NOV 21-27: Historic events this week from The Beatles, Freddie Mercury, Metallica, The Band and George Harrison
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NOVEMBER 22, 1968: “THE WHITE ALBUM”
The Beatles’ self-titled epic, simply known as “the white album”, contains 30 songs in all. Only 16 feature all four Beatles.
Featuring “Back in the USSR”, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, The Beatles became the group’s 12th US #1 album.
“The white album” remains The Beatles’ biggest selling album in the US with 24 million in sales.
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NOVEMBER 23 & 24, 1991: CONFIRMS RUMOURS/PASSES AWAY
After years of rumors speculating that he was stricken with an illness, Queen’s Freddie Mercury confirmed that he was living with HIV/AIDS.
24 hours later, Mercury succumbed to AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia.
He was 45
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NOVEMBER 24, 1998: GARAGE INC.
Metallica followed up Load and Reload with a double album set of covers called Garage Inc.
Disc 1 featured covers of Black Sabbath, Bob Seger, BÖC and others. Disc 2 focused on the band’s earliest influences.
Metallica won a Grammy for their cover of the traditional Irish song, “Whiskey in the Jar”, popularized by Thin Lizzy.
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NOVEMBER 25, 1976: THE LAST WALTZ
The Band’s “Farewell Show”, The Last Waltz, was filmed by Martin Scorsese on Thanksgiving Day.
Intended to be just a performance by The Band, it morphed into an all-star night with guest performances from Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, Dr. John, Bob Dylan and many more.
The Last Waltz has been persevered in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
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NOVEMBER 27, 1970: ALL THINGS MUST PASS
George Harrison’s 3 LP third solo album, All Things Must Pass, was his first since the Beatles officially broke up.
The album features many songs dating back to ’66 and either went unused or were “rejected” by the Beatles, including:
Isn’t It a Pity, All Things Must Pass, Hear Me Lord, Let It Down and Art of Dying.
All Things Must Pass would spend 7 straight weeks at #1, on its way to going 6x Platinum.
