Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for June 18th

Today, you got a wicked big birthday, a big technological development in how to listen to music, and a big one-and-only for Fleetwood Mac...

6/18/1948 (67 years ago today) - Columbia Records begin the first mass production of 33-1/3-RPM vinyl "long players", so named because this newly developed format could contain up to 23 minutes of music per side, versus the three-minutes-max that was being squeezed onto the then-standard 78 RPM disc. Whoo-hoo's all around!

6/18/1977 (38 years ago today) - Legend has it she wrote the song in about 10 minutes while taking a break at the Record Plant studio in Sausalito, California: Fleetwood Mac go to Number One on the U.S. singles chart with "Dreams", a Stevie Nicks composition from the "Rumours" LP. Kinda weirdly, it is the Mac's first and only U.S. No. 1 single. Hmmm...

6/18/1942 - Born on this day, the undisputed most successful rock composer of all-time, Happy Birthday to Paul McCartney, 73 years old today. Fact: Paul has written (or co-written) 188 records that have charted; 91 of those reached the Top Ten and 33 made it to No. 1 -- that's 1,662 weeks on the charts. Decent live performer, too.

Got any thoughts or suggestions for the Calendar? Do 'em up right here on our web site and/or on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"You say you want your freedom/Well, who am I to keep you down?...", xoxo.