Cincinnati Concert Tragedy For The Who - December 3rd 1979

It is not widely known but, in some respects, rock concerts used to be very dangerous places to be. Since the 1970s there are over 130 incidents of fans being killed, usually accidentally, at such events. In many cases these deaths could be attributed to failings of the management to control the crowd adequately.

On the 3rd of December 1979, one of the worst such tragedies took place. The event was a concert by British supergroup, The Who and the venue was the Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum, since renamed as the Firstar Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The event was a sell out and was at the peak of the band's popularity. The size of the crowd has been estimated at around 18,000.

As is often the case, fans were admitted to the venue early and began to make their way to the front in order to get the best view possible. The seating arrangements were, in fact, a combination of standing and unreserved seats so it really was "first come first served". When this is the case many fans arrive at venues hours before the start so as to get a good seat or standing position.

The deaths and numerous serious injuries occurred as a massive crowd tried to get through what was an inadequate number of doors. Those who were caught up in a surge of fans trying to gain entrance were crushed and, sadly, eleven of them did not survive. It is believed that the surge was caused when the band did a late sound check. Hearing this, the fans waiting outside mistakenly thought that the concert had begun and started to move forward so as not to miss the performance.

As a result of this, the Cincinnati authorities banned the practice of "festival" seating, i.e. unreserved seating, for many years after the tragedy.

Safety standards at indoor concerts have improved considerably over the years following this tragedy but one only has to look at other tragedies such as the Hillsborough Football Stadium disaster which took place on 15th  April 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, This event, however, was a football match and not a music concert. 96 fans were crushed to death and over 700 others were injured making it the UK's worst stadium disaster.

The Who performed that night, unaware of the tragedy until after their set had finished.

Spider Not Guilty Of Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hanneman's Death

The guitarist Jeff Hanneman was a founder member of thrash metal band Slayer. He formed the band in 1981 with fellow guitarist Kerry King.  Regarded as being one of the leading acts in the Thrash genre which came to the fore in the 1980's and continues to be popular today, Slayer often courted controversy with the choice of subject matter for their lyrics.

Despite all of that, Slayer were hugely successful both live and on record. Estimates vary as to their album sales but it is fairly certain that a figure somewhere in the region of 30 million worldwide would not be far from the mark.

Jeff Hanneman was undoubtedly a pivotal member of the band and contributed to their musical output both musically and lyrically. He was an accomplished guitarist and was capable of delivering the high speed technically polished picking that was essential to the fast-paced material produced by the band and others in the genre.

In 2011 Jeff was reported to have contracted the flesh-eating disease "necrotizing fasciitis" as a result of a spider bite. It was said that this incident took place in 2010 whilst he was in a friends hot tub. Following this, Jeff was forced to take time away from touring whilst the condition was being treated. He underwent a series of operations to remove dead tissue from his arm and was in a medically-induced coma for a few days.

There followed a period of convalescence during which the seriousness of the disease became more apparent with reports that Jeff almost had to learn to walk again.

When his death was first announced in early May 2013 it was widely reported that he had died as a result of the spider bite induced necrotizing fasciitis but this later proved not to be the case. The coroner's report into Jeff's death confirmed that it was in fact alcohol-related cirrhosis, (liver failure) that was the actual cause of death.

It appears that Jeff, along with his friends, family and bandmates had been largely unaware of this condition or at least of the advanced stage it was in.

Jeffrey John Hanneman, born January 31st 1964, died on May 2, 2013 aged 49, in his native California.

Boston's Brad Delp's Death By Barbecue 2007 Aged 55

Brad Delp was a founder member of the hugely successful American band Boston who released their eponymous first album, "Boston," in 1976.
Even people who have never heard that album, and I guess there will be a few of those despite the fact that over 19 million copies of it were sold, will probably have heard the song that made Boston a household name not just in the USA but all over the world, "More Than A Feeling".
Along with his bandmates, multi-instrumentalist, engineer and producer Tom Scholz who founded the band, guitarist Barry Goudreau and the band's original drummer Jim Masdea, Brad recorded several songs that were initially rejected by the record companies to which they were submitted.
Eventually a deal was struck with Epic Records and Masdeau left, apparently at the insistence of Epic, to be replaced by Sib Hashian.
With the lineup now stabilised, at least for a while, the band finished work on what became the fastest selling debut album in USA history, "Boston", which finally hit the shelves in August 1976. Three further platinum, (1 million plus sales) albums followed, the first being "Don't Look Back" in 1978 and then after a long gap, "Third Stage" in 1986. Their fans had to wait another 8 years before "Walk On" which came out in 1994 and also, albeit only just, turned platinum.
Brad Delp's characteristic vocal style and wide vocal range complemented Tom Scholz's instrumental and writing styles perfectly and the results were, by any standard, truly impressive. The band continued to enjoy critical and commercial success for many years although not quite at the heady levels that they experienced with their phenomenal debut work. A version of Boston, with Tom Scholz now the only original member,  persists to this day and is still touring.
Brad had signalled his desire to do other things during the gestation period for "Walk On and had indicated to Tom in 1990 that he might not be fully available anymore. He did contribute to "Walk On" however, (in fact he co-wrote that particular song after which the album was named) but was eventually replaced as vocalist by Fran Cosmo.
Since then, Brad did in fact work with Scholtz on a number of occasions and toured with Boston several times.
He also had a number of different project on the go including RTZ with Barry Goudreau and Beatlejuice, a tribute to the Beatles who Brad had always cited as one of his most significant influences.
On March 9th 2007 Brad Delp was found dead on the floor of his bathroom at his home in New Hampshire.  He had died as a result of Carbon monoxide poisoning which had been caused by fumes from two lit barbecues that had been placed in the room and after which the room had been sealed to prevent the fumes from escaping.
Brad had left four suicide notes privately addressed to family members and had pinned a further note to his shirt for public consumption. The note read simply "Mr. Brad Delp. "J'ai une ame solitaire". I am a lonely soul."
You will find it extremely difficult to find anyone who spoke ill of Brad Delp. He was widely described as a nice thoughtful and generous person. The true reason for his suicide has never been established or, if it has, it has never been made public. It seems that he didn't want those details to become public knowledge and we have to respect that and the wishes of his family and close friends.
He has left us a great deal of significance to remember him by, I never knew him personally of course but, like the millions of other Boston fans all over the world, my enduring memory of him will be those wonderful songs on which he performed and sang. The world would have been less wonderful without Boston and without Brad, Boston would never have been the same.

Bradley Edward Delp was born on June 12, 1951 and died on March 9, 2007.

Too Good For The Pistols - Guitarist Steve New Dies 2010 Aged 50.

Musical prowess was not a criteria for membership of the Sex Pistols. That's not a criticism of that band, in particular, but was actually, at least in part, the very essence of what Punk was about.
In the early to mid 70's when Punk began to emerge there was no shortage of musically adept, virtuoso performers around to satisfy what had until then been an insatiable public appetite for music that was becoming more complex, more sophisticated and, perhaps, a little tired.
During that time I was managing a venue where rock music was the order of the day but where I began to notice more and more of the bands we promoted were leaning towards what later became known as Punk.
We even had a future diary date for the Sex Pistols and a promoter was keen for them to do a gig in Sheffield, where I was based at the time, but, as the Pistol's reputation grew the local licensing authority became less eager to grant the necessary licenses and the concert was removed from the calendar.
Which brings me to Steve New and why I consider him to be a "RockBottom."
First of all, anyone who dies of cancer at the relatively early age of 50 could be considered to be, at the very least, unlucky. As I have written in my articles time and time again, cancer is completely indiscriminate as to how and when it wreaks its havoc. In Steve's case it did so towards the end of what proved to be a short but very eventful life.
The mantle of being too good for the Sex Pistols is deserved only on the grounds that, in 1975, (some accounts put it in 1976), Steve auditioned for the role of guitarist in the Pistols but was turned down because his style of playing was too technical, too accomplished and would not sit easily with the raw unpolished material that they went on to produce in, thankfully, relatively small quantities.
Other accounts cite the length of Steve's hair as being the barrier to entry as he wore it long and was therefore, in terms of his appearance and his musical ability, more akin to the more established musical stereotypes that still dominated the music scene at that time. There were few, if any, examples of short spiky hair amongst the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer and the plethora of other Progressive Rock bands of the day.
Whatever the truth of the matter, his time with the band was short and lasted only a few weeks.
Whatever the pro's and con's of that may be, Steve certainly missed out on the undoubted celebrity and financial rewards that normally followed when a band becomes as big as the Pistols.
Their fame was short lived but there were few people in the UK who had not at least heard of them - albeit usually for the wrong reasons. Their only studio album, "Never Mind The Bollocks" made the top spot in the UK album charts and went Platinum, (over one million copies sold) and this, along with their other antics, made certain of their place in music and social history.
Steve New went on to perform in other bands, including a spell with Iggy Pop, however his most notable project was The Rich Kids which was formed by Steve and another ex-Pistols bandmate  bassist Glen Matlock, and which also included vocalist and guitarist Midge Ure for a short period before he went on to play with thin Lizzy, The Skids and ultimately found fame in Ultravox.
The Rich Kids were short lived but attracted a lot of attention during that time - and for the right reasons too. Their only album, "Ghosts of Princes In Towers," was produced by the celebrated ex-Spider From Mars, Mick Ronson and made number 24 in the UK album charts. Steve also had a short spell with Public Image Ltd - John Lydon's post Sex Pistols project with virgin records.
Throughout his career and for a large part of his life, Steve was a transvestite and had described that aspect of his character as a "secret life" and something which he had been ashamed of. Nonetheless, during the latter part of his life, (I could not find a definitive date or time), he came out and changed his performing name to Stella Nova.
Despite having survived the rigours of a musicians lifestyle, including periods of addiction to Heroin, Steve finally succumbed to cancer and died in 2010 at the age of 50.
His final project, Beastellabeast, which he formed with Beatrice Brown, was still running at the time of his death and had seen the release of three albums.

Stephen Charles New, AKA Stella Nova, was born in London in 1960 and died there at the age of 50 on 24th May 2010.

Cartoon Capers - A Bad Move For The Move

The move were a highly successful band formed in the 1960's by singer/songwriter and guitarist Roy Wood, drummer Bev Bevan, singer Carl Wayne, guitarist Trevor Burton and bassist Chris Kefford.

Guitarist and songwriter Jeff Lyne joined in 1969 and it was he, along with Roy Wood, who engineered the band's transition into the Electric Light Orchestra in the early 1970's.

The band released a number of singles that entered the charts in the UK starting with "Night Of Fear" in 1966 followed closely by "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" in April 1967. These reached number 2 and 5 in the UK charts respectively.

After  "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" came the song which is the main focus of this article. Entitled "Flowers In The Rain" it was written by Roy Wood and made number 2 in the UK charts. This song has the distinction of being the first chart single to be played on the BBC's newly launched radio station, Radio 1, on 30th September 1967.

At this time, the band were being managed by Tony Secunda, who also managed the Moody Blues. Secunda had devised a promotional campaign to drive sales of the single and as part of that campaign he had commissioned a satirical cartoon depicting the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, having an affair with his political secretary Marcia Williams.

The cartoon was published as a postcard and prompted Wilson to file for libel in the court - a case which he subsequently won.

As a result of the court case, all royalties from the song were donated to a charity nominated by Harold Wilson. When Wilson died in 1995 Roy Wood had hoped that the royalties would revert back to him but this was not the case - the ruling continued in perpetuity.

Most copies of the card were destroyed but a few remain. The image depicted is of one such survivor which was sold at auction in 2004 for £66.

After this debacle, the band sacked Secunda as their manager and were taken under the wing of Don Arden,  who had also managed the Small Faces and subsequently went on to manage Black Sabbath.

More chart success followed for the Move, including a number 1 in the UK charts with "Blackberry Way." in   1969 and "Brontosaurus" in 1970, both written by Roy Wood.

Another Wood song, "Fire Brigade" had charted at number 3 in the UK charts in February 1968.

Subsequent releases did not fare so well however and one, "When alice Comes Back To The Farm", released soon after Brontosaurus, failed to chart. Things looked up briefly in 1972 with "California Man", (number 7 in the UK charts), but by this time the group's transition into the Electric Light Orchestra was underway and the Move faded away.

There was a resurrection of sorts in 2000 when Bev Bevan organised a revival but this did not carry the support of Wood. The band, now known as 'The Move featuring Trevor Burton and Bev Bevan, continue to perform.

1967 Otis Redding Dies In Plane Crash

I was only vaguely aware of Otis Redding prior to what might be called his "breakthrough" event - an appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. I now know, of course, that he was already established as a singer, songwriter and record producer well before Monterey and had been performing professionally since the late 1950s.

His activities, were limited to a large extent in those early days by the ongoing effects of racial segregation that persisted in the USA well into the 1960's. As a result, he performed mainly on what is referred to as the "Chitlin Circuit" named after the popular soul food dish of pigs intestines (called chitterlings).

He was, however, in very good company. Other performers on that circuit also did OK for themselves,  albeit after having moved away from it into wider circulation, as segregation gradually became a thing of the past. These include Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Wilson Pickett, to name but a few.

Prior to the major impact on his career that was to be Monterey, Otis had nonetheless made a lot of headway, (and quite a lot of money), and had released several singles that sold very well including "These Arms of Mine" which sold almost a million copies.

Monterey was, however, his opportunity to break into the largely white audience from which he had previously been hidden, at least to an extent. His appearance was the closing act on the Saturday night and he was backed by Booker T and the MGs. from most of the accounts that are available, he went down a storm and was certainly brought to the notice of such influential folk as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

Post Monterey, Otis had success with the single "Sweet Soul Music", which was actually a re-working, in conjunction with singer Arthur Conley, of the Sam cooke song "Yeah Man" but was out of action for some time due to requiring surgery to treat polyps which had formed on his larynx.

It was during the post Monterey period, three days before his death as it turned out, that he wrote and recorded his masterwork, "Sittin On The Dock of The Bay" which was released posthumously and became a massive hit worldwide selling in excess of 4 million copies.

In December 1967, Otis and his band were hopping from venue to venue in his private aircraft. They were due to travel from Nashville where they had made a TV appearance and played at a small venue, to Madison Wisconsin - the location of the venue for their next appearance, a nightclub called the Factory.
Weather conditions were poor and they were advised not to make the trip. Make it they did, however, and the pilot ran into trouble just before reaching its destination.

The exact cause of the accident has not been determined but the plane crash landed in Lake Monona killing all but one of passengers and the pilot. The only survivor was trumpet player Ben Cauley.

Otis Ray Redding jnr was born in September 1941 and died on the 10th December 1967 aged only 26.

1980 Ex-Beatle John Lennon Shot Dead In New York.

In the same way that many people of my parent's generation remember where they were when it was announced that President Kennedy had been assassinated  I can clearly remember where I was when I heard the news about John Lennon's murder.
It hardly matters, but for the record, I was in Birmingham, (UK), on a training course.
The man who, in conjunction with Paul McCartney, had been responsible for some of the most memorable songs in the history of popular music, was gunned down outside a New York Hotel by a man for whom, just a few hours earlier, Lennon had signed a copy of his album "Double Fantasy".
Having acknowledged John's massive achievements as a songwriter, a singer and as a truly inspirational human being, it has to be said that he did have more than his fair share of mishaps.

The first of these was the death of his mother after being struck by a car when John was 17 years of age. His parents had split up (his father was a seaman), and John's aunt Mimi and her husband George actually looked after him for most of his childhood and adolescence.

John's scholastic performance was not too good, he failed all his 'O' Level exams, (roughly the equivalent of today's GCSE's) although he did manage to secure a place at the Liverpool College Of Art with a little help from his friends, (actually his headmaster and his aunt Mimi interevened). Their intervention was to no avail however because John reverted to his childhood role as class comic and was eventually expelled.

All of this, of course, had no adverse effect of his talents as a musician and, after completing their apprenticeship in the bars of Hamburg as well as hundreds of other small venues, along with many other British bands of the time, the Beatles had "made it big" and went in search of the big money - in the USA.

It was there that John's quick fire wit and propensity to speak first and think afterwards got him and his bandmates into a great deal of trouble. Whilst being interviewed in the UK he made a remark, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink ... We're more popular than Jesus now, I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity." At first this remark went unnoticed in the UK but, after a while, it was quoted in the USA and all hell broke loose. Faced with damming public criticism, where once die hard fans were seen burning their copies of Beatles records and the Klu Klux Klan became involved in anti-Beatles rhetoric, the Band were forced to abandon touring over there.

John's heavy and prolonged use of drugs was another of his RockBottoms. He had periods of dependancy and heavy use of LSD, Amphetamines and, eventually, Heroin. It was his eventual withdrawal from Heroin which was the subject of his stark and shocking song, "Cold Turkey", released in 1969.

As if one major controversy in the USA was not enough, John became the focus some years after the "more popular than Jesus" quip, when his political leanings came to the attention of the Nixon administration. John Lennon had managed to piss off the American Government with his stance on the Vietnam war and Nixon, who thought that Lennon's activities could actually impact his chances of a second term in office, made strenuous efforts to get him deported.

It also transpired that John was the subject of extensive FBI activity, details of which were only released after years of campaigning by the author and historian Jon Weiner. in the end, of course, John Lennon was not the architect of Nixon's downfall - he arranged that himself with his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

Future presidents were more accommodating of John's ideals and he eventually gained "green card" status enabling him to live and work in the USA permanently which, to a large extent, he did. He even attended, with Yoko, the inaugural ball of newly-elected President Carter in 1977.

On December 8th 1980 John and Yoko had been working at the Record Plant studio and were returning to their apartment in the Dakota building in New York late in the evening. The plan was to say goodnight to his son, Sean, before going out to a restaurant. As the couple left their vehicle  a gunman who, only that same morning had asked John to autograph a copy of his latest album "Double Fantasy", fired a total of five shots at john's back and shoulders causing fatal injuries.

The murderer, Mark David Chapman, made no attempt to escape the scene and sat on the pavement awaiting arrest. He was tried and found guilty of second degree murder for which he was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison.

John Winston Lennon was born on the 9th of October 1940 and died on the 8th December 1980, aged only 40.

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Recommended Listening



Imagine 1971, Remastered Audio CD
His masterwork and most famous album. If you only buy one Lennon album this has to be it.