Historic events this week from Black Sabbath, Lou Reed, CCR, Eagles, U2 and Tom Petty
OCTOBER 30, 1998: BLACK SABBATH ON LETTERMAN
Black Sabbath reunited for a one-off performance of “Paranoid” on The Late Show With David Letterman.
It was the original lineup’s first national TV appearance in 22 years
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OCTOBER 31, 2011: LOU REED & METALLICA’S LULU
Lou Reed & Metallica’s double album, Lulu, was Reed’s highest charting album (#33) since Sally Can’t Dance (#10) in 1974.
It proved to be Lou Reed’s final studio album. He died at 71; almost 2 years to the day after Lulu was released.
At Reed’s posthumous 2015 Rock Hall induction ceremony, his widow Laurie Anderson, revealed that David Bowie referred to Lulu as “Lou’s greatest work,” “his masterpiece,” and compared it to Reed’s 1973 album, Berlin. “It will take everyone a while to catch up.”
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NOVEMBER 2, 1969: CCR’s WILLY and the POOR BOYS
CCR released three albums in 1969:
Bayou Country in January, Green River in August and Willy and the Poor Boys in November.
The 2x Platinum album featured the double A-side “Down on the Corner” / “Fortunate Son”, which would sell over 2 million copies on its own.
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NOVEMBER 3, 1979: EAGLES’ THE LONG RUN IS #1
Five weeks after Eagles released The Long Run, it began a 9 week run at #1.
It would remain at the top of the charts for the rest of 1979, on its way to 7 million sold, and a Grammy award for “Heartache Tonight”
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NOVEMBER 4, 1988: U2 RELEASES RATTLE & HUM
The hybrid studio/live album featured covers of Bob Dylan and The Beatles as well as the hits “Desire”, “Angel of Harlem”, “All I Want Is You”, and the BB King collaboration, “When Love Comes to Town”.
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NOVEMBER 5, 1996: TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS BACK JOHNNY CASH
Johnny Cash’s Unchained, the second album in his acclaimed American Recordings series, featured Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers as his backing band.
The album included a number of covers of songs by Beck, Soundgarden, and even Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents”.
Unchained took home the Grammy for Best Country Album.
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