Jan 2nd in Pop History

On this day, January 2nd in:

1965: The Beatles made it two straight weeks at # 1 with I Feel Fine.

I Feel Fine is a song that The Beatles released in November 1964 as their eighth single. Written by John Lennon, it was credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitar feedback in popular music.

The single topped charts in the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. In the UK, it was the fifth highest selling single of the 1960s.

At the time of the song's recording, the Beatles, having mastered the studio basics, had begun to explore new sources of inspiration in noises previously eliminated as mistakes (such as electronic goofs, twisted tapes, and talkback). I Feel Fine marks one of the earliest examples of the use of feedback distortion as a recording effect in popular music. Artists such as The Kinks and The Who had already used feedback live, but Lennon remained proud of the fact that The Beatles were perhaps the first group to deliberately put it on vinyl.

I Feel Fine • Beatles

Also, on January 2nd…

1971: All Things Must Pass by George Harrison had a quick trip to the top of the Album chart, just three weeks, Abraxas by Santana, the great album that it was, nonetheless fell to second