Historic events this week from The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and John Lennon
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SEPTEMBER 4, 1968: “STREET FIGHTING MAN” IS BANNED
The Stones classic was released shortly before the violent confrontation in Chicago between police and anti-war demonstrators.
Fearing “Street Fighting Man” would encourage further violence, Chicago radio stations banned the song from their playlists.
“I’m rather pleased to hear they have banned (the song), as long as it’s still available in the shops. The last time they banned one of our records in America, it sold a million.”
— Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: Off the Record
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SEPTEMBER 5, 2018: FLEETWOOD MAC’S NEW LINEUP
Five months after Lindsey Buckingham was dismissed from the band, Fleetwood Mac debuted it’s new lineup on Ellen.
The new lineup currently includes Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on lead guitar, and Neil Finn of Crowded House & Split Enz on vocals and rhythm guitar.
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SEPTEMBER 7, 1987: A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON
A Momentary Lapse of Reason was the 13th studio album from Pink Floyd.
Containing the songs “Learning to Fly” and “On the Turning Away”, it is the band’s first album without founding member Roger Waters.
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SEPTEMBER 9, 1971: JOHN LENNON’S IMAGINE
Lennon’s classic solo album contained much socio-political vitriol with songs like “Gimme Some Truth”, “I Don’t Want to Be a Solider, Mama” and “Imagine”, which Lennon summed up as “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it’s sugar-coated, it’s accepted”.
The very personal album contains the vitriolic “How Do You Sleep”, about Paul dissolving the Lennon/McCartney partnership.
Paul McCartney is the only former Beatle to not appear on the classic album.