Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s January 12th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Starting the day with THREE Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies that took place on this day! The first being the 8th ceremony taking place in 1993. The ceremony featured Cream, Sly and the Family Stone, Van Morrison, Dick Clark, The Doors and CCR! This ceremony/dinner would be the first in history a living inductee didn’t make it to the ceremony as Van Morrison skipped.
Our second ceremony was the 10th in 1995 with inductees including: Janis Joplin, Al Green, Neil Young, The Allman Brothers Band, Frank Zappa, and Led Zeppelin!
And our 3rd and final ceremony was the 13th that took place in 1998, featuring inductees Fleetwood Mac, The Mamas & The Papas, Santana and the Eagles!
Moving into birthdays now, we have Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine!
Other birthdays include Kris Roe of The Atari’s and Rob Zombie!
In 1981, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) donates several rock albums to the Library of Congress, including Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and Alive! from KISS.
And speaking of albums, let’s go over releases now as we got the debut record of Led Zeppelin in 1969!
Other releases include Vampire Weekend’s Contra in 2010 and Who Do We Think We Are from Deep Purple in 1973!
We lost Robbie Bachman of Bachman Turner Overdrive in 2023 at the age of 69.
In 2012, Velvet Underground members Lou Reed and John Cale sue the Andy Warhol Foundation for licensing the banana logo Warhol created for the band’s debut record to third parties.
And finally in 1977, The Police held their first ever band practice at Stewart Copeland’s flat in London with Henri Padovani on guitar. Later that year in May, the band would release their debut single Fall Out. This would be the only recording featuring Padovani on guitar before being replaced by Andy Summers.
This has been Today in Rock History! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
