On This Day In Rock & Roll History: April 23

Time for another installment for my long running irregular music history feature. I still find it interesting to tackle this by taking a look at select events that happened on a specific date throughout the decades.

1964: Additional footage was captured for the Can’t Buy Me Love sequence for The Beatles’ first movie A Hard Day’s Night. The Beatles Bible notes, Filming took place on Thornbury Playing Fields in Isleworth, south London. A fake helipad was constructed, and The Beatles were filmed running around and acting up. The film was released in July of the same year.

1971: The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers, which most fans regard as one of their best albums. It marked their first studio album without Brian Jones who had passed away in July 1969 and the second full-length recording after their live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!, which featured guitarist Mick Taylor. Sticky Fingers, which was the band’s first to top the UK and the U.S. albums charts, became one of their best-selling, including more than 3 million sold units in the U.S. alone. Here’s the first single Brown Sugar, written primarily by Mick Jagger and, as usual, credited to him and Keith Richards.

1976: New York punk rock band Ramones released their eponymous debut album. While it became their best-selling album and eventually was certified Gold in the U.S. in April 2014 (500,000 certified sold units), it only reached no. 111 on the Billboard 200. Its two singles Blitzkrieg Bop and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend missed the charts altogether. None of that changed the fact that the album is now regarded as their most accoladed and iconic release. Here’s the second single, which was written by drummer Thomas Erdelyi, known as Tommy Ramone.

1977: Soul and disco vocalist Thelma Houston hit no. in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 with her rendition of Don’t Leave Me This Way. Co-written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert, the song was first released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass. Houston’s cover also enjoyed significant chart success in other countries and became her biggest hit.

1983: British band Dexys Midnight Runners reached no. 1 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 with the upbeat song Come On Eileen. The single, off their sophomore album Too-Rye-Ay, became their sole chart-topper in the U.S. Their biggest hit also topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Ireland and Switzerland. The group who continues to exist and fronted by Kevin Rowland is now known as Dexys. Come On Eileen was co-written by Rowland (bass, guitar, piano, vocals); Jim Paterson (trombone) who continues to be part of the current line-up; and Billy Adams (banjo, guitar, backing vocals).

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Songfacts History Calendar; Recording Industry Association of America website; YouTube