Historic events this week from The Beatles, David Bowie, Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac and Prince
JANUARY 30, 1969: THE BEATLES’ ROOFTOP CONCERT
The Beatles: Get Back on Disney+ documented the making of their Let It Be album. The 468 min documentary culminates with the band’s legendary rooftop performance. During the unannounced rooftop concert, they performed “Get Back” (thrice), “Don’t Let Me Down” (twice), “I’ve Got a Feeling” (twice), “One After 909” and “Dig a Pony”.
At the conclusion of the 42-minute set, John Lennon quipped:
“I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we’ve passed the audition”
John Lennon
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JANUARY 30, 2016: DAVID BOWIE’S FIRST US #1 ALBUM
Bowie never had a #1 album in the US until his final album reached the top spot 3 weeks after his death.
His highest charting albums in the US are (position/album/year):
#1: Blackstar (2016)
#2: The Next Day (2013)
#3: Station to Station (1976)
#4: Let’s Dance (1983)
#5: Diamond Dogs (1974)
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JANUARY 31, 1989: ROY ORBISON’S MYSTERY GIRL
Roy Orbison completed his posthumous classic album one month before his death.
Featuring members of The Heartbreakers on 8 of 10 tracks, Orbison’s only Platinum album features the hit single “You Got It”.
Mystery Girl contains songs written by Bono & The Edge and Elvis Costello, as well as Orbison originals co-written with Tom Petty & Jeff Lynne.
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FEBRUARY 1, 1973: ALICE COOPER’S BILLION DOLLAR BABIES
Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare may be Alice Cooper’s biggest album, but Billion Dollar Babies has the distinction of being his only US #1 album.
The Platinum selling album features the classic rock radio staple “No More Mr. Nice Guy”.
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FEBRUARY 4, 1977: FLEETWOOD MAC’S RUMOURS
With over 40 million sold, Rumours is the #5 best-selling studio album of all time, and spent 31 non-consecutive weeks at #1, less than a year after its release.
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FEBRUARY 4, 2007: PRINCE’S HALF-TIME SHOW
Prince performed one of the greatest and most memorable halftime shows in history.
The setlist included Purple Rain classics “Let’s Go Crazy”, “Baby I’m a Star” & “Purple Rain”, as well as Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, CCR’s “Proud Mary”, Foo Fighters’ “Best of You” and Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”.
