Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for March 19th

Was signing Dylan a mistake? -- Stones fashion crisis! -- Old band freshens up...

3/19/1962 (56 years ago today) - Bob Dylan's debut album is released by Columbia Records -- Even though it was praised by critics led by New York City's Village Voice calling it "an explosive country blues debut", the LP featured only two original Dylan compositions ("Talkin' New York" and "Song To Woody"); the rest were simple versions of traditional folk standards such as "Man Of Constant Sorrow" and "House Of The Risin' Sun" -- The record sold so poorly that it became known as 'Hammond's Folly': John Hammond was the producer and was responsible for signing Dylan to the label. A lot of expectations were not met with this one; many considered it a "disaster". Was it just the timing that was off here? Remember, it's two years before The British Invasion and the dance craze known as "The Twist" was the most popular musical happening at the time; all Bob's first album did was illicit groans and yawns. Kinda weird, but, as always, fate was a-waiting...

3/19/1965 (53 years ago today) - Okay, so now this British Invasion thing is well underway and over in England, the elders are getting a tad irritated at...well, everything: On this date, the popular fashion mag Tailor & Cutter runs an article blasting The Rolling Stones for not wearing ties(!) -- Current pop fashion did not include the wearing of said neck wear. Of the appeal, Mick Jagger commented "The trouble with a tie is that it could dangle in your soup. It's also something extra to which a fan can hang onto when you're trying to get in and out of a theatre." Touche!

3/19/1974 (44 years ago today) - Deep down, we had a bad feeling about this...: Jefferson Airplane update their style and sound and officially re-name themselves Jefferson Starship -- They're off to a decent start with 1974's "Dragon Fly" and "Red Octopus" from 1975 was a surprisingly solid hit, but...off in the distance...is...something titled..."We Built This City"??? Recovery becomes impossible.

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"Someone's always playing corporation games...", xoxo!