The Current Music Blog: July 30, 2009 Archive

Today In Music History: Happy Birthday Kate Bush

Posted at 6:17 AM on July 30, 2009 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

1966 - The Troggs started a two week run at No.1 on the Billboard singles chart with "Wild Thing".
1966 - The Beatles started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Yesterday...And Today', the group's 8th No.1 album.
1986 - Variety magazine reported that RCA had dropped John Denver from its roster after the release of his single, "What Are We Making Weapons For". Variety said the song upset the record company's new owner, General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the US.
1991 - A police officer was forced to tear up a traffic ticket given to the limousine that Axl Rose was travelling in after it made an illegal turn. Rose threatened to cancel that night's Guns N' Roses gig if the ticket was issued.
2003 - The largest concert in Canadian history took place, when The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, The Flaming Lips, Sass Jordan and The Isley Brothers played a benefit concert in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to prove that the city is safe from SARS. 450,000 spectators attended.
2003 - Sam Phillips the founder of the legendary Sun Records and studio died of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kate Bush is 51 today, born on this date in 1958. Her achievements include her 1978 British No.1 single "Wuthering Heights" plus over 20 other UK Top singles. Her 1985 UK No.1 album 'Hounds Of Love' spent 52 weeks on the chart. I played one of my favorite Kate tunes this morning, "Running Up That Hill."

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T-t-t-talkin' bout Generationals - song of the day

Posted at 10:01 AM on July 30, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (0 Comments)

Today on our Song Of The Day podcast we're featuring the New Orleans band Generationals. They recently unveiled their latest record, Con Law and you can grab their tune "When They Fight, They Fight" for free!

If you're a new S.O.D. subscriber, you'll also receive new music from Zee Avi, Those Darlins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros.

Next week we'll be featuring new music from Discovery, Portugal The Man, Datarock, Nino Moschella and new local music from Vampire Hands.

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3 songs to help you relive Rock the Garden... 7/30

Posted at 12:06 PM on July 30, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (0 Comments)
Filed under: My Three Songs

Gerry Borden from Eagan picked today's My 3 Songs set because...

"Need to relive Rock the Garden - one of the best outdoor venues of all time!"

Solid Gold - "Get Over It"
Yeasayer - "Tightrope"
Calexico - "Alone Again Or"

Make your "My 3 Songs" requests here.

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Happy Birthday Kate Bush!

Posted at 1:04 PM on July 30, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (5 Comments)

Kate Bush is 51 today. A huge influence on so much of modern music (quick - name a strong-willed female indie artist BEFORE her if you can), she was signed by EMI at the age of 16 after being recommended by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. In 1978, at 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut release "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song.

Having released 9 albums in 30 years and only doing one major tour in her entire career, Kate Bush has managed to find success on her own terms, never bowing to the record industry, rarely doing promotional work around her releases, and focusing primarily on motherhood for the past 10 years. While only one album has emerged from Bush since 1993, her influence continues to be massive. We love challenging, inconclastic artists who also succeed, so today let's put some of her best video clips together and pay birthday tribute to Kate Bush.

It all began with "Wuthering Heights"...

A favorite clip from the Hounds of Love album, "Cloudbursting" - featuring Donald Sutherland, rocker.

With Peter Gabriel and lots of hugging in "Don't Give Up"

Placebo rocking a cover of "Running Up That Hill"

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