Sunday, November 11, 2012

LookBack #18: October Monkee-ing Around

This week our Classic Track LookBack looks back at The Monkees first single, a late 80s #1 album from the Boss and the making of one specific Beatles LP.

1966 - The Monkees

We'll begin with this week in 1966, when The Monkees had their first #1 song with Last Train to Clarksville. It was later revealed that though they sang on their early recordings, they did not play any of the instruments due to TV filming commitments. Since we were not privy to that fact until later, could we say that someone was engaging in a little Monkee business? (Ok, I'll wait while you groan.) Then, since most of us who listened to pop music back in '66 are familiar with the A Side of The Monkees' first hit single, we'll flip it over and treat you to the B Bide.

Take a Giant Step


1967 - The Beatles

It seems that albums are born in all sorts of ways. Take The Beatles' album Magical Mystery Tour for instance. This week in 1967, the group finished recording the tracks Flying, Magical Mystery Tour, and the rather eclectic Blue Jay Way. At that point, they had recorded six new songs, which was not enough for a new album. So they decided to release a Double EP, a format which meant that the 6 songs would be spread over 2 45s, with each including two songs on one side with one song on the other. Still with me? Ok, the story continued with Capitol Records concluding that the EP format wouldn't fly in North America. So they took the 6 new songs, added 5 of the 6 tracks that had released on singles during 1967 and voila, the Magical Mystery Tour album was born. Here's its most eclectic track.

Blue Jay Way


1987 - Bruce Springsteen

In November '87 Springsteen's 8th studio album Tunnel of Love topped the charts. The album went triple platinum in the US and featured one of the Boss' biggest hit singles, Brilliant Disguise, which peaked at number 5 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Brilliant Disguise


Till next time, that's another Classic Track LookBack at rock history.

Oh and don't forget that here at Maindog Sound, you can always visit previous #rockhistory tweets at their new(ish) Storify home!


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