Browsing: Music

A Brief History On February 10, 1942, the first Gold Record ever was awarded to Glenn Miller for his hit song “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” Glenn Miller’s famous train had chugged its way along to sales of 1.2 million, and, as would become the practice, the “gold record” was awarded to him by the company that had produced the record (in this case, RCA Victor).  Later, in 1958, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began an industry-wide practice of awarding gold records for sales of 1 million copies of a single.  Starting n 1968, albums were awarded a gold record…

A Brief History February 7, 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the “British Invasion,” a period in which British rock and roll musicians flooded the United States, starting with the greatest of them all, The Beatles. Digging Deeper Arriving to throngs of adoring, screaming and crying girls and young women, the “Fab Four” made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show 2 days later. “Beatlemania” was born and America officially conquered!  From 1964 to 1970, the “mop tops” ruled the air waves and record stores like no other group before or since.  Even songs about The Beatles were played on…

A Brief History One week ago, on January 19, 2015, we featured 10 sets of famous siblings who had achieved greatness.  Today, we list 10 more sets of famous siblings with whom you may or may not be familiar, but who at one point in time had been prominent. This time we are including fictional siblings as well as real relatives.   Digging Deeper 10. The Thompson Twins (fictional). Not really twins or even siblings, this rock group, who played from 1977 to 1993, hit the charts with “Hold Me Now” and “Doctor Doctor” among other hits.  Honorable mention to Twisted Sister, a…

This Just In! Twenty-one months ago, acclaimed video game series Rock Band released what was believed to be the last of its more than 3,000 downloadable (DLC) tracks: Don McLean’s “American Pie.”  The song, famous for concerning “the day the music died,” seemed apropos to the death of the major band simulation video game franchises Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Yet, we are pleased to report that Harmonix has ended nearly two years of musical silence by reviving its former practice of offering fun songs to jam with your friends on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.  Read here for more information!…

A Brief History On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed on the streets of New York City by a crazed fan.  Lennon, a former Beatle, was also a well-known advocate for world peace and had been vocal about his anti-war stance.  Many musicians, be they rock n’ roll musicians or even folk singers, use their music as a means of protest and to communicate their feelings about hot and controversial topics such as politics, war, racism, sexism, etc.  Here 10 protest songs are listed.  These were not all necessarily big hits or particularly effective, but they were all spectacular on…