Inspired by the November 5 birthdays of Art Garfunkel, Ryan Adams, Ike Turner, Herman’s Hermits’ Peter Noone, Fishbone’s Angelo Moore, Gram Parsons, Bryan Adams, Inner City’s Paris Grey, Loleatta Holloway, A Flock of Seagulls’ Mike Score and Dominatrix’s Dominique Davalos; and the November 4 birthdays of Squeeze’s Chris Difford, Diddy/Puff Daddy, Fat Boys’ Kool Rock-Ski, and Frances Faye.
Inspired by the October 20 birthdays of Tom Petty, Snoop Dogg, Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, Wanda Jackson, The Tokens’ Jay Siegel, and Eddie Harris.
Inspired by the July 22 birthdays of Rufus Wainwright, Eagles’ Don Henley, Parliament-Funkadelic’s George Clinton, Chuck Jackson, Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers, Futureheads’ Ross Millard, Bobby Sherman, Selena Gomez, Keith Sweat and Supertramp’s Rick Davies.
Inspired by the July 20 birthdays of Carlos Santana, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, Kim Carnes, The Exciters’ Brenda Reid, Buddy Knox, JoBoxers’ Dig Wayne and The Dandy Warhols’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor; and the July 19 birthdays of Queen’s Brian May, Eagles’ Bernie Leadon, and Commander Cody.
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, the June 3 birthdays of Curtis Mayfield, Deniece Williams, Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter, C + C Music Factory’s David Cole, Suzi Quatro, Allen Ginsberg, Dan Hill, Boots Rudolph, Republica’s Saffron, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, and Beabadoobee, and the June 2 birthdays of The Rolling Stones‘ Charlie Watts, Chubby Tavares, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley, Bangles’ Michael Steele, Jimmy Jones, Skillz, Otis Williams, David Dundas, Marvin Hamlisch, Sammy Turner, and Robin Lamont.
Inspired by the passings of Millie Small and Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider, and the May 6 birthdays of Bob Seger, They Might Be Giants’ John Flansburgh, Man Parrish, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, 3rd Bass’ MC Serch, Mary MacGregor and Meek Mill.
Inspired by the March 30 birthdays of Eric Clapton, Tracy Chapman, Norah Jones, M.C. Hammer, Duck Sauce’s A-Trak, Lene Lovich and Pete Holmes.
The Beatles’ lead guitarist, George Harrison, wrote the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which appears on the band’s self-titled album, the one you call the white album. Harrison’s friend Eric Clapton plays guitar on the track. Clapton had a crush on Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. Boyd inspired the Harrison composition “Something” and Clapton’s “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.” Boyd and Harrison divorced in 1977. In 1979, Boyd and Clapton were wed. Top that, Shania Twain!
Today’s playlist is inspired by the February 25 birthdays of George Harrison, X’s John Doe, Faron Young, Afro B and Jim Backus.
In the latter half of the 1960s, Eric Clapton and George Harrison developed a close friendship. Clapton also developed a crush on Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. The two started having an affair, but Pattie didn’t want to leave her husband.
Clapton wrote a song about his feelings for Pattie. He called the song “Layla,” after a title character in the book The Story of Layla and Majnun. The book told of a man, Majnun, who was madly in love with a woman, Layla, but was forbidden to marry her. His longing for her drove him mad.
Clapton’s band Derek and the Dominos released “Layla” in 1971. Pattie and Eric started living together in 1974. They wed in 1979. George Harrison, along with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, played at the wedding. Clapton left Pattie for another woman in 1985.
Today Eric Clapton turns 71. Here are twenty tracks that feature the musician.
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Just how popular were the Bee Gees in 1978? So big that they accounted for two percent of the record industry’s profits that year.
On January 1, 1978, the trio, made up of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, were at #1 with “How Deep is Your Love,” which the three performed, wrote and co-produced. It stayed on top for three weeks. In February they returned to the #1 position with “Stayin’ Alive.” That stayed at #1 for four weeks. It was knocked from the top spot by “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water,” performed by Andy Gibb, younger brother of the Bee Gees. “Thicker Than Water” was co-written and co-produced by Bee Gee Barry Gibb. “Thicker Than Water” was knocked from the top spot after two weeks by “Night Fever,” performed, written and co-produced by the Bee Gees. That song remained at #1 for eight weeks, only to be knocked from the top by “If I Can’t Have You,” performed by Yvonne Elliman and written and co-produced by the Bee Gees. Starting in mid-June, “Shadow Dancing,” written by the Bee Gees and Andy Gibb, co-produced by Barry Gibb, and performed by Andy Gibb went to #1 and stayed there for seven weeks. In late August Frankie Valli had his first #1 single in three years with “Grease,” written and co-produced by Barry Gibb.
Not everything they touched hit #1 that year. “Emotion,” written by Barry and Robin Gibb, co-produced by Barry Gibb and performed by Samantha Sang, peaked at #3 in March 1978. It was kept from #1 by “Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive.”
The album from which “Night Fever,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep is Your Love” and “If I Can’t Have You” were taken is the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever, which spent 24 weeks at #1 and became the largest-selling album in history at that time. It remains the only soundtrack to have spawned four #1 singles. It could have been five if the Bee Gees’ version of their composition “More Than a Woman” had been released as a commercial single. Instead, the Tavares version of the song, which also appears on the soundtrack, was the single and became a top forty hit. Saturday Night Fever became the first soundtrack album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The Bee Gees also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (both “How Deep is Your Love” and “Stayin’ Alive”) and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices (for “Stayin’ Alive”), and Barry Gibb, along with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, won Producer of the Year.
In 1978 the Bee Gees were connected with another high-profile movie project: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in which they starred and performed on the soundtrack. Though Robin Gibb hit #15 with the film’s “Oh! Darling”, the album and film were considered flops.
The relative failure of Sgt. Pepper’s notwithstanding, the Bee Gees remained huge throughout 1978. Their blend of pop, soul, and dance music gave them mass appeal. Besides hitting #1 on the pop charts, “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever” were top ten hits on the r&b and disco charts.
Tunes du Jour celebrates Throwback Thursday this week with the music of 1978. The Bee Gees may have dominated the mainstream, but as you’ll hear, rumblings of new and exciting permutations of rock & roll were rumbling under the surface.
We’ll kick off today’s playlist with the song that went to #1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the US.
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