What Happened On This Day?

Today in Rock History!!!!

1962 - While at Ealing Jazz Club, in Ealing, West London, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met Brian Jones for the first time. Jones was calling himself Elmo Lewis and was playing guitar with singer Paul Jones, who was performing under his real name of P. P. Pond.

1978 - The Police released ‘Roxanne’ as the first single from their debut album Outlandos d’Amour. The song was written from the point of view of a man who falls in love with a prostitute. The title came from the name of the character in the play Cyrano de Bergerac, which Sting saw on an old poster which was hanging in a hotel foyer in Paris, France where the group had been staying. The song failed to chart but when re-released in 1979, peaked at No.12 on the UK Singles Chart.

1979 - The Doobie Brothers “Minute By Minute” is the #1 album in the U.S. It sells three million copies with “What A Fool Believes” becoming the band’s biggest hit.

1981 - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their first full-scale tour in Hamburg, Germany. This was Springsteen’s first tour outside North America, which would take in 10 countries.

1987 - Whitesnake release their self-titled album. The set sells over 8 million copies in the U.S. Despite the sales success, the effort is kept out of the #1 slot on the Billboard 200 by a trio of albums: U2’s “The Joshua Tree”, Whitney Houston’s “Whitney,” and Michael Jackson’s “Bad.”

1988 - During a European tour appearing at Wembley Stadium Alice Cooper accidentally hung himself in a rehearsal when a safety rope snapped; he dangled for several seconds before a roadie saved him. Cooper was attached to a harness that was attached to the rafters by a thick piano wire that kept the noose above his neck.

1990 - Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee was injured when performing a stunt during a concert, falling 20 feet from a lighting rig.

2001 - Paul McCartney bought the four-bedroom Beverly Hills home of Courtney Love for $3.995m. The gated 1930s house had its own swimming pool and 1.5 acres of land.

2008 - Bob Dylan receives an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture.”

2015 - Elton John and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) release a joint statement in support of transgender prisoners in the state of Georgia, where the issue has come to the forefront. “Transgender women in male prisons have an equal right to protection from violence and abuse in prison, yet they continue to face horrific injustices.”

2016 - Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in North Carolina, joining business groups in condemning a state law that rolled back protection for gay and transgender people. In a statement Springsteen said, “Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry which is happening as I write is one of them.”

2017- Pearl Jam, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and Yes are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn also has a tribute to the late, great Chuck Berry who’d passed away weeks earlier.