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Today in Rock History – April 19

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1965, The film T.A.M.I. (Teen-Age Music International) Show featuring The Rolling Stones, Supremes Four Tops, James Brown, The Beach Boys and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles opened in London, England under the title Teenage Command Performance.

1965, The Beatles single “Ticket to Ride” was released on Capitol records in the US. The single’s label stated that the song was from the upcoming movie Eight Arms to Hold You, the original name for the movie Help!

1967, Jimi Hendrix, The Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdink and Cat Stevens, played two shows at The Odeon, Birmingham, England.

1968, John Lennon, George Harrison and their wives left the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India two weeks before their study was complete. Ringo and Paul had already left.

1968, Johnny Cash appeared at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.


1968, Pink Floyd released their fourth UK single “It Would Be So Nice,” written by Richard Wright, with “Julia Dream” by Roger Waters on the B-side. Pink Floyd were on tour in Europe on this day, and played their second night at the Piper Club, in Rome, Italy.

1969, Ten Years After played at The Rock Pile in Toronto, Ontario.

1969, Smile (later to be known as Queen), appeared at the Revolution Club in London, England.

1971, Hawkwind performed at the Playhouse Theatre, London.

1972, Genesis appeared at the Teatro Mostra Mediterraneo, Naples, Italy.

1973, Yes played at the Georgia Tech Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia.

1974, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band appeared at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The gig was unadvertised by its promoter, who gambled that word-of-mouth would be enough to fill the 550-seat venue, only 250 people attended. Tickets cost $4.50 and $5.50 in advance.

1974, While in New York, David Bowie sees Todd Rundgren’s band Utopia at Carnegie Hall, and attends the aftershow party.

1975, During a 29-date North American tour Pink Floyd appeared at the Tucson Community Center Arena, Tuscon, Arizona.

1975, Elton John fires his rhythm section, bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson. They would have to wait until the next decade for the pianist to rehire them.

1977, Led Zeppelin played at Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

1978, Patti Smith releases her biggest hit, “Because the Night.” It was co-written by Bruce Springsteen.

1980, R.E.M. played their first gig as R.E.M. at the 11:11 Koffee Club, Athens, Georgia, to 150 people. The show ended at 2 AM when police closed it down due to the venue being unlicensed.

1980, Blondie went to number one on the US singles chart with ‘Call Me,” featured in the Richard Gere movie American Gigolo. The track was also a chart topper in the UK.

1980, 32 year old English singer Brian Johnson joined Australian group AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott who had died after a drinking binge in February 1980.

1982, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

1984, King Crimson played at The Vogue Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1990, On this week’s BBC- TV’s French and Saunders show, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Lemmy, Mark King (Level 42,) and Gary Moore all appeared in a comedy courthouse sketch. The sketch ended with all the guitarist’s jamming together.

1995, The Stone Roses played their first gig in five years when they appeared at The Rockefeller Club, Oslo, Norway.

2012, Levon Helm, died of throat cancer aged 71. A drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, Helm formed his own high school band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, at 17. He later joined The Hawks (who became Bob Dylan’s backing group) later changing their name to The Band. He sang on Band classics like ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and “The Weight.”

Born on this day: Alexis Korner (1928); Alan Price, The Animals (1942); Bernie Worrell, keyboards, Parliament, Funkadelic (1944); Mark Volman, The Turtles, Flo and Eddie (1947); Rod Morgenstein, American drummer, Winger, Dixie Dregs, Platypus,  The Jelly Jam (1953);  Tony Martin, English singer-songwriter Black Sabbath, Giuntini Project, Empire (1957); Suge Knight, producer, co-founded Death Row Records (1965); Dar Williams, American singer-songwriter guitarist, Cry Cry Cry (1967)

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Today in Rock History – December 2

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1967, The Monkees album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd went to number one on the album chart. It was their fourth album to sell over a million copies, following The Monkees, More Of The Monkees and Headquarters.

1967, Pink Floyd play at The Dome in Brighton, England

1969, George Harrison joins Delaney & Bonnie to perform with them in Bristol, England, after having watched them play with Eric Clapton the night before in London. He tours the UK with their ensemble, marking the first series of live performances by a Beatle since 1966.

1969, Cindy Birdsong of The Supremes was kidnapped at knifepoint by a maintenance man who worked in the building she lived in. She later escaped unharmed by jumping out of his car on the San Diego freeway. The kidnapper was arrested in Las Vegas four days later.

1971, Led Zeppelin appeared at The Royal Ballroom, Bournemouth, England.

1971, “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin, which is featured as the lead-off track of their fourth album, was released as a single in the US and Australia with “Misty Mountain Hop” on the B-side, and reached number 15 on Billboard and number 11 in Australia.

1972, David Bowie performed at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

1973, The Who arrive in Montreal, Canada, disembarking from the plane wearing paper hats made out of French in-flight newspapers and singing the French national anthem. That evening they perform at the Montreal Forum. Early the next morning The Who and twelve members of their entourage are jailed in Montreal after Pete and Keith wreck their hotel suites. They manage to post bail at 1:15pm when the local promoter pays $5,995.34 (£3746.88) in cash to the police station and they perform that night at the Boston Garden, where they rail to the audience about the Montreal police. John will go on to commemorate the arrest in the song “Cell Number Seven” on his solo album Mad Dog.

1973, The Allman Brothers Band appear at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia.

1973, Bob Dylan fans start mailing in ticket requests for his latest tour today. Dylan sells 658,000 seats through the mail, but not before San Francisco witnesses traffic jams as people rush to send in their applications.

1973, The Grateful Dead performed at the Music Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.

1974, Yes played at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

1975, The Who perform at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Des Moines, Iowa.

1976, Elvis Presley played the first of an 11-night run at the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas.

pink-floyd-animals1976, The first day of the photo shoot for the forthcoming Pink Floyd Animals album cover took place at Battersea Power Station in London, England, with a giant inflatable pig lashed between two of the structure’s tall towers. A trained marksman was hired ready to fire if the inflatable escaped, but was not needed on this, the first day. Unfortunately the following day the marksman hadn’t been rebooked, so when the inflatable broke free from its moorings, it was able to float away, eventually landing in Kent where it was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had scared his cows.

1977, Rush play at the Fitchburg Theater, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

1978, Rod Stewart was at number one on the singles chart with “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”  A plagiarism lawsuit by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor confirmed that the song had been derived from his composition “Taj Mahal.” Stewart agreed to donate all his royalties from the song to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

1978, Aerosmith appeared at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas.

1979, Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand’s “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” was at number one on the US singles chart. A radio station engineer had spliced together Neil’s version with Barbra’s version and got such good response, the station added it to their play list. When Neil Diamond was told about it, he decided to re-record the song with Streisand herself, and within weeks of its release, the single went to the top of the charts in the US and number five in the UK.

1980, Bob Dylan performed at The Armory, in Salem, Oregon.

1982, Van Halen played at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1982, US folk singer David Blue died of a heart attack aged 41 while jogging in New York’s Washington Square Park. He was a member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue during the late ’70s. He wrote “Outlaw Man” covered by The Eagles on their 1973 Desperado album.

1983, MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video for the first time. In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive this honor, for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

1988, The Stone Roses, supported by The Charlatans both appeared at The London School Of Economics, tickets £2.50 ($4).

1999, David Bowie played his first UK show in over two years when he appeared at the Astoria Theatre in London in front of 2,000 fans.

2000, The Smashing Pumpkins played their “final” concert when they appeared at the Metro Club in Chicago. They would not play again until May 2007, with founder Billy Corrigan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain as the only other original members to participate.

2001, Singer Valerie Jones died, aged 45. She was one third of the sister group The Jones Girls, who sang back-up vocals with Lou Reed, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass and Betty Everett.

2006, Dutch singer Mariska Veres from Shocking Blue died of cancer at the age of 59. She had the 1970 US number one and UK number eight single “Venus.”

2013, Reggae singer Junior Murvin, best known for the 1976 hit song “Police and Thieves,” died in Jamaica aged 67. “Police and Thieves,” produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry, was a hit in Jamaica, and also took off in the UK, where it found an audience with punk rock aficionados.

2013, Roger Taylor and Brian May opened the Queen Studio Experience – Montreux, an exhibition of Queen memorabilia at Mountain Studios in Switzerland, where they had recorded many classic tracks spanning seven albums and where Freddie Mercury recorded his last vocal. The exhibition would open to the public a day later.

2014, American saxophone player Bobby Keys died from complications of cirrhosis of the liver at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. Keys started touring at age fifteen with Bobby Vee and fellow Texan Buddy Holly and was best known as being the main saxophone player for The Rolling Stones.

Born on December 2: Dr. Peter Carl Goldmark, inventor of the LP record in 1945 (1906); Tom McGuinness, guitar, vocals, Manfred Mann (1941); Ted Bluechel Jr,  The Association (1942); Rick Savage, Def Leppard (1960); Nicholas Dingley, aka Razzle, drummer, Hanoi Rocks (1960); Nate Mendel, bassist, Foo Fighters, The Jealous Sound, Sunny Day Real Estate, and The Fire Theft (1968); Christopher Wolstenholme, singer-songwriter, bass, Muse (1978); Britney Spears (1981); Tal Wilkenfeld, bass, Jeff Beck (1986)

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Today in Rock History – November 30

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beatles-with-the-beatles1963, The Beatles second album With The Beatles became the first million selling album by a group in the UK.

1968, Glen Campbell started a five-week run at number one on the album chart with “Wichita Lineman.” The song was written by Jimmy Webb, who’s inspiration for the lyrics came while driving through Washita County in northern Oklahoma.

1969, Pink Floyd performed at the Lyceum Ballroom along the Strand in London. Supported by Audience and Cub’s Blues Band.

1969, The Monkees made what would be their last live appearance for fifteen years when they played at The Oakland Coliseum, California.

1969, David Bowie, The Graham Bond Organisation and Dusty Springfield all performed at a fund raising show in London for youth magazine Rave.

1969, Simon & Garfunkel appear in their first TV special. They screen footage of Bobby Kennedy’s funeral and the Vietnam War, which causes original sponsor AT&T to dissociate itself from the program.

1969, The Rolling Stones played the final night on a 17-date North American tour at the International Raceway Festival, West Palm Beach, Florida. Also appearing, The Moody Blues, Ten Years After, King Crimson, Janis Joplin, The Band, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly.

1971, Sly And The Family Stone were at number one on the singles chart with “Family Affair.”

wings-hi-hi-hi1973, Wings release their single “Hi, Hi, Hi.” However, the BBC bans the record because it declares the lyrics “unsuitable” for broadcast.

1974, Elton John started a ten-week run at number one on the US album chart with his Greatest Hits.

1979, The Grateful Dead appeared at Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1982, Michael Jackson’s Thriller album was released. It spent 190 weeks on the UK album chart, becoming the biggest selling pop album of all time, with sales over 50 million copies. Seven singles were released from the album, including “Billie Jean” and “Beat It,” which featured guitarists Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather of Toto.

1985, Phil Collins had his fifth number one with “Separate Lives.” The song was taken from the film White Nights.

1989, Manchester bands The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses both made their debut appearance on UK TV music show Top Of The Pops. The Mondays performed “Hellelujah,” and the Stone Roses played “Fools Gold.”

1997, Metallica were at number one on the US album chart with Reload, the band’s third US chart topping album.

1999, Don “Sugarcane” Harris was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment at the age of 61. The American guitarist and violinist was part of the ’50s duo Don & Dewey. He also worked with Little Richard, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker and Johnny Otis.

2003, A block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Joey once lived with band mate Dee Dee Ramone, and is near the music club CBGB, where the Ramones played their first gigs. In 2010, it was reported that “Joey Ramone Place,” was New York City’s most stolen sign. The sign had to be moved to 20 feet above ground level.

2006, The sale of Syd Barrett’s final belongings were sold by Cheffins auctioneers in Cambridge, England. The sale of the 77 items raised £119,890 ($233,786). Ten paintings alone raised over £55,000 ($88,000) and two bicycles over £10,000 ($16,000.) The sale included such things as the armchair he used to sit in, his home-made bread bin, tools, notebooks and binders, and books. The sale catalog described Barrett, who was fired from Pink Floyd in 1968, as a man with a “total disinterest in materialism.”

Born on November 30: Allan Sherman, parody singer (1924); Johnny Horton, singer, and  Dick Clark (1929); Paul Stookey, vocals, Peter Paul and Mary (1937); Rob Grill, Grass Roots (1944); Roger Glover, bass, Deep Purple (1945); George McArdale, Little River Band (1954); Billy Idol (1955); and John Ashton, guitar, Psychedelic Furs (1957)

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Today in Rock History – November 27

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1964, The Beatles release their single “I Feel Fine” in the U.K. and perform on the British TV show Ready Steady Go! Beatles manager Brian Epstein denies US reports that he will sell his contract with the band “at any price.”

1965, The Who’s “My Generation” reaches its UK peak at number two, being beaten out of first place by The Seekers’ “The Carnival Is Over.”The Who play the London School of Economics.

1965, Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass went to number one on the album chart with Whipped Cream & Other Delights.

1966, The New Vaudeville Band were at number one on the US singles chart with “Winchester Cathedral.” It reached number four in the UK.

1967, during a UK tour Jimi Hendrix appeared at the Whitla Hall, Queen’s College in Belfast, playing two shows in one evening. His only appearance in Ireland.

1968, Pink Floyd performed at Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England. The set list was Astronomy Domine, Flaming, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Interstellar Overdrive, Let There Be More Light, Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun, A Saucerful of Secrets.

1969, during a North American tour The Rolling Stones played the first of four shows at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The group played to 55,000 fans over the four nights grossing over $100,000.  Ike and Tina Turner were the supporting act, and a “very drunk, very stoned” Janis Joplin join Tina onstage for a duet during their performance.

1970, George Harrison released All Things Must Pass. The triple album included a number of songs that were left over from Beatles sessions, the set would go on to be certified six times Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.

1970, Black Sabbath, Cactus and Steel Mill, (featuring Bruce Springsteen) all appeared at the Sunshine Inn, Asbury Park in New Jersey. All three acts played two shows, tickets cost $5.00 (£3.13.)

1971, Led Zeppelin IV enters the Billboard albums chart at number 36. Jimmy Page remembers, “We all had a good laugh when the record went into the charts and they had to reproduce the symbols instead of a conventional title.”

1972, King Crimson played at Winter Gardens, Malvern, England.

1973, Hank Snow’s guitarist Jimmy Widener was shot dead, his body was dumped in an alley.

1974, George Harrison performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1975, Rush appeared at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

1976, Rod Stewart played the first night of a UK tour at  Belle Vue Kings Hall in Manchester.

1977, Yes performed at Stadthalle, Bremmen, Germany.

1978, Genesis appeared at Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo.

1979, Aerosmith played at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1980, ZZ Top performed at Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, Alabama.

1981, The British Phonographic industry placed advertisements in the press claiming that “home taping was wiping out music.” The Boomtown Rats, 10cc, Elton John and Cliff Richard all backed the campaign.

1981, The Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead cancel a show at Orlando’s Tangerine Bowl because only 10,000 tickets have been sold to the 60,000-seat arena.

1982, Lionel Richie was number one in the US with “Truly.” Richie achieved a remarkable number one each year from 1978-1986 as a writer. In order they were “Three Times A Lady,” “Still,”  “Lady “(for Kenny Rodgers,) “Endless Love” (for Diana Ross,) “All Night Long,” “Hello,” “Say You Say Me,” and as co-writer of “We Are The World.”

1986, Bon Jovi were at number one on the US singles chart with “You Give Love A Bad Name.” It peaked at number 14 in the UK. The song was released as the first single from the album Slippery When Wet, in 2009, and it was named the 20th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.

1991, Freddie Mercury’s funeral service was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest, for 35 of his close friends and family, with Elton John and the remaining members of Queen among those in attendance. Mercury was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery, West London, England.

1994, Rod Stewart and the Faces appeared at The Odeon, Lewisham, London, England. Paul and Linda McCartney both joined the band on stage for a few numbers.

1996, Former Stones Roses guitarist John Squires new band The Seahorses made their live debut, when they played at The Buckley Tivoli, England in front of 200 fans.

2003, Figures released by The Rolling Stones showed that the band had grossed £175 ($280) million from their 2002 40 Licks World Tour. The report also showed they had made over $1 billion (£625 million) from 1989-2002 from royalties, album sales and tour revenue.

2005, Multimillionaire defense contractor David H. Brooks booked New York’s Rainbow Rooms and his daughter Elizabeth’s favorite acts for her Bat Mitzvah celebration. The stars who appeared included 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Stevie Nicks. 50 Cent, who was paid $500,000 to appear, performed only four songs, but he did manage to work in the lyric, “Go shorty, it’s your bat miztvah, we gonna party like it’s your bat mitzvah.” The party cost an estimated $10 (£6.25) million, including the price of corporate jets to ferry the performers to and from the venue.

Born on November 27: Eddie Rabbit (1941); Jimi Hendrix (1942);  Randy Brecker (1945); and Mike Bordin, drummer, Faith No More (1962)

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Today in Rock History – October 29

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1965, The Rolling Stones kicked off their fourth 37-date North American tour at the Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1965, The Who’s new single, “My Generation” backed with “Shout and Shimmy,” is released in the UK by Brunswick. Derek Johnson says in New Musical Express, “Analyse the ingredients for a hit and you’ll find them all in this disc. A storming, raving shake-beat, with crashing cymbals, raucous guitar, reverberating bass and hand-claps throughout – and that’s just the backing. The lyric is topical and loaded with teenage appeal, about the snooty approach of some adults to youngsters. Sung with verve, a strong blues feel and an occasional stuttering gimmick, with chanting supporting the soloist.” It reached number two in the UK, the Who’s highest charting single in their home country but only number 74 in America.

1966, ? & the Mysterians went to number one on the US singles chart with “96 Tears.” A number 37 hit in the UK, the song gave The Stranglers a UK number 17 hit in 1990.

1967, Cream played two shows at the Saville Theatre in London, England, billed as Sundays At The Saville. The Bee Gees were appearing the following week.

1967, During an American promotional tour, Pink Floyd appear on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. They lip-sync their single “See Emily Play,” but singer Syd Barrett keeps his mouth shut throughout the “performance.”

1969, King Crimson appear at Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont.

1970, The Who perform at the Hammersmith Palais, London.

1971, Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer. He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1972, Yes played at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, New York.

1973, King Crimson appeared at Colston Hall, Bristol, England.

1974, David Bowie plays the second date of a four nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

1975, Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue play their first night at Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1976, AC/DC performs at Town Hall, Birmingham, England.

1977, The Grateful Dead played at Evans Field house on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

1978, Aerosmith appears at Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin, Texas.

1979, Eric Clapton appeared at Binyaney Ha’ooma, Jerusalem, Israel.

1980, ZZ Top played at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

1981, Black Sabbath performed at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford,New Jersey.

1983, “Islands In The Stream” gave Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers a number one song on the US singles chart. It was written by The Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb.

1983, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon had been on the Billboard albums chart for 491 weeks, establishing a new record for longest-listed album.

1984, American drummer Wells Kelly from Orleans and Meat Loaf died age 45 after choking to death on his vomit. He had the 1976 US hit singles with Orleans, “Still The One” and “Dance with Me.”

1987, Decades, Rolling Stones Ron Wood’s first ever British art exhibition opened in London, featuring portraits of friends and rock stars from the past 20 years.

1987, David Bowie played the first night of his 15-date Glass Spider Tour in Australia and New Zealand at the Boondall Entertainment Centre in Brisbane.

1988, Dire Straits notched their fourth UK chart topping album with Money For Nothing, a greatest hits album featuring material from their first five discs. It was also number one in France and Switzerland, but only number 62 in the US.

1996, Manchester band The Stone Roses split up. Singer Ian Brown said “having spent the last ten years in the filthiest business in the universe, it’s a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses.”

2000, Limp Bizkit started a two-week run at number one on the US album chart with Chocolate Starfish.

2001, U2 performed for the first time on The Late Show with David Letterman, live from New York City.

2005, A set of waxwork heads of The Beatles from their Sgt Pepper’s album cover sold for £81,500 ($130,400.) The “pepperheads” were auctioned off after recently being discovered in a back room at London’s Madame Tussauds. They were used in 1967 by artist Sir Peter Blake in the backdrop of the album, with the actual Beatles posing at the front.

2009, Forbes Magazine reported that Michael Jackson had earned about 72 million dollars (£45 million) since his death on June 25th. That was good enough for third place on their list of dead celebrities making the most money. Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent came in first at $350 (£219 )million, songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were second with $235 (£147 )million and Elvis Presley was fourth, earning $55 (£34.4) million.

2013, John Lennon’s first home, in Liverpool, was sold for £480,000 ($300,000) at an auction held at the Cavern Club. The red brick terrace at 9 Newcastle Road, Wavertree, was where Lennon lived from birth in 1940, until he was five. The property has a rear yard and is a few streets away from Penny Lane, made famous by The Beatles.

Born on October 29: Denny Laine, Moody Blues, Wings (1944);  Mick Gallagher, keyboards, songwriter The Animals, Ian Drury & The Blockheads (1945); Peter Green, Fleetwood Mac (1946); Ricky Reynolds, Black Oak Arkansas (1948); David Paton, guitarist, The Alan Parsons Project,  Bay City Rollers (1949); James Williamson, guitarist, songwriter, producer, The Stooges (1949); Kevin DuBrow, singer, Quiet Riot (1955); Roger O’Donnell, keyboards, The Cure (1955); Einar Örn Benediktsson,  singer, trumpet, The Sugarcubes (1962); Peter Timmins, Cowboy Junkies (1965); Chris Baio, Vampire Weekend (1984)

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Today in Rock History – September 4

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1968, The Beatles recorded promotional videos for “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” at Twickenham Film Studios. The vocals are recorded live over the pre-recorded instrumental tracks to get round the current British Musicians Union ban on lip-sync performances. For “Hey Jude,” The Beatles were accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans and other assorted extras who join in singing the long refrain.

1968, Pink Floyd played at Middle Earth, The Club House, Richmond Athletic Club, Richmond, England.

1969, The film Easy Rider starring Jack Nicholson Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper opened at The Classic in London. The soundtrack included music from Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Electric Prunes, Steppenwolf and others.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at The Scene, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1971, Taken from the album Ram, Paul and Linda McCartney went to No.1 on the singles chart with “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey.” The song was McCartney’s first solo No.1.

1971, During a North American tour Led Zeppelin appeared at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada.

1972, Concessionaire Francisco Caruso was killed during a Wishbone Ash concert in Texas after refusing to give a fan a free sandwich.

1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis’ Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Show on US television.

1973, The Rolling Stones performed at Sporthalle, Cologne, Germany.

1974, David Bowie performed at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City, California.

1975, Hawkwind played at Olympen, Lund, Sweden.

1976, Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US album chart with their self-titled album after being on the charts for over a year. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies in the US and was the first of three No.1 albums for the group.

1976, The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the singles chart with “You Should Be Dancing,” the group’s third No.1.

1976, The Sex Pistols made their television debut when they appeared on the Manchester based Granada TV program So It Goes.

1978, AC/DC appeared at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado.

1979, The Grateful Dead played the first of three nights at Madison Square Garden in  New York.

1980, A new version of Yes, with Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn played the first of three sold out nights at Madison Square Garden.

1981, Van Halen played at the Mississippi Coliseum, Jackson, Mississippi.

1982, Survivor were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the theme from the film Rocky III, “Eye Of The Tiger,” their only chart topper. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song.

1982, The Steve Miller Band started a two week run at No.2 on the US singles chart with “Abracadabra,” the group’s third US No.1, and a No.2 hit in the UK. The song is said to have been inspired by Diana Ross with whom Miller had met while performing together on Hullabaloo in the 1960s.

1995, Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, Paul Weller, Manic St Preachers and The Stone Roses all recorded tracks for the War Child charity album, which was released five days later. All profits went to children caught up in the current war in former Yugoslavia.

1996, Oasis created outrage at the MTV awards held at New York’s Radio City Hall. During the band’s performance of “Champagne Supernova,” singer Liam Gallagher spat on stage and threw a beer into the crowd.

2006, Mike Gibbins drummer with Badfinger died in his sleep at his Florida home aged 56. Badfinger had the 1970 UK No.4 & US No.7 single “Come And Get It,” written by Paul McCartney. He had also been a member of The Iveys during the 60’s.

2008, The first guitar torched on stage by Jimi Hendrix sold for £280,000 ($448,000) at an auction of rock memorabilia. The Fender Stratocaster was burned at the end of a show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in 1967. The sale held in London also included the Beatles’ first management contract, signed in 1962 by all four members of the group and manager Brian Epstein, sold for £240,000 ($384,000.)

2009, Friends and family of Michael Jackson paid their last respects to the singer at a funeral held at Glendale’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles. Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Macaulay Culkin, Berry Gordy and Lisa Marie Presley were among the 200 invited guests. The singer’s family arrived in a motorcade of 31 vehicles, Jackson’s brothers – Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon – acted as pallbearers carrying Jackson’s gold-plated coffin.

Born on September 4: Ronald Lepread, The Commodores (1946); Gary Duncan guitar, Quicksilver Messenger Service (1946); Martin Chambers, The Pretenders (1951); and Kim Thayil, Soundgarden (1960)

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