Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for May 31st

An All Performances Edition today: The Who get louder, The Stones get smaller, and David Bowie gets stranger (even for Bowie)...

5/31/1976 (43 years ago today) - ...when maybe there's such a thing as too much: During a show at the Carlton Athletic Football Ground in England, The Who earn themselves a spot in the Guinness Book of Records with "The loudest performance of a rock band at 120 decibels!" -- That's just a notch down from the equivalent made by a jet plane(!), and human exposure to this prolonged level is recommended at less than 30 seconds total. Hope ya like reading lips...Meanwhile, back in the day:

5/31/1982 (37 years ago today) - From the "Oh, C'mon Now!" Dept.: The Rolling Stones play to a sold-out crowd of.....400 people(!) at The 100 Club, Oxford St., London -- The Sex Pistols and The Jimi Hendrix Experience played legendary shows at this same venue, but what we really wanna know is, just what the hey do ya hafta do to get into these gigs???

5/31/1989 (30 years ago today) - Never heard of them, so what's the deal...: The name of the band was Tin Machine and this date was their very first live performance, taking place at The International Music Awards in New York City and...wait a minute, the bands front-man/lead vocalist is none other than David Bowie!!! DB had stated he wanted to "rejuvenate himself artistically" by becoming just a regular member of a band, which is both laudable and {almost} laughable because, well, he's David-friggin'-Bowie, please!... -- Supposedly Tin Machine's goal was "to make the kind of music we enjoy listening to", and while some called it a "noble experiment", others claimed it was a total waste of time and talent: the project produced two rather dismally unfocused and poorly received albums before calling it a day. 

Share your head scratches with the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"You'll dance to my tongue/We'll dance on the sun...", xoxo!