Happy Birthday to Steven Tyler!!!! 77 years young today!
Fun Fact!!!
In 1984, Meat Loaf legally changed his first name from Marvin to Michael because he was ‘haunted’ by a Levi Strauss & Co. commercial which contained the line, ‘Poor fat Marvin can’t wear Levi’s.’
1965 Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman all received electric shocks from a faulty microphone on stage during a Rolling Stones show in Denmark. Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious for several minutes.
1975 The film version of The Who’s “Tommy” opens in London.
1976 Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” album with “The Boys Are Back In Town” is released.
1977 Hall and Oates started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Rich Girl’, the duo’s first US No.1. Hall and Oates have sold an estimated 40 million records, making them the third-bestselling music duo of all time.
1980 Van Halen’s multi-platinum album, “Women And Children First,” arrives. The band’s third full-length studio effort is the first to contain compositions written solely by the band.
1980 The Police became the first Western pop group to play in Bombay, India for over ten years when they played a one off gig in the city.
1983 Duran Duran went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Is There Something I Should Know’. Their first No.1 and their eighth single release. The group were on a US promotional trip on this day, where they were greeted by 5,000 screaming fans at an in-store appearance in New York City.
1986 No need for financial planning. Guns N’ Roses signed with Geffen Records for an estimated $250,000. Guitarist Slash immediately takes his cut and spends “almost all of it on heroin.” His bandmates spend their cash almost as wisely.
1994 Alice In Chains top the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart with “No Excuses.”
1994 Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” is #1 on the Billboard 200. With “Fell On Black Days,” “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun” it’s surprising the album only spent one week at the top.
1996 Stone Temple Pilots’ “Tiny Music… Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop” is released. The band’s third studio effort debuts at #4 on the Billboard 200 and features the singles “Big Bang Baby,” “Lady Picture Show” and “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart” – all #1’s on Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
2002 Randy Castillo drummer with the Ozzy Osbourne band died of cancer aged 51. Worked with Osbourne during the 1980s and early 1990s. Also worked with Lita Ford and Motley Crue.
2004 Van Halen confirms that Sammy Hagar will return as their lead singer for an upcoming North American tour.
2006 - Readers of Total Guitar magazine voted the guitar solo by Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin's ’Stairway To Heaven' as the greatest guitar solo of all time. The 1971 track was voted ahead of tracks by Van Halen, Queen, Jimi Hendrix and the Eagles. On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via US radio sources that the song had logged up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays - back to back, that would run for 44 years solid.
2008 A promotion is launched promising a free can of Dr Pepper to nearly everybody in America if Guns N’ Roses releases their long-delayed “Chinese Democracy” album in ‘08. “We completely understand and empathize with (frontman) Axl’s (Rose) quest for perfection,” says Pepper marketing director Jaxie Alt.
2009 On ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! Ozzy Osbourne claims he’s started writing his autobiography. “I can’t remember anything,” says Ozzy. “It’s going to be the thinnest book in the world.” Too bad David Crosby named his debut solo album “If I Could Only Remember My Name.” That would have been a perfect title for Ozzy’s book.
2011 “Collapse Into Now” debuts at #1 on the Billboard Alternative Album chart. It’s R.E.M.’s fifteenth studio album.
2015 The Who perform at the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at London’s Royal Albert Hall. They play the venue after receiving an apology for being banned more than 40 years earlier (12/9/72). The Hall worried about the damage Rock acts and their fans would inflict. “We’ve had a long think and, on reflection, you’re welcome back any time,” writes the Hall’s management. It’s the fundraiser’s 15th year.
2016 Billy Joel's iconic hit, ‘Piano Man’, was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its ‘cultural, historic, or artistic significance.’ Even though the record only made it to No.25 on the Hot 100 in 1974, it had become Joel’s signature song, and was ranked at No.421 in the 2004 list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
2019 A school book Sir Paul McCartney used as a teenager sold for £46,800 – nearly 10 times its estimate. The exercise book which features a doodle of a man smoking and a teacher’s critical comments sold at an auction of Beatles memorabilia in Merseyside. McCartney had used the book at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he was taught English literature by Alan “Dusty” Durband.
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