Welcome to February, Rockers! We start the new month off with happy birthday wishes to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,  Fleetwood Mac and Dirty Knobs guitarist Mike Campbell, who was born on this day in 1950 in Panama City, Florida.  A scorching version of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode earned Mike an added guitarist spot in Mudcrutch, the Gainesville based group Tom Petty formed in the early 1970's.  That band fell apart after moving to LA and getting a record deal in 1974 that  only produced one single that got little traction.

 

Campbell and Benmont Tench from Mudcrutch reunited with Tom in 1976 to form Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The debut album released in November of that year on the same label that gave up on Mudcrutch got off to a slow start in the states, but interest and sales started to kick in after Petty and the band toured the UK and sales of the album took off in England. 

Five months after Petty's tragic passing, Campbell was invited to join Fleetwood Mac, replacing Lindsey Buckingham.

 

Campbell formed the Dirty Knobs 15 years ago, but the group only gigged in the Los Angeles area between Campbell's tours and sessions with Petty and, until 2020, had never released an album. The Knobs' debut album is sonic evidence of how influential Mike was on the sound of the Heartbreakers.

 

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

1938 Jimmy Carl Black, drummer with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, is born.

1950 Rich Williams of Kansas born.

1951 Sonny Landreth born.

1963 Neil Young does his first live gig at a Winnipeg country club.

1964 Kingsmen’s Louie, Louie declared ‘pornographic’ by Governor of Indiana.

1967 Pink Floyd’s concert debut.

1967 Jefferson Airplane releases Surrealistic Pillow.

1967 The Beatles start recording the song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

1968 The Who open third US tour in San Jose, CA.

1969 Joni Mitchell plays Carnegie Hall.

1972 Neil Young releases Harvest.

1973 Traffic releases Shootout at the Fantasy Factory.

1974 The Doobie Brothers release What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.

1977 Led Zeppelin postpone start of US tour because Robert Plant has tonsillitis.

1977 Genesis in Concert movie premieres in London.

1979 Allman brothers Band release Enlightened Rogues.

1979 Drive By Truckers  Jason Isbell is born.

1983 Journey releases Frontiers.

1987 Santana releases Freeedom.

1988 Cars announce breakup.

2001 Elton John's photography exhibit gets pulled from an Atlanta, Georgia museum for being too explicit.

2002 Metallica's Kirk Hammett earns the first Guitar World Magazine Hall of Fame honor.

2009 Bruce Springsteen performs during half time of Superbowl in Tampa.
2021 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Darkness on the Edge of Town tour box set gets release...