U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. was born in Dublin, Ireland on this day in 1961.  He took up piano befors switching to drums when he was just nine and joined a marching band but quit when he refused get a haircut. A couple of years after enrolling in Mount Temple School in his teens, Mullen posted that he was a drummer interested in forming a band. That got the attention of Paul 'Bono' Hewson, Adam Clayton, Dave 'The Edge' Evans. On September 25th, 1976  the core of what would become U2 came together during a meeting in the Mullens family kitchen.  The first name the group performed under was Feedback. It later became The Hype and was switched to U2 when the band entered a battle of the bands in Limerick in 1978.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 31 include...

1945 Argent's Russ Ballard born.

1949 Supertramp's Bob Siebenberg born.

1967 The Stooges debut at a Halloween party in Michigan.

1968 Linda Eastman moves to London to live with Paul McCartney.

1974 Led Zeppelin launches Swan Song, the group's own label.

1975 The Marshall Tucker Band does a benefit concert for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.

1986 Roger Waters starts legal action to block David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright from using the name Pink Floyd without him.

1989 Grateful Dead release Built To Last.

1989 Squeeze records the first MTV Unplugged session.

1993 River Phoenix dies of an overdose outside Viper Club in LA while with Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1996 Slash announces he is leaving Guns N' Roses.

1997 AC/DC members participate in Halloween séance to contact Bon Scott, but get no response.

2001 Ozzy Osbourne breaks a leg stepping out of shower, postpones tour.

2006 John Fogerty releases Long Road Home, Who release Endless Wire, online charity auction brings in $26,000 bid for guitar signed by Pink Floyd members.

2009 Pearl Jam does last concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia before demolition.

2017 Dave Grohl disguised as David Letterman joins Alice Cooper on Jimmy Kimmel Show.
2021 Early morning smoke alarm triggered by chimney fire wakes Bob Seger and his wife at their Orchard Lake, Michigan home.  Water and smoke damage, but no injuries.

The rebellious singer that fronted the Jefferson Airplane and Starship was born on this day in 1939 in Highland Park, Illinois. Grace Barnett Wing was the daughter of a couple that met while attending the University of Washington. Her father went on to become an investment banker in a prestigious firm  and sent his daughter to Finch College, a finishing school in New York City that groomed young women as future wives of business moguls.  Grace transferred to the University of Miami, married aspiring filmmaker Jerry Slick, effectively putting an end to the life story her parents had in mind for her.  While living in San Francisco, she saw the recently formed Jefferson Airplane at the Matrix, a club operated by Marty Balin.  That set inspired her to start The Great Society, a band that included her husband on drums and her brother on guitar.  When the Airplane's lead singer at the time, Signe Anderson, decided to leave the group to raise her child, Jack Casady invited Grace to take her place.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 30 include..

1946 Manfred Mann's Earth Band, AC/DC, Asia veteran Chris Slade born.

1947 Eagles Timothy B. Schmit born.

1966 Pink Floyd members sign first management contract.

1967 Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones draws 9 month sentence on drug conviction – later reduced due to his ‘poor mental state’.

1970 Jim Morrison ordered to pay a fine after being convicted of exposing himself during Miami Doors concert.

1972 Nine years after the Beatles performed for Queen Elizabeth, Elton John does.

1975 Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour opens in Plymouth, MA.

1984 Linda Ronstadt debuts in La Boheme production in New York City.

1990 Axl Rose posts $10,000 bail after being charged with hitting a neighbor on the head wit a bottle during an argument over loud music.

1992 Peter Frampton plays with David Letterman’s band.

1995 Rock Hall of Fame announces David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Velvet Underground will be inducted.

1997 REM announces Bill Berry is leaving.

1998 Black Sabbath members walk out on Toronto CD signing event when security starts roughing-up fans. 
2007 Levon Helm releases Dirt Farmer.

2004 Warrant issued for the arrest of Motley Crue's Vince Neil on charges related to his alleged assault that left a Dalls venue's soundman unconscious.

2008 Neil Young cancels LA Forum date because of union dispute with venue operator.

2009 U2, Metallica, Ray Davies, Lou Reed, Jeff Beck and surprise guest Mick Jagger appear at Rock Hall Of Fame 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden…

Duane Allman lost his life in a motorcycle wreck in Macon, Georgia on this day in 1971 when a flatbed truck made a sudden stop and Duane veered his Harley Davidson Sportster sharply, causing it to lose traction and slide out from under him after striking the back of the truck the impact threw Alllman from the bike, which then landed on top of him, causing multiple internal injuries.

Even though he was just 24 at the time of his death, Duane's work with the Allman Brothers Band and pre-ABB session work established his legacy as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

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

1944 Wings and Moody Blues veteran Denny Laine born.

1946 Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green born.

1948 Black Oak Arkansas' Rickie Lee Reynolds is born.

1949 Iggy & the Stooges James Williamson born.
1949 Alan Parsons Project's David Paton born.

1965 The Rolling Stones open their fourth North American tour in Montreal.

1973 John Lennon releases Mind Games.

1974 David Bowie releases David Live.

1975 Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder tour opens, Plymouth, MA.

1978 Rush releases Hemispheres.

1981 Rush releases Exit, Stage Left.

1984 Orleans drummer Wells Kelly dies.
1990 Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 released.

1990 Rock Hall of Fame announces the Byrds, John Lee Hooker, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Reed and Ike and Tina Turner will be inducted.

1991 Interstate 55 in Jackson, Mississippi renamed B.B.King Freeway.

1991 Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason sustain injuries when their car leaves the track and hurdles down an embankment during a race in Mexico

2005 Jefferson Airplane reunite to play at San Francisco amphitheater renamed to honor Jerry Garcia.

2009 Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Simon & Garfunkel, Sting, Stevie Wonder perform at Rock Hall Of Fame 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden.

2010 Bruce Springsteen does surprise Q&A with audience after London screening of The Promise.

2013 Anonymous bidder pays $770,000 for the modest Liverpool brick home John Lennon lived in during his first 5 years...

2014 Phil Collins donates his Alamo collection to a museum in Texas.

2016 Bob Dylan belatedly accepts his Nobel Prize in Literature.

2021 Joe Bonamassa releases Time Clocks

One of the leading ambassadors for Southern Rock, Mr. Charlie Daniels, was  born on this day in 1936 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The guitar, fiddle, mandolin and banjo playing Daniels maintained a rigorous touring schedule throughout his career, often logging close to 250 days on the road a year well into his 70's.  Daniels died on July 6, 2020 after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock Events on October 28 include...

1937 Graham Bond born.

 1968 Jethro Tull releases This Was.

1977 Steve Perry makes debut as Journey lead vocalist.

1977 Queen releases News Of the World.

1977 Sex Pistols release Never Mind The Bullocks, Here's The Sex Pistols.

1978 Queen opens Jazz World Tour in New Orleans. 

1978 Neil Young releases Decade. 

1981 Neil Young releases Reactor.
1982 The Jam announces the group will disband at the end of its tour.

1985 ZZ Top releases Afterburner.

1985 Bob Dylan Biograph box set released.

1991 Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Nick Mason injured in crash during Pan American road race in Mexico.

2003 Sting publishes Broken Music autobiography.

2008 Freemantle unveils a Bon Scott statue at the western Australian city's boat harbor.

2014 Allman Brothers do final concert as a touring band as they close their Beacon Theatre series...

Bruce Springsteen appeared on covers of Time and Newsweek that hit the magazine racks on this day in 1975.

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

1949 Gary Tallent of the E Street band born.

1951 Judas Priest’s KK Downing born.

1967 Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver’s Scott Weiland born.
1969 Muddy Waters is critically injured in a car crash that kills three.
1969 Ringo Starr starts sessions for his Sentimental Journey album.

1970 Black Sabbath makes live debut at Glassboro State College.

1979 Elton John collapses from exhaustion during his Hollywood Bowl concert.
1980 T-Rex's Steve Took chokes to death.

2002 Legendary producer Tom Dowd dies of Emphysema.

1988 Def Leppard Hysteria tour wraps up in Tacoma, Washington.

1989 U2's Adam Clayton loses his drivers license for a year and pays a fine on DWI conviction.

2005 Three of the four Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover uniforms and the first Rolling Stones recording contact auctioned.

2007 Metallica, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Jerry Lee Lewis play Neil Young’s Bridge School benefit in Mountainview, California.
2009 Jeff Beck fills in for Eric Clapton at Rock Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert while EC recouperates from gall stone surgery.

2013 Lou Reed dies at 71 of liver disease...

The Who's monumental 6th album arrived in record stores on this day in 1973.  All of the songs on the the double album titled Quadrophenia were penned by Pete Townshend.  The follow-up rock opera to Tommy chronicled the quest of a young member of the UK sub-culture known as the mods to find relevance in the midst of the group's clashes with rivals known as the rockers that were breaking out in several villages, towns and cities in England in the early to mid 1960's.

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

1961 Columbia Records signs Bob Dylan.
1962 Bob Dylan starts recording Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, his first album with a backing band.

1965 Beatles appointed members of the Order of British Empire.

1967 Magical Mystery Tour premiers on BBC TV.

1970 A wake for Janis Joplin was staged in San Anselmo, California, paid for with $2,500 the singer left in her will for that purpose in the event she died.
1970 The mother of the victim of the Hells Angels stabbing at the Altamont concerts sues the Rolling Stones.

1975 Elton John plays Dodger Stadium.

1980 Jefferson Starship's Paul Kantner suffers a stroke in the recording studio.  Recovers following two weeks of hospital care.

1981 Queen and David Bowie release Under Pressure.

1987 Billy Joel releases Koh Ept.

1991 Ozzy Osbourne breaks his foot during his Chicago concert.

1991 Bonnie Raitt plays Saturday Night Live.

1992 Pearl Jam sells a record 950,000 copies of the album Vs in its first week of release .

1993 Jackson Browne releases I’m Alive.

1998 A court rules against the Recording Industry group seeking to ban MP3 devices from being sold.

2006 Jimi Hendrix songs owned by the estate of a former manager go up for sale to benefit UK charities.

2014 Sting's musical The Last Ship opens in New York...

Concert promoter and  operator-manager Bill Graham lost his life on this date in 1991 in the crash of a helicopter near Vallejo, California  following a Huey Lewis and the News concert at the Concord Pavilion. Graham established himself as one of Rock's most astute business men while  owner/operator of the Fillmore East in New York City along with its west coast counterpart and the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 25 include...

1948 Judas Priest's Glen Tipton born.

1956 Scorpions Matthias Jabs born.

1962 Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chickenfoot's Chad Smith born.

1964 The Rolling Stones perform on Ed Sullivan Show.

1977 Ronnie Van Zant is buried in Jacksonville, Florida five days following the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash in Mississippi.

2005 Aerosmith releases Rockin' The Joint.

2006 The first Ozzfest takes place in Phoenix, Arizona.

2008 ZZ Top, Smashing Pumpkins, Jack Johnson play Neil Young's Bridge School benefit concert, Mountainview, California.

2011 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler loses two teeth when he falls in a shower in Paraguay hotel.

2014 Cream bass player/vocalist dies of liver cancert.

2015 Bruce Springsteen takes his mother to see Ringo Starr's All Star Band at State Theater in Brunswick, NJ.

2017 R&B & Rock pioneer Fats Domino dies at 89 in his sleep at New Orleans home.

2021 Robby Steinhardt's posthumous solo debut Not In Kansas Anymore gets released.

Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman was born William George Perks in South London on this day in 1936.  He adopted his surname from a fellow member of the Royal Air Force he served with from 1955-57. The future Stones bassist first studied piano in his teens, but soon switched to guitar and then bass before auditioning to take the place of Dick Taylor in the Stones in December of 1962.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 24 include...

1948 Mott The Hoople drummer Dale Griffin born.

1964 The Rolling Stones open a US 12 date tour at the Academy of Music in New York City.

1973 John Lennon files suit claiming  illegal wire tapping of his phone calls.

1974 Stardust film featuring David Bowie opens in London.

1975 John Lennon releases Shaved Fish.

1977 Keith Richards pleads guilty on a drug charge in Toronto. Sentence requires Stones to do a benefit concert.

1988 Trial opens on a suit brought against John Fogerty by Fantasy Records claiming he had plaigerized the Creedence Clearwater Revival song Run Through the Jungle when he wrote his solo song The Old Man Down the Road.

1989 Rock Hall Of Fame announces the Who, the Kinks, Simon and Garfunkel, will be inducted.

1995 Ozzy Osbourne releases Ozzmosis.

Bob Seger releases It's A Mystery.

1997 Black Crowes bassist Johnny Colt leaves the group. Later joins Lynyrd Skynyrd.

2003 Bruce Springsteen donates money to help the New York City's Bottomline Club stay open.

2005 Cream does first of 3 reunion nights at Madison Square Garden.

2005 Slash joins Queen & Paul Rodgers on stage in LA on Can't Get Enough…

The second studio album from Genesis arrived on this day in 1970. Trespass would be the final album guitarist Anthony Phillips and drummer John Mayhew played on before being replaced by Phil Collins.  The release represented a shift toward a more progressive direction than the tracks the group laid down on its debut album, From Genesis to Revelation.  That transformation was rooted in live performances the group played, including a six week stint on stage at Ronnie Scott's club in London, during which producer John Anthony caught the band live and was impressed enough to convince Charisma Records President Tony Stratton Smith to offer them a contract.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 23 include...

1947 Humble Pie & Spooky Tooth Bassist Greg Ridley born.

1963 Bob Dylan records The Times they Are A-Changin'.
1964 Metallica's Robert Trujillo born.

1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience records Hey Joe.

1969 King Crimson does first US show at Goddard College in Vermont.

1976 Led Zeppelin appears on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert TV show.

1978 Sid Vicious attempts suicide in Riker's Island Prison while jailed awaiting trial for murder of his girlfriend at Chelsea Hotel.

1995 Def Leppard does concerts on three continents in 24 hours, playing London, Tangier and Vancouver.

1998 Judge upholds the right of a St. Louis high school to ban playing of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit by marching band on basis of it being a "drug anthem".

1999 Eric Clapton, BB King John Mellencamp, John Fogerty Sheryl Crow and Lenny Kravitz play at White House event promoting music programs in public schools.

2007 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss release Raising Sand.

2009 Bon Jovi announces plans for a two year long world tour.

2010 Neil Young reunites with Buffalo Springfield members Stephen Stills and Richie Furay at Bridge School benefit in Mountainview, California.

2016 Street in Forest Hills. Queens re-named in honor of the Ramones.

2017 Bob Seger undergoes neck surgery to address vertebra issue that forced postponement of Runaway Train tour dates.

2020 Joe Bonamassa releases Royal Tea.

2020 Bruce Springsteen releases Letter To You...

The 1975 double concert album Silver Bullet Live put Bob Seger on the radar of a lot more fans than his previous 7 recordings had, but the follow-up studio album he recorded part with the Silver Bullet Band and the rest with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section elevated his storied career to a whole new level and turned him into an arena act well beyond his home turf.  Night Moves got its release on this day in 1976.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 22 include...

1945 Mountain’s Leslie West born.

1945 Rascals co-lead vocalist and percussionist Eddie Brigati born.

1952 Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes born.

1964 EMI solicits demos from the High Numbers, the group soon to become the Who, but passes on signing them.

1965 Rolling Stones release Get off of My Cloud.

1965 Who release My Generation.
1974 KISS releases Hotter Than Hell.

1976 The Song Remains The Same soundtrack released.

1984 Paul McCartney releases Give My Regards To Broad Street.

1990 Pearl Jam makes live debut in Seattle.

2021 Rolling Stones release expanded anniversay edition of Tattoo You.

2021 Dream Theater releases A View Fom The Top Of the World.

2022 John Entwistle Rarities Oxhumed is released.

On this night in 1976, Who fans at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto witnessed Keith Moon's last concert with the Who, and the band's first live performance of Who Are You.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 21 include...

1940 Manfred Mann (Lubowitz) born.

1941 Steve Cropper born.
1942 Elvin Bishop born.

1952 Grateful Dead's Brent Mydland born.

1957 Toto’s Steve Lukather born.

1961 Bob Dylan records first album in one day.

1970 Bob Dylan releases New Morning.

1975 Elton John awarded star on Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

1977 Meastloaf releases Bat Out Of Hell.

1998 Alice Cooper sues Paul Stanley and Bruce Kulick claiming Kiss song Dreamin' infringed on Eighteen.

2001 Madison Square Garden and RFK Stadium host benefit for 9/11 terror attack victims. Who, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, David Bowie and Paul McCartney among those performing.

2006 Rock Hall Of Fame opens Clash exhibit.

2008 Perception, Doors box set released.

2008 Who open 10 date US tour at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

2010 Steven Tyler sings National Anthem before Bruins home opener in Boston.

2010 Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden pilots Liverpool soccer team flight to game in Naples, Italy.

2014 Allman Brothers open last concert series as a band at the Beacon Theatre in New York...

Thomas Earl Petty entered this world on this day in 1950 in Gainesville, Florida. His father worked on the set during the Ocala, Florida filming of the Elvis Presley film Follow That Dream in 1961, giving Tom the chance to meet Presley, an encounter that started the Young Petty on a musical path of his own.  Seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show sealed the deal for young Tom. "I had been a big fan of Elvis. But I really saw in the Beatles that here's something I could do. I knew I could do it. It wasn't long before there were groups springing up in garages all over the place." Tom started playing bass, quit high school and joined a band at 17.  He switched to guitar, getting lessons from future Eagles member Don Felder, and formed a band named Epic, which morphed into Mudcrutch and included Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell before adding Ron Blair and Stan Lynch and becoming the Heartbreakers.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 20 include...

1945 Ten Years After drummer Ric Lee born.

1951 Foreigner keyboardist Al Greenwood born.

1964 French Rolling Stones fans riot at the end of the group's first concert in Paris at the Olympia.

1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release The Wedding Album.

1973 Steve Miller Band releases The Joker.

1976 Led Zeppelin movie The Song Remains The Same premiers in London.

1977 Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines,  and his sister, Cassie, are killed when tour plane crashes five miles north of Gillsburg, Mississippi in the early evening.  The crash into a heavily wooded swamp was ruled the result of the pilot failing to make sure the plane had enough fuel for the chartered flight from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge.  In addition to the band members that lost their lives, the group's assistant manager, the pilot and co-pilot died. 

1978 The Police have their US live debut at CBGBs in New York City.

1979 Bob Dylan plays Saturday Night Live.

1980 U2 releases Boy.

1986 Billy Idol releases Whiplash.

1987 INXS releases Kick.

1990 Steve Miller Band does Special Olympics benefit concert at Cotton Bowl in Texas.

1994 Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young guest with Bod Dylan during his concert at the Roseland in New York City.

1997 Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine dies of respiratory and heart failure in a Paris hotel

1998 Aerosmith releases A Little South of Sanity, Black Sabbath releases Reunion.

2008 AC/DC releases Black Ice.

2017 Bob Seger undergoes surgery to address herniated disc that caused remaining 2017 tour dates to be cancelled...

Tom Petty's brilliant career took a quantum leap forward on this day in 1979 when he and his band released Damn The Torpedoes.  Pink Floyd's The Wall was the only obstacle that prevented Tom's thrid album with the Heartbreakers from becoming the top selling album in the states.  Still, its comparatively astronomical success made Tom's gutsy gamble that declaring bankruptcy to get out of a contract with MCA records would enable him to ink a better deal with a subsidiary label he felt would be more effective promoting his albums proved to be a slam dunk positive move for his career.  In addition to becoming one of the best closing albums of a decade that produced a multitude of outstanding releases, the making of Damn the Torpedoes was filmed for what turned out to be one of the best documentaries ever made about the creative process behind making a great album.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 19 include...

1944 Peter Tosh born.

1945 Doobie Brothers Patrick Simmons born.

1966 Yardbirds arrive in US for first tour. Jeff Beck leaves the group after only two concerts.

1968 Peter Frampton joins the Small Faces at a London concert.

1971 Keith Godchaux does his first concert with the Grateful Dead.

1973 David Bowie releases Pin Ups.

1974 Who release Odds & Sods.

1979 Journey releases Evolution.

1993 Rush releases Counterparts.
1993 Pearl Jam releases Vs.
1997 Alice Cooper band's Glen Buxton dies of pneumonia at 49.

2004 John Mellencamp releases Words & Music.

2005 Bono has lunch with George W Bush at the White House.

2007 Deborah Santana files for divorce after 34 years of marriage to Carlos Santana.

2009 ZZ Top releases Double Down Live DVD.

2010 Leon Russell & Elton John release The Union.

2020 Peter Green tribute concert featuring David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, Bill Wyman, Kirk Hammett organized by Mick Fleetwood is released.

2023 The Rolling Stones release Hackney Diamonds and do a by invitation concert for 650 at Racket  NYC in New York City.

The 1974 Rolling Stones released It’s Only Rock N’ Roll on this day in 1974.  The group's 12th UK and 14th US album would top the album charts in the states and get to #2 in England and was the final Stones album to feature Mick Taylor.  It also became the first album to be produced by the 'Glimmer Twins' team of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.  In addition to the core members, the album included contributions from Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins. Billy Preston and Ray Cooper.  The title song's rhythm track was recorded by Faces member Kenny Jones and Taylor's future replacement Ronnie Wood during an informal studio session Mick Jagger attended that also included David Bowie and bassist Willie Weeks.  Mick liked the sound of it so much that he brought the tapes to Keith Richards so he could add more guitar.  The jam would end up being an unofficial audition for Wood who went on to join the Stones after the group had also given consideration to Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck and Harvey Mandel to take Taylor's place in the band.

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

1926 Chuck Berry born.
1949 REO Speedwagon lead guitarist Gary Richrath born.
1957 Paul McCartney debuts wit the Quarry Men.

1964 The Animals open thier first headlining tour in Manchester, UK.
1964 The Beatles record Eight Days a Week.

1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience does its first official concert in Paris.

1967 How I Won the War movie with John Lennon opens in London.

1969 Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner arrested on marijuana charge.

1975  Paul Simon hosts the second Saturday Night  Live.

1986 Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie marries Portuguese composer Eduardo Quintela..

1988 Traveling Wilburys release debut album.

1989 Axl Rose quits Guns N' Roses during LA Colisseum concert.

1994 Queensryche releases Promised Land. 

2009 Aerosmith does first concert since Steven Tyler fell off stage during South Dakota concert in August.

2007 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss record CMT Crossroads set.

On this day in 1977, a triumphant album with a tragically prophetic cover was released. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors lp cover featured band members with a backdrop of raging flames. Just days after the album came out, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and his sister Cassie would lose their lives when the band's chartered tour plane crashed in rural Mississippi after running out of fuel. The pilot, co-pilot and the band's assistant road manager also perished. Gary Rossington sustained multiple injuries but survived the crash. Allen Collins, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Gary Rossington and Leon Wilkerson were also among the 20 onboard that were rescued.

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

1946 Michael Hossack of the Doobie Brothers born.

1967 Memorial service takes place in London for Beatles manager Brian Epstein. All four band members attend.

1967 Hair debuts at the Public Theater in New York, where it would have a 1,758 performance run.

1967 Bob Dylan starts recording John Wesley Harding album.

1968 Ziggy Marley born.

1969 Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner arrested on marijuana charges in Hawaii 1969 Led Zeppelin II released, band opens US tour at Carnegie Hall.

1973 Keith Richards banned from France for 2 years because of drug arrest during 1971 party in Nice.

1980 Dire Straits releases Making Movies. 1980 Bruce Springsteen releases The RIver. 1989 Billy Joel releases Storm Front.

1991 John Mellencamp collapses during radio interview in Seattle and is briefly hospitalized.

1994 Bob Dylan makes unannounced appearance with Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden concert.

1995 Sting's accountant convicted of stealing millions from him. 1999 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band do the first Rock concert at the newly opened Staples Center in LA.

2005 Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa join U2 in Philadelphia for a version of People Get Ready.

2006 Aerosmith releases Devil's Got A New Disguise.

2009 Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa join Southside Johnny at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ.

On this day in 1968, Jimi Hendrix released what is widely considered to be one of the most ambitious and adventureous double albums ever recorded - Electric Ladyland.

Other Noteworthy events in Classic Rock on October 16 include...

1943 BTO's Fred Turner born.

1947 Grateful Dead's Bob Weir born.

1953 Rainbow's Tony Carey born.

1972 Press release announces breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

1981 Bob Dylan opens his Shot Of Love tour in Milwaukee.

1986 The Chuck Berry birthday concert that became the film Hail Hail Rock and Roll took place in St. Louis.

1992 Bob Dylan 30th anniversary concert in New York features Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, George Harrison and Neil Young.

1995 Paul McCartney and Allen Ginsberg appear together at Royal Albert Hall.

2002 Billy Joel wraps-up a rehab stay.

2003 Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel open their Old Friends reunion tour.

2005 Queen does first US date with Paul Rogers fronting the band.
2006 CBGB closes after a concert by Patti Smith.

2007 Neil Young releases Chrome Dreams II.

2008 Bruce Springsteen & Billy Joel do benefit concert for Barack Obama's campaign in New York City.

The Grateful Dead 's Wake of the Flood hit stores on this day in 1973.  The first album pressed on the group's own label and the first without Ron 'Pig Pen' McKernan, the album included several songs the band had been doing in concert during its previous couple of tours.  The addition of the musically versatile keyboard player Keith Godchaux gave the band the opportunity to expand its musical range.

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

1965 Jimi Hendrix signs his first recording contract.

1968 Led Zeppelin makes live debut at Surrey University in England.

1970 Derek & The Dominos open only US tour.

1971 Pink Floyd opens US tour at Winterland Auditorium in San Francisco.

1973 Keith Richards gets fined and banned from returing to France for two years as a sentence for marijuana trafficking.

1985 Rush releases Power Windows.

1987 Jerry Garcia kicks-off a two week series of performances on Broadway.

1996 Bad Company releases Stories Told & Untold.

2007 Runnin' Down A Dream, Peter Bogdonovitch documentary about 2006 Tom Petty tour, opens.

2000 Dave Edmunds undergoes triple bypass in LA.

2003 Former KISS member Bruce Kulick shot and wounded in the leg during an altercation outside of an LA club.

2010 Steven Tyler voices Mad Hatter on The Wonder Pets cartoon adaptation of Alice In Wonderland.

2014 Foo Fighters and Ann and Nancy Wilson do Kick It Out on Letterman show.

2015 Tommy Lee stricken tendinitis before Motley Crue farewell concert in Buffalo, opening act Alice Cooper drummer Glen Sobel fills in.

2015 Phil Lesh reveals he is undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.

2021 Carlos Santana releases Blessings and Miracles.
2021 Tom Morello releases The Atlas - Underground Fire...

On this day in 1977, Genesis released its Seconds Out double live album. Most of the songs recorded for what would be Steve Hackett's last album as a member of the band came from concerts recorded that June in Paris at the Palais des Sports. Hackett quit during the final mixing sessions for the lp. Phil Collins is said to have seen the guitarist walking away from the studio as he was driving there. Unaware Hackett had quit, Collins offered him a ride back to the studio, but he declined. Hackett later admitted that, had he gotten in the car, Collins would probably been able to convince he to stay in the group.

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

1946 Nazareth's Dan McCafferty born.

1946 Moody Blues Justin Hayward born.

1958 Thomas Dolby born.

1964 Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones marries Shirley Ann Shepherd.

1966 Jefferson Airplane does first concert with Grace Slick at the Fillmore West.

1972 Joe Cocker and members of his band arrested on drug charges following Adelaide, Australia concert.

1974 Jethro Tull releases War Child.

1977 Linda Ronstadt sings the National Anthem before game three of the World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

1985 INXS releases Listen Like Thieves.

1996 The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus finally released 28 years after its filming.

2000 AC/DC fan dies in fall from upper deck of concert in Ghent, Belgium.

2003 Ozzy Osbourne cancels a European tour to begin Parkinson's treatment.

2004 Eric Clapton loses his drivers license after getting clocked at 134mph in one of his Ferraris

2005 Roger Taylor of Queen joins Foo Fighters on version of Tie Your Mother Down during East Rutherford, NJ concert.

2007 Tom Petty documentary Running Down a Dream premieres at the New York Film Festival.

2010 Who release Live At Leeds 40th Anniversary set.

2014 Bob Seger releases Ride Out.

2014 Bob Weir & Phil Lesh do the National Anthem before Giants-Cardinals ALCS game in San Francisco.

2022 Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen is released.

Happy birthday to one of the most entertaining Rockers on or off a stage, Montrose/Van Halen/Chickenfoot/Circle and solo artist Sammy Hagar, born on this date in 1947 in Salinas, California.

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

1942 Paul Simon born.

1944 Chicago's Robert Lamm born

1949 Fleetwood Mac's Rick Vito born.

1965 The Who record My Generation.

1965 The Beatles record Drive My Car.

1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience does first official concert, Everux, France.

1970 Janis Joplin's ashes spread along Stinson Beach in Marin County, California.

1975 Neil Young has surgery to remove growth from vocal chord.

1978 Billy Joel releases 52nd Street.

1982 Clash records set opening for the Who for their Live At Shea Stadium album.

1987 Supertramp releases Free As A Bird.

1990 Bob Dylan plays West Point.

1998 Eric Clapton's Crossroads Center for addiction treatment opens in Antigua.

1998 Bob Dylan releases Live At Royal Albert Hall 1966,The Bootleg Series, Volume 4.

1998 Bruce Hornsby releases Spirit Trail.

2014 Foo Fighters & Zac Brown do Black Sabbath's War Pigs on Letterman.

2016 Bob Dylan awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature...

Bruce Springsteen opened his multi-month Springsteen on Broadway series of sold out performances on this night in 2017. Extended twice, the 236 performance live run would finally wrap-up on December 16, 2018 and earn The Boss a Tony award. A Netflix streamed production of it  premiered on the closing night and an album of highlights from his one-man show would follow.

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

1955 Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens born.

1958 Tesla's Jeff Keith born.

1965 The Beatles record Norwegian Wood and Run For Your Life.

1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience forms officially a few days after Jimi, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding play together for first time.

1975 Faces do last concert with Rod Stewart, Nassau Coliseum.

1978 Sid Viscious charged in stabbing death of girlfriend in New York’s Chelsea Hotel.

1979 Fleetwood Mac releases Tusk.

1979 Ian Anderson sustains eye injury when thorn in a rose thrown by Jethro Tull fan during concert glances off his eye.

1982 Who and The Clash play Shea Stadium.

1991 Tom Petty plays Saturday Night Live.

1993 Pearl Jam release Vs.

1994 36 treated for injuries after a scaffold with 1,200 fans on it collapses during a Pink Floyd London concert.

1996 Farm Aid staged in Columbia, South Carolina with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson. Marshall Chapman, Son Volt, Robert Earl Keen, the Beach Boys and Hootie and the Blowfish.

2005 Tommy Lee injured when pyrotechincs misfire over the stage during Motley Crue's Casper, Wyoming concert.

2007 Paul Rogers, George Thorogood and B.B. King do benefit concert to aid homeless services in San Diego.

2008 Surviving Grateful Dead members play together for first time since 2004 during State College, Pennsylvania rally for Obama.

2009 Eddie Vedder joins Roger Daltrey on three songs during Daltrey solo show in Seattle.

2015 Journey drummer Deen Castronova pleads guilty to assault & menacing charges in domestic violence case in Salem, Oregon.

On this night in 1975, Saturday Night Live (then known as NBC Saturday Night) premiered with host George Carlin entering from the audience.  Billy Preston and Janis Ian were the opening night's musical guests.  Paul Simon appeared on the following week's show.

Other Noteworthy events on October 11th include...

1946 Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates born.

1969 Muddy Waters badly injured in car wreck in Chicago that kills 3. 

1972 Santana releases Caravanseria.

1973 Fleetwood Mac releases Mystery To Me.

1979 Fleetwood Mac gets a Hollywood Walk Of Fame star.

1988 U2 releases Rattle and Hum.

1991 Billy Idol arrested for assaulting his date outside Hollywood restaurant.
1991 Apple Corp. settles suit filed against the company over logo infringement by Beatles Apple entity.

1997 Gregg Allman, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Keb Mo and John Hiatt perform at Muddy Waters tribute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

1999 Motley Crue's Tommy Lee arrested on inciting a riot charge after pouring a drink on a security guard's head and allegedly encouraging fans to attack him.

2005 Rod Stewart awarded star on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2009 Ronnie and Jo Wood divorce granted.

2013 Paul McCartney does short, free concert on a flat bed truck in Times Square.

2015 Aerosmith warns Trump campaign on unauthorized use of songs during campaign.

2016 Rod Stewart knighted in Buckingham Palace ceremony...

On this day in 1969,  King Crimson releases In The Court Of the Crimson King. Subtitled An Observation by King Crimson, the debut release became a top 5 album in the UK, with sales fueled by the nearly half million people that had seen the band play the free Hyde Park concert the Rolling Stones had staged that July.  Original producer Tony Clarke (Moody Blues) guided the early recording sessions, but the group decided to take the reigns over from him.  At nearly 44 minutes, the lp had a significantly longer run time than most single albums to that time, it had only 5 songs, but four were subdivided into multiple parts.

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

1945 Sax player and singer Jerry Lecroix of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Rare Earth and Edgar Winter's White Trash born.

1946 John Prine born.

1955 David Lee Roth born.

1969 Kinks release Arthur Or The Decline of the British Empire.

1970 Pink Floyd releases Atom Heart Mother (10/2 in the UK)
1978 Steven Tyler and Joe Perry injured when a cherry bomb goes off on stage during Philadelphia Aerosmith concert.

1979 Fleetwood Mac honored on Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1980 John 'Bonzo' Bonham's funeral takes place.

1988 U2 releases Rattle And Hum.

1989 1989 Eric Clapton plays Little Red Rooster with the Rolling Stones during their Shea Stadium concert.

1990 Ringo Starr releases Ringo’s All Starr Band.

2013 Paul McCartney does a short set on the back of a flatbed truck in New York City.

John Lennon is one of the musicians lost too young that we most miss having had the opportunity to see what they would have done had they lived longer.  In his 40 years on earth he did so much more than almost all of his contemporaries that have lived longer have done.  The musician, poet, author, artist, activist was born on this day in 1940 in Liverpool.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 9th include...
 

1944 Who bassist John Entwistle born.

1948 Jackson Browne born.

1952 Sharon Osbourne born.

1966 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at a London gallery.

1975 Sean Lennon born.

1976 The Sex Pistols sign a recording contract with EMI. The band gets released by the label witin three months.

1976 Scorpions release Virgin Killer.

1978 David Bowie releases Stage.

1978 Jethro Tull does satellite concert cast to 400 million.

1980 Yoko Ono hires sky writing plane for Happy Birthday message over Manhattan on John Lennon’s birthday. 1987 Steve Winwood releases Chronicles.

1985 Strawberry Fields tribute park opens in Central Park on what would have been John Lennon's 45th birthday.

1990 Styx releases Edge Of The Century.

2002 Bon Jovi releases Bounce.

2003 Sting gets CBE (Commander of the British Empire) honor from Queen Elizabeth.

2006 U2 leaves Island Records to sign with Mercury Records.

2009 Bruce Springsteen does final Giants Stadium concert before demolition.

2010 Ozzy Osbourne releases cover of John Lennon song How? on 70^th anniversary of John’s birth.

2014 Rock Hall Of Fame announces Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sting, Lou Reed, Paul Butterfield and Green Day are nominees.

2016 Roger Waters blasts Donald Trump during Desert Trip Festival set in Indio, CA.

2020 Blue Oyster Cult releases The Symbol Remains...

Co-founding member and guitarist in the Ramones Johnny Ramone was born John William Cummings on this day in 1948 in Queens, New York. He and future Ramones drummer Tamas Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone) were in a band together named the tangerine Puppets in their teens. Johnny worked as a plumber with his dad and also held a job delivering dry cleaning. He met Douglas Colvin, the future Dee Dee Ramone, while dropping off a load of laundered clothing. In 1974, Cummings and Colvin bought instruments and hooked up with Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone) and Richie Stern to form the Ramones. Stern quit before he adopted a pseudonym and Erdelyi was brought in.

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

1945 Procol Harum's Ray Royer born.

1966 Ginger Baker collapses after 20 minute drum solo during Cream concert in Sussex, UK.

1971 John Lennon records Imagine.

1976 Sex Pistols sign recording contract.

1977 Billy Joel releases The Stranger.

1987 Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill reserve seats on the first commercial flight to the moon.
1987 Chuck Berry gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1988 Dark Side Of the Moon drops off Billboard's Album Chart after 741 consecutive weeks.

1988 Keith Richards plays on Saturday Night Live.

1991 John Mellencamp releases Whenever We Wanted.

USPS announces Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding and Ritchie Valens and Clyde McPhatter stamps.

2004 Joan Jet, Blondie Strokes, Sonic Youth and others do a Ramones tribute concert in New York on Johnny Ramone's birthday.

2005 R.E.M. does an 8 song set with former drummer Bill Berry at a book release event of a band crew member. 

2015 Cars, Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Steve Miller Band, Yes nominated for Rock Hall Of Fame. 2016 Paul McCartney joined by Neil Young for three songs at Desert Trip Festival in Indio, CA...

John Mellencamp was born on this day in 1951 in Seymour, Indiana.  His musical career got off to an early start with a band named Crepe Soul when he was just 14.  Married and a father within months of graduating from high school, John enrolled at Vincennes University in 1972, where he spent more time high than in school.  He played in a glam band known as Trash, cleaned-up his substance use and got a job installing telephones.  He set out to become a full time musician and hooked up with Tony DeFries, a manager who worked with David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople and Mick Ronson.  DeFries convinced Mellencamp he needed a catchier name and got him to reluctantly agree to becoming Johnny Cougar.  His debut album, Chestnut Street Incident sold fewer than 15,000 copies.  A follow-up album was recorded but was shelved and Mellencamp got dropped by the label.  Mellencamp then got picked up by Rod Stewart's manager. John moved to London in 1978 and recorded an album titled A Biography. It got  UK and Australian release, but was not put out in the US. The Song I Need a Lover became a big hit Down Under.  That success paved the way for the song to be on Mellencamp's 1979 self-titled American album.  The song did well for John and even better for Pat Benatar, who included it on her debut release.  1980's Nothin' Matters and What If It Did fared decently, but it was American Fool, the album that came out two years later that made Mellencamp a household name and turned him into a major concert draw.  
 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 7 include..

1943 Quicksilver Messenger Service singer Dino Valenti born Chester William Powers Jr.

1945 10cc & Godley and Creme singer, percussionist and keyboard player Kevin Godley born.

1949 Kansas bassist Dave Hope born.

1953 Bon Jovi drummer, percussionist Tico Torres born.

1953 Styx, Baby's, Bad English bassist Ricky Phillips born.

1967 The Beatles turn down a $1 million dollar offer from promoter Sid Bernstein to play Shea Stadium.

1970 Janis Joplin cremated in LA, ashes scattered along California coast line from airplane.

1970 Ned Kelly, the film featuring Mick Jagger in the title role, premiers in the UK.

1975 John Lennon deportation order overturned on appeal and he gets his Green Card.

1977 Steve Hackett leaves Genesis.

1978 Dire Straits releases self-titled debut album.

1978 Heart releases Dog & Butterfly.

1978 Rolling Stones play Saturday Night Live.
1980 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's death is ruled accidental.

1982 Genesis releases Three Sides Live.

1982 Jimmy Page gets a conditional discharge of a cocaine conviction.

1996 Stone Gossard's guitar stolen after Miami Pearl Jam concert.

1997 Everclear releases So Much For The Afterglow.

2001 Peter Criss does his final concert with KISS in Charleston, South Carolina.

2004 Mick Mars of Motley Crue undergoes a hip replacement.

2008 Bob Dylan releases Tell Tale Signs.

2014 Stevie Nicks releases 24 Karat: Songs From The Vault.

2014 Jackson Browne releases Standing In The Breach.

2016 Rolling Stones do Come Together during Desert Trip Festival set in Indio, California.

2023 AC/DC does fisrt concert set since 2016 when the band headlines Power Trip festival in Indio, California.

Rock lost a legend on this day in 2020 when Eddie Van Halen passed away after a battle with several serious health issues.  The guitar great's death was attributed to a stroke while he was sufferring from pneumonia, a blood disorder and lung cancer.

The future legendary guitarist was born Edward Lodewijk van Halen in the Netherlands on January 26, 1955.  When he was six, Eddie's family would move to Pasadena, California, where he and his older brother Alex would both start taking piano lessons.  Eddie became a quite accomplished  young pianist despite the fact he did not learn to read music.  Ironically, Alex took-up the guitar first, a move that prompted Eddie to get a drum kit.  They switched instruments after Eddie heard his brother banging out the drum solo in the Sufaris' instrumental Wipe Out!

The pair's first band was formed when Eddie and Alex were still in grade school. The orgin of the group that would become one of the biggest bands in Rock history would come in 1972 and played out under a couple of names before settleing on Van Halen in 1974.  The group's raucous and roaring sets on the southern California club circuit caught the attention of Warner Brothers Records and the label signed VH in 1976.

The transition from opening act to tour headliner was rapid once promoters and more established acts saw the group live.

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

1951 REO Speedwagon lead singer, guitarist and keyboard player Kevin Cronin born.

1972 Genesis releases Fox Trot.

1978 Mick Jagger apologizes to Jesse Jackson for the lyrics on Some Girls.

1980 John Lydon of the Sex Pistols arrested for brawling in a Dublin pub.

1992 Stevie Ray Vaughan In The Beginning released.

1994 Glenn Frey has abdominal surgery, delaying Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour.

1998 John Mellencamp releases self-titled album.

2003 David Lee Roth abandons $200,000 suit against Van Halen.

2005 Bomb treat interrupts Rolling Stones set at the University of Virginia A Bigger Bang tour concert.

2008 Peter Green Anthology released.

2009 Joe Perry Project releases Have Guitar, Will  Travel.

2015 Yoko Ono's attempt to set Guinness World Record for the most humans forming a peace sign falls short in Central Park...

Happy birthday to The guitarist with more nicknames than any other was born on this day in 1943. Stevie Guitar Miller, aka the Space Cowboy, Gangster of Love, and the who some people call Maurice when he speaks of the pompitous of love.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on October 5th include...

1945 Sweet lead singer Brian Connolly born.

1949 AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson born.

1951 Boomtown Rats lead singer and Live Aid founding member Bob Geldof born.

1966 Jimi Hendrix plays with Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding for the first time.

1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus has BBC premier.

1969 The Who play the Ed Sullivan Show.

1970 Papa John Creach joins Jefferson Airplane.

1973 Elton John releases Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

1975 The original Wailers lineup plasy together for the last time in Kingston, Jamaica.

1987 Lynyrd Skynyrd releases Legend.

1993 Def Leppard releases Retroactive. 

1999 Who reunion announced.

2005 Robert Plant joins Pearl Jam on Rockin' In The Free World during Hurricane Katrina benefit concert in Chicago.

2015 Appeal of house arrest sentence by AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd  drew after threatening to kill a man and his daughter gets shot down by judge.
 

Rock In Peace thoughts for Janis Joplin who we lost on this day in 1970. The one-of-a-kind, bashful but brash and fabulous but troubled singer died of an accidental heroin overdose in her room at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood.

Other Noteworthy events in Classic Rock on October 4 include...

1963 Eric Clapton joins the Yardbirds.

1968 Cream opens Farewell tour.

1971 Pink Floyd opens a four night residency at the Roman Theater in Pompeii, Italy.

1974 Thin Lizzy debuts dual guitar lineup of Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham.
1974 Rod Stewart releases Smiler.

1974 John Lennon releases Walls and Bridges in the UK.
1975 The Wailers last concert with Bob Marley takes place in Kingston, Jamaica.
1980 Fleetwood Mac award the USC Marching Band a platinum album for playing on Tusk.

1982 Squeeze calls it quits.
1996 Van Halen announces Gary Cherone from Extreme as new lead vocalist.

1997 Farm Aid staged in Tinsley Park, Illinois with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, the Dave Mathews Band, the Allman Brothers Band, and John Fogerty.

2009 Farm Aid plays Maryland Heights, Misssouri with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Jason Mraz and Wilco.
 

One of the true guitar heroes was born on this day in Dallas, Texas. Stevie Ray Vaughan's older brother Jimmy got him picking his way to eventual recognition as one of the greatest players in history when Stevie was just 7.  By age 12, SRV  was already getting invites to play in some of big D's emerging bands.  When he was 17, he left school to devote his full-time attention to playing.  For the rest of his all too short life, Stevie Ray had a guitar in his hands or close at hand during almost every waking hour.  We lost him in the first hour of August 27 in 1990 when the helicopter he boarded slammed into a fog shrouded mountainside after an amphitheater concert in East Troy, Wisconsin had wrapped-up with him jamming with his brother and fellow guitar greats Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Eric Clapton.

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

1938 Eddie Cochrane born.

1947 Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac guitarist, singer Lindsey Buckingham born.

1962 Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee born. 

1972 Moody Blues release Seventh Sojourn.
1975 Who releases Who By Numbers.

1978 Aerosmith puts up bail money for 30 arrested on marijuana charges during the group's Fort Wayne, Indiana concert.

1980 Police release Zenyatta Mondatta.

1980 Bob Seger joins Bruce Springsteen on Thunder Road at The River tour opener in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1988 The documentary Imagine: John Lennon premieres in Los Angeles.

1989 David Bowie releases Sound & Vision box set.
1994 Eric Clapton opens his Nothing But the Blues tour.

1996 Van Halen fires David Lee Roth - again.
1998 Farm Aid staged in Tinley Park, Illinois with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Phish, Wilco and others.

2000 Ben Orr of the Cars dies of pancreatic cancer.

2006 Lindsey Buckingham releases Under The Skin.

2006 Supreme Court declines to hear Vinnie Vincent's case against KISS over royalties.

2007 The Rolling Stones establish a new earnings mark when their A Bigger Bang tour hits $558 million in ticket sales. 

A guy we still have a hard time believing is gone died on this day in 2017.  Tom Petty had just concluded a triumphant tour with a command performance at the Hollywood Bowl just a few nights earlier. 

Meeting Elvis Presley on the set of the movie Follow that Dream in 1961 set Thomas Earl Petty off in pursuit of that dream and seeing the Beatles onthe Ed Sullivan Show convinced him it was attainable.  He took guitar lessons from future Eagles guitarist Don Felder before starting a band dubbed the Epics.  It morphed into Mudcrutch, a group that included Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. A solo stint Tom did brought Stan Lynch and Ron Blair into the fold and the realigned combination of players became the Heartbreakers.

Other Noteworthy events in Classic Rock on October 2 include...

1945 Don 'I drove my Chevy to the levee' McLean born.

1950 Genesis guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter Mike Rutherford born born.

1951 Sting (Gordon Sumner) born.

1960 Robbie Neville born.

1964 Kinks release self-titled album.

1965 The Who make US TV debut on Shindig.

1967 Grateful Dead members busted at 710 Haight Street home in San Francisco.

1970 Pink Floyd releases Atom Heart Mother in the UK (10/2 in the US)

1975 Bomb threat delays show and Bruce Springsteen hangs out at Milwaukee hotel.

bar and rides to venue on roof of a car.

1976 John Belushi impersonates Joe Cocker on Saturday Night live.

1978 Neil Young releases Comes A Time.

1981 Police release Ghost In The Machine.

1982 Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett join in Genesis set to benefit WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) at Buckinghamshire, England.

1985 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band close the Born in the U.S.A. tour in Los Angeles.

1989 Neil Young releases Freedom.

1994 Stan Lynch does his final set as a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

1994 John Mellencamp confirms he had a heart attack and vows to cut back on cigarettes.
1995 Journey announces reunion plans.

1996 Pearl Jam Hartford, CT concert ends in a riot.
1999 Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones does his first solo concert in Galway, Ireland.

2003 John Mellencamp gets the Woody Guthrie award.

2004 Billy Joel marries Kate Lee.

2007 John Fogerty releases Revival.

2007 Bruce Springsteen releases Magic.

2010 Farm Aid staged in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Amos Lee, Band of Horses, the BoDeans and others.

2020 Robert Plant releases Digging Deep solo anthology...

The 6th Styx album dropped on this day in 1976. Crystal Ball was the first release to feature Tommy Shaw.

Other Noteworthy October 1 Classic Rock events include...

1932 Blues great Albert Collins born.

1943 Sly & The Family Stone sax player Jerry Martini born.

1951 April Wine guitar, harmonica player and singer Brian Greenway born.

1962 Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles.

1965 The Band makes official debut as Bob Dylan's backing up group, Carnegie Hall. 
1967 Pink Floyd arrives in New York for first US tour.

1967 Thieves steal Jewelry, and furs belonging to Marianne Faithful from Mick Jagger's London apartment.
1970 Jimi Hendrix buried in Renton, Washington.

1970 Thousands riot because they can't enter a Rolling Stones concert in Milan. Italy.

1975 Booker T. & The MGs drummer Al Jackson murdered by intruders in his Memphis home.

1976 David Bowie becomes a tax exile when he moves to Berlin.

1979 Elton John does first of 8 sold out nights at Madison Square Garden.
1983 Genesis releases Genesis. 

1984 U2 releases Unforgettable Fire.

1987 Def Leppard opens US Hysteria tour in Glens Falls, NY.
1994 Bonnie Raitt appears on Saturday Night Live. 

1995 Farm Aid benefit staged in Louisville, KY.

1998 John Fogerty awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
2004 Buffalo Springfield's Bruce Palmer dies of heart attack.

2004 Melbourne, Australia unveils AC/DC Lane.
2005 ZZ Top Hurricane Katrina benefit concert at Reliant Stadium cancelled because of threat of Hurricane Wilma.

2021 Steely Dan releases Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live!

2021 Yes releases The Quest.

2021 Grateful Dead release Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/1971.

2021 Doobie Brothers release Liberte...