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.