Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for February 8th

A pre-Zep incarnation -- A big seller for Zimmy -- A sad end for a legendary rocker...

2/8/1967 (52 years ago today) - A group called The Band Of Joy played their very first live set as one of a handful of up-and-coming bands at The Marquee in London. Really only notable for two reasons: Robert Plant was the bands lead singer and John Bonham was on drums. Quirky side-note: the groups roadie was Noddy Holder, who would go on to achieve a huge amount of success in England as one of the founding members of Slade!

2/8/1975 (44 years ago today) - Bob Dylan went to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with his 15th(!) studio recording "Blood On The Tracks" -- It was Bob's second U.S. No. 1 LP, and has become one of his all-time best-selling releases. Many would argue that it just might be the finest album of his career, and the track listing backs this claim up: "Tangled Up In Blue", "Simple Twist Of Fate", "Idiot Wind", "Shelter From The Storm", "Buckets Of Rain", "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"...this album pretty much defines what masterpiece means.

2/8/1990 (29 years ago today) - Suffering from depression, classic rock and roller Del Shannon died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was 55 years old. Del scored No. 1 in the U.S. and England with his brilliant classic "Runaway", and there were other notable and catchy Top 40 singles that did quite well in America and Europe, including "Two Silhouettes", "Hey Little Girl", "Handy Man", "Sea Of Love" and "Do You Wanna Dance?" -- Del had been working with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne (Tom produced the "Drop Down And Get Me" album for Del in 1980, featuring The Heartbreakers as his backing band!), and was, in fact, rumored to be Roy Orbison's replacement in The Traveling Wilburys after Roy passed away. Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

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"I wonder what went wrong...", xoxo!