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Noteworthy Then

12/8/1980 John Lennon murdered

 

This day ended up being a date of profound entrances and untimely and violent exits in Rock history.

 

Jim Morrison was born on this day in 1943 in Melbourne, Florida. Four years later, Gregg Allman was born in Nashville. And on this night in 1980 New York City, John Lennon was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment by a deranged man who'd had John autograph a copy of the recently released Double Fantasy album just hours earlier.

 

And on this night in 2004, 'Dimebag Darrell' Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan was murdered when a fan rushed the stage during a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio and shot the guitarist several times. The band's security head and a fan attempting to disarm the assailant were also shot and killed before a police officer shot the killer.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on December 8

1957 Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen is born.

1967 Traffic releases Mr. Fantasy.

1968 Graham Nash quits Hollies, joins Crosby, Stills & Nash.

1969 Jimi Hendrix is acquitted of heroin/hashish charges.

1970 Jim Morrison records An American Prayer.

1975 Bob Dylan plays a benefit for boxer Rubin Hurricane Carter at Madison Square Garden. 

1975 Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain dies of a heroin overdose at 27.

1984 Motley Crue's Vince Neil crashes his Pantera, an accident that kills Hanoi Rocks drummer Nick Razzle Dingley.

1995 The Grateful Dead officially announce end of the band 4 months after Jerry Garcia’s death.

1998 Bruce Springsteen announces his first tour with the E Street Band in close to a decade.

2000 Sting gets a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

2003 Ozzy Osbourne sustains broken collarbone and ribs in an ATV crash on his LA estate.

2006 Roger Daltrey sits out the last several songs of The Who's St. Paul concert suffering from laryngitis.

2011 Lynyrd Skynyrd plays grand opening of band’s BBQ in the Excalibur in Las Vegas.

2013 Billy Joel, Carlos Santana and Herbie Hancock receive Kennedy Center Honors.

2016 Mick Jagger becomes a father again at 73...