1952: An 8-year old singer named Gladys Knight appears on the America’s Got Talent of its day, Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour, broadcast over the now-defunct Dumont Television Network. 
We're all about the history of rock & roll at BoomtownAmerica.com!
Every week, we present “ROCK REMEMBERED,” a deep dive into the hidden history of rock & roll, the stories behind the artists and songs that changed the world. Join host, “Boomtown Bill” Cross each Wednesday at 7 pm (Eastern) with an encore broadcast on Saturday at noon (Eastern).
Join us today as we relive "Catch a Wave - The Rise & Fall of Surf Music!"
When ABBA stopped recoding in 1982 (they never officially broke up – they just stopped working together), it left many people hungry for any new ABBA material.
As the years have passed, much like the Beatles, the group has gone into the vaults and released a small smattering of previously unreleased material on “Deluxe Editions” and box sets of their classic power pop. But there is one ABBA-related item that may have flown under the radar.
When ABBA first came together in the early 1970s, they were close to being a “supergroup” of Swedish recording artists. Benny Andersson was the most famous of the quartet, having been a member of a very popular Swedish rock group known as the Hep Cats. Björn Ulvaeus had also found some success as a member of a Swedish folk group known as the Hootenanny Singers.
When the two decided to start composing and recording together, they let their girlfriends join the sessions as background singers. Both guys had fallen for women who also had recording careers, albeit not quite as successful as the men. Benny was dating Anni-Frid Lyngstad, while Björn’s main squeeze was Agnetha Fältskog.
Björn & Benny released one album as a duo, Lycka, in 1970. While all of the lyrics are in their native Swedish, you can hear the very beginnings of the sound that would become ABBA because the girls join the boys on most of the album’s tracks. One of the album’s tracks, "Hej, Gamle Man" (“Hello, Old Man”), even became a hit in Sweden.
Following this, the four began working together on more of their individual recording projects. Finally, in 1972, someone (Benny, Björn or their manager Stig Anderson) had the bright idea to let the girls take the spotlight and have the boys handle songwriting (with occasional help from Stig and Agnetha), production and backing vocals. And so, ABBA was born, going on to become one of the most successful recording acts in history with nearly 400 million records/CDs/downloads and counting.
If you’re a hard core fan, check out their beginnings on Lycka, still available on Amazon and other music sellers.
And of course, ABBA delighted their fans and astounded the music world when they released their "comeback" albim, Voyage, in November of 2021, their first completely new music in nearly 20 years. It debuted at #1 on sales charts around the world, racked up sales of several million copies and finished as the 8th best-selling album of the year worldwide.
- Take a 30-minute walk every day
- Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
- Spend time with a friend or loved one every day - during times of social distancing, a phone call if not a personal visit
In 1957, a package of the old, classic monster movies (Frankenstein, Dracula, etc.) was released to local TV stations, touching off a craze for movie monsters that continued strongly through most of the 1960s. Of course, as we grew older, the monsters were played more for laughs than screams. The Addams Family and The Munsters had made their prime-time debuts in 1964.
So, it wasn’t surprising when, just one year later, Saturday mornings got their very own lovable creature feature, Milton the Monster. Milton was the product of the lab of mad scientist, Professor Weirdo, high atop his gloomy mansion on Horror Hill. His clumsy assistant, Count Kook, caused the Professor to add too much of “the tincture of tenderness” to his formula. The result was a totally ineffectual monster who blew clouds of smoke out his sawed-off skull and spoke like Gomer Pyle.
Created and directed by a guy named Hal Seeger, the show followed the format most kiddie cartoons used back in the day – 3 different short cartoons, each starring a different lead character. Unlike most other shows, the line-up of other cartoons rotated between 5 characters. Most episodes featured Fearless Fly (a silly Superman knock-off) as the second feature, but during the show’s run, there were also cartoons featuring Muggy-Doo Boy Fox, Stuffy Durma (a hobo who became a millionaire overnight), Flukey Luke (a detective in an urban setting who was still somehow a cowboy), and Penny Penguin (a young girl mammal with the cuteness factor turned to overload).
Most of the voices for all these features were provided by versatile voice guy, Bob McFadden with the sole exception being Stuffy Durma, where the voice work was handled by Dayton Allen (who also provided the voices for both Heckle & Jeckle among other cartoon characters).
Milton the Monster proved popular enough to remain a part of ABC’s Saturday morning line-up through 1968. The entire series was released on home video by Shout! Factory back in 2007, but has since gone out of print and now commands stiff prices in the second-hand market. There is also a book about the series, Milton the Monster: Horror Hill Epitaph by Kevin Scott Collier, which is still in print.
Summer has always been time for Popsicles.
Believe it or not, this popular frozen treat really was invented by a kid. One night in 1905, 11-year old Frank Epperson of California mixed some flavoring powder in water with a fork and left it outside (fork and all) overnight by mistake. It froze, but Frank ate it anyway.
For the next 17 years, Frank made them for himself and eventually, his kids. But in 1922, Epperson sold some at a fireman’s ball in San Francisco. They were a big hit. Frank then started selling them at the Neptune Beach amusement park in Alameda, California.
Unfortunately, Frank wasn’t much of a businessman. While the treat was popular, Frank’s personal finances were shaky. In 1925, he sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. Lowe quickly took the regional treat national.
The Fudgsicle was added in 1946. The origins of the Creamsicle are a bit more confused. No one seems to know how the treat was created or when it was first marketed.
A true Baby Boomer also remembers something called a Dreamsicle that you could also find in the freezer section of your corner drug store. But do you know the difference between a Dreamsicle and a Creamsicle?
The Creamsicle features ice milk inside the Popsicle coating while a Dreamsicle featured ice cream. One other difference: you can still find Creamsicles at grocery stores and ice cream trucks, The Dreamsicle has passed away into history. Pleasant dreams, indeed.