Historic events this week from John Fogerty, The Beatles, Deep Purple, Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Soundgarden, Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin
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MARCH 23, 1985: JOHN FOGERTY’S CENTERFIELD IS #1
John Fogerty’s Centerfield was his first solo album of all-original songs. Arriving 10 years after John Fogerty, his second solo album, Centerfield would spend a week at #1.
Containing “Rock and Roll Girls” (#5), “Centerfield” (#4) and “The Old Man Down the Road” (#1), Centerfield went on to sell over 2 million copies in the US.
MARCH 25, 1966: THE BEATLES’ “BUTCHER COVER” PHOTO SHOOT
The Yesterday and Today compilation was controversial due to the Beatles being draped in meat and doll parts on the cover.
The album was recalled when stores refused to sell it due to the offensive cover art.
The cover was replaced with a photo of the Beatles and a steamer trunk
MARCH 25, 1972: DEEP PURPLE’S MACHINE HEAD
Deep Purple’s sixth album, Machine Head, remains their biggest selling album with over 2 million sold.
Their highest charting album in the US (#7) contains Space Truckin’, Highway Star and the classic rock radio staple Smoke on the Water
MARCH 25, 1977: BOB SEGER’S NIGHT MOVES GOES PLATINUM
Bob Seger’s 9th LP was his first studio album to be credited to Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band.
Night Moves was propelled to Platinum status thanks to classic Seger standards such as “Rock & Roll Never Forgets”, “The Fire Down Below”, “Mainstreet” and the album’s title track.
MARCH 25, 2001: BOB DYLAN WINS AN OSCAR
Two months after winning his first Best Original Song Golden Globe for “Things Have Changed” from Wonder Boys starring Michael Douglas, Dylan became an Academy Award winner in the same category.
He accepted the award in Sydney via satellite.
“I want to thank the members of the Academy who were bold enough to give me this award for this song, which obviously is a song that doesn’t pussyfoot around nor turn a blind eye to human nature”
Bob Dylan
MARCH 26, 1994: SOUNDGARDEN’S SUPERUNKNOWN IS #1
Soundgarden’s fourth album, Superunknown, debuted at #1 ahead of Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Sprial.
The band finally became Grammy winners when the album won two Grammys:
Best Metal Performance (“Spoonman”) and Best Hard Rock Performance (“Black Hole Sun”).
MARCH 28, 1978: ALICE COOPER ON THE MUPPET SHOW
Hesitant to appear on The Muppet Show, because he didn’t want to soften the “Alice Cooper” character, he agreed after being told recent guests had included Christopher Lee and Vincent Price.
Acting as an agent of the Devil, he offers The Muppets fame & fortune if they’ll just sell their souls to him.
MARCH 28, 1973: LED ZEPPELIN’S HOUSES OF THE HOLY
Led Zeppelin’s fifth album, Houses of the Holy, contained the singles “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “D’yer Mak’er.” Houses of the Holy topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks and has sold over 11 million albums in the U.S.
MARCH 29, 1975: 6 ALBUMS ON BILLBOARD CHARTS AT ONE TIME
Led Zeppelin became the first band in history to have six albums at once on the Billboard Albums chart.
The albums and their chart position were:
124: Led Zeppelin III
116: Led Zeppelin
104: Led Zeppelin II
92: Houses of the Holy
83: “Led Zeppelin IV”
1: Physical Graffiti
