock radio: “Roundabout” and “Long Distance Runaround.”

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” was included on R.E.M.’s 1987 album Document and reached №69. Its lyrics were written by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe in the stream-of-consciousness tradition of Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business” and Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

“At the Hop” was a №1 hit for Danny & the Juniors: Danny Rapp, David White, Frank Maffei, and Joe “Terry” Terranova. White and singer John Madara, who signed with Prep Records, originally wrote the song as “Do the Bop.”

New wave band Talking Heads, fronted by David Byrne, got its name from an issue of TV Guide. In the liner notes of Popular Favorites 1976–1972: Sand in the Vaseline, bassist Tina Weymouth said the magazine “explained the term used by TV studios to describe a head-and-shoulder shot of a person talking as ‘all content, no action’. It fit.”

By 1964, the members of The Band — Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson — had left Ronnie Hawkins’ backing band, the Hawks. After touring with Bob Dylan in 1965 and ’66, the group moved to a house near Dylan in Woodstock, NY. Recordings made in the basement studio were the beginnings of the Music From Big Pink album.

Guitarist Spencer Davis, bassist Muff Winwood, and Muff’s 14-year-old brother Steve Winwood on keyboards and vocals formed the Spencer Davis Group in 1963. The group had №1 hits in the UK with two songs by Jamaican-born Jackie Edwards: “Keep on Running” and “Somebody Help Me.” In 1966, manager Chris Blackwell decided the band had to write a song of their own.

Sebastian Maniscalco recorded 2014’s Aren’t You Embarrassed? at Chicago’s Harris Theater. Maniscalco told MSN that he makes a conscious effort to avoid politics in his shows.

‘100 Greatest 80s Pop Songs’ Book Excerpt Frank Mastropolo WEA Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks wrote “Leather & Lace” and recorded it as a duet with Don Henley of the Eagles. The song appeared on her 1981 solo debut album Bella Donna. Nicks intended “Leather & Lace” to be recorded by Waylon Jennings and his wife, Jessi Colter. “Waylon Jennings asked me to write a song called ‘Leather & Lace.’ That’s his title,” Nicks told High Times in 1982. “So I did, and I spent a lot of time