This Day in Music
On this day in music, May 5, 1956, Elvis Presley concurrently scored his first US No.1 single and album with “Heartbreak Hotel” and his self-titled debut, respectively. Released as Presley’s first single with label RCA Victor, “Heartbreak Hotel” was recorded in Nashville with his band The Blue Moon Boys, guitarist Chet Atkins, and pianist Floyd Cramer. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, later becoming the rock’n’roll pioneer’s first million-selling single, and reached the Top 5 of the Country and R&B charts simultaneously. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995.
In 1963, Dick Rowe, then the head of A&R at Decca Records, watched The Rolling Stones perform at London’s Crawdaddy Club on the recommendation of George Harrison. Within a week, the band was signed to the label. Rowe was also known as being the man who turned away The Beatles, reportedly telling manager Brain Epstein that “guitar groups are on their way out.”
In 1996, Rage Against the Machine topped the Billboard 200 for the first time with Evil Empire. Their sophomore album, which landed in the Top 10 in territories across the globe, featured the Grammy-nominated singles “People of the Sun” and “Bulls on Parade.” Interestingly, the track “Tire Me,” which had no music video or radio airplay, won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance.
In 1973, David Bowie scored his first chart-topping album in the UK with Aladdin Sane. His sixth LP and follow-up to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the record marked his final with the full Spiders lineup and featured such singles as “The Jean Genie” and “Drive-In Saturday.” The album’s title was a pun on “A Lad Insane,” which Bowie described as “Ziggy Stardust goes to America.” Aladdin Sane would soon become Bowie’s most commercially successful record.
In 1992, Radiohead made their debut in UK record stores with The Drill. The four-song EP, which broke into the album chart, was recorded at Courtyard Studios in Oxon, England and produced by their manager, Chris Hufford. Their single, “Prove Yourself,” saw airplay on BBC Radio 1, giving them their first national radio airplay, while three songs off the EP would be re-recorded for their debut album, Pablo Honey, released the following year.
BORN ON MAY 5
1937: Johnnie Taylor
1942: Tammy Wynette
1948: Bill Ward (Black Sabbath)
1955: Roddy Radiation (The Specials)
1959: Steve Stevens
1959: Ian McCulloch (Echo & the Bunnymen)
1981: Craig David
1988: Adele
