This Week in History - Dec.12-18
By: David Ball
Posted: December 13, 2009
Chants of “FREE JAMES BROWN” were heard outside the courthouse and around the world on December 15, 1988, when news broke that the Godfather of Soul was sentenced to six years in prison resulting from his wild, high-speed car chase on Interstate 20 with both Georgia and South Carolina state police. No stranger to brushes with the law, this particular incident found the R&B icon convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol as well asdrug and driving offenses (no surprise), and my personal favourite: assaulting a police officer. While in pursuit, cops actually shot at Brown’s vehicle, but it's doubtful bullets would have penetrated his sparkling navy blue cape or coifed hair-helmet. A public outcry for Brown’s release immediately followed his conviction; he was released in 1991 after serving only three years.
“Like a Virgin” reached #1 on Billboard on December 18, 1984. It was Madonna’s first #1 single and remained at the top of the charts for six straight weeks. To date, the success of the single and music video has helped Like a Virgin’s album sales reach 10 million in the US alone (certified Diamond) and has sold more than 21 million worldwide.
On December 14, 2000, Loverboy lead singer Mike Reno issued a statement concerning Scott Smith: the band’s founding bassist was swept off of his sailboat near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge on November 30. Said Reno, "we do not know what the future will bring as a band, but we remain together in everything we do. It hurts so very much right now, but our goal is to get through this together." And Loverboy indeed remained together, hitting the road the very next year. Scoff if you will, but Loverboy produced big fun juvenile rock anthems during an ‘80s music landscape that often took itself far too seriously. The Winnipeg-born, University of Manitoba-educated Smith was 45 at the time of his boating tragedy; his body was never found.
And in the category “The Whole World Saw This Coming,”
On December 18, 1971, “The Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis divorced his cousin, Myra Gale Brown. Their 1957 marriage elicited both societal condemnation and a media firestorm because, well, Lewis married his second cousin and, as if that weren't enough, she was only 13 at the time; Lewis was 23. Roman Polanski and Gary Glitter found nothing wrong with the marriage.
The holiday season is upon us once again, so the next time you turn on the radio and hear the greatest modern Christmas song ever, “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues, raise a glass of cheer and toast Kirsty MacColl. Why you say? On December 18, 2000, the comely English lass (and occasional Pogues collaborator) was killed when a speed-boat drove over her while she was swimming (in an area reserved for swimmers) off the coast of Cozumel in Mexico. She was 41. Although the talented singer-songwriter was never a household name on the western side of the pond, MacColl did garner several Top 20 hits in the UK during the late ‘70s to 90s, including 1979’s “They Don’t Know” (which was famously covered by comedian Tracey Ullman). But MacColl also made her name as an in-demand back-up singer. With distinctive and versatile vocal chops, MacColl made several appearances on albums by the likes of The Smiths, Talking Heads, Big Country, and The Wonder Stuff, all produced by her husband, Steve Lillywhite. But she will always be best remembered by her saucy duet with Pogues drunkard Shane MacGowan on “Fairlytale of New York”; the subversive yuletide love story recorded in 1987 may be the only Christmas song that sounds just as good in July as it does in December. By the by, Kirsty had songwriting in her blood: her father, Ewan, wrote many popular folk tunes, including the Irish pub anthem, “Dirty Old Town”.
Next week: “The Chipmunk Song,” Hank Snow, Bobby Darin, and “White Christmas”
Video: "Fairytale of New York" performed by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
