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.