Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s September 5th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Only one way to start the day as its Freddie Mercury’s birthday!
Other birthdays include Arnel Pineda of Journey and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave
Moving onto releases now as in 1989, we got Soundgarden’s Louder Than Love, the first grunge album ever released on a major label.
We also got Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music from the Smashing Pumpkins in 2000 and The Tragically Hip’s debut record Up to Here in 1989.
In 1987, staff at a Vancouver venue claimed to have been assaulted by Ian Astbury of The Cult after their show ended in a riot. Astbury was arrested and spent the night in jail.
In 2020, Metallica became the first group to have a #1 song on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock charts in four different decades when the live version of All Within My Hands hit the top spot.
At a 2008 auction, the first Fender Stratocaster set ablaze by Jimi Hendrix was sold for $575,000. It was one of two guitars that were definitively burned by Hendrix, the other being his guitar at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
We started with Freddie Mercury so let’s end the day with Freddie. In 2016, to celebrate what would’ve been the Queen frontman’s 70th birthday, an asteroid was named after Mercury. The asteroid, named Asteroid 17473, was discovered in 1991 – the year Freddie died – was renamed Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury. The renaming was announced by Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May at a fan gathering in Switzerland.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
