This Day in Music
On this day in music, February 6, 1958, George Harrison joined The Quarrymen, a British skiffle/rock group formed by John Lennon. Named after a line from Lennon’s school song at Allerton’s Quarry Bank High School, the group originally consisted of Lennon and several of his classmates. Paul McCartney, who joined the band in October 1957, recommended Harrison, despite Lennon’s initial resistance. By the turn of the decade, as they began to shift further toward rock‘n’roll, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison would evolve into The Beatles.
In 1998, Carl Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, died at the age of 51. Wilson not only served as the legendary group’s lead guitarist, but also performed lead vocals on several of their biggest hits, including “God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” and “Kokomo.” While Wilson was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in early 1997, he continued to play with the Beach Boys through their entire summer tour. In 1988, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside his bandmates.
In 1982, with the double A-side “The Model/Computer Love.” Kraftwerk made history as the first German act to top the UK singles chart. As pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and received an Early Influence Award from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
In 1971, Led Zeppelin announced a UK tour through universities and small venues. With tickets priced at 60 shillings (less than $1), manager Peter Grant stated that they “decided to do the clubs and forget about the bread and the big concert halls.” The tour kicked off in Belfast and included the first public performance of their future hit, “Stairway to Heaven.”
In 1982, The J. Geils Band scored their sole No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the cheeky single, “Centerfold.” Simultaneously, their tenth studio album Freeze-Frame also began a four-week run at the top of the Billboard 200.
In 2014, the NME named Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as the greatest song of all time. The grunge anthem marked the opening track and lead single from the band’s second album, Nevermind.
BORN ON FEBRUARY 6
1945: Bob Marley
1946: Kate McGarrigle
1950: Natalie Cole
1962: Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses)
1964: Gord Downie (The Tragically Hip)
1966: Rick Astley
