Rock and Metal History, a day like today May 21
1972: The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Family, Curved Air, Atomic Rooster, The Kinks, Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep, Country Joe McDonald, Buddy Miles, Status Quo, Brinsley Schwarz, Spencer Davis, The Strawbs and Humble Pie all appeared at the 2nd British Rock Meeting, Insel Grun, Germersheim, West Germany. The festival was due to take place in Mannheim, West Germany, but after protests from the locals, the concert actually took place in nearby Germersheim.
1973: Deep Purple released the single "Smoke On The Water"
1976: Aerosmith put out Rocks. The album went gold on the same day due to advanced orders.
1979: Saxon released their debut album "Saxon"
1980: Joe Strummer of The Clash was arrested at a much-troubled gig in Hamburg, Germany, after smashing his guitar over the head of a member of the audience; he was released after an alcohol test proved negative.
1983: David Bowie went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Let's Dance', featuring blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Bowie's first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic. The music video was made by David Mallet on location in Australia including a bar in Carinda in New South Wales, featured Bowie playing with his band while impassively watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism.
1987: Anvil released the album "Strength Of Steel"
1988: Cinderella released album "Long Cold Winter"
1994: Manchester United Football Club along with Status Quo were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Come On You Reds'.
1996: Scorpions released the album "Pure Instinct"
2002: Poison released the album "HollyWeird"
2002: R.J.Dio released the album "Killing The Dragon"
2008: Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler checked into Las Encinas Hospital rehabilitation clinic in Pasadena, California, to recover from multiple leg surgeries.
ZZ Top performed with “American Idol” winner David Cook on the season finale of the Fox reality show.
2010: U2's lead singer Bono had emergency spinal surgery after suffering an injury while preparing for tour dates. The 50-year-old singer was treated at a specialist neurosurgery clinic in Munich and was expected to stay there for a number of days.
2011: Bob Dylan came out on top as both the most inspirational individual for poets and the dream collaborative partner, in a survey carried out by The Foyle Poetry Society. The extensive survey questioned poets asking which musician and which genre of music most inspired their writing. The young people, aged between 11 and 17, from countries throughout the world also voted for artists such as Regina Spektor, David Bowie, Florence and the Machine, Leonard Cohen, Morrissey and Pete Doherty.
2013: U.D.O. released the album "Steelhammer"
2015: Black Sabbath received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their "final tour" next year. Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, and Annie Lennox was awarded the fellowship of the British Society of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) - the society's highest honour.
2016: Menza Nick former drummer with Megadeth has died.He recorded drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (1990),Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994) and Cryptic Writings (1997).
Immortal!!!!!
Born on this day
1940: Tony Sheridan, singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was best known as an early collaborator of The Beatles. Sheridan died on 16th February 2013.
1943: John Dalton, The Kinks (1964 UK No.1 & US No.7 'You Really Got Me', 1967 UK No.2 single 'Waterloo Sunset' plus 19 other UK Top 40 singles).
1955: Stan Lynch, American musician, songwriter and record producer who was the original drummer for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers,
1963: Kevin Shields, My Bloody Valentine, (1991 UK No.29 single 'To Here Knows When')
1978: Adam Wade Gontier, lead singer and guitarist of Three Days Grace.
1998: Gabbie Rae Rocks was born
