Rock history June 24
1966, The Mothers of Invention support comedian Lenny Bruce at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium.
1966, At the Cow Palace, the Beach Boys’ Summer Spectacular features performances by the Jefferson Airplane, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Percy Sledge, the Byrds, and the Sir Douglas Quintet.
1966, After holding a press conference aboard a yacht in New York City, The Rolling Stones kicked off their fifth North American tour at the Manning Bowl, Lynn, Massachusetts, with support acts The McCoys and The Standells.
1967, The Monkees went to number one on the US album charts with Headquarters, the group’s third chart topper.
1967, Pink Floyd make their debut performance on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, performing their new single “See Emily Play.” Syd Barrett wears a suit of velvet and satin.
1967, Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” entered the Billboard chart, where it would peak at number five. The song was written by the band around a melody composed by the group’s organist, Matthew Fisher. He was inspired by the chord progression of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Orchestral Suite in D,” composed between 1725 and 1739.
1969, Led Zeppelin recorded “Whole Lotta Love,” “What Is And What Should Never Be,” “Travelling Riverside Blues,” and “Communication Breakdown” for BBC Radio 1 at Maida Vale Studios, London. The session was broadcast on June 29, 1969.
1969, The Doors appeared at The Roach, New Orleans, Louisiana.
1972, David Bowie appeared at the Guildford City Hall, England, on his Ziggy Stardust world tour.
1972, In Fort Worth, Texas, the Rolling Stones film the concert that will be released as Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones.
1973, The Grateful Dead appeared at the Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon.
1973, Longtime Blues Project fans are overcome in New York’s Central Park when Al Kooper rejoins his old band onstage.
1978, Genesis, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Devo, Brand X and The Atlanta Rhythm Section all appeared at Knebworth Park, England, tickets cost $10.
Rock History June 24
1991, Frank Zappa took part at the concert “Adieu Soviet Army,” organized in Prague, as the farewell to the last soldiers of Soviet Red Army, leaving free Czechoslovakia (the Red Army had occupied Czechoslovakia since the Prague spring). This was probably Zappa’s last rock appearance on the stage and it is recorded on the album Adieu C. A. (Soviet Army).
1999, Eric Clapton put 100 of his guitars up for auction at Christie’s in New York City to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. His 1956 Fender Stratocaster named Brownie, which was used to record the electric version of “Layla,” sold for a record $497,500. The auction helped raise nearly $5 million for the clinic.
2001, Blink 182 scored their second US number one album with Take Off Your… The group’s fourth studio album has sold over 12 million copies worldwide and contains the singles “The Rock Show,” “Stay Together for the Kids,” and “First Date.”
2005, The Thrills, The Zutons, Doves, The Killers, White Stripes, Kaiser Chiefs, Ash, The Coral, Keane, New Order, Coldplay, James Blunt, Brian Wilson, Garbage, Primal Scream and Basement Jaxx all appeared at the UK Glastonbury Festival.
2007, The White Stripes went to number one on the UK album chart with Icky Thump the duo’s sixth and final studio album. Icky Thump won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2008.
2013, Former Devo drummer Alan Myers died aged 58 in Los Angeles, California, following a long bout with cancer. Myers drummed for Devo between 1976 and 1986
Born on this day: Arthur Brown (1942); Jeff Beck (1944); Chris Wood- Traffic (1944); and Colin Blunstone, The Zombies (1945); Mick Fleetwood, English-American drummer, Fleetwood Mac John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers (1947); Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player, songwriter, Yes, The Moody Blues, Refugee (1948); Andy McCluskey, English singer-songwriter, bass player, producer, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1959); – Dennis Danell, American singer, guitarist, Social Distortion (1961); Richard Z. Kruspe, German guitarist, Rammstein, Emigrate, and First Arsch (1967)
Get more Today in Rock History
Al Kooper, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Monkees, The Mother’s Of Invention, The Rolling Stones.
