Rock and Metal History, a day like today June 30
1966: The Beatles played the first of three concerts at the Nippon Budokan Hall, Japan. The concert was filmed with The Beatles wearing black suits. The following day's first performance was also filmed; with The Beatles wearing white suits. There was a strict police presence with 3,000 police observing each concert played in front of 10,000 fans.
1971: CCR released the single "Sweet Hitch Hiker" on Fantasy Records.
1973: Slade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me', the group's fifth UK No.1 and second single to enter the chart at No.1.
1974: Ramones perform their first live show at the Performance Studio in New York City.
1977: Marvel Comics launched a comic book based on the rock group KISS . The same year, KISS released their sixth studio album"Love Gun" . It is notable for being their first album to feature a lead vocal performance from Ace Frehley, making it the first Kiss album to feature lead vocal performances from all four band members. It was also the last studio album to feature Peter Criss on every song, as he was replaced by session drummer Anton Fig for all but one song on 1979's Dynasty. A cardboard "Love Gun" (assembly required) was included inside the album, along with a Kiss merchandise order form.Love Gun was certified platinum on June 30.
1978: Jethro Tull, Robert Palmer and Flo & Eddie performed on the smash television show Midnight Special.
1979: Motorhead released the single "No Class".
1998: System of a Down released their debut album "System Of A Down".The album was certified gold by the RIAA on February 2, 2000. Two years later, after the success of Toxicity, it was certified platinum.The cover artwork is from an anti-fascist, World War II-era poster designed by the artist John Heartfield for the Communist Party of Germany, which was contemporary with and directly against the Third Reich. The text on the original poster is: "A hand has 5 fingers! With these 5 grab the enemy!"This slogan inspired part of the text contained on the back of the System of a Down album: "The hand has five fingers, capable and powerful, with the ability to destroy as well as create". Later, it is written in bold letters: "Open your eyes, open your mouths, close your hands and make a fist" (used later by Serj Tankian in the song "Uneducated Democracy"). Before some of the lyrics in the booklet for the album, footnotes appear... MUST READ...
2007: R.E.M. played a five-night series of shows at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. Dubbed ‘working rehearsals’ by the band, many songs from their forthcoming album ‘Accelerate’ were debuted, with many of them still as works in progress.
2015: AC/DC Rock Or Bust is holding steady at #2, on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums Chart. Rock Or Bust has spent 16 consecutive weeks on this chart.
Born on this day
1949: Andy Scott, guitar, Sweet, (1973 UK No.1 single 'Blockbuster', plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles). Sweet scored four top-ten hits in the US: Little Willy, Ballroom Blitz, Fox On The Run, and Love Is Like Oxygen.
1957: Doug Sampson, drummer with Iron Maiden from 1977 to 1979.
1963: Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist, songwriter and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal playing style in heavy metal.
1968: Philip Anselmo, Pantera, (1994 UK No.19 single 'I'm Broken'). Anselmo is the frontman for the Louisiana-based heavy metal supergroup Down and is also the owner of Housecore Records.
1979: Andrew Burrows, drummer, Razorlight, (2005, UK No.2 single ‘Somewhere Else’, 2006 UK No.1 album ‘Razorlight’).
