Rock History July 21
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of three nights at the Cafe-a-Go-Go in New York City.
1968, The Who appeared at Virginia Beach Dome in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
1969, The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song “Come Together” at Abbey Road studios in London. The track became the opening song on The Beatles Abbey Road album and was later released as a double A-sided single with “Something,” their twenty-first single in the UK and twenty-sixth in the US where it reached the top of the charts.
1969, Led Zeppelin played the Schaefer Music Festival held at the 5000-seat Wollman Skating Rink Theater in Central Park, New York City.
1969, The Doors release their fourth album, The Soft Parade.
1970 The Allman Brothers appeared at the Wolman Skating Rink in Central Park, New York. They would return exactly a year later.
1971, Creedence Clearwater Revival played the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.
1972, The Rolling Stones performed at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1973, Jim Croce started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” Croce was killed in a plane crash three months later.
1973, Canned Heat, Chuck Berry, Nazareth, Edgar Broughton Band, Groundhogs, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Medicine Head, all appeared at the Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England. Hell’s Angels arrived in force and proceeded to drink the site dry. Initially they paid for the booze, but when the money ran out a deputation was sent into the audience to collect donations of 10p per person. About 20 minutes into his set Chuck Berry was showing one of the Angels how to do his duck-walk properly. He did a magnificent one from one end of the stage to the other and disappeared into the wings. The band played on, the Angels bopped, and Chuck bolted to his car and drove off at high speed, never to return.
1973, Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin crack the album top 20 charts with Love, Devotion, Surrender.
1974, The Grateful Dead played at the Hollywood Bowl, in Hollywood, California.
1975, Yes played at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1976, AC/DC appeared at the Glädjehuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
1977, Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops, where they lip-synched to their third single, “Pretty Vacant.”
1977, In Tucson, Arizona Linda Ronstadt joins the Rolling Stones onstage to perform “Tumbling Dice.”
1978, Aerosmith appeared at Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon.
1980, Former Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux’s car collides with a flatbed truck in Marin County, Calif. He died two days later.
1987, Guns N’ Roses released their debut album on Geffen Records, Appetite for Destruction. It featured the singles “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and “Paradise City.” The album has exceeded worldwide sales of 28 million, 18 million of which are in the US, making it the best-selling debut album of all time there.
1990, Roger Waters’ held a performance The Wall at the Berlin Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin. Over 350,000 people attended and the event was broadcast live throughout the world. Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O’Connor and others took part.
1994 Oasis played their first ever American show as part of the New Music Seminar at Wetlands in New York City.
1996, Alanis Morissette started a second run at number one on the UK album chart with Jagged Little Pill, which stayed at the top for eight weeks. Overall, the album has sold over 33 million copies worldwide.
2001, Madonna kicked off the North American leg of her 47-date Drowned World Tour at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the singers first world tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show in 1993.
2002, Producer Gus Dudgeon, who worked with artists including Elton John, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Kiki Dee, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Strawbs, XTC, and Joan Armatrading, was killed in a car accident near Reading, England, together with his wife Sheila. He was 59 years old.
2004, Composer Jerry Goldsmith died after a long battle with cancer aged 75. Created the music for scores of classic movies and television shows Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Dr. Kildare.
2005, British singer Long John Baldry died of a chest infection. He was one of the founding fathers of British Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1960s performing with Blues Incorporated, and Cyril Davies’ R&B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, with Rod Stewart and then Steam Packet with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Also a member of Bluesology with Elton John. He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the Sonic The Hedgehog computer game.
2007, Sharon Osbourne’s music mogul father Don Arden died in a Los Angeles nursing home at the age of 81. Dubbed the “Al Capone of Pop” for his uncompromising business practices, he steered The Small Faces, Black Sabbath, and ELO to stardom.
2008, The Police played the first of two nights at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado during the final leg of their 152-date world Reunion tour. The tour became the third highest grossing tour of all time, with revenues reaching over $340 million.
2023, Tony Bennett, an American jazz and traditional pop singer, died at his home in New York City following a seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. 20 Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He sold more than 50 million records worldwide and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Born on July 21: Northern Ireland guitarist, Henry McCullough, Wings (1943); Barry Whitwam, drums, Herman’s Hermits (1946); Cat Stevens (1947); Howie Epstein, bass, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1955); Jim Martin, guitar, Faith No More (1961)
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AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alanis Morissette, Canned Heat, Carlos Santana, Chuck Berry, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Guns N’ Roses, Jim Croce, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Linda Ronstadt, Oasis, Roger Waters, The Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Yes.
