Sept 7th in Pop History
On this day, September 7th, in:
• 1936 - Charles Hardin Holley, later Buddy Holly, was born in Lubbock, Texas. His name was misspelled on his first record contract and he decided to leave it that way
• 1957 - Sam Cooke releases You Send Me
On this day in…
• 1985 - For the first time in the Rock Era, the top three songs on the Hot 100 were all written for movies:
# 1: St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)
# 2: The Power of Love by Huey Lewis & the News (from Back to the Future)
# 3: We Don’t Need Another Hero by Tina Turner (from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
• 1987 - Michael Jackson releases Bad, the title track to his first album since Thriller. The song was supposed to be a duet with Prince, but the Purple One turned down the offer
Also, on this day in…
• 1994 - Weezer releases their breakthrough single, Buddy Holly named for the rock and roll icon on what would have been his 58th birthday. It's featured on the band's debut album, Weezer (aka The Blue Album)
(Performed on the set of Arnold’s Drive-In from TV’s Happy Days)
Weezer. This album is the self-titled debut album of this young band newly formed in Los Angeles. They had just been signed in 1993 by DGC, a subsidiary of Geffen Records, and were to begin work on an album. Geffen insisted that they obtain the expertise of an outside producer for the project, and somehow they were able to obtain the services of Ric Ocasek, frontman for The Cars, as their producer. Amazing! It obviously worked!
The emerging musical personality of Weezer was a sort of grunge rock sound, yet mixed with large doses of fun and levity, in contrast to the heavier, darker themes of the grunge world at the time. Jamie Atkins (UDiscover Music) characterizes the style of Weezer as a focus on “social awkwardness,” while blending themes of love, romance, and familial issues. Whatever it was, people instantly loved it. The so called Blue Album sold 3.3 million copies in the U.S., and 15 million copies worldwide. By 1995 it was certified triple platinum.
The color theme worked for Weezer, so they would go on to create subsequent albums known as their White, Red, Green, Teal, and Black albums. But our only focus today is the Blue, and arguably the best one. It is my favorite. Whether the Buddy Holly song, or The Sweater Song, it is just a really fun and exciting record to enjoy. I hope you’ll check it out:
Listen and enjoy Weezer on Spotify:
A Video of a live performance of Buddy Holly:
