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Noteworthy Then

3/19/1971 Aqualung released

 

 

The groundbreaking 4th studio album from Jethro Tull dropped on this day in 1971.  Aqualung was the first Tull album with Jeffrey Hammond (bass) and John Evan (keyboards) and the last with Clive Bunker (drums). The album was recorded at the same time and in the same studio building Led Zeppelin was doing sessions for its 4th album and got mixed down at Abbey Road Studios.  Ian Anderson recalls the sessions as difficult because of the acoustics of the studio.  He also took issue with the notion that Aqualung was a concept album, calling it "just a bunch of songs" and leading him to present the follow-up Thick as a Brick as a spoof on concept albums.

 

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

 

1944 Early Grateful Dead keyboard player Tom Constanten born.

1946 Zombies guitarist Paul Atkinson born.

1962 Bob Dylan releases his self-titled first album.
1970 David Bowie and Angie Barnett marry.

1974 Jefferson Airplane rebrands itself Jefferson Starship.

1976 Paul Kossoff dies at 25 of  heart failure in flight during LA to New York City flight.

1976 The Doobie Brothers release Takin' it to the Streets.

1978 Billy Joel does his first UK concert in London.

1982 Guitarist Randy Rhodes dies at 25 when plane he is on clips the Ozzy Osbourne tour bus near Orlando, Florida.     

1985 Spin magazine publishes its first issue.

1996 Beatle Anthology volume II released.

2001 Rock Hall Of Fame inducts Queen, Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Richie Valens, Solomon Burke. Keith Richards inducts Johnny Johnson and James Burton and jams with Paul Simon, Bono, Robbie Robertson and Burke at the end of the ceremony in New York.

2002 Jimmy Buffett releases Far Side of the World.

2009 Eric Clapton joins the Allman Brothers Band during the annual series of shows at the Beacon Theater.

2009 Cheap Trick announces Bun E. Carlos will no longer tour with band…

3/18/1978 California Jam II Rocks Ontario Motor Speedway

 

 

Ontario Motor Speedway in California played host to 350,000 Rock fans on this day in 1978 with a lineup that included Aerosmith, Heart, Foreigner, Santana, Dave Mason, Fleetwood Mac veteran Bob Welch, Dave Mason, Mahogany Rush, Ted Nugent and Rubicon.  A double live concert album culled from the concert got released by Columbia Records.

 

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

 

1941 Wilson Pickett is born.

1948 Bobby Whitlock is born.

1950 John Hartman of the Doobie Brothers is born.

1962 James McMurtry is born.

1965 Rolling Stones busted for relieving themselves on a gas station wall in Essex, England after the owner refused to let them use the rest room.

1966 Alice In Chains Jerry Cantrell is born.

1967 Word Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi were forming Traffic breaks.

1967 EMI gets Pink Floyd signed to a recording contract.

1982 Asia releases it debut album.

1994 Darryl Jones is announced as Bill Wyman’s replacement by the Rolling Stones.

1996 Sex Pistols announce a reunion.

1997 Aerosmith releases Nine Lives.

2000 U2 gets Freedom of the City award honor in Dublin.

2002 Eddie Vedder inducts the Ramones into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

2003 Ozzy Osbourne adds Jason Newstead to his band.

2011 Bruce Springsteen does 3 songs with Dropkick Murphys at Boston House Of Blues.

2017 Chuck Berry dies of a heart attack at 90.

3/17/1967 Grateful Dead release debut album

 

 

On this day in 1967, the Grateful Dead released its self-titled debut album. Although the band would go on to become notorious for long jams, six of the nine songs on the album clocked-in at under 3 minutes. Four tracks would have been longer, but Warner Brothers insisted they be shortened. The recording process was unfamiliar and uncomfortable for the band, which had to travel to LA to record it because San Francisco studio's were lagging behind in quality studio equipment. They were also working with a producer who had engineered for the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane, but to that point had little experience as a producer.

 

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

 

1941 Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship is born.

1944 John Sebastian is born.

1951 Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham is born

1966 The Who's Keith Moon marries Kim Kerrigan.

1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience releases Purple Haze in the UK.

1968 Mick Jagger joins a Vietnam War protest in London that inspires Street Fighting Man.

1971 Peter Gabriel marries Jill Moore.

1968 U2 wins a talent contest in Dublin that nets the band $850 and an audition for CBS Records.

1979 Bad Company releases Desolation Angels.

1979 Talking Heads appear on American bandstand.

1990 Traffic, Family, Blind Faith member Ric Grech dies of kidney and liver failure at 43.

1998 Van Halen releases Van Halen III.

1998 Scott Weiland releases 12 Bar Blues.

2003 Mark Knopfler breaks six ribs and  collarbone in motorcycle accident.

2004 Ray Davies of the Kinks awarded CBE at Buckingham Palace.

2008 Heather Mills lands a $47 million dollar divorce settlement from Paul McCartney on the 8th anniversary of the day Paul had announced they were a couple..

2010 Alex Chilton of Box Tops and Big Star dies of a heart attack.

2013 Historical marker placed at 94 Baker Street, site of the Apple Boutique,

2014 L' Wren Scott, Mick Jagger's lover, commits suicide in New York Apartment. Stones postpone tour....

2017 Jack Irons drums with Pearl Jam on Shine On You Crazy Diamond during Key Arena concert in Seattle.
2023 U2 releases Songs of Surrender...

 

3/16/1954 Heart's Nancy Wilson born

 

 

Heart's younger sister Nancy Wilson was born on this day in 1954 in San Francisco. When she and sister Ann watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Nancy said it was like a '...lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck' the two of them. The pair's first band was The Viewpoints. Nancy moved to the Seattle area and Ann to Vancouver, where the two eventually reunited in a band known as Hocus Pocus before becoming Heart.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 16 include...

 

1926 Jerry Lee Lewis is born i Ferriday, Lousiana

1942 Jerry Jeff Walker is born in Oneonta, NY.

1949 Elliott Murphy is born in Rockville Centre, NY. born.

1972 John Lennon appeals his US deportation order.

1975 T-Bone Walker dies of pneumonia at 64.

1977 A&M Records cancels the contract of the Sex Pistols.

1978 REO Speedwagon releases You Can Tune A Fish But You Can't Tune A Piano.

1981 Who release Face Dances.

1984 Dire Straits release Alchemy.

1991 Wolfgang Van Halen is born.

1991 Black Crowes play Saturday Night Live.

1992 Metallica fans dangle an usher by his feet over the railing during a concert in Orlando.

1996 The Ramones announce their concert on this night in Buenos Aires will be their last concert.

2005 Billy Joel checks himself into rehab.

2010 Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, the Stooges and the Hollies inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

2015 Andy Fraser of Free dies of  a heart attack at 62.

2017 Ray Davies gets knighted by Prince Charles during ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

2017 James Cotton dies of pneumonia in Austin, Texas hospital at 81.

2020 Neil Young performs for a virtual campaign rally for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

3/15/1940 Phil Lesh born

 

A Happy birthday to Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh, born on this day in Berkeley, California. Lesh played violin and trumpet before meeting Jerry Garcia and agreeing to pick up bass to secure a spot in the Warlocks, the group that would morph into the Grateful Dead.

 

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

 

1941 Mike Love of the Beach Boys is born.

1943 Sly Stone is born Sylvester Stewart.

1947 Ry Cooder is born.

1955 Twisted Sister's Dee Snider is born.

1963 Poison's Bret Michaels is born.
1968 The Byrds got a chilly reception from country music fans when they play the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

1968 Beatles release Lady Madonna in the US.
1968 T-Rex's Marc Bolan publishes a book of poetry titled The Warlock of Love.

1976 Kiss releases Destroyer.

1979 Bonnie Bramlett cold-cocks Elvis Costello for harrassing Ray Charles.

1974 The Emerson, Lake and Palmer film Pictures at an Exhibition opens in LA.
1982 Bob Dylan inducted by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

1988 Mick Jagger opens his first solo tour in Osaka, Japan.

1988 Talking Heads release Naked.

1994 Sammy Hagar releases Unboxed box set.

1999 Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel are inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

2004 Jackson Browne, George Harrison, Bob Seger, Traffic and Prince are inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

2010 Genesis, Stooges, Hollies are inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

2015 Mike Porcaro of Toto dies of ALS at 59.

3/14/1980 Def Leppard releases On Through The Night

 

 

Def Leppard released its debut album on this day in 1980. The album led off with Rock Brigade, a track that had Strawbs member Dave Cousins do a spoken words intro. He also added his voice to the track When the Walls Came Tumblin' Down.

 

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

 

1971 The Rolling Stones stage a farewell concert in London before moving to France as tax exiles.

1981 Eric Clapton cancels US tour when he lands in hospital with an ulcer.

1984 First Hard Rock Café opens, New York City.

1982 Metallica makes live debut at Radio City in Anaheim, CA.

1984 Rainbow does its last concert in Japan.   

1992 Farm Aid V is staged in Irving, Texas with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, the Spin Doctors, Arlo Guthrie and others. 
2003 Robert Trujillo makes the jump from Ozzy Osbourne's band to Metallica.

2005 U2, Pretenders, Buddy Guy inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

2006 The cars announce reunion plans.

2010 Torrential rains cause partial collapsed of the stage just before the scheduled start of a Guns N' Roses concert in Rio.

2011 Atlanta Rhythm Section's Ronnie Hammond dies at 60 of heart failure.

2016 Sony Music buys back the remaining stake in publishing rights to Beatles songs from the Michael Jackson estate for $750 million...
 

3/13/1960 U2's Adam Clayton born

U2's Adam Clayton was born on this day in 1960 to an Royal Air Force pilot father and a mother who was an airline stewardess.  The future U2 bass guitarist became friends with Dave Evans, aka The Edge,  in his early teens, shortly before Clayton began to develop an interest in music as an alternative to participating in scholastic sports, something he had little aptitude for or interest in.  Early piano lessons were given up for guitar as soon as Adam got turned on to guitar driven rock bands beginning to break-out in the US and UK.  Clayton and Evans became acquainted with Bono (Paul Hewson) and Larry Mullen Jr. at a school all three attended.  A bulletin board notice Mullen posted in hopes of recruiting propective band members drew the interest of Clayton, Hewson, Dave Evans and his brother and a couple of others.  The band Feedback started as a quintet, but was soon down to Dave Evans, Mullen, Hewson and Clayton.  The group adopted the name The Hype and then changed it to U2 shortly after Dik Evans left the fold.

 

1950 Early Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan is born.

1958 Gold Record standards announced by the Recording Institute of America.

1965 Eric Clapton leaves the Yardbirds to join John Mayall's Blues Breakers.

1966 Pink Floyd plays the Marquee Club for the first time. The venue helps launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Who, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Cream and King Crimson.

1966 Rod Stewart goes solo, leaving the band Steampacket that also included Long John Baldry, Animals lead guitarist Vic Briggs, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll.

1972 The Eagles start recording debut album.

1977 David Bowie and Iggy Pop open a North American tour in Montreal.

1987 Bob Seger is honored on Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
2001 Eric Clapton releases Reptile.

2006 Rock Hall Of Fame inducts Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie, the Sex Pistols and Miles Davis. The Sex Pistols refuse to attend and former Blondie band members not inducted disrupt the awards appearance of their replacements.

3/12/1971 Night one of the Allman Brothers Band's Live at the Fillmore East recordings

 

 

An album many consider to be the greatest double live album ever released was recorded on this and the following night in 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City. Released in July of '71, the Allman Brothers Band Live At Fillmore East established the group as a must-see live band. 

Since the ABB was just an added act on a nights billed as "Johnny Winter and Elvin Bishop Group, with Extra Added Attraction: Allman Brothers" the band only received $1250.00 for doing the gigs but crowd response got them elevated to headline status for the third night.

 

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

1948 James Taylor is born.

1949 Little Feat keyboard great Billy Payne is born.

1956 Iron Maiden keyboard, bassist, songwriter Steve Harris is born

1967 Velvet Underground releases its debut album.

1968 Rolling Stones record their first takes of Jumpin' Jack Flash.

1969 Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman at a Register's office. Reception held at the Ritz Hotel.

1969 George Harrison  and Pattie Boyd get arrested on marijuana charges

1969 The Allman Brothers Band releases its self-titled album.

1971 British High Court issues a ruling dissolving the Beatles partnership.

1971 Elton John releases 11/17/70.

1974 Drunk John Lennon and Harry Nilsson get ejected from the Troubadour in LA for calling out insults during a set by the comedy duo the Smothers Brothers.

1977 The Sex Pistols get into a fight with a BBC DJ at the Speakeasy Club in London during which another BBC employee is bashed in the head, requiring stitches. 

1991 R.E.M. releases Out Of Time.

2003 Elvis Costello guest hosts David Letterman's Show while Letterman recovered from heart surgery.

2007 Van Halen, Patti Smith, Ronettes get inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

2010 Pink Floyd prevails in a lawsuit against EMI over the sale of digital files of individual songs.

2010 More than 125 arrests made and 8 hospitalized after a gate crashing incident at Metallica in Colombia.

2012 Doobie Brothers drummer Michael Hossack dies of cancer at his Wyoming home.

2013 Bob Dylan becomes the first Rock musician to get the Academy of Arts and Letters honor.

2013 Iron Maiden drummer (1979-'82) Clive Burr dies of complications related to MS at 56.

2016 Iron Maiden's custom 747 tour jet loses two engines in an under tow collision at Santiago, Chile airport...

3/11/1975 Welcome To My Nightmare released

 

 

Alice Cooper's 8th studio album was welcomed to record stores by his fans on this day in 1975. Welsome To My Nightmare, recorded after the breakup of the band that bore his name, revolved around the bad dreams of a boy named Steven.  Alice Cooper concerts during his long career have included more songs from this release than any of hhis other albums.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 11 include...

 

1947 Vanilla Fudge's Mark Stein born.

1970 Crosby Stills & Nash win best New Artist Grammy for their debut album as a trio on the same day that they become a quartet by introducing Neil Young as a member with the release of De Ja Vu.

1971 Jim Morrison moves to Paris.

1975 10cc releases The Original Soundtrack

1985 Eric Clapton releases Behind The Sun.

1992 Eric Clapton records MTV Unplugged session.

1995 Van Halen's Balance Tour opens in Pensacola, Florida.

1997 Paul McCartney is knighted at Buckingham Palace.

2000 Kiss starts their Farewell Tour.

2008 Rock Hall Of Fame inducts The Dave Clark Five, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen and The Ventures

2009 U2 does a free concert and broadcast from a small theater in Somerville Theater near Boston.

2018 Session drummer Hal Blaine of the Wrecking Crew passes away at 90.

2022 Bryan Adams releases So Happy It Hurts...

3/10/1972 Thick As A Brick released

 

 

Jethro Tull's 5th album got its US release on this date in 1972. Thick As A Brick was conceived as a spoof concept album by Ian Anderson in reaction to critics that believed the group's previous album, Aqualung, had been one. Anderson's writing credits for songs on Thick As A Brick were listed as Gerald Bostock, a made-up 12 year-old character that supposedly wrote a long poem included in the multiple page faux newspaper that folded out of the album's cover.

 

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

 

1947 Boston’s Tom Scholz is born.

1963 Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament is born.

1963 Producer Rick Rubin is born.

1964 Simon & Garfunkel record The Sounds of Silence. Their record company adds bass, drums and electric guitar without seeking permission before its release.

1974 David Bowie records a Philadelphia concert for the 1974 release David Live

1977 Sex Pistols stage an event outside Buckingham Palace to announce they had signed a contract with A&M Records.  The chaos that ensues at the after party at label headquarters results in the contract getting voided within a week.

1980 Billy Joel releases Glass Houses.

1981 Jimmy Page does his first post Led Zeppelin appearance at a Jeff Beck concert in London.

1981 Joe Walsh releases There Goes The Neighborhood.

1984 Ian Gillan leaves Black Sabbath to join re-formed Deep Purple.

1998 Eric Clapton releases Pilgrim.

2003 AC/DC, the Clash, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, the Police and Righteous Brothers inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame.

2005 Danny Joe Brown (vocalist) with Molly Hatchet dies of  Renal failure.

2010 Pink Floyd granted the legal right to prevent EMI from selling their songs individually instead on albums.

2023 Van Morrison releases Moving On Skiffle...

3/9/1987 U2 releases The Joshua Tree

 

 

U2 released The Joshua Tree on this day in 1987. The Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois produced album was the group's 5th studio album and broke from the gate at a pace that made it the fastest selling album in UK history. The album landed Album Of The Year and two other Grammy's and more than 30 million copies of it have sold world wide.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 9 include...

 

1942 Velvet Underground's John Cale born.

1945 Procol Harum guitarist, singer Robin Trower born.

1948 Manfred Mann's Chris Thompson born.

1949 Move guitarist Trevor Burton is born.

1970 Black Sabbath makes its live debut at The Roundhouse in London

1974 Bad Company makes live debut.

1976 Who postpone tour after Keith Moon collapses during show in Boston.

1977 Sex Pistols sing recording contract at a card table outside Buckingham Palace.

1981 Robert Plant and The Honeydrippers play an unannounced concert at Keele University in the UK.

2000 Chrissie Hynde gets arrested at a New York City protest over the use of cowhide from India in GAP store products.

2005 Molly Hatchet's original lead singer Danny Brown dies of diabetes complications at 53.

2007 Brad Delp of Boston found dead in his Atkinson, New Hampshire home after taking his own life by cabon monoxide poisoning.

2020 Pearl Jam cancels North American spring tour over Covid-19 Corona virus concerns.

3/8/1977 Foreigner releases debut album

 

 

The group comprised of 3 Brits and 3 Americans dropped it's debut album on this date in 1977. Across the Pond members Mick Jones (Spooky Tooth), Ian McDonald (King Crimson) and Dennis Elliott were united with US musicians Lou Gramm (Black Sheep), Ed Gagliardi and Al Greenwood. The perfect name for the outfit; Foreigner.

 

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

 

1947 Randy Meisner of the Eagles is born.

1949 Dave Lambert of is Strawbs born.

1958 Gary Numan is born Gary Webb.

1968 Fillmore East opens in New York with concert by Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding Company.  

1969 Steve Marriott leaves the Small Faces.

1973 Paul McCartney gets fined $170 for growing marijuana.

1973 Ron ‘Pig Pen’ McKernan of the Grateful Dead dies from a gastro intestinal hemorrhage at 27.

1974 Bad Company opens its first UK tour with a concert in Newcastle.

1987 Bob Seger does his last Detroit concert for a 9 year period.

1993 Beavis & Butthead premiers on MTV.

2003 Mark Knopfler sustains minor injuries in a motorcycle crash.

2011 Mike Starr of Alice In Chanis dies of a suspected prescription drug overdose.

2011 Phil Collins announces his live performing retirement.

2015 Beatles producer George Martin dies at 90.

2016 AC/DC suspends US tour because of Brain Johnson's hearing problems.

3/7/1975 David Bowie releases Young Americans

 

David Bowie's 9th studio album dropped on this day in 1975. Young Americans marked David's move from the Ziggy Stardust glam phase of his career into one that embraced more rhythmic and soulful songs. The title song, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia using Luther Vandross producer Tony Visconti, and Fame, the song that Bowie and John Lennon worked on together on at Electric Lady Studios in New York, propelled the album into the top 10. David Sanborn plays sax on the title track and Sly and the Family Stone's Andy Newmark is featured on drums throughout the album.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 7 include...

 

1945 Love's Arthur Lee is born.

1946 Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band is born.
1946 Procol Harum's Matthew Fisher is born.

1969 The Who release Pinball Wizard in the UK.

1969 Genesis releases From Genesis to Revelation.

1973 Bruce Springsteen is introduced during a Columbia records New Artist showcase in a New York City club. John Hammond, the man who signed him, has a heart attack.

1985 David Crosby gets jailed in Texas for parole violation for leaving rehab.

1987 The first five Beatles albums get released as CDs.

1993 Black Crowes cancel a Louisville concert after a crew member gets into an altercation with an undercover cop.   2006 David Gilmour releases On An Island.

2022 Bruce Springsteen speaks at a press conference announcing that the Freehold, NJ Firehouse will open an exhibit space that will display memorabilia items related too him in 2024. Springsteen's archives have since been entrusted to Monmouth University and will eventually be housed in a building on the New Jersey campus the Long Branch, NJ university is raising $45 million to build.

3/6/1946 David Gilmour born

 

 

One of the titans of Progressive Rock guitar was born on this day in 1946 in Cambridge, England. David Gilmour would become a member of Pink Floyd shortly before Syd Barrett exited the band. Raised on the music of Bill Haley, Elvis, the Everly Brothers and other Rock pioneers, getting introduced to Barrett and the other members of Pink Floyd redirected him into a whole new realm of creative expression on guitar. When it became apparent that Barrett's personal demons would make it impossible for him to continue in the band, Gilmour stepped up. Barrett's parting with the band was announced on Gilmour's birthday in 1968.

 

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

 

1966 The Rolling Stones record Paint It Black.

1968 Syd Barrett announces he has left Pink Floyd.

1970 Beatles release Let It Be as a single in the UK.

1973 New York Immigration officials cancel John Lennon's visa extension just five days after it was approved.

1990 Aerosmith gets honored on Hollywood Rock Walk.

2000 Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt & James Taylor are among those inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

2001 Aerosmith releases Push To Play.

2001 The National Academy of Recording Artists sues Napster over music sharing.

2004 David Crosby gets arrested on marijuana and weapons charge in New York City hotel.

2009 U2 does a free morning concert at Fordham University.

2013 Ten Years After guitarist, vocalist Alvin Lee dies unexpectedly in Spain from complications following a surgical procedure to address atrial arrythmia.

2016 Eagles co-founding member Randy Meisner's wife dies in what was deemed an accidental shooting in couple's Hollywood home.

2018 Bon Scott statue gets unveiled on Melbourne, Australia street named in his honor...

3/5/1982 John Belushi dies

 

 

Too Fast to live, too young to die, my, my. On this day in 1982, the world lost the brilliant manic comic who assumed the role of 'Joliet Jake' with fellow cast member Dan Aykroyd as his musical brother 'Elwood Blues' in Saturday Night Live skits and in the 1980 Blues Brothers movie. John Belushi died of an apparent overdose in Los Angeles.

 

The pair released the album Briefcase Full of Blues in 1978 and opened for the Grateful Dead at the last concert Bill Graham presented at Winterland in San Francisco.

 

While the Blues Brothers act was purely comedic between songs and included antics like Belushi doing cartwheels during them, the pair revered true blues players and their routines and musical performances turned many of their fans on to some great musicians they might not have discovered otherwise.

 

John's headstone is inscribed "I may be gone, but rock n roll lives on."

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 5 include...

 

1952 Alan Clark of Dire Straits born.

1965 Kinks release Kinda Kinks.

1965 The Rolling Stones and The Hollies open a UK tour at the Regal Theatre in London.

1969 Creem Magazine's first issue gets published.

1970 Red Hot Chili Peppers John Frusciante born.

1971 Led Zeppelin does Stairway to Heaven live for the first time at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, Ireland on the opening night of a UK tour.

1971 Badfinger opens its first US tour in Toledo, Ohio.

1973 Jimi Hendrix manager Michael Jeffrey is killed in Spanish airliner crash.

1985 3,000 radio stations play We Are The World simultaneously.

1994 Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane & Starship gets arrested after waving a gun at police responding to a domestic dispute at her California home.

1984 David Gilmour releases About Face.

1986 Steve Earle releases Guitar Town.

2002 The Osbourne's premiers on MTV.

3/4/1966 John Lennon compares Beatles with Jesus

On this day in 1966 John Lennon was quoted as saying in an interview published in the London Evening Standard that the Beatles were "...more popular than Jesus now." While the remark didn't spark that much controversy at the time, it stirred up a considerable amount when it was reprinted by a US magazine several months later.
The full context of the statement was, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I know I'm right and will be proven right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock & roll of Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
The backlash in the US was strong enough that John addressed it in a press conference in the summer.

 

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 4 include...

 

1944 Bobby Womack is born.

1948 Chris Squire of Yes is born.

1963 Metallica’s Jason Newstead is born.

1967 Steve Winwood announces he will leave the Spencer Davis Group.
1970 Authorities fine Janis Joplin for foul language during a 1969 concert in Tampa, Florida.

1971 Rolling Stones announce plans to move to southern France for UK tax relief.

1973 Pink Floyd opens Dark Side Of The Moon tour in Madison, Wisconsin.

1977 Rolling Stones do first of two nights at Toronto’s El Macambo Club, recording Love You Live.

1978 The IRS confiscates $170,000 worth of autos from Jerry Lee Lewis in a raid over his back taxes.

1980 Coal Miner's Daughter with Levon Helm and Sissy Spacek premieres in Nashville.

1986 Richard Manuel of the Band hangs himself in his Winter Park, hotel room about an hour after after doing a concert in the Florida city's Cheek to Cheek Lounge.

1994 Kurt Cobain hospitalized after ODing on drugs and alcohol in his hotel after Nirvana's concert in Rome.

1997 U2 releases Pop.

2015 Daryl Hall and John Oates sue a food company for naming a granola bar "Haulin' Oates"

2018 Brian Johnson joins Mick Fleetwood on Route 66 at the Fleetwood Mac drummer's club in Hawaii...
 

3/3/1967 Buffalo Springfield forms

 

 

Stephen Stills and Richie Furay crossed paths with Neil Young at a club in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1965 at a club gig Neil's band the Squires was playing.  The following year in Toronto, Neil met  Bruce Palmer , bassist in The Mynah Birds, a band fronted by Buffalo singer Ricky James Matthews,  who 26 years later  recording as Rick James would hit it big  the song Super Freak.  The Mynahs were on the verge of recording an album when Young joined, but it never happened because Matthews went AWOL from the US Navy.  When the record deal went south, so did Young and Palmer.  The pair hawked the band's gear and bought a hearse to drive to LA in search of Stills. After a week of failing to track him down, Young and Palmer decided to hit the road for San Francisco. On their way out of LA, the sight of their 1953 Pontiac Hearse in the oncoming lane in Sunset Boulevard traffic caught Furay and Still's attention and they recognized Young and Palmer, made a u-turn, pulled them over and reunited.  They recruited Standells drummer Dewey Martin and formed Buffalo Springfield, a group named after a steam roller company, on this day in 1966 and started a tour opening for the Byrds that April.

 

Had that unlikely chance encounter on Sunset Boulevard not happened, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Poco, Loggins and Messina and other off-shoots of that reunion might never have come together.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 3 include..

 

1953 REO Speedwagon guitarist Dave Amato is born.

1966 Rolling Stones start recording Aftermath.

1967 Jeff Beck Group does first concert, London.

1967 Ottawa concert crowd riots after the Animals refuse to play because they hadn't been paid.

1967 Jeff Beck Group with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart makes debut.

1968 Grateful Dead perform a Farewell San Francisco concert before moving to Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

1977 Bad Company releases Burnin' Sky.

1978 Van Halen open first US tour at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago.

1983 Mick Jagger's claims the Hell's Angels had targeted him since Altamont concert corroborated by a member who testifies the group had attempted to kill him twice. 

1986 Metallica releases Master of Puppets.

1990 Paul McCartney opens a 6 night series of concerts in the Tokyo Dome.

1994 Kurt Cobain goes into coma after taking Valium and over indulging in champagne in Italy.

1995 R.E.M.'s Bill Berry undergoes surgery for a brain aneurysm. 

1995 The Foo Fighters do thier first concert in Portland, OR.

2006 Queen opens US tour with Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers on vocals.

2007 Peter Frampton narrates Peter & The Wolf for kids at a library in Kentucky.

2009 U2 releases No Line On The Horizon and Mayor Michael Bloomberg renames part of 53rd St U2 Way in recognition of the band's week long stint on the Late Show With David Letterman.

2012 Ronnie Montrose takes his own life before prostate cancer can take it.

2020 Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain fire Steve Smith and Ross Valory from Journey, claiming they had attempted to take over rights to the band name.
2023 Guitarist David Lindley (Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and many,many more) dies at 78.

2023 Genesis BBC Broadcasts box set gets released...

3/2/1942 Lou Reed born

 

Lou Reed, a founding member of the Velvet Underground and a fiercely independent artist throughout his career, was born on this day in 1942.  Reed defied expectations and pushed boundries at every turn in a life that fused music, art, cinema and live performances.  He followed his Velvet Underground stint with a series of solo projects with material that drew on real and created characters that, like Reed, lived on the fringe and preferred the shadows to the spotlight. He deplored the double standard that some applied to his song subject matter, telling journalist Kristine McKenna, 'The things I've written about wouldn't be considered a big deal if they appeared in a book or movie.' 

Reed underwent a liver transplant in 2013, but later in the year developed complications that doctors were unable to overcome and Reed elected to suspend treatment and return to his long Island home, where he died on October 10th of that year.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on March 2 include...

 

1948 Rory Gallagher is born.

1956 Mark Evans of AC/DC is born.

1962 Jon Bon Jovi is born.

1964 Beatles start filming A Hard Day’s Night.

1964 George Harrison and Pattie Boyd meet.

1966 Martin Sexton is born.

1968 Pink Floyd announce that Syd Barrett will no longer record or tour with the band.

1968 Blue Cheer releases Summertime Blues.

1974 Doobie Brothers release Captain & Me.

1975 Linda McCartney is charged with marijuana posession after a traffic stop in LA.

1983 Sony, Phillips and Polygram introduce Compact Discs.

1999 Neil Young starts his first solo tour in 20 years.

1999 Bob Dylan and Bono perform at opening of the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

2004 Metallica starts North American tour in Phoenix.

2008 Jeff Healey dies of cancer at 41.

2009 U2 opens a full week as musical guests on David Letterman Show.

2013 Paul McCartney's teenage pencil drawing sheet of faces sells for $5,000.

2016 Bob Dylan sells a 6,000 piece archive of notes, lyrics, artwork, photos, film footage and master recordings to the University of Tulsa.
 

3/1/1973 Dark Side of the Moon released

 

 

The eighth studio album from Pink Floyd was released on this day in 1973.  Songs included on Dark Side of the Moon already had their early origins as the band embarked on tours of the UK, Japan and the US before being committed to vinyl.  Roger Waters developed the early demos in a small studio he'd installed in a garden shed adjacent to his home.  Enough of the songs on the album had been developed fully enough for the band to preview them at a concert in Brighton toward the end of January in 1972.  A February press preview performance followed in February.  As high as expectations were for success, none anticipated that what the band was working on would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and best selling albums in history.  Following its release, Dark Side of the Moon occupied a place on the Billboard album chart for 736 weeks during a span of years lasting from 1973 - 1988.

 

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

 

1944 Roger Daltrey is born.

1966 Gene Clark announces he is leaving the Byrds.

1967 Beatles start recording Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

1969 Jim Morrison gets arrested and charged with exposing himself during a Doors concert in Miami.

1972 US grants John Lennon an extension on his visa.

1974 Queen opens its first headlining tour.

1977 Bob Dylan marries Sara Lowndes.

1980 Patti Smith marries Fred 'Sonic' Smith

1981 Steve Miller releases Circle of Love.

1985 Surviving Beatles grant Lincoln Mercury commercial right to use Help! in a commercial.

1989 R.E.M. open Green tour in Louisville.

1990 Bob Dylan joins Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty on stage at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, CA.  

1994 Nirvana’s last concert takes place in Munich, Germany.

1995 Bruce Springsteen's title song for the film Streets of Philadelphia picks up Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Best Male Vocal and Best Rock Song.

1995 R.E.M.'s Bill Berry suffers a brain aneurysm while on tour.

2005 Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Brian May meet with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

2009 Fleetwood Mac open Unleashed tour in Pittsburgh.

2016 Cream drummer Ginger Baker announces he's retiring from performing due to heart problems.

2023 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon book is published...

2-29

 

Even though a February 29th only comes around every 4th year, a fair number of significant Classic Rock events took place during it in years gone by.  Here are some of the most Noteworthy classic rock events that went down on this day in leap years...

 

1944 Early Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham born.

1948 Bill Kirchen of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen born.

1952 Ramones Tommy Ramone  (Erdelyi) born in Hungary.

1968 Sgt. Pepper gets Album Of The Year and best Album Cover and Best Engineered and Recorded album Grammys.

1972 Led Zeppelin closes Australian tour with a concert in Brisbane's Festival Hall.

1988 Robert Plant releases Now and Zen.

1992 Blues legend Muddy Waters dies at 76 of a heart attack.

1992 U2 opens North American Zoo TV tour in Lakeland, Florida Civic Center.

2000 AC/DC releases Stiff Upper Lip.

2000 Police suspend the drivers license of Eric Clapton  for 6 months for doing 45mph in a 30 zone in Surrey.

2012 Monkees lead singer Davy Jones dies of a heart attack at 66.
 

2/28/1983 U2 releases War

 

On this day in 1983, U2 released War, the album that knocked Michael Jackson's Thriller out of the number 1 position on the album charts.  The group's third studio album featured several overtly political songs, including Sunday, Bloody Sunday and New Year's  Day.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on February 28 include...

 

1942 Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones is born.

1943 Donnie Iris is born.

1970 Led Zeppelin performs as The Nobs because Eva Von Zeppelin sued them to prevent their use of her name.

1970 Van Morrison releases Moondance.

1970 Matthew Fisher quits Procol Harum.

1972 George Harrison and wife Patti are injured in car wreck in London.

1977 Keith Richards gets busted for heroin and cocaine possession in Toronto.

1984 The Police win two of the four Grammy awards their Synchronicity album was nominated for.

1985 Uriah Heep's David Byron dies of liver disease at 38.

1989 Bob Dylan starts recording sessions for Oh Mercy.

1991 Legendary recording studio The Record Plant closes in Hollywood.

1994 Eric Clapton does his 100th concert at Royal Albert Hall.

1996 Tom Petty gets Male Rock Vocal Grammy for You Don't Know How It feels.

1996 Blues Traveler gets Grammy for Rock Performance Duo or Group for Run Around.

1996 Pearl Jam gest Best Hard Rock Performance for Spin The Black Circle.

2000 AC/DC releases Stiff Upper Lip.

2007 Doors star unveiled on Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

2007 Billy Thorpe (Children of the Sun) dies of a heart attack at 60.

2010 Neil Young closes Winter Olympics ceremony in Vancouver with Long May You Run.

2016 Dave Grohl performs Blackbird during Oscars memorial segment.
2016 Brain Johnson does his final concert with AC/DC before retiring due to hearing issues.

2-27-1954 Journey's Neal Schon born

 

 

Happy birthday to Guitar wizard Neal Schon, born on this day in 1954 to musical parents at Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City.  His father 's favorite instrument was the tenor saxophone, but he knew his way around every reed instrument, and was also a gifted composer and arranger.  Neal's mother was a big band singer. Their son started playing guitar at the age of ten and, at just 17, wowed Carlos Santana so much that he landed a spot in Santana. After two albums with Carlos, Neal and Gregg Rolie co-founded Journey in 1973.  He is the only original member still in that group, but has done stints in Bad English, the group that included Journey bandmates Jonathan Cain and Deen Castronova, and done projects with Sammy Hagar and Jan Hammer.

 

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

1951 Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley is born.

1960 Johnny Van Zant is born.

1967 Pink Floyd records Arnold Layne.

1970 Jefferson Airplane fined $1,000 for profanity during an Oklahoma City concert.

1976 A Respiratory infection lands Mick Jagger in the hospital.

1977 Robert Plant's case of tonsillitis forces Led Zeppelin to cancel opening night of tour.

1977 Authorities arrest Keith Richards on cocaine and heroin possession charges at Toronto's Harbor Castle Hotel.

1980 Jake Clemons of The E Street Band is born.

1992 David Bowie attends actress Elizabeth Taylor’s 60th birthday party at Disneyland. 

1996 Jackson Browne releases Looking East. 

1996 Eddie Vedder walks out on David Letterman when the host starts singing the Pearl Jam song Black during his interview. 

1997 35 injured when a sound tower collapses during a Deep Purple concert in Chile.

1998 U2 does at tribute to Michael Hutchence of INXS during Sydney, Australia concert. 

2001 Carlos Santana statue gets unveiled in the guitarist’s hometown of Autlan, Mexico.

2003 Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gary Rossington undergoes emergency heart surgery.

2009 U2 does a four song set on roof of the BBC broadcast building in London.

2/26/1995 Page & Plant No Quarter tour opens in Pensacola

On this night in 1995, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant opened the Page & Plant No Quarter tour at the Pensacola, Florida Civic Center.  Here's some pre concert footage of the band preparing for the opening night.

 

 

 

1932 Johnny Cash is born.

1943 Poco's Paul Cotton born

1945 Mitch Ryder born William Levise Jr.

1945 Bob "The Bear" Hite of Canned Heat is born. 

1950 Journey, Babys, Bad English's Jonathan Caine born.

1970 Hey Jude gets released on album for the first time. Original was released as a single only with Revolution on the other side in August, 1968.

1980 Island Records offers U2 a recording contract.

1987 The first four Beatles albums get released on CD.

1995 Jimmy Page and Robert Plant open their No Quarter tour in Pensacola, Florida.

1996 Pearl Jam wins Best Hard Rock Grammy, Eddie Vedder says ‘I don’t think this means anything’ during acceptance.

1997 Eric Clapton's Change The World wins Record of the Year and Pop Male Vocal Grammys.

1998 Tommy Lee charged with spousal abuse of Pamela Anderson.

2008 Buddy Miles dies of congestive heart disease at 60.

2015 Boyhood home of Paul McCartney in Liverpool sells for $231,000 in auction at the Cavern Club.

2021 Alice Cooper releases Detroit Stories.
2021 Steve Lukather releases I Found the Sun Again.

2022 Eddie Vedder is joined by Stewart Copeland on Mesage In A Bottle and Benmont Tench on The Waiting during his concert at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles.

2/25/1943 George Harrison born

 

 

George Harrison was born on this day in 1943 in the Wavertree section of Liverpool to a father that served as a bus conductor and had been a ship's steward on the company that had operated the Titanic and a musical mother that would offer her youngest child a considerable amount of support and encouragement for his interest in music.  The sound of Elvis Presley singing Heartbreak Hotel wafting out of a window as the 13 year old Harrison rode his bicycle instantly focused the future Beatles member's musical ambition and fate. In short order he got his first guitar, started a skiffle group dubbed the Rebels and met Paul McCartney.  At 15, George auditioned to join the Quarymen, the skiffle group John Lennon was in and McCartney would join.  Lennon thought George was too young to be in the band, but Paul persuaded him to let Harrison try-out again and he impressed John enough to let him fill-in on some dates and soon he was welcomed as a regular member.

 

Other noteworthy Classic Rock events on February 25 include...

 

1950 Emitt Rhodes born.

1964 The Beatles record Can't Buy Me Love.

1970 Rod Stewart releases An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down.

1972 Led Zeppelin does its first concert in New Zealand.

1973 Alice Cooper releases Billion Dollar Babies.

1977 Peter Gabriel releases his self-titled solo debut.

1980 Bob Seger releases Against The Wind.

1981 Bob Seger wins Best Rock Performance Grammy for Against The Wind.

1981 Pat Benatar wins Best Female Performance Grammy for Crimes Of Passion.

1985 U2 does the opening date of its first arena tour in Dallas, Texas.

1985 Phil Collins releases No Jacket Required.

1993 Toy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band dies.

1998 Bo Diddley and Roy Orbison honored with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.

2002 Billy Joel gets MusiCares Person of the Year recognition.

2003 Doobie Brothers release Divided Highway.

2006 John Lydon announces the Sex Pistols would skip their Rock Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.

2010 Judge rules that a suit filed by Ozzy Osbourne against Tony Iommi over use of the name Black Sabbath can go forward.

2020 Mick Fleetwood stages a Peter Green Tribute concert at the London Paladium.

2022 Scorpions release Rock Believer.

2022 Guns N' Roses releases Hard Skool (EP).

2022 Beth Hart releases A Tribute To Led Zeppelin.

2/24/1975 Physical Graffiti released

 

 

Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, a double album that included eight new songs and several that hadn't made it onto the group's three previous albums, was released on this day in 1975.  The band's sixth studio album was also the first Zeppelin released on its own label, Swan Song Records.

 

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

 

1944 Nicky Hopkins, keyboard player for Jeff Beck, the Rolling Stones, the Who, John Lennon and more is born.

1947 Steve Miller Band bass player Lonnie Turner is born.

1952 George Thorogood is born.

1965 Beatles start filming Help!

1969 Jimi Hendrix does his last concert with the Jimi Hendrix Experience at Royal Albert Hall, London.

1973 The Byrds do their final concert together in Passaic, NJ.

1982 John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy wins Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
1982 The Police earn Best Group honors at the first Brit Music Awards in London.

1988 Alice Cooper announces he's a candidate for Governor of Arizona.

1992 Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love marry in Hawaii.

1993 Eric Clapton collects 6 Grammy awards.

1998 Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman dedicate Mr. Tambourine Man to Roy Orbison.

1998 Elton John is knighted at Buckingham Palace.
1998 Tommy Lee gets arrested for assaulting Pamela Lee. She files for divorce.

2002 Bon Jovi performs at closing ceremony of Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
2009 Neil Young releases archive 1963-1972 box set.

2010 Personal Assistant to Ramones manager is found guilty on second degree murder of her boss in a finding that included charges she had stolen more than $30,000 from her.

2014 Heart releases Fanatic.

2021 Bruce Springsteen enters a guilty plea in a Covid-19 pandenmic virtual court session to consuming alcohol on property it was prohibited on.  Charge of driving his motorcycle while intoxicated is dropped. 

2024 A 1963 Ford Falcon convertible once owned by Jimmy Buffett sells for $258,500  in a Greensboro, North  Carolina classic autos auction. Included in the sale  were a surfboard and guitar Buffett had owned and his original registration for the car.