This Week in Music History on the "takin ' a walk" podcast

Published Dec 2, 2024, 8:00 AM

Join @thebuzzknight for a look at music history for the week of 12/3. Buzz is joined by Harry Jacobs at The Music History desk. 

For more information, questions or suggestions write buzz@buzzKnightmedia.com

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Well, I'm Buzz Night, the host of the Take in a Walk podcast, and here we are with another week in music history, and we go to the music history desk to be joined by my dear friend Harry Jacob's good.

Day, Harry, Good day to you as well. Bus. You know, we started this at a precarious time in.

History in general, to do this kind of thing, you know, end in November, beginning in December.

Our first weeks of doing.

This, historically nothing happens, you know, musically, and we've been charged with doing some digging, and I think we're we're having some success in that effort.

So I guess time will tell, right.

I like to dig and like success, so those two things go well.

So this is the week of December the second, right, absolutely it is, and on December third.

You know, as I mentioned in our in our first one, it seems like almost every week there'll be something Beatles related, and this week is is no exception. Rubber Soul came out this week in nineteen sixty five and Drive My Car in Norwegian Wood and in My Life, which is a great goodbye song.

It's sad, it's it's touching, it's beautiful and it's definitely, you know, one of my favorites from the Beatles for sure.

Yea, yeah.

Where does that rank Rubber Soul in terms of your favorite Beatles albums?

Probably Sergeant Pepper number one, Probably Rubber Soul number two.

Number two?

Interesting, Yeah, I always love to drive my car. I always thought that was just a you know, and.

Was tax Man on Rubber Soul as well?

Revolver Revolve okay, because yeah, another favorite, you know, just different.

Fun Revolver would probably be number three on my list for sure. And so while folks are you know, listening to this hopefully on December the second, that could be listening beyond that particular day, Proud to be able to announce after my big teas campaign that tomorrow if you're listening on December the second, Tomorrow, December third, a new Taking a Walk episode with the one and only Julian Lennon gets out and I'm so excited to share that with everybody. Had a delightful conversation with him. He's got a new book out that is a fine art photography coffee table book called Life's Fragile Moments. A lot of folks don't know that Julian has become a tremendous photographer. That's his current real passion. He is doing shows all over the world. And I have not seen the book yet, but he loved talking about the book, among other things, and certainly talking about his charitable organization what sort of drives him as a creator. A delightful conversation. We had him a bit over an hour, and it was an extreme honor to sync up with Julian Lennon on taking a walk.

When I spoke with you after the interview, you were you know, you were excited, You were very excited, enthralled with how personal, impersonable he was. Right, what a gentleman he was, how courteous he is. Just it shocked you a little bit, didn't it.

Well, only you don't know after the years, because I did have the opportunity to a few times to meet him. In the beginning of his music career. He was very shy, admittedly he admitted back then. So I found him to be, you know, quiet and reserved in those days. But you know, I hoped he hadn't changed, and he is just a good song and a great creative force.

Interesting. Well, we're looking forward to that.

That's tomorrow on taking a walk here December third, yep, twenty twenty four.

That's right, all right.

Ozzy Osborne was born on the third, nineteen forty eight. There's a guy, all due respect to Ozzy, I didn't think would still be alive in twenty twenty four. I mean, and he's celebrating a birthday and he looked by the way he looks and sounds good.

He look at this career for this man, my goodness, right, Uh, it just logic, the musical aspect, the reality, you know, show aspect of things, you know, beyond Black Sabbath, he you know, continues to have a tremendous career. I don't think we're going to see that much more from.

Him these days.

He certainly was, you know, just recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you know, he was certainly glad to be there. I don't know if you saw some of that. He was up there on that throne, which is quite I did a bit of a cinematics. But the Wizard of Oz.

Yeah, crazy life. He's led.

And to think that he was at the forefront, it wasn't really him, but he was. Really the family was at the forefront of reality television.

That's right, that was it.

That was the beginning and who couldn't stay away from that show? I know the train wreck of that show anyway. December, December fourth, this is the week. Last week we talked about the fact that led Zeppelin had performed their last show in nineteen seventy six and at the end of November beginning of December. Big story for led Zeppelin is that they disbanded this week in nineteen eighty after the death of John Bonham earlier in the year in September.

I believe he had passed away.

So sad news about you know, led Zeppelin this week in nineteen eighty.

My recollection is that it took people, you know, a bit by surprise because there was hope they would continue on in some form, even though that was not the norm back then for bands to continue on in some form, So we really didn't know, but it was. It was definitely there was a shock factor to that happening.

Yeah, And to kind of bring you back, the led Zeppelin fans of both you and ir to that time in led Zeppelin history and in seventy nine is when in Through the Outdoor came out so this was basically a year after there was no tour when In through the Outdoor came out, and that was kind of a big deal too. I think we all expected because seventy six had been the.

Last time that they were out.

But In Through the Outdoor was a magnificent piece of work in many ways, right, a lot of keyboards, John Paul Jones influence All of My Love, a song about Robert Plant's son passing away. There was a a very.

Melodic kind of album in a lot of ways.

Yeah, I remember that a little bit of a off the beaten path song, but it's pretty cool.

Remember Karaslambra, Oh yeah, nine minutes Karasalambra just a really odd an odd one for sure.

So yeah, that happened.

And you remember when the album came out you could lick your finger and touch the album cover. The album was done in this brown color and if you licked your finger and touched the album cover, it would change colors of the album.

Remember how weird that were? Yeah, yeah, it was cool.

A couple of Stones things this week December fourth.

First is the Stones.

Released Beggars Banquet, arguably one of their best street fighting man Sympathy for the Devil on that right, nineteen sixty eight, yep.

And in sixty nine the Stones released Let It Bleed.

Arguably, you know, another incredible This is a good period for the Stones. Yep, Shelter can't always get what you want. And of course Let It Bleed and more. I mean you can listen to that whole album without question.

I mean, for me, those are the the core Rolling Stones album.

I mean, they really are.

They stand up to this day and they stood, you know, really strong back then. Those those are you know, I would say my favorites really yeah.

And the sixth of December, so on the fourth, think about it. On the fourth we have Beggars Banquet, on the fifth we have Let It Bleed. And on the sixth is the anniversary of the Altamont Speedway Festival, which is not a great day in Stone's history. The Stones basically were in charge of that festival, which had Santana and a bunch of others there, but the Stones hired the Hell's Angels for security, and that led to the death of Meredith Hunter.

And that was, you know, a tough day for the Sounds.

Kind of a dark stained on Stone's history. In its own regard.

Yep, yeah, not not great.

So and that was a time I believe when maybe Sonny Barger was running the Hell's Angels. Not the Hell's Angels, all due respect to them, didn't have a great reputation at that point and it didn't help.

And even to this day, as much charitable work as they do, and.

They do do a lot of charity work, they're still caught and you know, in a tough spot. So you know, we stay away from history in general on this segment. It's more music and pop, but there's an this is an interesting day in history.

President Polk.

President James Polk in eighteen forty eight announced that gold had been found California, which began this announced at the Congress, and that began this huge rush, the gold rush to California in eighteen forty eight.

So and the rest is history.

As they say, people have been flooding California since then. So it's it's it's pretty crazy. So you have you know, you have kids, and now you have grandkids, right, so let's talk about something else in pop culture. I'm not sure if you're your grandchild, your oldest grandchild is old enough to do this, but this is a big day, a big couple days in pop culture history.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Came out in nineteen sixty four, and a Charlie Brown Christmas. Those are those videos that you watch in your house with with your with your granddaughter.

We shall see.

I think she's a little young maybe for it, although this might be the year to test it out. Certainly the musical soundtrack to those two will accompany the household for sure, you know, particularly the Charlie Brown music, the great Vince Garaldi just so brilliant, still stands up to this day and still is beautiful and part of the season. So we'll we'll test out the video aspect of it, but for sure on the music side, those will be part of it.

It's interesting how those two, it and the Christmas.

Stuff in general that was done for kids has stood the test of time over the years since the you know, since the sixties. You know, you look at you know, other stuff that was released, and every single year, without fail, you know, they get remastered, they look better, and they get the treatment, as you would say, and they stand the test of time.

So because we know Christmas story stands the test of time.

Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely, it does.

We'll be watching that at one point for sure, that somewhere on some marathon or whatever.

My favorite and listen, I'm Jewish, but my favorite Christmas Ish movie is The Elf. For whatever reason, just an adorable funny you know. That was to me, that Will Ferrell at his heights. You know, when you talk about Christmas movies, I'm not a traditional Christmas movie guy, but that to me is you know, and it's a wonderful life.

Of course. Of course.

Now, did you get exposed, Harry to the infamous yule log on TV?

No? You know what I do not. I don't know from the yule log? What is the yule log? So the Yule Log.

I grew up in Stanford, Connecticut, so we were, you know, consuming New York television stations so on. I believe it was Channel eleven, but it could have been Channel five. I think Channel eleven. Someone maybe will call me out on this. On Christmas Eve through the night into Christmas Day, they would literally show on that TV station a yule log burning.

So people that didn't have a fireplace would sit in front of the television and watch.

I guess, I guess, And I remember having a conversation with my old boss Mel, who remembered the Yule Log from his days watching it because he, you know, as Jewish, but also you know New York you know, metropolitan area resident. So I remember we were joking about the Yule Log and the fact that apparently when they checked the you know, ratings to see how big the audience was the Yule Log, just showing the yule Log on a TV got ratings.

They were just unbelievable. Unbelievable that people would just sit and watch it. But you know, if you don't have a fireplace, maybe that's the thing to do. By the way, you brushed by I'm not gonna let you just brush by it. My old boss Mel. Your old boss Mel isn't some guy that hired you at a deli or you know that you worked for at the movie theater.

Your old boss was Mel Mel Carmeson.

Yes, that's right, us, the great mister Carmeson.

Absolutely. Yeah.

But one and the one and only listen, uh, December second through December fifth.

That's all I got.

It was, I promised you a short week at the beginning, and uh and and that's where we end.

And and I've got a dog that needs to go outside, So.

I think it's my turn to do the wrap up. Then, well, Harry Jacobs, thanks for this week in music history. Really appreciated, and thanks to all of you listening to the Taking a Walk podcast. Please check out the Taking a Walk Podcast on iHeart Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast sharing.

Tomorrow tomorrow, Julian Lennon, that's right. Oh yeah, and then I might as well tease. And on the following Tuesday, Tears for Fears joins us on Taking a Walk.

That's great. Thanks Harry, thank you,