December 1, 2025 • 26 mins
What do a groundbreaking song, a pivotal moment in civil rights, and a name change have in common? Join Buzz Knight and Harry Jacobs, the "Master of Music Mayhem," as they take you on a captivating journey through music history in this week's episode of takin' a walk. This music history podcast is not just about the notes and lyrics; it’s about the stories that shaped our world. Buzz Knight, your engaging host, dives deep into significant events that occurred from December 1st to December 7th, exploring the rich tapestry of sound and social change.
Harry Jacobs, full of energy and humor, shares his plans to officially change his name to Harry Mayhem Jacobs, setting a playful tone that resonates throughout the episode. Together, they unravel the controversial release of "Eight Miles High" by The Byrds in 1966, a song that not only defined a genre but also sparked debates about its psychedelic sound and the misconceptions surrounding its meaning. This is just one of the many inside music stories that make takin' a walk a must-listen for music lovers.
The conversation takes a poignant turn as they reflect on Rosa Parks' courageous act in 1955, connecting her pivotal moment in the civil rights movement to the powerful influence of music during that era. Buzz and Harry explore how these historical events intertwine with the melodies that echo through time, reminding us of the profound impact music has on social change.
As the episode unfolds, they also celebrate the release of iconic albums like "Four Way Street" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and discuss the remarkable story of Bob Marley surviving an assassination attempt in 1976. With each anecdote and piece of trivia, listeners are invited to appreciate the deep connection between music and history, making this episode an enriching experience.
Throughout the episode, Buzz Knight and Harry Jacobs encourage us to be present in the moment, emphasizing the importance of disconnecting from modern distractions to truly enjoy the music that has shaped our lives. Whether you’re a casual listener or a dedicated fan, this episode of takin' a walk offers a unique glimpse behind the music that has defined generations. Don't miss out on this engaging discussion filled with laughter, insights, and a reminder of the power of music to inspire change.
Join us on takin' a walk—where music history comes alive and every episode is a new adventure! Tune in on iHeartPodcasts and immerse yourself in the stories that resonate beyond the notes!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Buzz night and this is to take in a
Walk podcast. Welcome, and this is another episode of This
Week in Music History the Master of Music Mayhem Harry Jacobs.
That's see that term has stuck, Harry, it really has
like probably a bad piece of gum on your shoes,
(00:24):
maybe from your opinion, or maybe you like it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know. Welcome either way.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have a stack of paper in front of me
right here, and this right here is official name change
paper work. I am changing my name from Harry Truman
Jacobs to Harry Mayhem Jacobs. Okay, paperwork, build out, I'm
signing it, and I'm bringing it down to the courthouse.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And make sure you have copies in duplicate, triplicate nor rise. Yeah,
all right above this is this is a great week, Buzz.
There's a lot going on. I think, you know, if
I were in college, I could do a thesis on this.
Remember first through the seventh there were a lot of
big things that happened. Beginning in nineteen sixty six, the
(01:06):
Birds released eight Miles High. This was a controversial record.
If you remember at the time, it was a very
psychedelic sounding song. It is a very psychedelic summer. It's
a song that was vastly different than what they had
been doing. Think about mister Tamboree Man and how folky
(01:27):
you know that that sounded. This was a groundbreaker, heavy distortion.
Roger mcgwynn, this modal sound he stole essentially from John Coltrane,
you know, with jazz, and there's like this fusion thing
and the song well, you know, a neat song.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Not but I don't think one of their best. It's
one that created a lot of grief for the band
because this insinuation that eight Miles High had to do
with being high. It was to be a drug song, right,
you remember that was banned on radio. Some radio stations
didn't play it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And we don't think that really back when it was created,
that it was a drug song.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well the you know me I do the deep dive.
This song was about their first trip to London in
nineteen sixty five and the disorientation of international travel, right,
big time change. This was their first time doing that.
(02:33):
It was a it was a big deal and it
was just about the concept of you know, being at
thirty thousand or forty thousand feet, you know, traveling. You know,
if they were coming from the West coast. It's you know,
it's twelve hours. It's not six hours like it is
for you guys on the East coast to get over London,
probably longer in those days, and it was a disorienting
thing for them. So the way that it's told is
(02:58):
that it has nothing to do with drug. It's got
to do with disorientation of international flight. And it was just,
you know, it was a kind of a nothing in
a way song. But the thought was, well from the critics,
this is a drug song. It's about being eight miles high.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I think it was the disorientation of international flight while
doing peyote buttons or something to that effect.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, you're probably uncovering something that truthfully no one
thought of because it was so obvious eight miles high. Oh,
it's a drug song, but nonetheless a great song. Oh
how you slice it? I got some trivia for you. Yeah,
probably asked it to you a year ago. In five seconds,
(03:46):
Harry Jacob's Master of Mayhem. What is Roger mcgwin's real
first name?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I can't Jim, is it really? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I have a Roger mcgwinn story for you. This will
show you how delusional that the master of music Mayhem is.
Nineteen ninety five. You and I are working together in
the prew at w ZLX. At one point in time,
Roger mcgwinn's going to come up and spend some time
(04:22):
with Chuck Nolan, and it's my assignment to go down
to the first floor or to the parking garage and
get Roger mcgwinn out of his limousine. You said, hey,
would you go meet Roger mcgwinn and Braham up. That
was one of the assignments I love. When a star came,
it was always me that was dispatched to go fetch them.
So Roger mcgwinn and I have this conversation about guitars
(04:44):
because he brought this beautiful Martin.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Guitar with him to play. I said, well, you haven't
played guitar since I was a kid. I love guitar,
and you know, blah blah blah, and so we're talking
about guitars. It's a ten minute elevator ride and walk
or whatever it is to get up to the studios,
get up to the production room.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I put his guitar and I carry his guitar. I
put his guitar down. He said, open it up, open
that up. And I open it up and it's this
beautiful Martin guitar worth thousands of dollars. And I said, oh,
it's magnificent. And I walked away and I said, there
you go, and he said, play me something, and I
picked up his guitar and I played, So you'll want
(05:22):
to be a rock and roll star.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
For Roger mcgwinn, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And he said to me, let me show you how
I play that song a little different than how you
played it. And I said, yes, sir, and I handed
it to him like I had the you know, Faberge egg.
A great Roger mcgwinn's story for me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Fantastic and not at all surprising, because him and a
radio station visit which always included him back in those
days playing you know as the lex happened in Norfolk,
Virginia wouldn't have been any nicer for being such a
(06:09):
rock legend.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Nineteen fifty five a monumental moment in civil rights history.
We don't do a lot of politics, we don't do
a lot of things like this, but Rosa Parks in
nineteen sixty or fifty five. Rather, she refused to give
up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, and this
(06:31):
sparked this movement ultimately led to and I didn't realize
that Martin Luther King connection to this, but Martin Luther
King was really involved in leading that boycott of the
buses in Montgomery at that point in time. They boycotted
(06:53):
the buses for over a year. It was like three
hundred and eighty days or something like this. Rosa Parks
was actually working at the end of ACP at the
time too. I didn't realize that she had some administrative role.
And she and two other people on the bus. Because
the bus, the white section of the bus filled up.
The bus driver demanded that they move for one white man.
(07:16):
But I came across this as I was thinking about
the week, and I thought, you know, I want to
spend a minute talking about this. It's an important event
in our history well.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Because there's so many things that had implications with including
around music and the way music talked about it sure
or could talk about it. So it's a critical part
of our life to you know, even before our time acknowledge.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So at any rate, here's one that's interesting, and as
I dug into it, it seemed to get more interesting
for me. December second, nineteen seventy one, Crosby, Stills, Nash
and Young released Four Way Street. This was, you know,
not one of the greatest albums of all time, nice
piece of work, but it was one that sparked a
(08:04):
lot of controversy. People said it was self indulgent, people
said there was this disingenuous element to it. It was
thought to be disingenuous because they went in after the
fact and re recorded a whole bunch of tracks. Harmonies, vocals,
guitar solos, Guitar solos were replaced completely on many tracks.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But think about that now, that wouldn't be anything unusual.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
You're right, it wouldn't. I think because the technology wasn't
what it is now. That probably played a role in
that it was an interesting album because there were, you know,
the band was very different when you think about you know,
Graham Nash and Steven Stills and Neil Young and David Crosby,
you know, musically they were all kind of on different planes.
(08:53):
Neil Young was really wanting to be electric, really wanting
to represent rock, heavy rock in their music, and it
was one that created tension within that band. The tour
in nineteen seventy was one that was split up. First
half of the show was acoustic and the second half
of the show was electric. The album represented that, you know,
(09:19):
there was you know, a great kind of traditional version
of Lovely one Year with on it. There was a
raucous Ohio. There were two things in particular that surprised
me and went back and I downloaded the album this morning.
So before we did this, I was listening to the album.
Southern Man in particular was one because there's a fourteen
minute version of Southern Man on four Way Street, and
(09:42):
I think when people are talking about you know, self indulgent,
that makes it longer than Freebird, right, you know at
that point, and of course we got a skinnered Neil
Young connection to with Southern Man and Sweep Home Alabama.
But this, you know, comes up on the heels of
what was an important moment for them with the Dejabu
(10:04):
album and then Kent State shooting and that you know,
Ohio was released very quickly after that. But it was
interesting album, not really loved by the critics. They kind
of pulled it apart and when I listened to it
this morning, I was kind of you know.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I understood the critics part.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, I understood it. On this date in nineteen ninety two,
on December second, the first text message was sent. What
year do you think that was done?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I think, did you just say nineteen ninety two? Oh
I did? I gave it away.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I'm only drinking water.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I'm thinking, did I just have a stroke or something
like that, and I think I heard the answer.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, you did. Anyway, I'm pulling that back. You get
the points, and you know.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What the reality is, it changed everything, probably for the
worst ever since.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It really did. But nineteen ninety two, I mean, none
of us, you know, we didn't have really no one
was using cell phones really at that point. It was,
this was at the very beginning. I remember having a
cell phone around that time, but you know, the thought
of sending a message that way, it just wasn't something
we thought about.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, but now it's wrecked everything. You see couples who
can't go to dinner without staring at who's texting them
or what's on their feet, or kids that are doing that.
And I mean, granted, yet it's an easy way. I know,
I'm crabbing, and man, man, it's an easy way to communicate.
I get that there's some of it that's great, but
it's ruined a lot of things in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Let's say we can't get our faces out of our phones.
That's right, we just can't. So you're right, be present, right, yep,
it's important. Now we tend to stay away from pop.
We'll go disco a little bit, you'll go disco. I'll
go disco a little bit, but we tend to stay
away from pop. Britney Spears' birthday is December second. Today
(12:15):
she's off the rails again. I mean she is the
dancing and the outfits and the and the behavior. It's
just like these folks. And Federal Line said this in
the book that he just put out. All these people
that spent all this time and energy on the Free
(12:38):
Britney movement to.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Get her out of that.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Conservatorship ought to be spending their energy now with a
save Brittany effort.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Oh it's sad.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
She's in rough shape right now, my opinion. I follow
her on on Instagram and I see these kooky videos
that she's putting out, and I see what she's doing
you don't pay much attention to that stuff. But but
I watch it and I you know, I kind of
watch it in horror.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Said. December third, nineteen sixty five, the Beatles released Robert
Soul in the UK, an amazing record. We don't have
a week without something Beatles.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Doesn't get much better than Rubber Soul now.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
In nineteen seventy six, Bob Marley survived an assassination and
a TEP You remember this story, right, I do. He
was in Jamaica. It was two days before the Smile
Jamaica concert was to happen. That was a concert that
was supposed to quell all of this political unrest that
(13:43):
was happening in Jamaica. He was home, He was home
with his wife, and he was home with his manager,
and seven gunmen stormed his home. All three people were shot.
His manager, Don Taylor was shot five times and he lived.
His wife was shot, Marley was shot, and two days
(14:06):
later Bob Marley played that benefit. Wow he gets shot
in two days later he played but incredible. He ended
up after that, He ended up going into exile. He
moved to London at that point. After that, But an
interesting moment, you know, being music people like we are
(14:26):
and being the you know, master of music. Man. I
really am loving going into the history of these artists
that we love, and we often, you know, we forget
more than we ever knew.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Sometimes sometimes yeah, you know, or who we ran into.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, absolutely interesting date in history. In nineteen eighty nine,
President Bush and Mikhel Warbachef declared that the Cold War
was finally over. Big Day, December fourth, nineteen seventy one.
This was the day that the Mantro Casino burn to
the ground during a Frank Zappa concert. Do you know
(15:08):
how the fire was started?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I'm listening to the lyrics in my head of Smoke
on the Water, so.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I will.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
At some deep purple.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, And at a Frank Zappa show, someone shot some
idiot shot a flare gun and and then it caused
this catastrophic fire. The reason they call it that is
they were staying across Lake Geneva at a hotel and
they saw the fire and the actual smoke coming across
the water is what stayed with them. They had been
(15:42):
there to record, right, They had been the casino had
a recording studio inside, and and that was the deal.
Some idiot with a flare gun. Shot. The flare gun
burned the whole place to the ground. Smoke on the water,
the smoke coming across Lake Geneva at and then they
saw it from the balconies to their hotel.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's a crazy story.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
They went on by the way to record. They are
still but they did it in a mobile truck. They
brought out a mobile unit.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Listen, it's the song that all of us learn how
to play the first time we pick up a guitar.
Here you go, three little things to remember, and it's easy.
And you know, I could plug it into my little
Fender telecaster and the twin amp and it would sound
rocket and you would go, oh, that sounds good. And
it's simple. Right. Yeah, of course you could play Smoke
on the Water. Everyone can. Nineteen eighty led Zeppelin on
(16:36):
December fourth announced their breakup after the death of John Bonham.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Wow, this was.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
An awful moment on many levels for rock music. The
fact that they decided not to go on bottom was
so important to the band that they thought they couldn't
do a justice and that was the end of it.
It was quick and while they've come to get there
are a couple of times. There's there's not been a period
(17:03):
of time where they were considered reunited.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Have you heard of Robert Plant's new band. I just
saw him on Colbert. Yeah, the band called Saving Grace.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, that was a great appearance. If you haven't seen
the Colbert he didn't play. He just sat with Colbert
and clearly there's some history.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Between those two. But he he was smiling and I
think a good time.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Did he tell a story about how Alison Kraus taught
him how to sing?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
He didn't tell that story.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
No, he talked about the last time he saw Colbert,
which was on the Colbert Report, and I think he
slipped them a little bit of what do you say?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Raoul? Raoul was the code name that we that people
we know. That's right, he used for marijuana back in
the day before it was leaked.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Raoul. I remember from when I was a young Matt.
That's right, still are yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Nineteen eighty one PanAm Airlines ceased to exist on this day.
They were on the way down the flight from Lockerby
had happened. They were never a domestic airline either. They
just went through one issue after another that arguably a
(18:24):
great airline to fly prior to that PanAm one or
three bombing, but this was the day in nineteen ninety
one that they went out of business. I think it
was a mistake for them to not fly domestically. They
were just doing international stuff and it was mismanaged at whatever.
I just thought it was an interesting note. I knew
a girl. I know a girl who lives in Shrewsbury,
mass not terribly far from where you are right now.
(18:46):
Her name is Nicole Blander and her sister NICKI was
on that flight and I remember being in Worcester one
that happened. I knew Nicole, I knew Niki from when
they were kids, and it was crazy to know someone
in a tragedy like that. December fifth, nineteen seventy three,
(19:07):
Paul McCartney in the Wings released Band on the Run.
This is another one that the album was in a
way shrouded with some controversy, and I didn't realize that
the band had basically fallen apart. The band had broken
up just before the recording of the album started, So
what ended up happening. What's on the album is McCartney
(19:30):
and Linda and Denny Lane, and that's it. McCartney played
drums Wow, I bad on the front, and he played
most of the guitar parts wow. So I didn't realize
that it was also recorded in Lagos, Nigeria. McCartney was
(19:51):
robbed while they were there.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Do you recall that?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And when they robbed him, I'm sure they took they
took money. I'm sure they took all his drugs, but
they also took the recordings that he had to that
point of the album of the tracks, and he literally
had to go back into the studio and do it
for memory. So between the getting rubbed at knife point,
(20:16):
the band basically falling apart, it was kind of a
mess and it turned out to be an unbelievable record.
He won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album in
nineteen seventy three or seventy four as a result of
that great album. Listen to that song in the same
(20:38):
way that Live and Let Die was just kind of
an epic in terms of all the changes and how
musically it was so interesting. Go back and listen to
band on the run. I went and did that this
morning because I always loved the song. But I thought
about the song has like three different pieces to It
has this kind of light opening thing with keyboards, and
then it rocks and then it's very theatrical at the end.
(21:02):
All in four minutes and some change. Ye. Right, It's
just a great record. And I believe that all the
songs on that album once the song ended, what happened
after the song was basically ending. Do you remember the
hook from band on the Run we'd come in at
the end?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
On no songs, Yes, verified it myself this morning. Kind
of a crazy thing to do. But like if they
didn't know they were listening to band on the Run,
well you were listening to something band on the ruck.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Branding branding is this is early days brandingh December sixth,
nineteen sixty nine, the Altamont concert happened. This was build
by a lot of people to be the Woodstock of
the West, and it was anything about that. There was
(21:54):
nothing peace and love about that show at all the
Stones where the headliner. This was the last date of
their sixty nine tour. And I don't know, I guess
I should know this. I don't know if it was
a Bill Graham event or who's the fact it was,
but someone whether it be the Stalines or the promoter,
someone thought it was a good idea to hire the
(22:16):
Hell's Angels to do security, and four people lost their
lives and there wasn't a moment of peace from the
beginning of the concert. The has were roughing people up.
It was an ugly day for rock.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Should have been called the Hot Mess Concert.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Yeah, and it really A lot of people said at
the time that it was the end of the peace
era of the sixties. I don't know if that was true,
but of course it being the end of nineteen sixty nine,
it's probably a fitting way to describe it. Not a
great end for the sixties at all. And there were
I think there were like three hundred thousand people or
(22:56):
more at that show as well. So nothing but but
Chaos was supposed to be Woodstock of the West, and
it was anything but. That nineteen seventy, the Doors played
their final concert with Jim Morrison in New Orleans. Buzz
seems to think that Jim Morrison is still alive. Every
time we talk about Jim Morrison, you go still live.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
He's not coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I could see the show popping up outside of Syracuse
any anytime listen.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I've been told he was seen at Heidie's of Liverpool
in Syracuse, the famous restaurant they had oftened in nineteen seventeen.
So you know, who knows, But I think he's we
know he's dead. December seventh, nineteen seventy three. This is
a good one. This is a really it's one of
my favorite stories of the week. Billy Joel's Piano Man
(23:45):
was released. He worked at the Executive Room in La
the Executive Room Bar in La as a you know,
the piano player. He would sit in that bar and
he would play. He was also Billy Joel at the time,
but he used his first in his middle name, Billy
Martin or Bill Martin, right, So he played at the bar.
(24:06):
He didn't have any money, he needed to make money,
and he sat there for six months and he was
the piano man. Four facts about pio Man John at
the bar was the name of the bartender, was the
actual guy, wasn't just some rhyme scheme thing. Paul the
real estate agent who was a novelist, was actually a
(24:29):
real estate broker and was writing a novel. And Davy
Who's still in the Navy was based on a guy
by the name of Davy Hines, real person, and the
fourth one and the waitress practicing politics was his first wife. Oh, libe,
how about that? How about that?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
For Billy Joel for the piano man in eighty four,
Bob Guildolf, do they know it's Christmas time? This was
on the of him seeing a documentary that the BBC
had produced. That documentary was about the famine and Ethiopia,
and it caused him to mobilize the forces, right. He
(25:14):
got everyone, really, anyone that's anyone at that time was recruited,
Phil Collins, Sting Bono. It was a who's who of
musicians from across the pond. Duran Durant, George Michael was
involved in it. Just a great feel good song. It
(25:36):
sold a million copies in the first week. There's a monster.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Guildolf got it done, Yeah he did.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Pearl Harvard was attacked on this day in nineteen forty one.
I've been down this rabbit hole watching stuff about Pearl Harvard,
watching something on Netflix right now about history, and it's
just the older I get, the more interested I get
in history, and this was just an incredible thing to happen.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Anyway, that is the week and music history first through
the seventh and December bus Well.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Master of music Mayhem.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You left it in Mayhem with that last story, but
it does need to be reported. But the Harry Jacobs
thank you so much for this week in music history
for the week of December the first, and thanks to
all of you for listening to the Taking a Walk podcast.
We're part of the iHeart podcast network.
I'm Buzz night and this is to take in a
Walk podcast. Welcome, and this is another episode of This
Week in Music History the Master of Music Mayhem Harry Jacobs.
That's see that term has stuck, Harry, it really has
like probably a bad piece of gum on your shoes,
(00:24):
maybe from your opinion, or maybe you like it.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know. Welcome either way.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have a stack of paper in front of me
right here, and this right here is official name change
paper work. I am changing my name from Harry Truman
Jacobs to Harry Mayhem Jacobs. Okay, paperwork, build out, I'm
signing it, and I'm bringing it down to the courthouse.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And make sure you have copies in duplicate, triplicate nor rise. Yeah,
all right above this is this is a great week, Buzz.
There's a lot going on. I think, you know, if
I were in college, I could do a thesis on this.
Remember first through the seventh there were a lot of
big things that happened. Beginning in nineteen sixty six, the
(01:06):
Birds released eight Miles High. This was a controversial record.
If you remember at the time, it was a very
psychedelic sounding song. It is a very psychedelic summer. It's
a song that was vastly different than what they had
been doing. Think about mister Tamboree Man and how folky
(01:27):
you know that that sounded. This was a groundbreaker, heavy distortion.
Roger mcgwynn, this modal sound he stole essentially from John Coltrane,
you know, with jazz, and there's like this fusion thing
and the song well, you know, a neat song.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Not but I don't think one of their best. It's
one that created a lot of grief for the band
because this insinuation that eight Miles High had to do
with being high. It was to be a drug song, right,
you remember that was banned on radio. Some radio stations
didn't play it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And we don't think that really back when it was created,
that it was a drug song.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well the you know me I do the deep dive.
This song was about their first trip to London in
nineteen sixty five and the disorientation of international travel, right,
big time change. This was their first time doing that.
(02:33):
It was a it was a big deal and it
was just about the concept of you know, being at
thirty thousand or forty thousand feet, you know, traveling. You know,
if they were coming from the West coast. It's you know,
it's twelve hours. It's not six hours like it is
for you guys on the East coast to get over London,
probably longer in those days, and it was a disorienting
thing for them. So the way that it's told is
(02:58):
that it has nothing to do with drug. It's got
to do with disorientation of international flight. And it was just,
you know, it was a kind of a nothing in
a way song. But the thought was, well from the critics,
this is a drug song. It's about being eight miles high.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I think it was the disorientation of international flight while
doing peyote buttons or something to that effect.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
So I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, you're probably uncovering something that truthfully no one
thought of because it was so obvious eight miles high. Oh,
it's a drug song, but nonetheless a great song. Oh
how you slice it? I got some trivia for you. Yeah,
probably asked it to you a year ago. In five seconds,
(03:46):
Harry Jacob's Master of Mayhem. What is Roger mcgwin's real
first name?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Oh, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I can't Jim, is it really? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I have a Roger mcgwinn story for you. This will
show you how delusional that the master of music Mayhem is.
Nineteen ninety five. You and I are working together in
the prew at w ZLX. At one point in time,
Roger mcgwinn's going to come up and spend some time
(04:22):
with Chuck Nolan, and it's my assignment to go down
to the first floor or to the parking garage and
get Roger mcgwinn out of his limousine. You said, hey,
would you go meet Roger mcgwinn and Braham up. That
was one of the assignments I love. When a star came,
it was always me that was dispatched to go fetch them.
So Roger mcgwinn and I have this conversation about guitars
(04:44):
because he brought this beautiful Martin.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
Guitar with him to play. I said, well, you haven't
played guitar since I was a kid. I love guitar,
and you know, blah blah blah, and so we're talking
about guitars. It's a ten minute elevator ride and walk
or whatever it is to get up to the studios,
get up to the production room.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I put his guitar and I carry his guitar. I
put his guitar down. He said, open it up, open
that up. And I open it up and it's this
beautiful Martin guitar worth thousands of dollars. And I said, oh,
it's magnificent. And I walked away and I said, there
you go, and he said, play me something, and I
picked up his guitar and I played, So you'll want
(05:22):
to be a rock and roll star.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
For Roger mcgwinn, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
And he said to me, let me show you how
I play that song a little different than how you
played it. And I said, yes, sir, and I handed
it to him like I had the you know, Faberge egg.
A great Roger mcgwinn's story for me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Fantastic and not at all surprising, because him and a
radio station visit which always included him back in those
days playing you know as the lex happened in Norfolk,
Virginia wouldn't have been any nicer for being such a
(06:09):
rock legend.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Nineteen fifty five a monumental moment in civil rights history.
We don't do a lot of politics, we don't do
a lot of things like this, but Rosa Parks in
nineteen sixty or fifty five. Rather, she refused to give
up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, and this
(06:31):
sparked this movement ultimately led to and I didn't realize
that Martin Luther King connection to this, but Martin Luther
King was really involved in leading that boycott of the
buses in Montgomery at that point in time. They boycotted
(06:53):
the buses for over a year. It was like three
hundred and eighty days or something like this. Rosa Parks
was actually working at the end of ACP at the
time too. I didn't realize that she had some administrative role.
And she and two other people on the bus. Because
the bus, the white section of the bus filled up.
The bus driver demanded that they move for one white man.
(07:16):
But I came across this as I was thinking about
the week, and I thought, you know, I want to
spend a minute talking about this. It's an important event
in our history well.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Because there's so many things that had implications with including
around music and the way music talked about it sure
or could talk about it. So it's a critical part
of our life to you know, even before our time acknowledge.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So at any rate, here's one that's interesting, and as
I dug into it, it seemed to get more interesting
for me. December second, nineteen seventy one, Crosby, Stills, Nash
and Young released Four Way Street. This was, you know,
not one of the greatest albums of all time, nice
piece of work, but it was one that sparked a
(08:04):
lot of controversy. People said it was self indulgent, people
said there was this disingenuous element to it. It was
thought to be disingenuous because they went in after the
fact and re recorded a whole bunch of tracks. Harmonies, vocals,
guitar solos, Guitar solos were replaced completely on many tracks.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But think about that now, that wouldn't be anything unusual.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
You're right, it wouldn't. I think because the technology wasn't
what it is now. That probably played a role in
that it was an interesting album because there were, you know,
the band was very different when you think about you know,
Graham Nash and Steven Stills and Neil Young and David Crosby,
you know, musically they were all kind of on different planes.
(08:53):
Neil Young was really wanting to be electric, really wanting
to represent rock, heavy rock in their music, and it
was one that created tension within that band. The tour
in nineteen seventy was one that was split up. First
half of the show was acoustic and the second half
of the show was electric. The album represented that, you know,
(09:19):
there was you know, a great kind of traditional version
of Lovely one Year with on it. There was a
raucous Ohio. There were two things in particular that surprised
me and went back and I downloaded the album this morning.
So before we did this, I was listening to the album.
Southern Man in particular was one because there's a fourteen
minute version of Southern Man on four Way Street, and
(09:42):
I think when people are talking about you know, self indulgent,
that makes it longer than Freebird, right, you know at
that point, and of course we got a skinnered Neil
Young connection to with Southern Man and Sweep Home Alabama.
But this, you know, comes up on the heels of
what was an important moment for them with the Dejabu
(10:04):
album and then Kent State shooting and that you know,
Ohio was released very quickly after that. But it was
interesting album, not really loved by the critics. They kind
of pulled it apart and when I listened to it
this morning, I was kind of you know.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I understood the critics part.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, I understood it. On this date in nineteen ninety two,
on December second, the first text message was sent. What
year do you think that was done?
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I think, did you just say nineteen ninety two? Oh
I did? I gave it away.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And I'm only drinking water.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I'm thinking, did I just have a stroke or something
like that, and I think I heard the answer.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Yeah, you did. Anyway, I'm pulling that back. You get
the points, and you know.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
What the reality is, it changed everything, probably for the
worst ever since.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
It really did. But nineteen ninety two, I mean, none
of us, you know, we didn't have really no one
was using cell phones really at that point. It was,
this was at the very beginning. I remember having a
cell phone around that time, but you know, the thought
of sending a message that way, it just wasn't something
we thought about.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, but now it's wrecked everything. You see couples who
can't go to dinner without staring at who's texting them
or what's on their feet, or kids that are doing that.
And I mean, granted, yet it's an easy way. I know,
I'm crabbing, and man, man, it's an easy way to communicate.
I get that there's some of it that's great, but
it's ruined a lot of things in my opinion.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Let's say we can't get our faces out of our phones.
That's right, we just can't. So you're right, be present, right, yep,
it's important. Now we tend to stay away from pop.
We'll go disco a little bit, you'll go disco. I'll
go disco a little bit, but we tend to stay
away from pop. Britney Spears' birthday is December second. Today
(12:15):
she's off the rails again. I mean she is the
dancing and the outfits and the and the behavior. It's
just like these folks. And Federal Line said this in
the book that he just put out. All these people
that spent all this time and energy on the Free
(12:38):
Britney movement to.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Get her out of that.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Conservatorship ought to be spending their energy now with a
save Brittany effort.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Oh it's sad.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
She's in rough shape right now, my opinion. I follow
her on on Instagram and I see these kooky videos
that she's putting out, and I see what she's doing
you don't pay much attention to that stuff. But but
I watch it and I you know, I kind of
watch it in horror.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Said. December third, nineteen sixty five, the Beatles released Robert
Soul in the UK, an amazing record. We don't have
a week without something Beatles.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Doesn't get much better than Rubber Soul now.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
In nineteen seventy six, Bob Marley survived an assassination and
a TEP You remember this story, right, I do. He
was in Jamaica. It was two days before the Smile
Jamaica concert was to happen. That was a concert that
was supposed to quell all of this political unrest that
(13:43):
was happening in Jamaica. He was home, He was home
with his wife, and he was home with his manager,
and seven gunmen stormed his home. All three people were shot.
His manager, Don Taylor was shot five times and he lived.
His wife was shot, Marley was shot, and two days
(14:06):
later Bob Marley played that benefit. Wow he gets shot
in two days later he played but incredible. He ended
up after that, He ended up going into exile. He
moved to London at that point. After that, But an
interesting moment, you know, being music people like we are
(14:26):
and being the you know, master of music. Man. I
really am loving going into the history of these artists
that we love, and we often, you know, we forget
more than we ever knew.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Sometimes sometimes yeah, you know, or who we ran into.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, absolutely interesting date in history. In nineteen eighty nine,
President Bush and Mikhel Warbachef declared that the Cold War
was finally over. Big Day, December fourth, nineteen seventy one.
This was the day that the Mantro Casino burn to
the ground during a Frank Zappa concert. Do you know
(15:08):
how the fire was started?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I'm listening to the lyrics in my head of Smoke
on the Water, so.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I will.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
At some deep purple.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah, And at a Frank Zappa show, someone shot some
idiot shot a flare gun and and then it caused
this catastrophic fire. The reason they call it that is
they were staying across Lake Geneva at a hotel and
they saw the fire and the actual smoke coming across
the water is what stayed with them. They had been
(15:42):
there to record, right, They had been the casino had
a recording studio inside, and and that was the deal.
Some idiot with a flare gun. Shot. The flare gun
burned the whole place to the ground. Smoke on the water,
the smoke coming across Lake Geneva at and then they
saw it from the balconies to their hotel.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's a crazy story.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
They went on by the way to record. They are
still but they did it in a mobile truck. They
brought out a mobile unit.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Listen, it's the song that all of us learn how
to play the first time we pick up a guitar.
Here you go, three little things to remember, and it's easy.
And you know, I could plug it into my little
Fender telecaster and the twin amp and it would sound
rocket and you would go, oh, that sounds good. And
it's simple. Right. Yeah, of course you could play Smoke
on the Water. Everyone can. Nineteen eighty led Zeppelin on
(16:36):
December fourth announced their breakup after the death of John Bonham.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Wow, this was.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
An awful moment on many levels for rock music. The
fact that they decided not to go on bottom was
so important to the band that they thought they couldn't
do a justice and that was the end of it.
It was quick and while they've come to get there
are a couple of times. There's there's not been a period
(17:03):
of time where they were considered reunited.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Have you heard of Robert Plant's new band. I just
saw him on Colbert. Yeah, the band called Saving Grace.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, that was a great appearance. If you haven't seen
the Colbert he didn't play. He just sat with Colbert
and clearly there's some history.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Between those two. But he he was smiling and I
think a good time.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Did he tell a story about how Alison Kraus taught
him how to sing?
Speaker 2 (17:37):
He didn't tell that story.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
No, he talked about the last time he saw Colbert,
which was on the Colbert Report, and I think he
slipped them a little bit of what do you say?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Raoul? Raoul was the code name that we that people
we know. That's right, he used for marijuana back in
the day before it was leaked.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Raoul. I remember from when I was a young Matt.
That's right, still are yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Nineteen eighty one PanAm Airlines ceased to exist on this day.
They were on the way down the flight from Lockerby
had happened. They were never a domestic airline either. They
just went through one issue after another that arguably a
(18:24):
great airline to fly prior to that PanAm one or
three bombing, but this was the day in nineteen ninety
one that they went out of business. I think it
was a mistake for them to not fly domestically. They
were just doing international stuff and it was mismanaged at whatever.
I just thought it was an interesting note. I knew
a girl. I know a girl who lives in Shrewsbury,
mass not terribly far from where you are right now.
(18:46):
Her name is Nicole Blander and her sister NICKI was
on that flight and I remember being in Worcester one
that happened. I knew Nicole, I knew Niki from when
they were kids, and it was crazy to know someone
in a tragedy like that. December fifth, nineteen seventy three,
(19:07):
Paul McCartney in the Wings released Band on the Run.
This is another one that the album was in a
way shrouded with some controversy, and I didn't realize that
the band had basically fallen apart. The band had broken
up just before the recording of the album started, So
what ended up happening. What's on the album is McCartney
(19:30):
and Linda and Denny Lane, and that's it. McCartney played
drums Wow, I bad on the front, and he played
most of the guitar parts wow. So I didn't realize
that it was also recorded in Lagos, Nigeria. McCartney was
(19:51):
robbed while they were there.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Do you recall that?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And when they robbed him, I'm sure they took they
took money. I'm sure they took all his drugs, but
they also took the recordings that he had to that
point of the album of the tracks, and he literally
had to go back into the studio and do it
for memory. So between the getting rubbed at knife point,
(20:16):
the band basically falling apart, it was kind of a
mess and it turned out to be an unbelievable record.
He won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album in
nineteen seventy three or seventy four as a result of
that great album. Listen to that song in the same
(20:38):
way that Live and Let Die was just kind of
an epic in terms of all the changes and how
musically it was so interesting. Go back and listen to
band on the run. I went and did that this
morning because I always loved the song. But I thought
about the song has like three different pieces to It
has this kind of light opening thing with keyboards, and
then it rocks and then it's very theatrical at the end.
(21:02):
All in four minutes and some change. Ye. Right, It's
just a great record. And I believe that all the
songs on that album once the song ended, what happened
after the song was basically ending. Do you remember the
hook from band on the Run we'd come in at
the end?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
On no songs, Yes, verified it myself this morning. Kind
of a crazy thing to do. But like if they
didn't know they were listening to band on the Run,
well you were listening to something band on the ruck.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Branding branding is this is early days brandingh December sixth,
nineteen sixty nine, the Altamont concert happened. This was build
by a lot of people to be the Woodstock of
the West, and it was anything about that. There was
(21:54):
nothing peace and love about that show at all the
Stones where the headliner. This was the last date of
their sixty nine tour. And I don't know, I guess
I should know this. I don't know if it was
a Bill Graham event or who's the fact it was,
but someone whether it be the Stalines or the promoter,
someone thought it was a good idea to hire the
(22:16):
Hell's Angels to do security, and four people lost their
lives and there wasn't a moment of peace from the
beginning of the concert. The has were roughing people up.
It was an ugly day for rock.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Should have been called the Hot Mess Concert.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Yeah, and it really A lot of people said at
the time that it was the end of the peace
era of the sixties. I don't know if that was true,
but of course it being the end of nineteen sixty nine,
it's probably a fitting way to describe it. Not a
great end for the sixties at all. And there were
I think there were like three hundred thousand people or
(22:56):
more at that show as well. So nothing but but
Chaos was supposed to be Woodstock of the West, and
it was anything but. That nineteen seventy, the Doors played
their final concert with Jim Morrison in New Orleans. Buzz
seems to think that Jim Morrison is still alive. Every
time we talk about Jim Morrison, you go still live.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
He's not coming back.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I could see the show popping up outside of Syracuse
any anytime listen.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
I've been told he was seen at Heidie's of Liverpool
in Syracuse, the famous restaurant they had oftened in nineteen seventeen.
So you know, who knows, But I think he's we
know he's dead. December seventh, nineteen seventy three. This is
a good one. This is a really it's one of
my favorite stories of the week. Billy Joel's Piano Man
(23:45):
was released. He worked at the Executive Room in La
the Executive Room Bar in La as a you know,
the piano player. He would sit in that bar and
he would play. He was also Billy Joel at the time,
but he used his first in his middle name, Billy
Martin or Bill Martin, right, So he played at the bar.
(24:06):
He didn't have any money, he needed to make money,
and he sat there for six months and he was
the piano man. Four facts about pio Man John at
the bar was the name of the bartender, was the
actual guy, wasn't just some rhyme scheme thing. Paul the
real estate agent who was a novelist, was actually a
(24:29):
real estate broker and was writing a novel. And Davy
Who's still in the Navy was based on a guy
by the name of Davy Hines, real person, and the
fourth one and the waitress practicing politics was his first wife. Oh, libe,
how about that? How about that?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (24:50):
For Billy Joel for the piano man in eighty four,
Bob Guildolf, do they know it's Christmas time? This was
on the of him seeing a documentary that the BBC
had produced. That documentary was about the famine and Ethiopia,
and it caused him to mobilize the forces, right. He
(25:14):
got everyone, really, anyone that's anyone at that time was recruited,
Phil Collins, Sting Bono. It was a who's who of
musicians from across the pond. Duran Durant, George Michael was
involved in it. Just a great feel good song. It
(25:36):
sold a million copies in the first week. There's a monster.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Guildolf got it done, Yeah he did.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Pearl Harvard was attacked on this day in nineteen forty one.
I've been down this rabbit hole watching stuff about Pearl Harvard,
watching something on Netflix right now about history, and it's
just the older I get, the more interested I get
in history, and this was just an incredible thing to happen.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Anyway, that is the week and music history first through
the seventh and December bus Well.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Master of music Mayhem.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You left it in Mayhem with that last story, but
it does need to be reported. But the Harry Jacobs
thank you so much for this week in music history
for the week of December the first, and thanks to
all of you for listening to the Taking a Walk podcast.
We're part of the iHeart podcast network.
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