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Today in Rock History – July 20

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1965, Bob Dylan releases “Like a Rolling Stone.” The single becomes his first major hit, reaching number two on the US charts. The song remained on the charts for twelve weeks. It was recorded on June 15th and 16th at Columbia Studio A, on Seventh Avenue in New York. Then session musician Al Kooper improvised the organ riff for which the track is known.

1967, Jerry Lee Lewis kicks off his first English tour since he was hounded out of the country for being married to his 13-year-old cousin in May 1958.

1968, Cream started a four-week run at number one on the US album chart with Wheels On Fire. It reached the third spot in the UK.

1968, The Who and The Troggs played at the Virginia Beach Dome in Virginia Beach, Virginia

1968, Paul McCartney’s girlfriend Jane Asher announces on British TV that her engagement had been broken off. McCartney met future spouse Linda Eastman on a business trip earlier in June.

1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Blue Cheer performed at Patio Gardens in Farmington, Utah.The

1968, Hugh Masekela started a two week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Grazing In The Grass.”

1968, Iron Butterfly’s second album, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, entered the album chart for the first time. The album contained the 17-minute title track that filled the second side of the LP which went on sell over four million copies in the US alone.

1968, Jane Asher announced on the national British TV show, Dee Time, that her engagement to Paul McCartney was off. Paul reportedly was watching at a friend’s home and was surprised by the news. She was said to have inspired many of McCartney’s songs, such as “All My Loving,” “And I Love Her,” and “We Can Work It Out.” Jane went on to have a career in films and television as well as becoming a successful author and business woman.

1969, Led Zeppelin performed in front of 2500 fans at Musicarnival in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

1969, King Crimson played at the Marquee Club, London.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appear at Century’s Huntington Theater, Huntington, New York.

1971, The Carpenters show Make Your Own Kind Of Music started a six week run on NBC-TV.

1972, The Rolling Stones performed at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1973, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Boston Garden, Boston. Tickets were $4.50 – $6.50.

1974, David Bowie appeared live at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

1974, The Ramones decide to make their drummer Joey Ramone the lead vocalist.

1974, Tim Buckley, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, The Doobie Brothers and The Allman Brothers all appeared at Knebworth Park, England.

1975, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the opening night on their Born To Run Tour at The Palace Theatre, Providence, Rhode Island. This also saw the live debut of “Miami” Steven Van Zandt as a member of The E Street Band.

1975, The Summerfest concert lineup at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York was Judy Collins, Dan Fogelberg, Seals & Crofts, with The Eagles as headliners.

1975, Yes played at Rynearson Stadium, Ypsilanti, Michigan.

1976, Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In the audience was, Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook (soon to form Joy Division) and Mark E Smith, (The Fall) and Mick Hucknall. Tickets cost £1.

1977, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Arizona State University Activities Center, Tempe, Arizona.

1979, Van Halen played at the Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult performed at the Salem Fairgrounds, Salem, Oregon.

1983, ZZ Top played at Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, Ohio.

1986, Carlos Santana celebrated his 39th birthday, and 20th anniversary in the music business, with a concert in San Francisco. Previous group members were assembled for the event, as 17 of them performed together on stage.

1990, Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at Wembley Stadium, London, England, on her 57-date Blond Ambition World Tour.

1994, The Grateful Dead’s only performance on this date in history took place at Deer Creek Music Center, just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.

1999, The Rolling Stones reported a gross income of $337 million, (£168m), from almost two years of touring from their Bridges to Babylon and No Security tours. The Stones had played to over 5.6 million people, selling out all but 20 shows.

2000, The Evergreen Ballroom in Lacey, Washington was destroyed by a fire. During the ballroom’s heyday in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, many of music’s greats played there: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and Fats Domino. Glen Campbell had lived in the kitchen at the venue for a while before he became famous.

2009, Jackson Browne settled his lawsuit against US Senator John McCain and the Republican Party after his 1977 hit “Running On Empty” was used without permission in a 2008 McCain presidential campaign ad that aired on TV and the Internet. McCain and the Republican Party apologized for using the song in the ad, and said that McCain himself “had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the creation or distribution of the video.”

2011, Pictures of The Beatles’ first US concert in Washington DC on February 11th, 1964, taken by a then 18-year-old Mike Mitchell, sold at Christie’s auction house for $361,938. Security in those days was very casual and Mitchell was just feet from the band as he snapped the black and white photos which he stored for years in a box in his basement.

2015, American country musician, songwriter and record producer Wayne Carson died at the age of 72 after suffering congestive heart failure. He co-wrote “Always on My Mind,” a hit for Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and others. He also penned “The Letter,” recorded by The Box Tops, Joe Cocker and Leon Russell, and “Soul Deep.”

Born on July 20: Buddy Knox, singer, songwriter (1933); Kim Carnes, singer; and John Lodge, The Moody Blues (1945); Carlos Santana (1947); Jay Jay French, guitar, Twisted Sister (1952); Paul Cook, drums, Sex Pistols (1956); Michael McNeil, keyboards, Simple Minds (1958); Chris Cornell, vocals, guitar, Soundgarden (1962); and Stone Gossard, guitar, Pearl Jam (1966)

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Today in Rock History – June 29

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1968, A free concert was held in London’s Hyde Park with Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Roy Harper. This afternoon concert was the first free festival to be held in Hyde Park. The concert was held to coincide with the release of Pink Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets.

1968, The Jeff Beck Group appeared at the Boston Tea Party, Boston, Massachusetts.

1968, The Small Faces started a six week run at number one on the UK album chart with Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake.  It was a concept album with a round cover designed to look like a tobacco tin.

1969, The Allman Brothers Band at played at the Armory Building in Jacksonville, Florida.

1969, American soul singer Shorty Long drowned aged 29 after his boat capsized on the Detroit River in Michigan.  He had the 1968 US number eight single “Here Comes The Judge.” He acted as an MC for many of the Motown Revue shows and tours.

1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience play their last concert together at the Denver Pop Festival in Mile High Stadium.

1969, Led Zeppelin, The Liverpool Scene and Mick Abraham’s Blodwyn Pig all played two shows (5:30 and 8:30pm) at The Royal Albert Hall, London, England. Tickets from 5 to 15 shillings.

1970, The Who appeared at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

1971,  Yes played at the Whiskey A Go-Go in Hollywood, California

1972,  The Rolling Stones performed at Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.

1973, Ian Gilliam singer with Deep Purple quit the band at the end of a tour in Japan.

1974, Charles Aznavour was at number one on the UK singles chart with “She.” It was the French singer’s only UK chart topper. At the time it made Aznavour the oldest living male chart-topper in the UK charts, at fifty years old.

1974, Singer songwriter Gordon Lightfoot scored his only chart topping single with “Sundown.” Taken from the album of the same name, it was also number one on the US album charts in late June.

1974,  Neal Peart replaces John Rustey as Canadian group Rush’s drummer.

1975, In Oakland, Calif., Elton John joins the Doobie Brothers on stage to duet on “Listen to the Music.” Then when the Eagles try to play their set, John crashes their party to duet on another song.

Tim Buckley

1975, American singer songwriter Tim Buckley died of an overdose of heroin and morphine aged 28. He released nine albums including the 1972 release Greetings from L.A. Buckley is the father of singer songwriter Jeff Buckley.

1976, The city of Memphis names Elvis Presley Blvd. after its most famous resident.

1977, During a North American tour Fleetwood Mac appeared at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

1977, Pink Floyd appeared at The Spectrum, Philadelphia.

1978, Peter Frampton broke his arm and cracked several ribs when he was involved in a car crash in the Bahamas.

1978, David Bowie played the first of three nights on his Low/Heroes world tour at Earl’s Court in London, England.

1979, The New York Times prints an interview with Pete Townshend where he admits he has reservations about touring, but feels “fired up” about the new Who. On the same day The Kids Are Alright soundtrack is certified gold by the RIAA.

1979, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Lowell George died of a heart attack. The Little Feat front man was found dead at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. George joined Zappa’s Mothers of Invention as rhythm guitarist in 1968, but was kicked out due to recurring drug problems. He also played guitar on John Cale’s 1973 album Paris 1919, Harry Nilsson’s Son of Schmilsson album and Jackson Browne’s The Pretender.

1980, Led Zeppelin performed at Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland as part of a European tour.

1980, Roxy Music performed at Hemmerlein Halle, Nuremburg, Germany.

1981, Bob Dylan appeared at Earls Court, London.

1982, Eric Clapton played at the Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida.

1984, Bruce Springsteen kicked off the first leg of his Born in the USA tour with a three-night run at the Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Springsteen would play a total of 156 shows ending on October 2, 1985 in Los Angeles.

1985, David Bowie and Mick Jagger recorded a version of the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas 1964 hit “Dancing In The Streets” for the  Live Aid concert. The single went on to become a number one UK hit. The original plan was to perform a track together live, with Bowie performing at Wembley Stadium, and Jagger at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, until it was realized that the satellite link-up would cause a half-second delay that would make this impossible unless either Bowie or Jagger mimed their contribution, something neither artist was willing to do.

1985, John Lennon’s 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385, (£1,768,462) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

1991, Jason Donovan had his third UK number one single with “Any Dream Will Do,” a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1968 musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Donovan was playing the lead role in a new London production of the musical.

1994, Oasis made their debut on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops performing their new single “Shakermaker.”

1996, Record producer George Martin received a Knighthood, also music promoter Harvey Goldsmith became an MBE, which stands for Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. That is the “order of chivalry of British constitutional monarchy,” rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations and public service outside the Civil Service. Van Morrison received an OBE,  a post-nominal for Officer of the Most Excellent, a grade in the Order of the British Empire.

2002, American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney died of lung cancer. She had the 1954 UK number one single “This Ole House,” and appeared in the 1954 movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Her nephew, George Clooney was a pallbearer at her funeral.

2004, Courtney Love was reprimanded by Los Angeles Judge Melissa Jackson for turning up five hours late to a hearing. Love pleaded guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct and was given a discharge, on condition she paid the victim’s medical bills, joins a drug programme and stayed out of trouble.

Born on June 29: Roger Spear, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1943); Little Eva (1945); Ian Paice, drums, Deep Purple (1948); Colin Hay, Men At Work (1953); Don Dokken, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, Dokken (1953); Greg Hetson, American singer, guitarist, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Black President, Redd Kross (1961); Bret McKenzie, New Zealand guitarist, producer, actor, Flight of the Conchords, The Black Seeds, Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra (1976); Nicole Scherzinger, American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, The Pussycat Dolls, Eden’s Crush (1978);

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Today in Rock History – April 26

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1965, Bob Dylan arrives in England for a tour promoting his new album, Bringing It All Back Home. D.A. Pennebaker films his performances and acerbic exchanges with the press for the documentary Don’t Look Back.

1965, The Who perform at Town Hall in Bridgwater, Summerset, England.  They are paid £200 ($320).

1966, Dusty Springfield was at number one on the singles chart with “‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.”

1966, The Who’s first album is released in the U.S. on Decca. Retitled The Who Sings My Generation, it features a different cover, drops “I’m a Man” for the Shel Talmy-produced “Instant Party,” edits the instrumental break out of “The Kids Are Alright,” and reverses the order of “A Legal Matter” and “The Ox.” It is released in both mono and stereo although both are simply mono electronically processed as stereo. Billboard says: “the four boys from London have an ear-splitting, gut-busting and best-selling package in this program of blues-oriented rock numbers.” It fails to reach the U.S. charts, but does get airplay on Detroit radio.

1966, The Who performed at the Lynx Club in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England.

1966, The New York Times reports that Ray Charles has been ordered to undergo tests at a Boston hospital to confirm that he has been weaned off drugs.

1967, Mamas and the Papas singer Mama Cass gave birth to a daughter, Owen Vanessa, in Los Angeles.

1969, King Crimson appeared at the Technical College, Ewell, Surrey, England.

1969, Jimi Hendrix played at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

1969, The Original Cast of Hair started a 13-week run at number one on the album chart.

1969, The Doobie Brothers played at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California.

1969, “Get Back,” credited to the Beatles with Billy Preston, goes to number one on the UK singles chart.

1969, During the band’s second North American tour, Led Zeppelin played the second of two nights at The Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco in California.

1970, Jimmy Page’s solo appearance on the BBC’s Julie Felix Show reveals an interesting change of direction for Led Zeppelin. While the band is pegged as a purveyor of blues bombast, his performance of the acoustic “White Summer/Black Mountain Side,” influenced by folk guitarist Bert Jansch, is a good indication of the gentler direction of Led Zeppelin III.

1972, Pink Floyd played the first of two nights at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan in support of Dark Side of the Moon.

1974, Queen appeared at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.

1975, BJ Thomas went to number one on the singles chart with “(Hey Won’t You Play), Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” It was the singer’s second US chart topper.

1976, David Bowie performed at Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Grateful Dead in 1977 (from deadlistening.com)

1977, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey.

1977, Glen Campbell had a number one hit with “Southern Nights.”

1978, Ringo Starr’s TV special, Ringo, a musical version of The Prince and the Pauper aired on American television. Ringo played both characters, George Harrison provided the narration.

1979, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

 

1980, Blondie were at number one on the singles chart with “Call Me,” featured in the Richard Gere movie American Gigolo.

1980, Humble Pie performed at the Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia.

1980, The Beat released “Mirror In The Bathroom.” It was the first digitally recorded single in the UK.

1980, The Who play at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri.

1980, Van Halen played at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1988, Mick Jagger appeared in White Plains, New York, Federal Court in the copyright infringement case brought by reggae singer Patrick Alley, who claimed the Mick Jagger solo track “Just Another Night” was a plagiarism of his own song of the same name. Alley was claiming $7 million (£4.66 m) in profits from the track. During the case Sly Dunbar played drums to the court to show how the beats were different in each song and Mick sang and played demos of his song to show the court the development of the track. At the end of the week-long trial, Jagger won the case.

1990, Nirvana appeared at the Pyramid Club in New York City. The band’s label Sub Pop filmed the show and the performance of “In Bloom” was later used as a promo clip.

1997, Ernest Stewart, keyboard player with KC and the Sunshine Band, died of an asthma attack.

2008, Amy Winehouse spent the night in custody after being arrested on suspicion of assault. Police said Winehouse had been “in no fit state” to be questioned when she arrived at the London station and she was kept in the cell. The 24-year-old was to be questioned about an incident said to have occurred 3 days earlier after a 38-year-old man claimed he was assaulted.

2013, US country singer George Jones, who had a string of number one songs between the 1950s and 1990s, died aged 81. Nicknamed “Possum,” his signature song was “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” a track about love and death. He was married to Tammy Wynette between 1969 and 1975 and the pair recorded several songs together in the 1970s.

Born on April 26: Maurice Williams, The Zodiacs (1938); Giorgio Moroder, producer (1940); Tony Murray, The Troggs (1945); Gary Wright, Spooky Tooth (1945); Roger Taylor, Duran Duran (1960); Chris Mars, drums, The Replacements (1961);  Jose Antonio Pasillas II, drummer, Incubus (1976)

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Today in Rock History – April 7

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1966,The Beatles were at Abbey Road studios in London, recording overdubs on the new John Lennon song “Tomorrow Never Knows” and the new Paul McCartney song “Got to Get You Into My Life” for the forthcoming Revolver album.

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Floral Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at the ABC Theatre in Carlisle, Cumbria, England.

1968, At the end of a North American tour, The Who played at the CNE Coliseum, Toronto, Ontario.

1969, John Lennon records “Give Peace a Chance” in his Toronto hotel room. It becomes his first solo single.

1970, On this week’s Top 5 singles chart; No.5, “Bridge Over Trouble Water” by Simon and Garfunkel, No.4, “Spirit In The Sky,” Norman Greenbaum, No.3, “Instant Karma” by John Lennon, No.2, “ABC” The Jackson Five, and at No.1, “Let It Be,” The Beatles.

1970, Genesis appeared at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band played at The Place, a small club in Miami, Florida.

1972, The Grateful Dead appeared at The Empire Pool, London, England, tickets cost £1 ($1.50.)

1973, Yes performed at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.

1973, Diana Ross started a two-week run at number one on the US album chart with the soundtrack to Lady Sings The Blues, a Billie Holliday biopic.

1974, Aerosmith played at Michigan Palace in Detroit.

1975, Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple to form his own band Rainbow. Tommy Bolin replaced Blackmore.

1975, Deep Purple performed at the Palais Des Sports, Paris.

1976, Rush appeared at the Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

1977, Black Sabbath played at Stadthalle, Offenbach am Main, Germany.

1979, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, The Boomtown Rats and Ted Nugent all appeared at the California Music Festival.

1979, The Doobie Brothers went to number one on the US album chart with Minute By Minute, the group’s only US chart topper.

1981, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their first full-scale tour in Hamburg, Germany. This was Springsteen’s first tour outside North America, which would take in ten countries.

1985, Grateful Dead appeared at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

1994, US soul singer Percy Sledge pleaded guilty to tax evasion after he failed to report $260,000 in income earned between 1987 and 1989. He was sentenced to serve six months in a halfway house.

2000, Heinz, bass player and singer with The Tornadoes died aged 57. The group had the Joe Meek produced 1962 UK and US number one single “Telstar,” making them the first UK group to score a US number one single. Heinz had the 1963 solo hit “Just Like Eddie,” a tribute to Eddie Cochran, which featured future Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.

2013, Andy Johns, the veteran producer and engineer who worked on classic albums by Led Zeppelin, (Led Zeppelin II  through  Physical Graffiti), the Rolling Stones, (Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street), Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen and many others, died at the age of 61.

2015, The original manuscript of Don McLean’s American Pie sold for $1.2m (£806,000) at a New York auction. The 16-page draft had been expected to fetch as much as $1.5 million (£1 million) at the Christie’s sale. McLean said writing the song was “a mystical trip into his past”.

Born on April 7: Billie Holiday (1915); Spencer Dryden, Jefferson Airplane (1938);  Mick Abrahams,  Jethro Tull (1943); Patricia Bennett, The Chiffons (1947); John Oates, Hall and Oates (1949);  Janis Ian (1951); Bruce Gary, The Knack (1952)

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Today in Rock History – March 31

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1967, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time when he was appearing at The Astoria in London, England. It was the first night of a 24-date tour with The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Engelbert Humperdink. The Fender Stratocaster burned on stage by Hendrix sold for £280,000 at a 2008 London auction of rock memorabilia.

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Top Spot Ballroom, Ross-on-Wye, England.

1968, The Who performed at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.

1969, Led Zeppelin performed at the Cooks Ferry Inn, in Edmonton, in north London.

1969, George Harrison and his wife, Patti, appear in an Amersterdam court charged with possession of cannabis. They are fined £250 ($375.)

1969, In Amsterdam John and Yoko call off their “Bed-In” so they can premiere Ono’s new film Rape in Vienna.

1970, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1972, The Beatles Official Fan Club closed. The Beatles Monthly magazine had ceased three years previously.

1972, Badfinger, King Crimson, along with Ashton, Gardner & Dyke appeared at Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1972, The number one album in the US is America’s self-titled debut, featuring their classic “A Horse With No Name.”

1973, The Grateful Dead played at War Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York.

1973, Roxy Music appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, London.

1974, Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1975, Aerosmith headlined at the Civic Center, Lansing, Michigan.

led-zeppelin-presence1976, Led Zeppelin released Presence, their seventh studio album, on their own Swan Song Records in the UK. Jimmy Page and manager Peter Grant were fearful that Plant might have quit the band during his (and his family’s) recovery from a serious car accident the year before. So, the band rushed to Musicland Studios in Germany (for tax reasons) to get Plant out of his depression and “back in the groove.” After a month of rehearsals, the album was recorded in just eighteen days with Plant in a wheelchair.

1976, The Brotherhood Of Man were at number one on the UK singles chart with the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, “Save Your Kisses For Me.” The group’s first of three UK chart toppers.

1977, An Elvis Presley concert in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is postponed after Elvis doesn’t return from the intermission.

1978, Eric Clapton played at the Civic Center, Baltimore, Maryland.

1979, Roxy Music appeared at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, Massachusetts.

1980, Rush performed at the Brandt Center, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

1982, The Doobie Brothers break up for the first time.

1982, ZZ Top played at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah.

1982, Toto release their number two single “Rosanna.”

1983, Reggae singer and one-hit-wonder Eddy Grant releases “Electric Avenue” in the US. It was released in the UK in 1982, and reached number two in England. It repeated the feat in the US.

1984, Kenny Loggins started a three week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Footloose,” the theme song from the film with the same name, a top six hit in the UK.

1986, O’Kelly Isley of The Isley Brothers died of a heart attack, aged 48. Had a hit in 1962 original version of “Twist and Shout,” (later covered by the Beatles) and the 1968 UK number three single “This Old Heart Of Mine” and 1969 US number two single “It’s Your Thing.”

1992, Def Leppard released their fifth studio album Adrenalize, the first by the band following the 1991 death of guitarist Steve Clark. Former Dio and Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell, was brought in as the newest member in April 1992. He appears in all promotional videos for the album’s singles (except “Let’s Get Rocked,”) despite not playing on the album.

1995, Mexican American singer Selena was murdered aged 23 by the president of her fan club Yolanda Sald’var. Warner Brothers made a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997.

2002,  Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees bought his childhood home in Keppel Road, Chorlton, Manchester. Gibb said he was going to clean the house up, rent it out and put a plaque on the wall.

2015, Joni Mitchell was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at her Los Angeles home. The singer songwriter was admitted to intensive care where she underwent tests. Los Angeles fire officials said paramedics had answered a 911 call in Bel Air, where Mitchell lives, and had taken a patient whom they did not identify to hospital.

Born on March 31: Shirley Jones, The Partridge Family (1934); Herb Alpert (1937); Al Nichol, The Turtles (1946); Thiis Van Leer, organ, flute, Focus (1948); Mick Ralphs, Mott the Hoople (1948); Angus Young, AC/DC (1955);  Pat McGlynn, Bay City Rollers (1958); Jack Antonoff, guitarist, Fun (1984)

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Today in Rock History – February 27

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1964, The Rolling Stones made their second appearance on BBC TV show Top Of The Pops performing “Not Fade Away.”

1965, This marked the first date of a 21 twice- nightly UK package tour with Del Shannon, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, and Herman’s Hermits, stopping at Sheffield’s City Hall, England.

1967, Pink Floyd continued working on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn at Abbey Road Studios, London. With the exception of two group-composed instrumentals and one Roger Waters song, the album was written entirely by Syd Barrett.

1969, The Grateful Dead played at the Fillmore West, San Francisco.

1970, Elvis Presley performed at Houston’s Astrodome.

1970, Jefferson Airplane is fined $1000 (£ 625) for using profanity during a show in Oklahoma City.

1971, Small Faces, The Grease Band, and Savoy Brown appeared at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1971, Three Dog Night performed at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis.

1971, Five months after her death, Janis Joplin started a nine-week run at number one on the album chart with Pearl.

1972, T Rex appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

1972, Yes played at the Palace Theater, Waterbury, Connecticut.

1972, Led Zeppelin performed at Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney in Australia.

1973, The Rolling Stones played at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

1974, Cher filed for divorce from Sonny Bono. Cher married Gregg Allman from The Allman Brothers band on June 27th of the following year.

1976, The Who begin a European tour at Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland.

1977, Keith Richards was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hotel, for possession of heroin and cocaine. Bail was set at $25,000.

1977, Led Zeppelin cancel the first date of their world tour in Dallas after Robert Plant comes down with tonsillitis.

1977, Pink Floyd performed at Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany.

1978, Rush appeared at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, England.

1980, Winners at the 22nd Grammy Awards included: Song of the year, “What A Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers, Album of the year, Billy Joel’s 52nd St, and Best new artist, Rickie Lee Jones.

1981, The first Who single recorded after Keith Moon’s death, “You Better You Bet,” is released in the UK. The b-side is John Entwistle’s song “The Quiet One.” It reaches number nine on the charts.

1983, Blue Oyster Cult played at the Bicentennial Center, Salina, Kansas.

1988, Aerosmith performed at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, Shreveport, Louisiana.

1993, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” spent 14 weeks at number one on the US singles charts, giving her the longest ever US chart topper, taking over from Boyz II Men’s hit “End Of The Road,” and became the second biggest selling single in the US.

2004, A worker in a supermarket in Aspen, Colorado alerted the police-after seeing a man shopping with his face covered by a mask. Police arrived on the scene and identified the man as Michael Jackson who was in town on holiday with his children.

2010, U2 raked in more money than any other music act in the US in 2009 making $109m (£71m) from touring, record sales and other royalties, almost twice as much as the second best, Bruce Springsteen who took home $58m (£38m), followed by Madonna with $47m (£31m) and AC/DC with $44m (£29m). Coldplay were the most successful British group, at number eight, with takings of $27m (£18m).

Born on February 27: Eddie Gray, Tommy James & the Shondelles (1948); Robert Ballderama, ? and the Mysterians (1950); Neal Schon,  Journey (1954); Adrian Smith, Iron Maiden (1957); Johnny Van Zant, Lynryd Skynyrd (1957); Paul Humphreys, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1960); Josh Groban (1981)

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Today in Rock History – December 24

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beatles_rs1965, The Beatles had the number one album in the US for the third Christmas in a row. Rubber Soul sat atop the LP chart in 1965, following Beatles For Sale in 1964 and With The Beatles in 1963. The Fab Four would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The Beatles (The White Album) and again in 1969, with Abbey Road.

1965, The Who appear on Ready Steady GO! performing “Jingle Bells” and an otherwise unreleased instrumental called “You Rang”  with John Entwhistle imitating Lurch the Butler from The Addams Family TV series. A poor audio copy of these tracks does still exist.

1967, The Bee Gees performed their Christmas special live from Liverpool Cathedral, England which was broadcast on UK TV.

1968,  Led Zeppelin leave Britain to start their first American tour. Robert Plant remembered, “It was Christmas, and Christmas away from home for the English is the end of the world.”

1968, Yes performed at the Speakeasy Club in London.

1969, Yes played at Farx Club, Southall, Middlesex, England.

1972, David Bowie appeared at the Rainbow Theatre, London, England giving a special Christmas Eve concert.

1973, Tom Johnson of the Doobie Brothers was arrested in Visalia, California and charged with possession of marijuana. His court date is set for January 10th, the same day the band’s new LP is to be released. The album is ironically titled What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.

1974,  James Taylor, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell get into the Christmas spirit by going around Los Angeles singing carols.

1975, AC/DC appeared at The Hordern Pavillion, Sydney, Australia.

Eagles-Hotel-California1976, Hotel California, The Eagles’ sixth album, spent the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. It was the band’s first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner, which has now sold over 16 million copies.

1977, The Bee Gees started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with “How Deep Is Your Love,” the group’s 4th chart topper. It stayed in the top ten for 17 weeks giving it the longest chart run in history.

1977, The Kinks performed at the Rainbow Theatre in London.

1977, The Sex Pistols played their last ever UK gig, (until 1996), before splitting, at Ivanhoes in Huddersfield. It was a charity performance before an audience of mainly children.

1983, The Police appeared at The Brighton Centre, Brighton, England on their Synchronicity Tour.

1988, Nirvana started recording their first album Bleach using a $600 loan from an old school friend.

1988, American glam metal band Poison started a three-week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

1994, Pearl Jam went to number one on the US album chart with Vitalogy. Their third studio album was first released on vinyl record, followed by a release in other formats two weeks later.

2000, Four Seasons bassist Nick Massi died of cancer. They scored the 1976 UK and US number one single “December 1963, Oh What A Night,” as well as hits with “Sherry,” and “Rag Doll.”

2009, Larry Knechtel, the keyboard player for Bread, died following a heart attack at the age of 69. Knechtel earned a Grammy award for his arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and also performed with Neil Diamond, Randy Newman, Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr., The Dixie Chicks and Elvis Costello.

2012, American musician Ray Collins died aged 76. Collins was the lead vocalist on early Mothers of Invention albums, including Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and continued to contribute to other Frank Zappa projects through the mid-1970s.

Born on this December 24: Lee Dorsey (1924); Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister, Hawkwind, Motorhead (1945); Jan Akkerman, Focus (1946); Darren Wharton, Thin Lizzy, Dare (1962); Ricky Martin (1971); Tomas Kalnoky, Streetlight Manifesto (1980); Louis Tomlinson, One Direction (1991)

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Today in Rock History – October 21

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beatles-studio-19651965, Wanting to improve on a previous recording session The Beatles started from scratch on a new song called “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown,”) finishing recordings in three takes. They also begin working on a new John Lennon song “Nowhere Man.”

1965, The Kingsmen perform “Louie Louie” on the ABC television variety show Shindig!  Also guesting were the Dave Clark Five.

1965, The Spencer Davis Group recorded “Keep On Running” at Pye Studios in London, England. The track went on to top the UK chart the following January.

1966, Pink Floyd appeared at the London Free School, held at the All Saints Church Hall, Powis Gardens, London.

1967, Scottish singer Lulu started a five-week run at number one on the US singles chart with the theme from the film To Sir With Love.

1967, Pink Floyd performed at Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon.

1970, Pink Floyd’s show at the Fillmore West in San Francisco included a brass and choir for the performance of “Atom Heart Mother.” The choir came back on for an encore of “Ave Maria.” Tickets were $3.

1971, Rolling Stone Mick Jagger became a father when his wife Bianca gave birth to daughter Jade in a Paris hospital.

1972, Pink Floyd performed at a benefit show for War on Want, The Albany Trust Deptford, and Save The Children Fund. The show was held at the Empire Pool, Wembley, London.

1972, Chuck Berry started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “My Ding-A- Ling,” his first and only US and UK chart topper, 17 years after his first chart hit.

1972, Pete Townshend’s solo album Who Came First hits the British charts. Although it has Pete on the cover and is marketed as a solo album, it is more a compilation of the privately released Meher Baba albums. For instance, the single released from the album, “Forever’s No Time At All” (backed with “This Song Is Green,”) features a lead vocal by Billy Nicholls. The album reaches #30 in the British charts. The single does not chart.

1972, Curtis Mayfield started a four-week run at No.1 on the album chart with soundtrack to Superfly.

1973, The Grateful Dead played at the Omaha Civic Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

1973, Elton John, Sutherland Brothers, and Quiver performed at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida.

1974, Roxy Music appeared at the Odeon in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1975, The soundtrack to the film Lisztomania is released. The movie stars Roger Daltrey and was helmed by Tommy director Ken Russell. Rick Wakeman’s planned “concept album” version of the soundtrack is turned down for a simple collection of songs and performances. The result does not chart in the U.K. and peaks at number 145 in the US. Wakeman’s version of the soundtrack is not released until 2002.

1975, Elton John is the latest addition to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1975, The Doobie Brothers played at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1976, Los Angeles’ Fox Wilshire Theatre hosts the west coast premiere of Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same.” It was attended by the band. Jimmy Page said, “(The premieres were) held apart by a few days so we could check the cinemas out. It’s not as easy a job as you’d think getting the sound right for cinemas. The first time in New York was great, the first time one had sat in an audience. Every time I had seen the film before was with technicians, people with a really critical eye. Then the film  really lived for the first time and you could see people getting off on things, applauding and laughing at the right time, generally vibing. Other charity premieres are held in various major cities including: Toronto, Boston and Dallas, San Francisco and Chicago, but not attended by the band.

keith-moon21976, Keith Moon played his last show with The Who at the end of a North American tour at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. On September 7, 1978, Moon died of an overdose of a sedative Heminevrin, that had been prescribed to prevent seizures induced by alcohol withdrawal.

1976, Aerosmith appeared at the Stadthalle, Erlangen,Germany.

1977, Rush performed at Will Rogers Auditorium, Fort Worth, Texas.

1978, The Clash sacked manager Bernie Rhodes, saying the band and record company “found him hard to deal with.” Melody Maker journalist Caroline Coon took his place.

1980, Van Halen played at the Hulman Center, Terre Haute, Indiana.

1981, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas.

1983, The Grateful Dead appeared at The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts.

1989, Jive Bunny And The Mastermixes had their second UK number one single with “That’s What I Like.” The Theme from Hawaii Five-O was the recurring hook in the record which also included “Lets Twist Again,” “Lets Dance,” “Great Balls of Fire,” and “The Twist.”

1992, George Michael took Sony Records to court in a fight over his contract with the company. He lost the case in 1994. Michael worked with Sony again less than 10 years later.

1995, Shannon Hoon, lead singer for Blind Mellon dies of a suspected cocaine overdose after an all-night drug binge following a “disappointing performance” the night before in Houston, Texas. The band is best known for the song “No Rain.”

1997, Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind 97” was declared by the Guinness Book Of Records as the biggest selling single record of all time, with 31.8 million sales in less than 40 days and raising more than £20 ($32)million for charity.

2001, Concerts at Madison Square Garden and the RFK stadium in Washington were expected to raise millions in funds for the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Stars who appeared included Michael Jackson, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, *NSYNC, P-Diddy, James Brown, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, The Who, and Elton John.

2006, American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer Sandy West died from lung cancer. She was a founding member, with Joan Jett, of the all-girl group The Runaways. Cherie Currie, the initial lead singer of The Runaways, said, “Sandy West was by far, the greatest female drummer in the history of rock and roll. No one could compete or even come close to her, but the most important was her heart.”

2006, Evanescence were at number one on the US album chart with their second album The Open Door. It became the 700th top album in Billboard since the chart became a weekly feature in 1956.

2007, Stereophonics went to number one on the UK album chart with Pull The Pin, the bands sixth studio album.

2013, Sid Bernstein, the concert promoter who staged early US shows by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, died at age 95. Bernstein booked The Beatles for their legendary show at Shea Stadium in New York in 1965, which was the first concert to be staged in a large stadium. Bernstein also promoted The Beatles’ performance at Carnegie Hall in New York on their first US tour in 1964. He also arranged the first five American dates for the Rolling Stones, as well as shows for Judy Garland, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett.

Born on October 21: Manfred Mann (1940); Steve Cropper, Booker T & the MG’s (1941); Elvin Bishop (1942); Ron Elliott, The Beau Brummels (1943);Lee Loughnane, trumpet, Chicago (1946); Lux Interior, singer-songwriter, The Cramps (1946); Brent Mydland, keyboards, The Grateful Dead (1952); Charlotte Caffey, The Go- Go’s (1953); Eric Faulkner, singer, Bay City Rollers, (1954) Julian Cope, Teardrop Explodes (1957);  and Steve Lukather, Toto (1957); Nick Oliveri, bass, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age (1971)

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Today in Rock History – October 12

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1965, The Beatles recorded “Run For Your Life” in its entirety, in five takes for their upcoming album Rubber Soul at Abbey Road Studio’s London. John Lennon later admits to lifting two lines from Elvis Presley’s 1955 hit “Baby Let’s Play House.” The group also works on another new Lennon song “This Bird Has Flown,” later known as “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown.”) The track included George Harrison’s double-tracked sitar part, the first appearance of an Indian instrument on a pop record.

1967, The Doors played at The Surf Club, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, supported by Ultimate Spinach.

1968, Big Brother And The Holding Company went to number one on the US album chart with Cheap Thrills. It spent a total of eight weeks in the top spot.

1968, Pink Floyd were at ORTF TV Studios in Paris where footage of the band “larking about on the London underground combined with shots of London landmarks” were used as a backdrop while the band played “Let There Be More Light.” It was broadcast on the arts program A L’Affiche Du Monde.

1968, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers appeared at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.

1969, The English press announces that Led Zeppelin will receive “the highest fee ever paid to a British group for a one-nighter in this country,” when they appear at London’s Lyceum, though the actual amount is not revealed.

1969, A DJ on Detroit’s WKNR radio station received a phone call telling him that if you play The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” backwards, you hear John Lennon say the words “I buried Paul.” This started a worldwide rumor that Paul McCartney was dead.

1971, Gene Vincent (Vincent Eugene Craddock), died from a perforated ulcer, aged 36. He had the 1956 US number seven and UK number 16 single “Be Bop A Lula.” Vincent appeared in the film, The Girl Can’t Help It with Jayne Mansfield. In 1960, while on tour in the UK, Vincent and songwriter Sharon Sheeley were seriously injured the car crash that killed Eddie Cochran.

1973, Pink Floyd perform at Munchener Olympiahalle at Olympia Park, in Munich, Germany. It was a typical 1973 show, which included Dark Side of the Moon as the second set of their shows. The support act was Fumble.

bay-city-rollers-saturday-night1974, The Bay City Rollers went to number one on the UK album chart with their debut album Rollin. The album included three British chart hits “Remember,” “Shang-a-Lang,” “Summerlove Sensation,” and the debut of “Saturday Night,” which was never a British hit, despite being a number one smash in America.

1974, If You Love Me, Let Me Know by Olivia Newton-John spent its only week at number one on the US album charts.

1974, The who album Odds and Sods is released in the US. Jim Miller in Rolling Stone calls it “flawed but interesting.”

1975, Rod Stewart and The Faces made their final live appearance when they played at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band appeared Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California. The Marshall Tucker Band was the opening act.

1977, Rod Stewart played at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

1977, The Grateful Dead performed at Manor Hall in Austin, Texas.

1978, Aerosmith appeared at the Cox Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1978, While living at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, Sex Pistol Sid Vicious called the police to say that someone had stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. He was arrested and charged with murder and placed in the detox unit of a New York prison.

1980, Yes performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1980, The Doobie Brothers played at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California.

1981, King Crimson appeared at the Music Centre, Utrecht, in the Netherlands.

1982, Van Halen performed at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1985, Ricky Wilson of the B-52’s died of complications from AIDS.

1991, Simply Red’s fourth album Stars went to number one on the UK chart for the first of five times, featuring the singles “Thrill Me,” “For Your Babies,” and the title track “Stars.” The album became the biggest seller of 1991 and 1992 in the UK spending 134 weeks on the chart.

1994, Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band had started playing “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed. The show was immediately cancelled and re-scheduled.

1997, John Denver was killed when the handmade, experimental airplane he was flying, ran out of gas and crashed off the coast of Monterrey Bay, California. The 53 year old star had scored 15 songs on Billboard’s Top 40 Pop chart, ten of which reached number one on either Billboard’s Adult Contemporary or Country chart.

2005, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee suffered minor burns at a concert in Casper, Wyoming during a pyrotechnics explosion. Lee was treated at a local hospital for the injuries to his arm and face, which occurred while he was suspended from a wire thirty feet above the stage.

2008, Oasis went to number one on the UK album chart with Dig Out Your Soul the band’s seventh and final studio album.

Born on October 12: Sam Moore, Sam & Dave (1935); Luciano Pavarotti (1935); Melvin Franklin, vocals, The Temptations (1942);  Rick Parfitt, vocals, guitar, Status Quo (1948); David Vanian, singer-songwriter, The Damned (1956); Bryn Merrick,  bass, The Damned (1958); Bob Mould, Husker Du (1960);  Martie Maguire, Dixie Chicks (1969); Jordan Pundik,  singer, guitarist New Found Glory (1979)

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