Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s May 9th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Starting off strong with releases, we got The Last of the Independents by The Pretenders in 1994 and Stadium Arcadium by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2006!
Gorillaz also released one of their biggest singles in 2005: Feel Good Inc.
For birthdays, we have Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan of Oasis and Andrew W.K.
Moving onto some music business history, in 2013 the RIAA begins counting streaming towards their Gold and Platinum awards. 150 song streams counted to one song sale, while 1,500 album streams equaled to one album sale.
In 1996, Geddy Lee of Rush is made an Officer of the Order of Canada. I could’ve put in an “Oh Canada” bit, but I think you South Park fans out there will enjoy this much more.
In 1992, Bruce Springsteen appeared on Saturday Night Live for the first time. This would also be the first time that The Boss appeared on North American network TV. Sorry but this is best video of the performance I could find.
Eight years later in 1998, Jimmy Page appeared on SNL with rapper, and kind of sketchy dude in light of recent news, Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs. They performed Come With Me from the Godzilla soundtrack, as the song sampled the guitar riff from Zeppelin’s Kashmir. There’s also no video of the performance online, plus the song kinda sucks, so here’s Kashmir instead
And finally in 1987, the Grateful Dead record their very first music video for their song Touch of Grey after a show in Monterey, California. They would bring the audience back in to watch two performances of the song: one with the band and one with their skeleton versions aka “The Dead Ringers.” The video was a success going into rotation on MTV and becomes the band’s first hit single.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
