Tag: Feb 19

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February 19, 1980 – Bon Scott dies

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The legendary lead singer of AC/DC from 1973 to 1980, Ronald Belford ‘Bon’ Scott was one of Australia’s greatest ever larrikins. His vocal style was heavily inspired by Little Richard, albeit with more of a heavy metal feel. Scott also co-wrote most of the songs on the band’s first seven album with the Young brothers, Malcolm and Angus (who were also members of the band).

Scott died when he passed out after a night of heavy drinking, and was left to sleep it off in a friend’s car. His death was ruled to have been caused by acute alcohol poisoning. His body was embalmed, and sent home to his family in Fremantle, where he was cremated and buried in the family plot. After Scott’s death, the other members of AC/DC considered quitting. Eventually, they decided that Scott would have wanted them to continue and with the encouragement of Bon’s family, the band hired Brian Johnson as the new vocalist. Five months after Scott’s death, AC/DC finished the work they began with Scott and released their next album, “Back in Black” as a tribute to him with two tracks from the album, “Hells Bells” and “Back in Black”, dedicated to his memory. It is now the fourth best-selling album in history.

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February 19, 1963 — Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” is published

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“The Feminine Mystique” is the book most credited with kickstarting Second Wave Feminism. Betty Friedan took aim at a number of targets, most of them to do with assumptions that the current roles of women in American society. Friedan disagreed with Freudian psychology and functionalism in sociology, pointing out how often each was used to suggest that societal roles were biologically determined.

Friedan received a huge number of letters from women, and as a result founded the National Organisation of Women (which she became the first president of), one of the most influential feminist organisations in America. It’s a damned shame that so much as what Friedan was criticising remains true in society.

The Feminine Mystique.jpg
By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Bobby Brown Goes Down — Frank Zappa

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February 19, 1942 — Japanese planes attack Darwin

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The Japanese air raid on Darwin was mounted by 242 Japanese planes launched from four aircraft carriers. It was intended to soften up the air force and navy bases there in preparation for the Japanese invasion of Timor the following day. Between 9:58 and 10:40AM that day, the planes sank three warships and five merchant ships, while damaging ten more. Twenty-one dock workers were killed in the raids.

This would be the first of a total of 97 air raids against targets either in Australian waters or on the Australian mainland. Most of these were on various sites across the northern coast of Australia between Port Hedland, Western Australia and Townsville, Queensland, with the great majority of them being on military or civilian targets in Darwin. The last air raid took place on November 12, 1943, striking Parap, Adelaide River and Batchelor Airfield (all in the Northern Territory). By that time, the tide of war had turned, and Japan could no longer strike so close to Australia, although the end of the war was still nearly two years away.

Darwin 42.jpg
By RAN Historical Collection – This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Tojo — Hoodoo Gurus