A KOOL Day for Music

November 1972 a song from a teen idol topped the music charts that was written after a live performance that marked a milestone in music history.

Rick Nelson

Garden Party

Child star turned singing teen idol in the 1950’s who had a string of hits, found himself no longer in demand in the 60’s as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dominated the airwaves.

Nelson was set to appear at Madison Square Garden with Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Bobby Rydell. When it was his turn to hit the stage, he opened and played all the the songs that people knew. But then the audience soured when he tried to play some of his new songs.

The event is now a historical music milestone.

In an interview, he said that he wanted his fans to know that he didn’t fade away into teen idol oblivion, but that he had new ideas and new songs. The audience reacted by booing him off stage.

It was soon after that he wrote the ultimate come-back song that went to number one on the Pop chart, topped the Easy Listening chart for two weeks and spent some time on the Country Singles chart.