Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for April 21st

Today we look back at some unavoidable '70's schlock, and give props to a pair of singers who are polar opposites and we love 'em both...

4/21/1973 (47 years ago today) - It was the biggest selling single of the year, topping out at over six million copies, and on this date, Tony Orlando & Dawn begin a month long reign at No. 1 with the can't-go-anywhere-without-hearing-it nightmare that is "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree" -- We'd like to, but we can't even give it any credit for replacing the mind-numbing "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence for the top spot. It just doesn't get any cheesier, not even in a spray can...

4/21/2000 (20 years ago today) - Remembering those who also served: Neal Matthews of The Jordanaires died from a heart attack; he was 70 years old -- The Jordanaires were one of country music's most sought after backup groups; though they were most famous for backing up Elvis on his initial run of classic hits ("Hound Dog", "Don't Be Cruel" and many more), they also recorded with Patsy Cline, George Jones, Jim Reeves, Connie Francis, Julie Andrews, Ricky Nelson, Tom Jones and Merle Haggard. Impressive as hell, frankly.

4/21/1947 - Happy Birthday James Osterberg: the (truly) one and only Iggy Pop is 73 years old today! Garage rock, hard rock, art rock, new wave, jazz, blues, Iggy's done 'em all -- When he saw The Doors play at the University of Michigan in 1967, the seeds were sown; thanks to Jim Morrison's extreme stage behavior, Iggy was determined to always go all-out, performing bare-chested, rolling around on broken glass, exposing himself to the crowd and vomiting on stage. The Stooges third album "Raw Power" (1973) still sounds like it was beamed in from the future, and David Bowie was his biggest fan, so there's that...

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

"I'm the Chairman of the bored...", xoxo!