Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for Rocktober 12th

This was hi-tech in 1955... -- "Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills" is a no-go... -- Truckers inspire new wave band!...

10/12/1955 (51 years ago today) - The Chrysler Corporation introduces "high fidelity record players" for their upcoming line of 1956 automobiles: the unit measures less than a foot wide, just under four inches high, and it gets mounted under the instrument panel. BUT...it can play only seven inch discs spinning at 16 2/3 rpm (which required three times the number of grooves-per-inch than a standard LP at the time!). By 1961, the players were nowhere to be found...

10/12/1968 (48 years ago today) - The Columbia record label would not issue the album with the title "Sex, Drugs and Cheap Thrills", so a sort-of-a-compromise was made...: On this date, Big Brother And The Holding Company went to No. 1 with the classic LP "Cheap Thrills" -- originally, the band wanted the front cover to be a photo of the group naked in bed together -- instead, thanks to Janis Joplin's relentless demands, they used those legendary drawings by cartoonist Robert Crumb (who had initially intended his art to be the LP's back cover!). A landmark of the burgeoning psychedelic era for sure, and it still sounds great: "Combination Of The Two", "Summertime", "Piece Of My Heart", "Ball And Chain"...yikes!!!

10/12/1974 (42 years ago today) - They were first called Angel And The Snake, but on this date, for the first time ever, Blondie appear at CBGB's in New York City, under the name Blondie! Fact: the band's name is derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled "Hey, Blondie" to singer Debbie Harry as they drove by.

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"Hang up and run to me...", xoxo!