"THE ANIMALS. THE BAND UNDER THE COVER"

September 4th, 1964: The Animals made their U.S. concert debut at New York's Paramount Theatre.

The original members of The Animals were all from Newcastle-on-Tyne, a port city and coal-mining hub in northern England. The group derived its inspiration from American blues and R&B sources, adapting them to their native British working-class sensibility.

Eric Burdon was among the best white R&B singers of the sixties. His soulful vocals brought out the anguish in such anthems as “It’s My Life” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” "I realized I had a power in my voice when I was thrown out of music class for singing too loud. I would overpower the rest of the choir.  Later, I recorded with the local jazz band and heard myself for the first time on record. I knew I had something going." (Eric Burdon).

In 1963, they performed a monthlong residency (much like the Beatles did) in Hamburg, Germany. Their career took off with their move to London in January 1964. On September 5th, 1964, “House of the Rising Sun” became Nº1 in America.  Despite the song's unconventional lyrics (it was about a house of prostitution in New Orleans), “House of the Rising Sun” topped the American and British charts. In fact, it stayed at Nº1 in the U.S. for three weeks. The song was a cover of a traditional folk song.

The Animals followed “House of the Rising Sun” with seven more Top 40 hits (and six more Top 40 hits as Eric Burdon and the Animals). 

Their second album, the 1965 long-player The Animals On Tour, was filled with covers of songs by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles and Big Maceo.

They split up in 1968 over various music and business issues. They felt they were getting ripped off. There were also problems among the members of the band, according to Hilton Valentine (guitarist): "The constant touring definitely took it's toll. There was a dividing line within the band between those that took drugs and those that drank themselves silly."

Burdon said: "I don't think that The Animals got a chance to evolve. We were the first to admit that we took Blues songs from American artists, but if The Animals had stuck together and worked together instead of worrying about who was getting all the money, we could have evolved more and come out with more music to be proud of."

"JUST STOP BLAMING YOKO. BLAME THE BEATLES."

September 1st, 1967: The Beatles met up at Paul McCartney's house in London to decide what to do following the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. According to many of the group's insiders,  it was Epstein who kept the Beatles grounded and protected.

They decided to be their own managers, and McCartney took the lead on most business decisions. Five days after Epstein's death, Paul convinced the others to write and film a music fantasia: "Magical Mystery Tour". The band spent months filming odd scenes and recording music to accompany them. The film debuted on the BBC the day after Christmas in 1967, and the next day it was brutally criticised. ("Blatant rubbish," wrote London's Daily Express). 

During the following two years, McCartney tried to keep the others on track, but it was a difficult and thankless task.  "Paul would want us to work all the time," Ringo said, "because he was the workaholic." This view was in part shared by George Martin, who said: "Paul would be rather overbossy, which the other boys would dislike. But it was the only way of getting together ... It was just a general disintegration."

During the recording of the "Let It Be" album, Paul was telling everybody what notes and tempo to play, even telling the film director how to direct. When Harrison and Lennon wanted to add organist Billy Preston to the band as a fifth Beatle, McCartney's response was adamant: "It's bad enough with four". 

Moreover Apple was running out of control at the time, as a result of buying the Savile Row building and bad management. McCartney was the only Beatle who took an interest in the business. When Paul told the rest of the band that Apple had financial problems, they simply wouldn't listen. McCartney told Lennon that he in particular was spending too much, and Lennon angrily answered back: '"You're always right, aren't you?'"

After that the band decided they needed to get a manager. Paul wanted his father-in-law to be and his brother-in-law to be to manage and save Apple. The rest confronted him, because they didn't want Paul and his family to control their business and their money. Finally all of them but Paul signed with Allen Klein as manager. 

By the time "Abbey Road" was released on September 26th, 1969, The Beatles were no longer together. On December 31st, 1970, McCartney sued to dissolve the Beatles. The rest is history.

"1968: THE FIRST ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL"

August 31st, 1968 : Jefferson Airplane headlined the first Isle of Wight Festival, which was a one day event at the time. The festival started rather quietly, Jefferson Airplane being the only overseas act, although it was their British debut. It was however the first great UK rock festival.

Tickets could be purchased in advance for £1.25.. Around 10,000 attended the first IOW festival in 1968. It wasn't much fun for them on Hell field, for the promised transport from all ferry services turned out to be merely a special bus service from Shanklin, nine miles from the principal arrival point at Hyde, 17 miles from Cowes and 20 miles from the Yarmouth ferry. A trench was dug to act as latrines. Moreover, technical difficulties meant often as much as half-hour breaks between groups, who played on a stage constructed from 2 trailers.

Jefferson's Spencer Dryden was, along with the rest of the band, not too happy with the festival. During their 90 minute performance none of the group could hear each other and were constantly forced to stop and re-tune in an attempt to get a uniform sound. Despite this, the Jeffersons got easily the best reception of any of the 14 groups.

This was just the start-up of one of the best festivals in the UK. The rest is history!

"THE STORY BEHIND ROY ORBISON'S PRETTY WOMAN"

August 29th, 1964 : Roy Orbison released "(Oh) Pretty Woman".

According to Bill Dees, Orbison's songwriting partner, they were in the process of writing some music when Orbison's wife Claudette came in and said she was going to go into town to buy something. Orbison asked if she needed any money, and Dees said: "A pretty woman never needs any money." Inspired, Orbison started singing, "Pretty woman walking down the street."

The song was written on a Friday, the next Friday it was recorded, and the next Friday it was out. 

Roy Orbison explained what was going on in the song "There's a ballad in the mid-section of it there: he's very sure of getting the girl when he first sees her, and then he's not so sure, and then he gets desperate, and then he says forget it, and then she comes back. It's quite complicated, but it's probably in the presentation, or if I'm really singing like I know I can and I'm doing the job that I should be doing, then it could be that the voice quality in parts has a melancholy something."

Orbison and his wife Claudette had recently reconciled after some tough times, but as this song was climbing the charts, Roy found out she had been cheating on him and filed for divorce. They would remarry in 1966.

In 1964, Orbison was the only American artist to have a #1 UK hit, and he did it twice - with "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and "It's Over."