Happy Birthday’s go to Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for the Doors)
Michael McDonald (singer for the Doobie Brothers)
1967 - Keith Richards: 15 police officers raided Redlands the West Sussex home of The Rolling Stone Keith Richards during a weekend party. The police who were armed with a warrant issued under the dangerous drugs act took away various substances for forensic tests. George and Pattie Harrison had been at the house, but it was said that the police waited for them to leave before they raided the house in order not to bust the holder of an MBE.
1970 - John Lennon performed ‘Instant Karma!’ on BBC TV’s Top Of The Pops, becoming the first Beatle to have appeared on the show since 1966. Lennon wrote, recorded, and mixed his new single, all in one day. It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history. Lennon later stated, “I wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner.”
1977 - Pink Floyd released their tenth studio album Animals in the US, where it reached No.3 in the charts. The album’s cover image, a pig floating between two chimneys on Battersea Power Station, was conceived by bassist Roger Waters and realised by long-time design and photographic collaborators Hipgnosis.
1977 - Blondie, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and the Ramones all appeared at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, California. The Whisky played an important role in many musical careers. During the 60s The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Love were regulars and The Doors were the house band for a while.
1977 - The Police recorded their first single, ‘Fall Out’ for £150 ($255) at Pathway Studios, London, England. Written by drummer Stewart Copeland it is the only Police recording featuring original guitarist Henry Padovani. Mick Jagger’s review of the single in Sounds magazine (as a guest reviewer) called the song “competently played rock, with nasal annihilated vocals.” It failed to chart on its original release, but when re-released in 1979 it made No.47 on the UK Singles Chart.
1990 Bruce Springsteen, Sting, and Don Henley (The Eagles) perform at the Rainforest Foundation benefit held at Hollywood’s China Club. The event raises $1 million.
1996 Smashing Pumpkins’ single “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” is a certified gold record.
1997 - U2 held a press conference in the Lingerie Department at the Greenwich Village Kmart store in Manhattan, New York City, to announce their Pop Mart world tour. The tour was set to start in Las Vegas on April 25th of this year.
2003 - Former Doors drummer John Densmore took out legal action against The Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger for breach of contract, trademark infringement and unfair competition. The band had reformed with Ex- Cult singer Ian Astbury and former Police drummer Stewart Copeland. Densmore said “It shouldn’t be called The Doors if it’s someone other than Jim Morrison singing.” ON HIS BIRTHDAY!!!!!
2005 Stairway to a Grammy Award. Led Zeppelin receive the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Jerry Lee Lewis and Janis Joplin are also honored. The awards are handed out the day before the L.A. Grammy ceremony.
2005 - Joe Strummer The Class 47 locomotive 47828 was named after Clash frontman Joe Strummer at a ceremony in Bristol. The diesel train, owned by Cotswold Rail, was named after the singer/guitarist who died, aged 50, in 2002.
2007 - The Police During a press conference at West Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go club Sting confirmed that The Police were getting back together. The band were set to kick off a world tour on May 28 in Vancouver, Canada, supported by Sting’s son Joe Sumner’s band, Fiction Plane.
2007 Heaven & Hell, which essentially started as Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio rather than Ozzy Osbourne, becomes less Sabbath-oriented when it’s announced that veteran drummer Vinny Appice has replaced Bill Ward. “We didn’t feel as if it was going quite right from Bill’s side and our side,” says guitarist Tony Iommi. “There’s no bad vibes or nothing; it’s no breakup or anything like that.”
2008 The Stand Up For A Cure concert series supporting New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center kicks off with a Bon Jovi performance at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Profits benefit the facility’s research programs and patient support. The show is dedicated to guitarist Richie Sambora’s father who passed away from lung cancer in ‘07.
2012 The Foo Fighters win big at the 54th annual Grammy Awards. “White Limo” wins the trophy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. “Walk” is awarded a Grammy for Best Rock Song and for Best Rock Performance while “Wasting Light” is honored as the Best Rock Album.
2014 - Rock Music: It was reported that Rock music overtook pop in UK album sales during 2013, winning a bigger share of the market for the first time in five years. Rod Stewart’s Time was the best-selling album to be classified as rock by the Official Charts Company, followed by Arctic Monkeys and Bastille. In total rock accounted for 33.8% of album sales, compared with 31% for pop, said industry body the BPI. However, pop records still held the lead in single sales.
2016 AC/DC Bourbon & Cola rolls out. A portion of proceeds go to the band’s Let There Be Rock Fund which benefits Australian musicians.
2017 Metallica perform “Moth Into Flame” with Lady Gaga at the 59th Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in L.A. James Hetfield’s microphone fails during the first verse, forcing him to share Gaga’s mic. Later, Megadeth picks up the Best Metal Performance trophy for the title track from their “Dystopia” album. It is the group’s first win after twelve nominations. Also, Cage The Elephant win the Best Rock Album honor with “Tell Me I’m Pretty.”
2023 Paul Stanley (KISS), Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Paul Stanley, Joan Jett, and Gary Clark Jr. appear in a Super Bowl commercial for Workday, a human resources company famous for creating “Rock stars” in the workplace. The musicians use humor to admonish the company for tossing around the term “Rock star.” Also, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl recognizes Canada for all the innovations that originated in that country including (ad sponsor) Crown Royal whisky.
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