Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s March 13th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Kicking it off with birthdays, it’s David Draiman of Disturbed’s birthday!
Today is also the late Hillel Slovak of the Red Hot Chili Peppers birthday! One of the founders of the Chili Peppers, Slovak helped the band find their funk sound and appeared on their early records Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. He would unfortunately pass of a drug overdose in 1988 before the band saw the major success it would have in the ’90s. He was inducted as a member of the Chili Peppers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Here’s just a taste of what Hillel offered!
Moving onto releases now, we have Generator from Bad Religion in 1992, Don’t Say No by Billy Squier in 1981, Heartbeat City from The Cars in 1984 and both King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime from Faith No More and The Bends by Radiohead in 1995
In 1977, Iggy Pop began the North American leg of his The Idiot World Tour in Canada. David Bowie played with the band on keyboards and provided backing vocals. Iggy’s opener? Blondie.
In 1965, Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds after they began moving away from their blues sound and were becoming too commercial in his eyes. He would be replaced by Jeff Beck.
In 2006, the 21st Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place in Cleveland. Inductees included Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie and the Sex Pistols. The Pistols refused to attend the ceremony, and in a handwritten letter posted on their website, called the institution ‘urine in wine’, and added ‘We’re not your monkeys, we’re not coming. You’re not paying attention’.
And finally, at a Dropkick Murphys’ show in 2013, the crowd came onstage for the encore. During said encore, a skinhead ‘fan’ performs a Nazi salute. Across the stage, Bassist Ken Casey sees this, runs across stage, takes the ‘fan’ to the floor and just beats the ever loving crap out of guy. After returning to his bass, Casey calmly says: “Nazis are not welcome at a Dropkick Murphys show.” Atta boy Ken.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
