Rush was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on this day in 2013 in a class that also included, Heart, Albert King and Randy Newman.  On April 18, 2015,  2015 Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joan Jett, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Green Day were honored with induction to the Hall.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 18 include...

1935 Paul Rothchild, producer of Doors, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young albums is born.

1940 Manfred Mann multi instrumentalist Mike Vickers is born.

1946 Drummer Tommy Shannon of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble is born.

1946 Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane drummer Skip Spence is born.
1949 Alan Parsons Project arranger, composer and conductor Andrew Powell is born.
1963 Paul McCartney and Jane Asher meet. They would be a couple until 1968.

1973 The Neil Young documentary Journey Through the Past premiers at the Dallas Film Festival.
1981 Yes announces a breakup.
1988 Eric Clapton releases Crossroads.
1991 Willie Nelson sells more than 600 acres of land he owns to settle debt to the IRS.
2006 An auction of Elton John memorabilia raises almost $750,000 for his AIDS Foundation. Elton's charity would raise over $600 million by 2024.
2009 Patti Scialfa suffers bruised ribs after being thrown from a horse, misses most of the remaining dates on the Bruce Springsteen tour...

On this day on 1973, the Eagles released an album filled with songs based on the wild west days in the US that they recorded in the UK. Desparado, the group's second lp, was produced by Glyn Johns in Island Records London studio, where he rode herd, refusing to let the group do more than a few takes of each song to keep them from getting too polished.  Tequila Sunrise and the title track, the closing songs on side one, became the biggest songs from the album, trailed by Outlaw Man from side two.  Although described as a concept album, the group did not set out to tie the stories of songs in with one another, making it more of a theme release.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 17 include...

1943 Mothers of Invention and Little Feat bass player Roy Estrada born.
1948 Keyboard great Jan Hammer of Mahavishnu Orchestra who also recorded with Jeff Beck and recorded the Miami Vice TV show theme is born.

1964 The FBI announces it has been unable to decipher whether Louie, Louie lyrics are obscene.  The Kingsmen's 1963 recording of the Richard Berry song became one of the year's biggest hits, spending six weeks at #2 on the Billboard singles chart.  Their debut album logged 131 weeks on the music trade magazine's album chart.

1964 Van Morrison and Them make live debut in Belfast, Ireland.

1969 The Band does its final formal concert as Bob Dylan's backing group.
1970 Paul McCartney releases his self-titled solo album.

1970 Santana starts work on the Abraxas album in a San Francisco studio.
1973 Dark Side Of The Moon album earns gold cetification in US sales.

1980 Bob Marley performs at Zimbabwe Independence Day event.
1983 Felix Papalardi of Mountain is shot and killed by his wife in their New York City apartment with a gun he had given her as a gift.

1986 Stevie Ray Vaughan cancels his European tour out of concern over repriasals over US bombing in Libya.

1987 Bob Marley and the Wailers drummer Carlton Barrett is shot to death outside his Kingston, Jamaica home.

1998 Linda McCartney dies of cancer.

1995 R.E.M. restarts its Monster tour after Bill Berry's recovery from brain aneurysm surgery.

2007 Eric Clapton, Genesis, Stevie Nicks and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young perform at a memorial concert for Ahmet Ertegun. The Atlantic Records chairman had died from injuries sustained when he fell backstage while attending a Rolling Stones concert.

2008 E Street Band keyboard player Danny Federici passes away from cancer at 58.
2012 Ted Nugent announces during a speech at a NRA rally he'll be "...dead or in jail" a year from then if President Obama wins reelection.  Neither claim proves accurate.

Photo: cc 3.0 Jim Summarai

He was the voice and rhythm guitarist of Foghat, the band whose cover of Willie Dixon's I Just Want to Make Love to You put him and Foghat on the radar of a lot of fans. 'Lonesome' Dave Peverett was born on this day in 1943. He cut his teeth in the Blues infused band Savoy Brown before defecting from the group and taking Roger Earl (drums) and Tony Stevens (bass) with him to form Foghat.

The title track to Fool For the City and Slowride on the group's 3rd album, established Foghat as one of the best hard rocking bands of the 70's. The group's following albums did well, but things unraveled in the 80's

A 1993 reunion of the core members put Foghat back in front of fans for several tours, but Peverett developed kidney cancer and passed away in February of 2000.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 16 include...

1947 Stealer's Wheel's Gerry Rafferty is born.

1953 Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett is born.
1956 Terry "T" Lavitz of the Dixie Dregs is born.  The keyboard great passed away in his sleep at jut 54 in October, 2010.
1964 The Rolling Stones release debut album in the UK.

1965 The Hollies open their first US tour in New York City.

1972 The Electric Light Orchestra does its first concert.
1974 Queen does its first US concert in Denver.

1976 Two security staff members rough up Boz Scaggs when he tries to go backstage at a Bobby Blue Bland concert.

1988 Scorpions release Savage Amusement.

1990 Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, Lou Reed and others do a tribute to Nelson Mandela following his release from prison at Wembley Stadium.

1993 Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steve Miller and Don Henley do an Earth Day concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

1993 David Lee Roth gets busted buying marijuana in Washington Square Park in New York City.

1994 Pearl Jam Rocks Saturday Night Live.

1999 Skip Spence of Moby Grape and the Jefferson AIrplane dies of lung cancer.

2014 AC/DC announces Malcolm Young won't be an active member of the band due to health issues.

The Rolling Stones released Aftermath in the UK on this day in 1966.  The US release (pictured)  would come more than a month later with Paint It Black added in place of a few of the titles on the British edition.  The album was the first by the group to be comprised almost entirely by Jagger/Richards songs.
Eight years later on April 15, Lynyrd Skynyrd released its second album.  Leading off with Sweet Home Alabama, the song that became a Southern Rock Anthem and closing with the group's amped up version of JJ Cale's Call Me The Breeze, Second Helping added to the legions of fans the debut album and solid performances as opening act on the Who's US tour earned it.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 15 include...

1944 Dave Edmunds is born.

1948 UFO's Phil Moog is born

1948 Michael Kamen is born.

1966 Buffalo Springfield does its first concert, opening for the Byrds in San Bernadino, California.

1972 WMMR in Philadelphia broadcasts a live set by an unsigned musician from Sigma Sound Studios. The station put this song from the session into regular airplay rotation. The listener response to it was overwhelming. When it was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, the label offered what would become one of its biggest artists a contract.

1982 Billy Joel fractures his wrist in in a motorcycle crash and undergoes surgery.

1984 Future Farm Aid organizers Neil Young and Willie Nelson meet for the first time. 

1996 Jerry Garcia's ashes are sprinkled into the waters near Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

2001 Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman) of the Ramones  dies of lymphoma.

2022 Edgar Winter releases Brother Johnny, a tribute to his late brother featuring himself, Billy Gibbons, Warren Haynes, Ringo Starr, Taylor Hawkins, Steve Lukather, John McFee.

2022 Rush releases Moving Pictures 40th anniversary box set.

Richard Hugh Blackmore was born on this day in 1945 in Somerset, UK. At age 11, the future founding guitarist in Deep Purple was given a guitar by his father, along with classical guitar lessons. Ritchie was still in his mid-teens when he began getting the chance to do some session work for other artists.
Blackmore's role in Deep Purple began in 1968 and continued through assorted lineup changes until 1975, when he left to form Rainbow. A return to Deep Purple was arranged in 1984. A decade later, Rainbow took him away again for a few years before disbanding again in 1997, when Blackmore and Candice Night formed an acoustic duo billed as Blackmore's Night.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 14 include...

1963 Beatles members all attend a Rolling Stones concert in Richmond, UK

1964 UFO guitarist Vinnie Moore is born.

1965 The Beatles announce that Help! will be the group's second movie. The working title had been Eight Arms to Hold You.

1969 The Ballad of John and Yoko is recorded.

1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival does UK debut concert in Royal Albert Hall.

1970 Stephens Still breaks his wrist in a car wreck.

1974 Pete Townshend makes his solo live debut.
1975 Rolling Stones officially confirm Ron Wood is a full-time member of the band.

1980 A New Jersey state assemblyman introduces a bill to make Born To Run the official state song... apparently failing to note that the song is all about escaping the 'deathtrap and suicide rap' of being stuck in the Garden State. The bill fails to pass.
1980 Iron Maiden releases self-titled debut album.
1980 Judas Priest releases British Steel.

1982 Van Halen releases Diver Down.

1983 Pete Farndon of the Pretenders dies of a Heroine overdose.

2009 A George Harrison star is unveiled on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

2016  Bruce Springsteen joins  Bob Seger on stage in Detroit on Tenth Avenue Freeze-out and Shout during River tour's Auburn Hills Palace concert near Detroit.

2016 Prince does his last concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

2016 Bon Jovi, the Cars, Dire Straits and the Moody Blues get inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame on this night in Cleveland.
2023 An expanded edition box set of Wishbone Ash's Argus album is released.
2023 Neil Young releases 1977 archive albums The Ducks High Flyin' and the Santa Monica Flyers Somewhere Under The Radar Live at London's Rainbow Theatre.

2023 Metallica releases 72 Seasons.

2024  Billy Joel's 100th concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City is broadcast live on CBS...

Little Feat's Lowell George came into this world on this day in 1945. His father supplied fur coats, boas and other fur apparel to Hollywood studios and the movie stars of the day. Lowell started on harmonica and guitar but shifted to flute to get into his high school orchestra and marching band. He also picked up saxophone while a student and was classmates with future Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere.

George's first Rock band was Factory, started in 1965. The following year, drummer Richie Hayward joined the group. When Factory shut down, George was hired by Frank Zappa to be the rhythm guitarist in the Mothers of Invention in 1968, a gig he had for five albums.

After a falling out with Zappa, George and bassist Ray Estrada left the Mothers and formed Little Feat with Hayward and keyboard player Billy Payne.

George lived hard and battled drugs and drink throughout his career and died of a heart attack on June 29, 1979, the morning after doing a Washington DC concert on a solo tour.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 13 include...

1940 Chambers Brothers lead singer Lester Chambers is born.

1944 Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna bassist Jack Casady is born.

1951 E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg born. 

1964 The Beatles announce their debut film title will be A Hard Day's Night.

1965 The Beatles record Help!

1965 The Beatles win Best New Artist Grammy and Best Pop Vocal for A Hard Day's Night.

1966 The Beatles record Paperback Writer.

1966 Black Crowes and Magpie Salute guitarist Marc Ford is born in Long Beach, California.

1967 Rolling Stones fans in Warsaw, Poland riot and are tear gassed by police.

1973 David Bowie releases Aladdin Sane.

1973 Roger Daltrey releases his self-titled solo album, Daltrey.

1979 David Lee Roth collapses from exhaustion during Van Halen's Spokane, Washington concert.

1982 David Crosby gets arrested in his dressing room in Dallas on cocaine and weapons charges. It was his second arrest in two weeks.

1987 Fleetwood Mac releases Tango in the Night.

1993 Warren Zevon releases Learning to Flinch.

1993 Massachusetts proclaims April 13 Aerosmith Day.

1993 Bruce Springsteen's Unplugged album released.

1994 Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley separate.

1999 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release Echo.

2000 Metallica files suit against Napster.

2009 Producer Phil Spector is found guilty of murder of a house guest.

2011 Five of Tom Petty's guitars stolen from a rehearsal space.

2006 Bruce Springsteen's mother accepts his induction into the Freehold, NJ High School Hall of Fame honor.

John Mellencamp's career really hit stride with the release of American Fool on this day in 1982.  The album lodged itself in the top spot of the Billboard album charts for more than two months and ended up the biggest selling album of the entire year, a remarkable achievement since the label John was signed to had let Mellencamp, his manager and the producer know repeatedly how unimpressed they were with the songs on it and reportedly even considered releasing him instead of releasing the album.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 12 include...

1944 Steppenwolf frontman and guitarist John Kay (Joachim Krauledat) is born.

1954  Pat Travers born.

1963 Bob Dylan does his first large concert at Town Hall in New York City.

1967 A Le Bourget, France airport employee punches Mick Jagger in the face for resisting efforts to do a drug search that causes the Stones to miss their flight.

1975 David Bowie announces one of several mid career retirements from recording and touring.

1975 Mick Jagger announces Ron Wood will join the Rolling Stones.

1979 Mickey Thomas replaces Marty Balin in the Jefferson Starship.

1983 R.E.M. releases Murmur.

1984 Rush releases Grace Under Pressure.

1992 Don Henley leads 6,000 in a walk to raise money to preserve Walden Woods.

2002 Ozzy Osbourne is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2010 Roger Waters announces his The Wall tour of the US.

2010 Brett Michaels undergoes an emergency appendectomy.

Neil Young was out with This Note's for You on this day in 1988. The title song targeting corporations for co-opting music was provoked by Michelob beer commercials that featured Eric Clapton, Genesis and others, but the title song's lyrics took a swing Anheuser Busch, Miller, Pepsi and Coca Cola, with Young singing

"Don't want no cash
Don't need no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.

Ain't singin' for Pepsi
Ain't singin' for Coke
I don't sing for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
This note's for you.

Ain't singin' for Miller
Don't sing for Bud
I won't sing for politicians
Ain't singin' for Spuds
This note's for you.

Don't need no cash
Don't want no money
Ain't got no stash
This note's for you.

I've got the real thing
I got the real thing, baby
I got the real thing
Yeah, alright.".

The video for the song featured Michael Jackson (who appeared in Pepsi ads) and Spuds McKenzie, Budweiser's marketing mascot at the time, lookalikes.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 11 include...

1961 Bob Dylan's pro performing career launches when he opens for John Lee Hooker.

1966 Buffalo Springfield makes its live debut at the Troubadour in LA.

1967 Paul McCartney develops the concept for Magical Mystery Tour while on a flight from the UK to the US.

1970 Paul McCartney vows he will never record again with John Lennon.

1970 Peter Green announces he has found God and was quitting Fleetwood Mac.

1981 Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertenelli get married.

1983 Metallica axes Dave Mustaine.

1997 Grand Funk Railroad reunites.

1997 Paul McCartney performs two new songs on a London rooftop.

Van Halen 1978-2004 box set released.

2007 Richie Sambora marries Heather Locklear.

2011 Bob Dylan does a concert in China.

2014 Jesse Winchester dies of cancer.

2014 Rock Hall Of Fame inducts Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Linda Ronstadt, KISS, Cat Stevens, Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham.
2017 John 'Jay' Geils, guitarist with the J. Geils Band, dies.

2024 The  "Keep The Party Going" tribute concert honoring Jimmy Buffett at the Hollywood Bowl  features renditions of his songs performed by members of his Coral Reefers Band, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Paul McCartney, Mac Mcanally, Jack Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Chesney and Brandi Carlile.?

Elton John's US debut album got released on this day in 1970. (Empty Sky, his first album in the UK would not get its US release until 1975). Your Song, Take Me to the Pilot and Border Song were the album's biggest tracks but overall, the lp was loaded with solid songs.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 10 include...

1959 Stray Cats leader Brian Seltzer is born.

1962 Original Beatle bass player Stuart Sutcliff dies of a brain aneurysm at just 22.

1968 Drummer Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead.

1970 Paul McCartney announces he will no longer record with John Lennon.

1970 A Doors concert in Boston comes to an abrupt end when Jim Morrison asks the audience, "Would you like to see my genitals?" and Ray Manzarek drags Morrison off the stage as power is cut.

1973 John Fogerty releases The Blue Ridge Rangers, his first album outside Creedence Clearwater Revival.

1978 Jethro Tull releases Heavy Horses.

1982 Jethro Tull releases Broadsword and the Beast.

1990 Tom Waits sues Doritos Chips for using a sound-alike of him in a commercial. He later gets nearly $2.5 million.

1992 Axl Rose leaves Chicago before he can be detained for inciting a riot during a Guns N' Roses concert in St. Louis.

1996 Alice in Chains records its Unplugged album.

1998 Gary Cherone makes his live debut of his short-lived run as Van Halen's front man.

1999 A concert honoring the late Linda McCartney is staged by Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello and Chrissie Hynde.

2003 Tour jets mechanical problems strand the Rolling Stones in India, forcing cancellation of their Bangkok concert.

The country side of Bob Dylan was introduced on the John Wesley Harding album that Dylan released at the end of 1967. He got deeper into it on the album he released on this day in 1969. Nashville Skyline featured a surprisingly smooth voiced Dylan joined by Johnny Cash on the lead track, Girl from the North Country and accompanied on other tracks by a host of highly regarded players, including Charlie Daniels, Norman Blake, Fred Carter Jr., Pete Drake and Charlie McCoy.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 9 include...
 

1932 Carl Perkins is born.
1943 Terry Knight is born.

1944 Gene Parsons of the Byrds is born.

1961 Marillion keyboard player Mark Kelly is born.
1966 Jeff Beck collapses on stage during a Yardbirds concert in France.

1969 King Crimson and Emerson Lake and Palmer make their live debuts in London.
1970 Paul McCartney adds a letter saying he is leaving the Beatles to promo copies of his debut solo album sent to reviewers.

1970 Pink Floyd opens its second US tour at the Fillmore East.

1973 Queen performs a showcase set for their new record company at the Marquee Club in London.
1974 Bruce Springsteen meets his future manager and close friend Jon Landau
1984 R.E.M. releases Reckoning.

1989 34 year-old Rolling Stone Bill Wyman announced his plan to marry 19 year-old pop singer and model Mandy Smith.

2018 Fleetwood Mac announces that Mike Campbell and Neil Finn were in and Lindsey Buckingham was out of the band.
2012 Cheap Trick releases In Another World.

One of the great releases of the mid 70's hit the street on this day in 1975. Toys In The Attic, Aerosmith's third album, was recorded as the group was coming off a long tour in support of Get Your Wings that upped the band's live performance chops.  Producer Jack Douglas put the improved skills to good use on solid songs, including two that would be among the Boston band's biggest; Sweet Emotion and Walk This Way.  
Toys In The Attic went on to sell close to 10 million copies and helped establish the Bad Boys Form Boston in the ranks of the biggest concert draws in Rock. 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 8 include...

1947 Yes, Asia, GTR guitarist Steve Howe is born.
1962 Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin is born.

1963 Julian Lennon is born.

1967 John Lennon's Rolls Royce is delivered to J.P. Fallon Coach Builders to get a psychedelic paint job and a sound system upgrade.

1970 The Woodstock movie premieres in London.

1971 Chicago becomes the first band to sell-out Carnegie Hall for a week.

1972 Paul McCartney releases Give Ireland Back To The Irish. The BBC bans airplay of the song.

1973 Neil Young documentary Journey Through the Past opens at the US Film Festival in Dallas.
1977 The self-titled debut album by the Clash gets its UK release. It would not drop in the US until 1979.  

1979 Aerosmith opens Night in the Ruts tour in LA.

1979 Van Halen opens its first world tour.

1988 R.E.M. leave IRS Records to sign with Warner Brothers.

1994 An electrician discovers Kurt Cobain's body in the Nirvana member's home 3 days after his suicide. 

1998 Faces veteran and Rolling Stones member Ron Wood was among those rescued from a burning yacht off the coast of Brazil south of Rio de Janeiro.

1998 Motley Crue's Tommy Lee goes to jail for breaking parole.

2006 The Rolling Stones do their first concert in China on this night in 2006.

The Grateful Dead launched the tour that produced the triple album Europe '72 on this and the following nights  at the Empire Pool in Wembley in 1972. 

Released on November 5th, the album went Double Platinum, helping the band offset the mountain of bills  run-up transporting their huge sound system and sizable crew around the continent. 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 7 include...

1920 Ravi Shankar is born.

1946 Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann is born

1938 Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage drummer Spencer Dryden is born.

1943 Bloodwyn Pig and original Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams is born.

1949 John Oates of Hall & Oates is born.

1949 Orleans drummer Wells Kelly is born.

1951 The Knack's Bruce Gary is born.

1962 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet Brian Jones at a jazz club.

1975 Ritchie Blackmore quits Deep Purple to form Rainbow.

1979 Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, the Boomtown Rats  and Ted Nugent play the California Music Festival.

1981 Bruce Springsteen opens his first full scale European tour in Hamburg, Germany.  

1985 Eddie Van Halen gets detained when a handgun was found in his carry-on bag at the Burbank, CA Airport.

1988 Alice Cooper almost hangs himself when a noose prop fails during a rehearsal.

1990 Tommy Lee escapes serious injury when he falls 20 feet from a lighting platform during a Motley Crue concert.

1991 Drummer Cozy Powell (Jeff Beck Group, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake and Powell), dies in a car wreck.

2008 Bob Dylan is awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

2009 The Rock musical Rock of Ages opens on Broadway.

2016 Motley Crue front man Vince  and actor Nicholas Cage ger involved in an altercation stemming from what one, the other or both of them considered to be overly aggressive behavior by an autograph seeker outside a Las Vegas hotel.

2017 Rock Hall Of Fame inducts Journey, Pearl Jam, Yes and Electric Light Orchestra.

The Beatles opened their Revolver album sessions on this date in 1966 at Abbey Road Studios in London. The album would be the group's final one before retiring from touring, which gave them the time to concentrate on recording. The advances in studio technology and the time to take full advantage of it made Revolver another groundbreaking album frm a band that already had demonstrated a remarkable ability to reinvent itself from one album to its next.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 6 include...

1956 Capitol Records round headquarters in Hollywood is dedicated.

1960 Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers Band and Govt Mule is born.

1968 Pink Floyd confirms that Syd Barrett is out of the band.

1969 Pete Quaife quits the Kinks.

1971 The Rolling Stones are awarded their own subsidiary label by Atlantic Records.

1971 James Taylor and Carly Simon meet at the Troubadour in LA.

1973 Queen signs a record contract.

1974 Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, the Eagles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Black Oak Arkansas and Earth Wind & Fire play the first California Jam festival in Ontario, California.

1979 Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton in Beverly Hills.

1983 Interior Secretary James Watt bans the Beach Boys from performing at the July 4th celebration in Washington DC, claiming the band would attract the "wrong elements".1984 Miami Steve Van Zandt starts a hiatus from the E Street Band to concentrate on a solo career. He would re-join in 1999 double his workload by landing a role in the Sopranos the same year.

1992 George Harrison's set at a London benefit for the National Law Party is his first London concert appearance since 1969 with the Beatles.

1993 Ann & Nancy Wilson belt out the National Anthem for the Seattle Mariners home opener.

2000 Bryan Adams, Elton John, James Taylor, Cyndi Lauper, Richard Thompson and others perform in tribute to Joni Mitchell in New York City.

2010 Soundgarden reunites.

2015 Steven Tyler signs a solo recording contract.

2016 Gregg Allman's tour bus involved in a crash in Jackson County, West Virginia.

On this day in 1994, the inner demons Kurt Cobain struggled with prevailed and the Nirvana frontman apparently took his own life with a shotgun after shooting-up a sizeable dose of heroin. With his band at its peak in popularity and a 20 month old daughter, there was speculation his death was accidental or might have involved foul play, but authorities could find no convincing evidence that his death was something other than a suicide.

Other Noteworthy classic rock events on April 5 include....

1935 Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant is born.

1942 Allan Clarke of the Hollies is born.

1965 Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready is born.

1971 Chicago becomes the first  Rock band to play Carnegie Hall in New York.

1980 The Grateful Dead play Saturday Night Live.

1980 R.E.M. does its first paid gig, playing at a friend’s party.

1981 Bob "The Bear" Hite of Canned Heat dies of a heart attack.

1993 Construction of the Rock Hall Of fame begins in Cleveland.

1995 Jimi Hendrix's girlfriend Monika Dannermann commits suicide at 50.

1998 Former Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Powell) drummer Cozy Powell dies in a car wreck.

2002 Layne Staley of Alice In Chains overdoses at 34.

2002 Peter Buck of R.E.M. is acquitted of air rage charges during a trans Atlantic flight.

2003 Tom Cochrane of Red Rider gets inducted into Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

2008 Toto does final concert before break-up.

2011 Statue of Kurt Cobain gets dedicated in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington.

2012 Marshall Amps founder Jim Marshall dies at 88.

2012 Charlie Daniels undergoes cataract surgery in Nashville.

2013 Mark Knopfler cancels Russia concerts in wake of human rights crackdowns...

1983's Eliminator was the album that ignited international acclaim for trio ZZ Top, but plenty of fans of that little 'ole band from Texas like the trio's raw earlier albums as much or more than Eliminator and the slick ones that followed.

Their second album, Rio Grande Mud, got released on this day in 1972. Francine and Just Got Paid were the only tracks that got much airplay, and the album fell short of enough sales to make much a of a dent in the charts (104), but it was a hint of the great things from the group. Billy Gibbons called the album 'the first record that brought us into step with the writing experience". Tres Hombres, the album the band released in the summer of '73 kicked things up several notches.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 4 include...

1913 Blues titan Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) is born.

1948 Allman Brothers Band bass player is Berry Oakley born.

1952 Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore is born.

1965 John Lennon and Paul McCartney write Help!

1968 Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper, Buddy Guy and BB King do an all night jam at the New Generation Club in New York City after learning Martin Luther King had been killed.

1970 Janis Joplin does a reunion concert with Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco.

1978 Genesis opens its 1978 US tour on this night in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Some of Jerry Garcia's ashes were sprinkled into the Ganges River in India on 4/4/1996. Later, more would be scattered in the waters near the Golden Gate Bridge.

2003 The Rolling Stones play India for the first time.

2001 Zombies veterans Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone play together for the first time in 30 years.

2009 Jeff Beck, Bobby Womack, Spooner Oldham inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

2010 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler belted out God Bless America between innings of the Yankee vs Red Sox home opener at Fenway Park in Boston.

Jim Morrison was arrested on this day in 1969 on a lewd behavior charge based on the contention he had exposed himself during a March concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami. The raucous concert did include the Doors front man between and during songs exhorting fans using language that included profanity and what some considered lewd gestures. Even though there was no conclusive evidence he actually pulled anything out of his trousers, the jury convicted him on the indecent exposure count. He was sentenced to 6 months, but died two years later while an appeal of the conviction was still pending. 41 years later, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist issued a posthumous pardon, writing that he saw no point in the singer having a "...blot on his record for something he may or may not have done when he was essentially a kid."

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 3 include....

1943 The Band's Richard Manuel is born.

1946 Long time Elton John band member Dee Murray is born.
1951 Grand Funk Railroad bass player  Mel Schacher is born

1953 Mick Mars of Motley Crue is born
1968 Skid Row's Sebastian Bach is born.

1969 Billy Preston signs with Apple Records.

1975 Steve Miller reportedly bundles an ex girlfriend's clothing takes it to the curb and set it on fire.
1980 Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is arrested following a bar brawl in Memphis.

1984 Yoko Ono is ordered to pay producer Jack Douglas a reported $3 million for work he did on Double Fantasy.
1987 U2 opens US tour in Tucson, Arizona.

1989 Several thousand Grateful Dead fans join in a gate crashing effort at a Pittsburgh concert. 23 are arrested.

1996 Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia's widow spread some of the late guitarist's ashes in te Ganges River in India.

1991 Paul McCartney's Unplugged session recorded.

2007 Keith Richards' manager says he was only joking when he was quoted as having snorted his father's ashes.

2001 Thieves help themselves to more that $100k worth of jewelry in a heist staged at Jon Bon Jovi's home.

2015 Bob Burns, the original drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd dies in a car crash.

A couple of Classic Rock Leons were born on April 2. On this day in 1942, Claude Russell Bridges, who changed his name to Leon Russell, and Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Leon Wilkeson, whose middle name was Russell. Sadly, neither is around for their birthdays. Wilkerson passed away in 2001 and we lost Leon Russell in 2016.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 2 include...

1949 Cars drummer David Robinson is born.

1967 Steve Winwood leaves the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic.

1967 A smoke bomb tossed on stage during a Rolling Stones concert in Austria triggers a riot. More than 150 fans are arrested.

1971 Rod Stewart starts recording songs for his third album. Although it was a solo album, all of the members of the Faces played on Every Picture Tells A Story. The familiarity of working together made the sessions go so well that the album was completed and released within 8 weeks.

1975 Bad Company releases Straight Shooter.

1987 U2 opens the US leg of The Joshua Tree tour.

1990 Eric Clapton loses his license for three months after getting ticketed for going 105mph in his Ferrari.

1991 Rolling Stones release Flashpoint.

2006 Canadian Music Hall Of Fame inducts Bryan Adams.

2011 Bruce Springsteen makes an unscheduled appearance with Southside Johnny and original E Street Band drummer Vinny Lopez at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park.

2011 Elton John hosts and performs with Leon Russell on Saturday Night Live.

2013 Bon Jovi does its first concert without Richie Sambora...

The The Mar Y Sol Festival opened on this day in 1972. The 3 day event was staged near Manati in Puerto Rico and drew around 35,000 fans. The biggest names on the bill that actually played included the Allman Brothers Band, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Faces, the J Geils Band, and BB King. 

Black Sabbath, boldly highlighted on the poster, was a no-show. Others that were promoted but cancelled included Fleetwood Mac. Agitation over the absence of several of the promoted bands and accidental deaths, some by drugs, some by drowning at the adjacent beach, marred the festival. The promoter to fled the festival site early after reports emerged that police planned to take him into custody. 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on April 1 include...

1946 Ronnie Lane of the Faces born.

1948 Reggae great Jimmy Cliff born.

1954 Jeff Porcaro of Toto born.

1961 The Beatles open a 91 consecutive night stand at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany.

1966 The Troggs record Wild Thing.

1969 Slade (Ambrose Slade at the time) made its live debut in Walsall, UK.

1969 The Beach Boys go public with news they plan to sue Capitol Records for overdue royalties.

1969 Four studio musicians at FAME Studios in Alabama defect to form Muscle Shoal's Sound Studios.

1974 Tom Petty's Gainesville band Mudcrutch relocates to southern California.

1975 Journey releases Journey.

1976 Rush releases 2112.

1976 Thief steals David Gilmour’s guitars from his London home.

1976 AC/DC does first British concert.

1979 Elvis Costello plays three cubs in New York City in one night.

1980 Brian Johnson announced as Bon Scott's replacement in AC/DC.

1981 Grateful Dead release Reckoning.

1983 Kirk Hammett joins Metallica.

1985 Van Halen parts with David Lee Roth.

1992 Billy Idol slapped with a $2,000 fine for hitting a woman in 1991.

2005 U2 opens Vertigo tour in Anaheim, California.

2005 Paul Atkinson of the Zombies dies of liver and kidney diseases at 58.

2008 Rolling Stones movie Shine a Light gets released.

2008 Scott Weiland quits Velvet Revolver.

2009 Bruce Springsteen opens Working On A Dream tour, San Jose, California.

2015 John Lennon's first wife Cynthia Lennon (Powell) dies of cancer.

2016 Guns N' Roses announce Slash and Duff McKagan will rejoin the band.

2016 Guns N' Roses does warm-up show for reunion tour at the Troubadour in LA. Axl breaks his foot.

2017 Bob Dylan accepts his Nobel Prize in Literature announced in 2016.

Angus Young roared to life on this day in 1955. The younger AC/DC brother to Malcolm was just 18 when AC/DC got its start and 20 when the group's debut album dropped.

Other Noteworthy classic rock events on March 31 include...

1942 Guitarist Hugh McCracken who played on recordings by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and more is born.

1944 Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company is born.

1948 Thijs Van Leer of Focus is born.

1967 Jimi Hendrix torches his first guitar on the opening night of his British tour.

1969 Led Zeppelin's debut album released in the UK.

1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono end their bed-in for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton.
1972 The Beatles fan club is closes.
1974 Tom Petty marries Jane Benyo.
1976 Led Zeppelin releases Presence.

1978 Paul McCartney releases London Town.

1980 Scorpions release Animal Magnetism.

1992 Def Leppard releases Adrenalize.

1992 Bruce Springsteen releases Lucky Town and Human Touch as separate albums.

1995 Jimmy Page narrowly escapes getting knifed when a deranged fan rushes the stage during a Page and Plant concert in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  Two security guards are injured.

2004 Ozzy Osbourne announces Black Sabbath reunion tour.

2011 Billy Joel scraps plans to publish his autobiography.

2015 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler reveals he is working on a country solo album.

2016 Ann Wilson of Heart, R,E,M.'s Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Perry Ferrell perform a tribut to David Bowie at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The world gained an astonishingly great guitarist on March 30, 1945 when Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Surrey. His mother, Patricia Clapton, was just 16 at the time of his birth and his father, a 25 year-old soldier from Canada, was away in WWII action and opted return to Quebec instead of to his wife and son. Eric and his mother lived with her mother and stepfather until Patricia married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany, leaving Eric with his grandparents in the UK.

His schooling took a backseat to music when Eric was in his mid teens. At 17, he joined a band known as the Roosters, a group that played mostly R&B material. He hooked up with the Yardbirds in the fall of 1963, spent a few months as a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1965 and the following year formed Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Baker would make the move to Blind Faith with Eric in 1969. The group that included Traffic's Steve Winwood and Ric Grech from Family would break-up after just one studio album and tour. Clapton's follow-up to that was the also short-lived Derek and the Dominos. His prolific solo career began with his self-titled 1970 debut album.
Eric was the first three time inductee to the Rock Hall Of Fame... as a member of the Yardbirds, Cream and as a solo artist.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 30 include...

1647 Jethro Tull, inventor of the seed drill and namesake of the band fronted by Ian Anderson born.

1942 Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge is born.

1948 James 'Jim Dandy' Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas born.

1950 Procol Harum guitarist Dave Ball is born.

1950 Tubes co-lead singer Re Styles is  born.

1966 Nearly 100 get arested as riot breaks out during a Rolling Stones concert in Paris.

1967 The album cover photo for the Beatles Sgt. Pepper is taken.

1970 Led Zeppelin stops Pittsburgh concert because police are harassing fans.

1974 The Ramones do their first concert.

1976 The Sex Pistols debut at the 100 Club in London.

1980 John Belushi joins the Grateful Dead on US Blues at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ.

1984 John Wetton joined Asia, replacing Greg Lake.

1994 Pink Floyd's Division Bell Tour opens.

1987 Bryan Adams releases Into The Fire.

2000 Mick Jagger attends the dedication of an arts center named in his honor at Dartford Grammer School.

2004 Aerosmith releases Honkin' on Bobo.

2004 Guns N Roses cancels Rock in Rio festival appearance when guitarist quits.

2007 Charges filed against a man for attempting to break into Paul McCartney's home.

2010 Eddie Vedder performs Quadrophenia with the Who at Royal Albert Hall.

2018 Nils Lofgren was out some guitars and other gear when his tour's equipment trailer was busted into on this day in Dallas in 2018.

Most eventually huge groups released several good but much less appreciated albums before the one that exponentially increased their fan base. Supertramp's breakthrough album was the one the band served up on this day in 1979. Breakfast in America, the group's 6th album, surpassed the combined sales of the five previous albums within weeks of its March 29th release.

The 4x Platinum lp lodged in the #1 spot on album charts for a full six weeks, and heavy airplay for the title track, The Logical Song, Goodbye Stranger and Take The Long Way Home made the band a major concert draw.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 29 include...

1945 John 'Speedy' Keen of Thunderclap Newman born.

1946 Billy Thorpe born.

1947 Toto lead singer Bobby Kimball is born.

1947 Robert Gordon is born.

1951 Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau is born.

1966 A Chair hurled by a fan during a Rolling Stones concert in Marseilles, France injures Mick Jagger.

1967 John Popper of Blues Traveler is born.

1967 Beatles start recording With a Little Help From My Friends.

1970 John & Yoko Ono announce she is pregnant

1973 Dr. Hook makes the cover of the Rolling Stone.

1975 Jeff Beck releases Blow By Blow. 

1978 David Bowie opens his Low tour in San Diego.

1980 Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon Eclipses Carole King's Tapestry for the longest run on the Billboard album charts as it enters its 304th week.

1982 Scorpions release Blackout.

1986 Beatles albums go on sale legally in Russia for the first time.

2000  Phil Collins sues two Earth Wind & Fire members seeking a refund on what Collins claims were overpayments on royalties for the pairs work on the songs Sussudio and Easy Lover.

2001 Billy Joel, Paul Simon and others pay tribute to Brian Wilson at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

2005 Neil Young diagnosed with a brain aneurysm after going to hospital with blurred vision.

2007 Bono gets an honorary knighthood. Can't be awarded the full one because he's Irish.

2009 Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh join the Allman Brothers Band for the closing night of the ABB's 15 night series of concerts at New York's Beacon Theatre.

2010 Rush inducted by the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

2015 Norman Greebaum is badly injured when his car collides with a motorcycle.

2016 Charlie Daniels gets inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

2016 Andy (Thunderclap) Newman dies at 73.

Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy got its release on this day in 1973. The group's 5th studio album's title track ended up not making the cut and was saved for Physical Graffiti.
Most of the album was recorded in the Rolling Stones mobile studio outside Mick Jagger's Hampshire home, with a bit more work done at Olympic Studios in London and New York's Electric Lady Studios.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 28 include...

1964 Beatles become the first rockers on display at Madame Tussauds wax museum.

1969 Joe Cocker does his first US concert.

1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's single cover of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock gets released.

1974 The Raspberrys disband.

1976 Genesis opened their first US tour without Peter Gabriel at the New Century Theater in Buffalo, NY. 

1982 David Crosby gets arrested and charged on cocaine and handgun possession counts in LA.

1981 Pete Townshend joins the Grateful Dead on three songs in Essen, Germany.

1990 Steven Adler is bounced from Guns N' Roses.

1992 Ozzy Osbourne is injured when some fans rushed the stage during the Randy Rhoads memorial concert.

1996 Phil Collins announces his departure from Genesis.

2000 Jimmy Page is awarded a settlement from a publication that published an account that he had contributed to the death of John Bonham.

2005 U2 opens Vertigo tour in San Diego.

2010 Rush is inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

One of the great live albums of all time was recorded on this and the following night at the Fillmore East in New York City in 1970. Mad Dogs & Englishmen featured Joe Cocker and Leon Russell backed by a great band that included a horn section and backing vocals from a chorus that included Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, and Pamela Pollard.

Chris Stainton joined Russell on piano and organ, Carl Radle played bass, sax players Jim Horn and Bobby Keys were joined by Jim Price on trumpet, Don Preston played guitar and Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Chuck Blackwell and Bobby Torres provided drums and percussion.

The album got released in August. Expanded editions have been released since, and the complete sets from both nights are now available. There is also a great film documenting the tour that includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage of what proved to be one of the wildest tours ever staged.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 27 include...

1950 Genesis keyboard player Tony Banks is born

1959 INXS keyboards player Andrew Farriss born.

1971 Bruce Springsteen opens for the Allman Brothers Band in Asbury Park.

1973 Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia was arrested on drug charges during a traffic stop near Philadelphia.

1979 Eric Clapton marries George Harrison's ex, Pattie Boyd in Tucson, Arizona.

1984 Scorpions release Love At First Sting.

1984 Metallica makes UK debut.

1984 Bryan Adams records Run to You in Vancouver.

1987 U2 shoots the video for Where The Streets Have No Name during a rooftop live set in LA.

1987 Sammy Hagar makes his live debut fronting Van Halen in Shreveport, Louisiana.

1996 Drummer Howard Wyeth, who recorded with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, dies of a heart attack at 51.

2000 Ian Dury dies of cancer at 57.

2001 Bruce Springsteen releases Live in New York City.

2012 Historic plaque marking the spot where David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album cover shot was taken in unveiled in London.

Steven Victor Tallarico was born in New York City on this day in 1948. The future front man of Aerosmith is the son of a classical pianist that taught music at a Bronx high school.

A close encounter with the Rolling Stones outside their New York hotel in 1965 and subsequent remarks by friends about his resemblance to Mick Jagger probably helped cast his fate.

Tyler first encountered Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton at a 1969 Sunapee, New Hampshire concert playing in a group known as the Jam Band. The following year, the three of them and Tyler's New York friends Joey Kramer and Ray Tabano moved to Boston. Tabano got replaced by Brad Whitford later that year.

Tyler and the group's big break came on August 5th, 1972. Aerosmith booked a showcase performance at Max's Kansas City, a New York club on Park Avenue that was instrumental in the early careers of dozens of musicians that would go on to become household names. Clive Davis was there for it and signed the group to a Columbia Records contract on the strength of their set.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 26 include...

1948 Boston's Fran Sheehan was born.

1948 Electric Light Orchestra's Richard Tandy born.

1965 Jeff Beck took Eric Clapton's place in the Yardbirds.

1965 Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Brian Jones all get electric jolts through microphones during a Stones concert in Denmark.

1969 The Allman Brothers Band forms.

1969 Newley weds John Lennon and Yoko Ono open their bed-in for peace honeymoon at the Amsterdam Hilton.

1971 Emerson, Lake and Palmer record Pictures at an Exhibition.

1972 Mott The Hoople disbands

1975 The Who's Tommy film debuts in London.

1976 Santana releases Amigos.

1980 Van Halen releases Women and Children First.

1985 Tom Petty releases Southern Accents.

1986 Guns N' Roses signs with Geffen Records.

1987 Revolution becomes the first Beatles song used in a commercial (Nike).

1996 Stone Temple Pilots release Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop.

2002 Drummer Randy Castillo (Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Lita Ford)) dies of cancer at 51.

2005 Crowded House, Split Enz member Paul Hester takes his own life at 46.

2019 A school book Paul McCartney had doodled some artwork in sells for almost $55,000.

2022 Genesis does it's last concert in London. The 25 song, two set + encore performance featuring the three principle members of the legendary band willing to perform together included songs from every era of the group's 55 years. 'That's All" was performed, but not as the final song. To the delight of the fans that consider the early to mid 70''s to be the years that the group produced it's best music, the final song was Carpet Crawlers from 1974's Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Reginald Kenneth Dwight was born on this day in 1947. He went from being a weekend piano player in a local pub at the age of 15 to being in a band that got backup gigs for UK appearances by the Isley Brothers, Patti LaBelle and Long John Baldry just a few years later. The future Elton John got acquainted with Bernie Taupin after the two responded to the same classified ad in the New Musical Express seeking songwriters for Liberty Records artists. Taupin handed off lyrics from Elton to compose the music. The two eventually began collaborating on songs Elton would end up recording.

Elton's 1970 self-titled debut album, Tumbleweed Connection (1970), Madman Across The Water (1971), Honky Chateau (1972), Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player (1973) and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) contained songs that earned John and Taupin standing as one of the great songwriting teams of all time.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock Events on March 25 include...

1947 Jack Hall of the Charlie Daniels Band and Wet Willie born.

1947 Brinsley Schwartz born.
1948 Michael Stanley born.

1966 The late, great Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey was born.

1966 The Beatles Yesterday and Today original album cover photo of the band with dismemberd dolls was taken.

1967 The Who opened a 9 day series of concerts doing 3 sets a night at the RKO 58th St. Theater in New York City.

1967 Pink Floyd does three concerts within 24 hours with sets at Windsor, Swindon and Bogner Regis.

1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono open their Bed-In For Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton.

1970 The Faces with Rod Stewart do their first North American concert in Toronto.
1972 Deep Purple releases Machinehead.

1986 Guns N' Roses signs contract with Geffen Records.

1990 Motley Crue's Tommy Lee arrested on indecency charge for mooning an audience in Augusta, Georgia.

1995 Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder was rescued from a riptide while swimming in New Zealand.
2002 Bono testifies as a character witness on behalf of Peter Buck at the R.E.M. member's trial on air rage charges.  He is later cleared. 

2005 Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne escape a fire in their Buckinghamshire house.

2007 Elton John 60th birthday concert establishes a new record - his 60th concert at Madison Square Garden.

2016 The Rolling Stones play Havana, Cuba.

2022 Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dies at 50 in Bogotá, Colombia during the group's tour.
2022 Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West featuring RObbie Krieger, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Martin Barre, Joe Lynn Turner, Elliot Easton and more is released...