Sept 14 in Music History: Genesis make their live debut, Counting Crows release August and Everything After

1955 – Little Richard enters a New Orleans studio to begin two days of recording. The sessions don’t start well, but they end fantastically. During a break, he and his producer Bumps Blackwell go to the Dew Drop Inn for lunch. Richard starts wildly playing the piano in the bar, singing a loud and lewd version of “Tutti Frutti.” With only fifteen minutes left in the session, Richard records this version of the song with the phrase, “a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom.”

1968 – The first episode of the comic strip-turned television series The Archies airs in the US. Rock mogul Don Kirshner (who also brought us The Monkees) is put in charge of the studio group, which sees contributions from Ron Dante, Andy Kim, and Jeff Barry, among others.The following year, The Archies start an eight-week run at #1 on the UK singles chart with “Sugar Sugar,” becoming the longest running One Hit Wonder in the UK.

1969 – Genesis take the stage for the first time, playing at the cottage owned by leader Peter Gabriel’s former Sunday school teacher.

1970 – Stevie Wonder marries his first wife, singer and former Motown secretary Syreeta Wright. They divorce in 1972.

1976 – Bob Dylan’s TV special Hard Rain airs.

1979 – The film version of Quadrophenia, The Who’s 1973 rock opera about growing up Mod in London, opens in theaters. The movie stars Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, and Sting.

1981 – Pink Floyd’s movie The Wall begins production.

1984 – The MTV Video Music Awards are held for the first time. Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd co-host the show.

1993 – Counting Crows release their debut album, August and Everything After.

2002 – After dating for seven years, Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Gavin Rossdale of Bush get married at St. Paul’s Covent Garden in London. They have a second wedding two weeks later in Los Angeles. The marriage lasts 13 years until they divorce in 2015.

2007 – The Beatles-inspired movie Across The Universe opens.

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.