Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s March 20th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Only one way to start this: Happy Birthday Chester. We miss you.
It’s also Nick Wheeler of The All-American Rejects and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand’s birthdays today.
We lost A.J. Pero of Twisted Sister and Adrenaline Mob in 2015
In 1977, Lou Reed was banned from appearing in England at the London Palladium for his “Punk” image.
Also in 1977, glam rock pioneers T. Rex played what would be their final gig as they closed their Dandy In The Underworld tour. Later that year in September, lead singer Marc Bolan died in a car crash.
In 1975, Patti Smith and Television being their 7-week residency at the soon to be renowned NYC punk club, CBGB. Smith would refine the songs she performed during the shows and they would later appear on her debut album, Horses.
Alice Cooper married his first (and only) wife, Sheryl Goddard in 1976. Goddard was one of the dancers who performed on Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare tour. They are still married and continue to tour together to this day!
On a sadder note in 1993, an Irish Republican Army bombing in Warrington, England killed two children. The event inspired the Cranberries to write one of their biggest hits, Zombie.
Continuing on the tragically sad train, it was on this day when Eric Clapton’s son Conor fell to his death from his mother’s friend’s 53rd story NYC apartment after a housekeeper left a window open. The tragic event inspired Clapton’s song Tears in Heaven.
After a 1987 set at Madison Square Garden, Poison frontman Bret Michaels collapses. He later woke at the hospital and revealed that he was diabetic and collapsed due to insulin shock.
In 2003, while performing in Melbourne, Australia the day the Iraq War began, Bruce Springsteen opened the show with an acoustic version of Born In The U.S.A., followed by a cover of Edwin Starr’s War.
In 2009, a garden store in New Jersey closed down, not only was it a backdrop for scenes in The Sopranos, it also was the namesake for one of the early-2000’s biggest one-hit wonders, Fountains of Wayne. Hit the song about hot moms!
And finally in 1980, a 28-year-old man held up the Asylum Records office in New York and demanded to see either Jackson Browne or the Eagles. The man, Joseph Riviera, wanted to talk to either of them to see if the bands would finance his trucking operation. He would later give himself up when he was told neither act were in the building. Kinda sounds familiar…
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
