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Today in Rock History – May 22

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1964, The Beatles arrived back from their first US trip at Heathrow Airport and were greeted by thousands of fans. Also on this day The Beatles scored their second chart topping album with The Beatles Second Album. It displaced Meet The Beatles! from the top of the charts.

1965,  The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride ” surpassed Herman’s Hermits  “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” on the top spot on the charts.

1965, The Who appeared at the Astoria Ballroom, Rawtenstall, Lancashire, England.  Also an article on The Who appears in Record Mirror featuring short and angry quotes from Pete and Keith. Pete: “This thing about smashing amplifiers; well, if we’ve got a particularly thick audience out in the sticks we do it but sometimes we take the thing down a bit.” Keith: “We had to do something [“Anyway Anyhow Anywhere”] that would get away from all the rubbish that people are buying.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix played at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, Finland.

1967, Florence Ballard appears with the Supremes for the last time on The Tonight Show.

1968, Gary Puckett And The Union Gap were at number one on the singles chart with “Young Girl.” The song which was about under-age sex was their only chart topper.

1968, Pink Floyd performed at the Hotel Billard Palace, Antwerp, Belgium.

1968, Frank Sinatra appeared at Oakland Coliseum, California backed by a full orchestra. The concert was a Democratic Party fundraiser.

1969, John Lennon and Paul McCartney pick up another prize at the  Ivor Novello awards in London, winning A-Side Which Achieved the Highest Certified British Sales, 1968 for “Hey Jude.”

1970, The Byrds and Mason Proffit played at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band headlined at the Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia.

1970, Litter, The Bob Seger System, and Mountain performed at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago

1971, The Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers started a four-week run at number one on the charts, the group’s second chart topping album, the set featured “Brown Sugar,” “Bitch,” and “Wild Horses.” The artwork for Sticky Fingers, which, on the original vinyl release, featured a working zipper that opened to reveal cotton briefs, was conceived by American pop artist Andy Warhol. The cover, a photo of Joe Dallesandro’s crotch clad in tight blue jeans, was assumed by many fans to be an image of Mick Jagger. The album also features the first usage of the “Tongue and Lip Design” created by John Pasche.

1971, The Faces appeared at Liverpool Stadium in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.

1972, Pink Floyd, Donovan, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Buddy Miles and Carlos Santana, Tom Paxton and Memphis Slim, Dr. John The Night Tripper and Spencer Davis with Sneeky Pete and Gene Clark played at The Amsterdam Rock Circus 1972, Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

1973, David Bowie appeared at the Odeon Theatre (Romford), in London.

1974, The Who performed at Guildhall, Portsmouth, England.

1975,  The Eagles headlined at the Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland.

1976, During a European tour The Rolling Stones played at Earls Court in London.

1976, Wings started a five week run at number one on the singles chart with “Silly Love Songs,” McCartney’s fifth chart topper since leaving The Beatles.

1976, KISS appeared at The Olympia Theatre, Paris.

1977, Television kicked off their first UK tour at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland, Blondie were the support act.

source: LedZeppelin.com

1977, Led Zeppelin performed at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

1979, Rush appeared at Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway.

1980, U2 kicked off their 23-date 11 O’Clock Tick Tock tour at The Hope & Anchor in London.

1980, Black Sabbath played at the Apollo Theatre, Manchester, England.

1982, The Grateful Dead performed at the Greek Theatre, at The University of California at Berkeley.

1983, ZZ Top appeared at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Birmingham, Alabama.

1984, Van Halen performed at the San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1991, Wil Sinnott from The Shamen drowned while swimming off the coast of La Gomera when he was pulled under by strong currents. The Shamen were in Tenerife filming a video for their new single “Move Any Mountain.”

2000, Travis swept the board at the Ivor Novello awards. Singer Fran Healy won two awards for Best Contemporary Song for the single “Why Does It Always Rain On Me,” and Songwriter Of The Year for the Travis album The Man Who.

2004, Morrissey appeared at the M.E.N. arena Manchester, England on his 45th birthday. It was Morrissey’s return to his home city Manchester after an absence of 12 years and the 18,000 tickets sold out in only 90 minutes. During the set Morrissey performed five Smiths songs.

2005, Dave Matthews Band were at number one on the US album chart with Stand Up. The album entered the chart at No.1 with sales of 465,000. Features the singles “American Baby,” “Dreamgirl,” and “Everybody Wake Up.”

Born on this day: Bruce Rowlands, Fairport Convention (1941); Calvin Simon, Funkadelic (1942); Bernie Taupin (1950); Morrisey (1954); and Dan Roberts, bass, Crash Test Dummies (1967)

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Today in Rock History – May 21

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who-anyway-anywhere-anyhow1965, The Who’s second single, “Anyway Anyhow Anywhere” backed with “Daddy Rolling Stone” is released in the UK on Brunswick. Derek Johnson in New Musical Express calls is “a wild racer, with just about every conceivable gimmick…it commands attention and should do well.”

1967, Jimi Hendrix signed with Reprise Records on the US Warner Brothers label. They released the guitarist’s three studio albums Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland.

1967, Pink Floyd was at Studio 3, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood in London to record songs for their debut album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

1968, The Monkees appeared at The Olympia Stadium, Salt Lake City.

1968, Rolling Stone Brian Jones appeared at Great Marlborough Street Magistrates court, London on a charge of possession of marijuana, Jones was released on £200 ($320) bail.

1969, Yes played at Harrods Way Inn, London.

1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded “Ohio.”

1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at Seabreeze High School Auditorium, Daytona Beach, Florida.

1971, UK rock group Free announced that they were splitting up.

1971, King Crimson played at Regal Cinema, Cambridge, England.

1971, Paul McCartney releases his solo album Ram.

1972, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Family, Curved Air, Atomic Rooster, The Kinks, Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep, Country Joe McDonald, Buddy Miles, Status Quo, Brinsley Schwarz, Spencer Davis, The Strawbs and Humble Pie all appeared at the Second British Rock Meeting, Insel Grun, Germersheim, West Germany. The festival was due to take place in Mannheim, West Germany, but after protests from the locals, the concert actually took place in nearby Germersheim.

1973, David Bowie performed at the Theatre Royal, Norwich, England.

1974, Two would-be concert promoters were arrested by police on fraud charges in connection with selling mail order tickets for a forthcoming “Elten John” show. The misspelling help detect their fraud. Police took away over $12,000 in checks.

1975, ZZ Top appeared at Boston’s Music Hall

1976, The Rolling Stones begin a six-night stand at London’s Earls Court. Reviews of the show are the first to describe the band as “dinosaurs.”

1977, Rod Stewart was at number one on the singles chart with the double A sided single “I Don’t Want To Talk About It / First Cut Is The Deepest.’

1977, Stevie Wonder started a three week run at number one on the singles chart with his tribute to Duke Ellington, “Sir Duke,” his sixth US chart topper. It made it to number two in the UK.

1977, Grateful Dead performed at Lakeland Civic Center, Lakeland, Florida, a show that can be heard on Dick’s Picks #29.

1978, Black Sabbath played at City Hall, Newcastle, England.

1979, Elton John started a tour of Russia, when he played the first of eight concerts making him the first Western star ever to do so.

1980, A thief broke into Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the recording studio built by Jimi Hendrix and stole five Hendrix gold records.

1982, The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester, England. Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live. It was home to many Manchester acts and Oasis, Happy Mondays, U2, The Smiths, Charlatans, James, M People, who all played at the club.

1983, David Bowie went to number one on the US singles chart with “Let’s Dance,” featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Bowie’s first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic. The music video was made by David Mallet on location in Australia including a bar in Carinda in New South Wales, featured Bowie playing with his band while impassively watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism.

1988, Prince scored his first UK number one album with Lovesexy. The cover, based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino, caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude. Some record stores refused to stock it, or wrapped the album in black.

1994, The Manchester United Football Club, along with Status Quo, were at number one on the UK singles chart with “Come On You Reds.”

2001, Producer, arranger and keyboardist Tommy Eyre died of cancer aged 51. He worked with George Harrison, Wham!, Dusty Springfield, and BB King. Eyre played and arranged Joe Cocker’s hit “With A Little Help From My Friends” and Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street.”

2006, Madonna played the first of three sold out nights at The Los Angeles Forum in California, the first dates on her Confessions Tour. The 60-date tour grossed over $260 (£162.5) million, becoming the highest grossing tour ever for a female artist.

2011, Adele went to number one on the US singles chart with “Rolling In The Deep,” taken from her second studio album, 21. The video to the song was nominated for seven MTV Video Music Awards nominations, “Rolling in the Deep” was also the Billboard Year End Hot 100 Number One Single of 2011.  The song received three 2012 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video.

2013, Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie’s legendary 1970s backing band Spiders From Mars, died from cancer at the age of 62. Bolder appeared on the studio albums Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Aladdin Sane (1973), and Pin Ups (1973). He joined Uriah Heep in 1976, replacing John Wetton.

Born on this day: Fats Waller (1904); Tony Sheridan (1940); Ronald Isley, The Isley Brothers (1941); Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist,  producer, Steeleye Span, The Watersons, Waterson:Carthy, Brass Monkey,  Blue Murder (1941); Vincent Crane, keyboards, The Crazy world of Arthur Brown (1943); Leo Sayer (1948);  Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter,  producer, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1955); Kevin Shields, American-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, My Bloody Valentine, The Complex, and Primal Scream (1963); Martin Blunt, bass, The Charlatans (1964); Christopher G. Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G. (1972); Adam Gontier, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, Three Days Grace, Big Dirty Band, and Saint Asonia (1978)

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Today in Rock History – April 28

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1966, The Kinks appeared at the Mecca Ballroom, Nottingham, England.

1966, The Young Rascals topped the Pop charts with  “Good Lovin’.” This is the first of three number one songs for group, which later records as just The Rascals.

1966, The Who perform at The Witchdoctor at the Savoy Room in Catford, England.

1967, Pink Floyd performed at the Tabernacle Club, Hillgate, Stockport, England.

1967, Johnny Cash appeared at the Burlington Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa.

1968, The Broadway musical Hair opened at the Baltimore Theatre in New York City. The musical’s profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The production ran for 1,729 performances, finally closing on July 1st, 1972.

1968, The Mothers of Invention played at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, Michigan.

1968, Cream performed at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri.

1969, Yes appeared at the Marquee Club, London.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band performed at the State University of New York in Stony Brook.

1971, Hawkwind appeared St. Michels Mount, Penzance, England.

1972, Pink Floyd played at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago.

1973, King Crimson performed at the Academy of Music in New York.

Dark side1973, Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side Of The Moon went to number one on the chart, it went on to enjoy a record breaking 741 weeks, selling over 20 million copies world-wide.

1973, The Faces scored their first number one album with Ooh La La.

1974, Queen appeared at Exposition Hall, Portland, Maine.

1975,  John Lennon appears on The Tonight Show, and Ringo Starr shows up on The Smothers Brothers Show to sing his “No No Song.”

1976, The Rolling Stones played at Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany.

1977, Eric Clapton appeared at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.

1978, Mike Oldfield played the first of two nights at London’s Wembley Arena, England.

1979,  When “Heart of Glass” by Blondie hits number one, Andy Warhol throws a party for the group at Studio 54 in New York.

1979, The Very Best Of Leo Sayer started a three-week run at number one on the UK album chart, giving Sayer his first and only chart topping LP.

1980, The Grateful Dead played at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama.

1980, Marshall Tucker Band bass player Tommy Caldwell died of injures from a jeep car crash in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina. The thirty year-old was an original member of the band, and composed several of their songs and played bass, percussion, guitar, and contributed backup vocals.

1981, Steve Currie, former member of T Rex, was killed in a car crash returning to his home near Vale de Parra, Algarve, Portugal, he was 33 years old. Currie joined T. Rex (recently renamed from Tyrannosaurus Rex) as bass guitarist in late 1970, and also worked as a session player, playing on “Motorbikin” by Chris Spedding.

1983, During the second leg of their War North American tour, U2 appeared at the Rochester Institute Of Technology Ice Rink, Rochester, New York.

1984, King Crimson appeared at Kani Hoken Hall, Tokyo.

1985, Eric Clapton performed at the Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island.

1988, Rush played at Wembley Arena in London.

1990, Guns N’ Roses leader Axl Rose married Erin Everly, daughter of The Everly Brothers Don at Cupid’s Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. They divorced in January 91 after a stormy nine months of marriage.

1990, Sinead O’Connor started a six-week run at number one on the US album chart with I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.

1999, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2002, Sugababes scored their first UK chart topping single with “Freak Like Me.” The song was originally sung by American Adina Howard in 1995, and was mixed with the synth line from Gary Numan’s 1979 hit “Are Friends Electric?”

2008, Scott Weiland, singer with The Stone Temple Pilots, was sentenced to 192 hours in county jail for his November 2007 drunk driving conviction. He was also fined $2000 (£1333,) and required to complete an 18-month alcohol program, as well as placed on probation for four years.

2015, Jack Ely died at the age of 71 after a long illness. The Kingman singer’s hit ‘Louie Louie’ reached the top of the charts in 1963 and sparked an FBI investigation into whether or not its lyrics were obscene

Born on April 28: John Wolters, drums, Dr. Hook (1945); Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter, keyboards, The Allman Brothers Band, Sea Level (1953); Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, Sonic Youth, Ciccone Youth, Free Kitten (1953);  Eddie Jobson, English keyboardist,  violinist, Curved Air, Roxy Music, U.K., Jethro Tull (1955);  Phil King, English bass player, Lush, The Jesus and Mary Chain (1960) Scott Putesky, aka Daisy Berkowitz, American guitarist, Marilyn Manson, Jack Off Jill (1968); Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter, producer, Take That (1968); Violent J, American rapper, producer, wrestler, actor, Insane Clown Posse, Dark Lotus,  Psychopathic Rydas (1972)

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Today in Rock History – December 27

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doors-jonathan-winters1967, The Doors appeared on The Jonathon Winters Show on CBS TV from Los Angeles.

1967,  Bob Dylan releases his long-awaited follow-up to the Blonde on Blonde album,  John Wesley Harding. Rolling Stone declares, “Without a doubt this is another major musical step for Bob Dylan. The predominance of country blues, white and black, from Hank Williams to Leadbelly is unprecedented in the new electric music.”

1968, Fleetwood Mac played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, Led Zeppelin II was at number one on the album charts, it went on to sell over six million copies in the US.

1969, Diana Ross and the Supremes went to number one on the singles chart with “Someday We’ll Be Together,” the group’s 12th chart topper.

1969, Miles Davis was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 cents (£0.21).

1969, The Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed reaches number three in the American album charts.

1971, Alice Cooper performed at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida.

1974, KISS played at the Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1975, Queen started a two-week run at number one on the album chart with A Night At The Opera, the group’s first chart topping album.

1975, The Faces split became official. Rod Stewart had severed all connections with the group to work as a solo artist, Ron Wood was on permanent loan to the Stones, Ronnie Lane went on to form Slim Chance, and drummer Kenny Jones would join The Who in 1979 following the death of Keith Moon.

1975, The Staple Singers went to number one on the singles chart with “Let’s Do It Again,” the group’s second chart topper.

1976, Blues guitarist Freddie King died of heart trouble and ulcers aged 42. Eric Clapton covered his “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” on his Layla album. King was a signinficant influence on British and American blues-rock musicians such as Jimmy Vaughan, Ronnie Earl, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.

1977, Aerosmith appeared at the Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut.

1978, Willie Nelson performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1979, The Grateful Dead played at the Oakland Auditorium Arena, in Oakland, California.

john-lennon-double-fantasy1980, John and Yoko’s Double Fantasy album started an eight-week run at number one on the chart. “Just Like Starting Over” started a five-week stay atop the singles charts.

1980, ZZ Top played at Expo Hall, Mobile, Alabama.

1981, American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader Hoagy Carmichael died aged 82. He is best known for composing the music for “Stardust”, “Georgia on My Mind”, “The Nearness of You”, and “Heart and Soul,” four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.

1983, The Police played the first of four sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in London, England, on their Synchronicity world tour.

1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Madness, Nik Kershaw, Gloria Gaynor, Spandau Ballet, The Flying Pickets and Helen Terry all appeared on the Granada TV music show Brighton Rock.

1986, Jackie Wilson had the UK Christmas number one single with “Reet Petite” two years after Wilson’s death, following its use in a commercial for Levi’s. Written in 1957 by Berry Gordy and Tyran Carlo, the success of the song helped Gordy fund the launch of Motown Records.

1999, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were arrested after a gun was found in their car as they left a Manhattan nightclub. Police were investigating a shooting in the club.

2008, Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Delaney Bramlett died in Los Angeles from complications after gall bladder surgery. He was a member of Delaney, Bonnie & Friends, and worked with George Harrison, The Everly Brothers, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, J.J. Cale, and Eric Clapton.

Born on December 27: Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley guitarist (1931); Mike Pinder, Moody Blues (1941); Pete Quaife, bass, The Kinks (1943); Mick Jones, Foreigner (1944); Lenny Kaye, guitarist, Patti Smith Group (1946); Peter Criss, Kiss (1947); Tracy Nelson, Mother Earth (1947); Terry Bozzio, drummer, songwriter, Missing Persons UK (1950); Karla Bonoff (1952); David Knofler, Dire Straits (1952); Matt Slocum, guitarist, songwriter, Sixpence None the Richer (1972); Hayley Williams, singer-songwriter, Paramore (1988)

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Today in Rock History – November 13

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1964, Decca Records released The Rolling Stones’ “Little Red Rooster.” Written by Willie Dixon, as “The Red Rooster,” and previously recorded by Howlin’ Wolf and Sam Cooke, the single was recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago. It was a number one hit in the UK and remains the only time a blues song has ever topped the UK pop chart.

1965, The Castiles, which featured a young singer called Bruce Springsteen appeared at The Fire House, Hazlet, New Jersey. The night was billed as a “Teenage Go, Go Dance.”

1966, The Beach Boys, Lulu, and David and Jonathan appeared at the Birmingham Theatre, England.

1967, Cream performed at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, Finland.

1967, Pink Floyd appeared on the third evening of the four-day Hippy Happy Fair, at De Oude Ahoy Hallen, Ahoy Heliport, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Their appearance was rescheduled from November 12th, due to their later than expected return from the US tour. Other bands in the festival included the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Motions, The Spencer Davis Group, Soft Machine, Golden Earring, and Tomorrow.

1968, Rolling Stone Brian Jones bought Cotchford Farm in Sussex. The author AA Milne, who wrote Winnie The Pooh, had owned the house.

1968, Hugo Montenegro was at number one in the singles chart with “The Good The Bad And The Ugly,” the soundtrack from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western film. It was the first instrumental number one since 1963.

1969, The Who play the New York State University Gymnasium in New Paltz, New York.

1969, Having bought the Island of Dorinch, off Ireland, John Lennon declares any hippie who wishes, is free to live there.

1969, Crosby Stills Nash & Young played the first of four nights at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, California.

1970, Elvis Presley appeared at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, near San Francisco.

1971, Santana scored their second US number one album with Santana III.

1971, The Faces appeared at The Pavilion, Bath, England, tickets cost 75p.

1972, The Grateful Dead performed at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

1972, King Crimson plays at the Civic Hall, Guildford, Surrey, England.

1973, Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. was killed in a car accident near Hernando, Mississippi. Lewis had been working as the drummer in his father’s band.

1974, Yes plays at the Dane County Memorial Coliseum, Madison, Wisconsin.

1975, Bob Dylan performs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut.

1976, Linda Ronstadt appeared at the New Victoria Theatre, London.

1976, Led Zeppelin scored their seventh number one album with the film soundtrack to The Song Remains The Same.

1976, Rod Stewart started an 8-week run at number one on the US singles chart with “Tonight’s The Night.” It was Rod’s second US chart topper, and it reached the fifth spot in the UK, after being banned by many radio stations, due to song being about the seduction of a virgin.

1976, The Melody Maker announced UK dates for the first major punk tour with The Sex Pistols and the Ramones co-headlining along with Talking Heads, The Vibrators and Chris Spedding. The 14-date tour which was due to start at Newcastle City Hall on November 29th never took place.

1977, Robin Trower appears at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1978, Bob Dylan played at the Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California.

1978, Rush performed at the San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California.

1979, Bob Dylan played at the Fox Warfield Theatre, San Fransisco.

1981, The Rolling Stones appeared at Madison Square Garden, New York

1981, U2 kicked off a 23-date North American October tour at JB Scott’s in Albany, New York.

1982, Men At Work started a 15-week run at number one on the US album chart with their debut album Business As Usual, which went on to sell over five million copies in the US.

1992, Ronnie Bond, drummer with The Troggs, died. They scored the 1966 US number one and UK number two single “Wild Thing” and 1966 UK chart topper “With A Girl Like You.”

1996, On the last leg of their Ballbreaker World Tour, AC/DC played the first of four sold out nights at Sydney Entertainment Center in Sydney, Australia.

1999, It was announced that Cliff Richard had signed up with Internet company Remotemusic.com, making him the first major artist to sign a deal with an online company.

2000, The Beatles launched their first official website www.thebeatles.com. The site went live on the same day as the release of their retrospective Compilation 1 album.

2004, Rap artist Ol’ Dirty Bastard, whose real name was Russell Jones, collapsed and died at a Manhattan recording studio in New York aged 35. A spokesman for his record company, said the rapper, had complained of chest pains, was dead by the time paramedics reached him. ODB was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.

Sgt-Peppers-collage2012, The original collage that was reproduced and included in copies of The Beatles’ 1967 classic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band record sold for $87,720 (£54,825.) The piece, which was designed by Peter Blake, was sold to an unnamed bidder as part of an auction of modern British art at Sotheby’s in London

Born on November: John Hammond, Jr. (1942);  Roger Steen, guitar, The Tubes (1949); Bill Gibson, Huey Lewis and the News (1951); and Nikolai Fraiture, bass, The Strokes (1979)

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Today in Rock History – October 10

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beatles-1964-tour1964, During a UK tour The Beatles appeared at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. Ringo Starr drove himself to the venue after taking delivery of a brand new Facel Vega, apparently reaching speeds of 140 MPH on the M6 motorway.

1965, The Who arrive at Stockholm airport in Sweden to begin their two-day tour. Unfortunately, their equipment has been flown to Gothenburg for their second stop so the band is forced to borrow instruments from their opening acts The Moonjacks and The Mascots for their show at Johanneshovs Isstadion in Stockholm.

1966, The Who played at Bath Pavilion in Bath, Somerset, England.

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.

1967, The Who go into De Lane Lea Studios, London to record for BBC Radio One’s show Top Gear. It is the first time the BBC allow any musical act to record for them outside the BBC’s own studios. Alternate versions of “Pictures Of Lily” (Pete on organ), “I Can See For Miles,” (with heavy bass part), “Relax,” “Our Love Was,” (with Hawaiian guitar), “Can’t Reach You,” “A Quick One While He’s Away,” and “Someone’s Coming” are recorded along with new tracks “Summertime Blues” and “My Way.” Also recorded are five jingles, two for Top Gear and three for Radio One using altered lyrics to “Happy Jack,” “Boris The Spider” and “My Generation.”

1969, Led Zeppelin play at the Olympia in Paris, France. The show was first broadcast on French radio, November 2, 1969 on Europe1 (Musicorama program). The tape was re-discovered in the radio station’s basement in 2007 and re-broadcast on December 7, 2007.

1969, Pink Floyd appeared at the University of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England.

1969, King Crimson release their debut album, In The Court Of The Crimson King. It peaked at number five in the British charts and hit number 28 in the US.

1970, The Carpenters were at number two on the singles chart with “We’ve Only Just Begun.” The song was originally written for a TV commercial advertising a bank.

1970, Cosmos Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival enters the eighth of nine weeks at number one on the US album charts.

1970, Black Sabbath were at number one on the UK album chart with their second album Paranoid. The album is now regarded as one of the classic Heavy Metal albums.

1970, Neil Diamond went to number one on the US singles chart with “Cracklin’ Rose,” his first chart topper as an artist. Diamond was the author of the 1966 number one hit “I’m A Believer” for The Monkees.

1970, Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother is released in the US. The UK release took place on October 2nd. It would only reach number 55 on the American charts, while topping the British charts.

1972, Yes appeared at Caird Hall, Dundee, Scotland.

1973, Rod Stewart & The Faces and Rory Gallagher appeared at San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego. California.

1975, The Allman Brothers Band performed at Diablo Stadium, Tempe, Arizona.

1976, The Who appeared at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California.

Aerosmith-19781978, Joe Perry and Steve Tyler from Aerosmith were injured after a cherry bomb was thrown on stage during a gig in Philadelphia. The group performed behind a safety fence for the rest of the tour.

1978, The second Stiff Records UK tour kicked off featuring Wreckless Eric, Jona Lewie, Rachel Sweet, Lene Lovich and Micky Jupp. The UK tour was undertaken by train, and then continued on to the USA, without Jupp, who was afraid of flying.

1979, Fleetwood Mac were awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame.

1979, The Rose, starring Bette Midler as a self-destructive 1960s Rock star, loosely  based on Janis Joplin, premiered in Los Angeles. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Frederic Forrest), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bette Midler, in her screen debut), Best Film Editing and Best Sound.

1980, The funeral took place of Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham. Bonzo was found dead at  Jimmy Page’s house of what was described as asphyxiation, after inhaling his own vomit during an evening excessive vodka consumption, 40 shots in 4 hours. He was only 32.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult appeared at Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky

1981, The Police went to number one on the album chart with Ghost In The Machine, the band’s third number one LP.

1981, Eric Clapton performed at Scandinavium, Göteborg, Sweden.

1982, The Grateful Dead appeared at Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.

1986, The Moody Blues played at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1988, U2 released Rattle and Hum, comprised of new studio tracks, live performances, and cover songs. It includes recordings at Sun Studios in Memphis and collaborations with Bob Dylan, BB King, and Harlem’s New Voices of Freedom gospel choir.

1987, Whitesnake went to number one on the US singles chart with “Here I Go Again,” a number nine hit in the UK.

1992, R.E.M. scored their second UK  number one album with Automatic For The People, featuring the singles “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts,” “Man On The Moon,” and “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight.” It reached number two on the US charts.

2009, Pearl Jam went to number one on the US album chart with Backspacer, the group’s ninth studio album.

Born on October 10: Alan Cartwright, Procol Harum (1945); Jerry Lacroix, Blood Sweat & Tears (1945); John Prine, singer, songwriter (1946); Midge Ure, Ultravox , Tanya Tucker,  country singer (1955); and David Lee Roth (1955); Martin Kemp, bass, Spandau Ballet (1961); Mike Malinin, guitar, vocals, Goo Goo Dolls (1967)

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Today in Rock History – September 12

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1968, During their first ever tour Led Zeppelin appeared at the Stora Scenen at the Gröna Lund Amusement Park, in Stockholm, Sweden.

1969, King Crimson appeared at the Lyceum Ballroom, London

1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival scored their first chart topping album with Cosmo’s Factory. It enjoyed a nine-week run at number one and sold over three million copies.

1970, The Who begin a European tour at the Münsterland Halle in Muenster, West Germany. Also, Record Mirror reports that 1.3 million copies of Tommy have been sold in 8-track format.

1970, Pink Floyd performed at the Fete de L’Humanite, Bois de Vincennes, Paris. Over 500,000 people reportedly saw the show, making it their largest concert crowd ever.

1970, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles were at number one on the singles chart with “The Tears Of A Clown.”

1970, Bob Dylan joined Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band plaued at the Hieges Field House, Shippensburg State College, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.

1972, The Faces appeared at Madison Square Garden, New York City.

1972, Pink Floyd played at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City.

1973, The Rolling Stones performed at Kings Hall (Belle Vue), Manchester, England.

1974, Rush appeared at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore.

1975, Pink Floyd released their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here.  The album explored themes of absence, the music business, and former band-mate Syd Barrett’s mental decline. It went to number one in the US and the UK, and went on to spend a total of 84 weeks on the chart.

1975, Aerosmith performed at the Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington, Minnesota. The building was demolished in 1994, and an IKEA now sits on part of the property.

zztop-19761976, ZZ Top played at Cobo Arena, Detroit, Michigan.

1980, During a North American tour Queen appeared at Kemper Arena, Kansas City in Missouri.

1981, The Grateful Dead performed at the Greek Theatre on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

1986, Public Image Ltd guitarist John McGeoch needed 40 stitches in his face after a two-liter wine bottle was thrown at the stage during a gig in Vienna.

1986, Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues was hospitalized after collapsing from exhaustion in Los Angeles.

1987, The soundtrack album La Bamba featuring Los Lobos started a two-week run at number one on the US album chart.

1987, Michael Jackson kicked of his Bad World Tour by playing the first of three sold-out nights at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. By the end of the 123-date tour, Jackson had played to over four million fans across fifteen countries.

1989, Aerosmith released Pump, their tenth studio album, which featured the hit singles “Love In An Elevator,” “The Other Side,” and “Janie’s Got a Gun.” Aerosmith found themselves in law school textbooks after a small rock band named Pump sued Aerosmith’s management company for service mark infringement. Aerosmith won the case.

1990, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac announced they were leaving the band at the end of their current tour.

1997, Founder of the Polar Music record label, songwriter, producer and Abba’s manager Stig Anderson died of a heart attack. Anderson co-wrote some of Abba’s biggest hits, such as “Waterloo,” “Mamma Mia,” “S.O.S,” “Fernando,” “Dancing Queen,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” and “The Name of the Game.” His funeral was broadcast live on Swedish television an honor otherwise only reserved for distinguished statesmen or royalty.

2003, Johnny Cash, US singer songwriter died of respiratory failure aged 71. One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, known as “The Man in Black.” He traditionally started his concerts by saying, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” He had the 1969 number two single “A Boy Named Sue,” plus 11 other Top 40 singles. Cash also had his own program on US Television in late 60’s early 70’s.

2004, American drummer and arranger Kenny Buttrey died in Nashville, Tennessee, Worked with Neil Young, (Harvest, and After the Gold Rush), Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, and John Wesley Harding), as well as Bob Seger, Elvis Presley, Donovan, George Harrison, Joan Baez, Dan Fogelberg, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Buffett, and Chuck Berry.

2007, The surviving members of Led Zeppelin announced they would reform for a star-studded tribute concert in London. Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones would play at a show to remember the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun. The place of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, would be taken by his son Jason. The one-off concert, the trio’s first performance for 19 years, would take place at the O2 arena in London on  the 26th of November, with tickets costing £125 ($200). All profits from the show would go towards scholarships in Ertegun’s name in UK, the USA and Turkey, the country of his birth.

Born on this day: George Jones (1931); Maria Maldaur (1943); Barry White (1944); Gerry Beckley, America (1952);  Neal Pert, Rush (1952); Pat Dinizio, The Smithereens (1957); Ben Folds (1966); Jennifer Hudson (1981)

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Today in Rock History – July 6

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beatles-quarrymen-bw1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time at The Woolton Church Parish Fete where The Quarry Men were appearing. As The Quarry Men were setting up for their evening performance, McCartney eager to impress Lennon picked up a guitar and played “Twenty Flight Rock” by Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent’s “Be-Bop-A-Lula.” Lennon was impressed, and even more so when McCartney showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars, something they’d been paying someone else to do for them.

1964,The Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night premiered at The Pavilion in London. Filmed during the height of Beatlemania, and written by Alun Owen, the film was made in the style of a mockumentary, describing a couple of days in the lives of the group.

1966, The Rolling Stones play War Memorial Hall in Syracuse, New York. During the performance they allegedly desecrate the American flag by dragging it across the stage.

1967, Pink Floyd made their first appearance on BBC TV music show Top Of The Pops to promote their new single “See Emily Play.” This was the first of three times the song would be performed live on television. A badly damaged home video recording recovered by the British Film Institute of this show was given a public screening in London on 9th January 2010 at an event called “Missing Believed Wiped” devoted to recovered TV shows. It was the first time any footage was seen of the performance since its original broadcast.

1968, The Jeff Beck Group played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan

1968, The Woburn Music Festival, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire took place. A two-day affair featuring Donovan, Fleetwood Mac, Pentangle, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Alexis Korner, Family, Taste, Tim Rose, John Mayall’s Bluesbrakers, Duster Bennett, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, two-day tickets were priced at £2 ($3.50.)

1969, Mick Jagger flies to Australia to begin filming Ned Kelly with his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull. Two days later Jagger will tell her it’s over.

1971,  American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, Louis Armstrong died. Had many hits including the 1964 US number one”Hello Dolly!,” 1968 UK number one “What A Wonderful World,”plus “When The Saints Go Marching In,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,” and “We Have All the Time in the World.”

1972, David Bowie appeared on the UK music show Top Of The Pops playing his new single “Starman,” found on the Ziggy Stardust album. It was his first hit since 1969’s ‘Space Oddity’ three years before. The single peaked at number ten and stayed on the charts for 11 weeks

1973, Queen released their debut single “Keep Yourself Alive” in the UK.

1974, The Faces, Mott The Hoople, Humble Pie, Greenslade, Lindisfarne, Man, Trapeze, and Chapman and Whitney all appeared at Buxton Pop Festival, Derbyshire, England.

1974, The Hues Corporation went to number one on the singles chart with “Rock The Boat.”

1974, David Bowie appeared at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1975, Rolling Stone Keith Richards was arrested by the highway patrol in Arkansas on charges of reckless driving and possessing an offensive weapon, a seven-inch hunting knife.

1978, New York Police Academy cadet Eddie Mahoney changes his name to Eddie Money. He would notch the 1986 top four hit “Take Me Home Tonight.”

1979, American singer, producer songwriter, Van McCoy died from a heart attack in Englewood, New Jersey. Van McCoy and the Soul City had the US chart topping single “The Hustle.” McCoy worked with Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin and David Ruffin.

1984, The Grateful Dead perform at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI, outside Milwaukee.

1985, Phil Collins went to number one on the US singles chart with “Sussudio,” his third US chart topper, and a number twelve hit in the UK.

1996, “Three Lions,” the official song of The England Football team, by comedians Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds was at number one on the UK singles chart.

2002, George Harrison’s widow Olivia put the couple’s home up for sale for £20m ($35 million) saying she couldn’t bear to live with the memories of the attack by schizophrenic Michael Abram, who broke into the house in 1999.

2003, Skip Battin bassist and songwriter with The Byrds died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He also played with New Riders Of The Purple Sage and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

2004, On the 40th anniversary of the world premiere of The Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, a private reunion of the cast and crew was hosted in London by DVD producer Martin Lewis. The screening was attended by Paul McCartney actors Victor Spinetti (the television director), John Junkin (the band’s road manager), David Janson (the small boy met by Ringo on his “walkabout”) and many of the crew members

Born on this day: Bill Haley (1925); Jet Harris, English bass player, The Shadows, The Jeff Beck Group, The Vipers Skiffle Group (1939); Rik Elswit, guitar, Dr Hook (1945); Mike Shrieve, drums, Santana (1949);  John Keeble, drums, Spandau Ballet (1959); Inspectah Deck, American rapper, producer, Wu-Tang Clan (1970); Curtis Jackson, aka rapper 50 Cent (1975)

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