This Day in Music
On this day in music, March 11, 1978, Meat Loaf‘s debut album Bat Out Of Hell began its record-breaking 416-week run on the UK chart. Despite spending almost nine years on the best-sellers list, it never reached the top spot, peaking at No. 9. In America, the album (which began Meatloaf’s long association with noted songwriter and producer Jim Steinman) plateaued at No.13 during an 83-week chart reign. To date, it has sold in excess of 43 million copies worldwide and has been certified 14x Platinum by the RIAA.
In 2016, 71-year-old prog-rock pioneer Keith Emerson took his own life. The virtuosic, classically trained keyboardist, songwriter, and producer initially rose to fame leading The Nice and in 1970, co-founded Emerson, Lake & Palmer, a supergroup with Greg Lake and Carl Palmer. Together, they made eight albums between 1970 and 1978 and reached No. 2 in the UK charts with their version of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare For The Common Man.”
In 2015, a Los Angeles jury ruled in the favor of Marvin Gaye’s family, who claimed that Robin Thicke’s 2013 US chart-topper, “Blurred Lines,” copied elements from the soul icon’s 1977 hit, “Got To Give It Up.” Thicke, along with co-writers Pharrell Williams and T. I., strenuously denied copying the Motown song but jurors decided that “Blurred Lines” infringed Gaye’s copyright and awarded his family $7.3m in damages.
In 1967, Lennon and McCartney’s publisher, Dick James, announced that 446 different versions of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” had been recorded since it was first released in 1965. In 1986, the Guinness Book Of Records estimated that 1,600 cover versions existed.
In 1965, Welsh singer Tom Jones reached No.1 on the UK singles chart with “It’s Not Unusual,” the first of sixteen British chart-toppers. The song, co-written by Jones’ manager Gordon Mills, was originally earmarked for Sandi Shaw but when she heard Jones’ demo version, she recommended he cut it instead.
In 1993, Oasis recorded their first demos at The Real People’s studio in Liverpool, which led them to sign with Creation Records. The demo was officially released in 2014 as a limited edition cassette called Live Demonstration, coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of their debut album, Definitely Maybe.
BORN ON MARCH 11
1947: Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge)
1950: Bobby McFerrin
1961: Bruce Watson (Big Country)
1964: Vinnie Paul (Pantera)
1968: Lisa Loeb
1979: Joel and Benji Madden (Good Charlotte)
1981: LeToya Nicole Luckett (Destiny’s Child)
