Rock and Metal History, a day like today April 8
- Rock Lab Radio
- Apr 8, 2020
- 3 min read
1947 - Rock guitarist Steve Howe (of Yes and Asia) is born in Holloway, London, England.
1962 - Guitarist Izzy Stradlin, a founding member of Guns N' Roses, is born Jeffrey Dean Isbell in Lafayette, Indiana.
1967 - The Doors' first single, "Break On Through (To The Other Side)," hits a wall, stalling at #126 in the US. Their next release, "Light My Fire," does much better, going to #1.
1972 - Heavy metal bassist (of Slipknot) is born in Los Angeles, California, but will be raised in Des Moines, Iowa.
1973 - During his Ziggy Stardust world tour, David Bowie played the first of three sold out nights at Shinjuku Koseinenkin, Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan.
1975 - Aerosmith released their third studio album Toys In The Attic. The album is their most commercially successful in the US, with eight million copies sold and features the hit 'Walk This Way' which peaked at No.10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977 when re-released and was one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the seventies.
1977 - CBS released the self- titled first album by The Clash in the UK. The album is widely celebrated as one of the greatest punk albums of all time. CBS in the US refused to release it until 1979 and Americans bought over 100,000 imported copies of the record making it one of the biggest- selling import records of all time.
1978 - Journey debuted with their first hit "Wheel In The Sky" (and aTop Underrated Song*) on this date.
1982 - Toto released their landmark albumToto IV on Columbia Records.
1989 - Lol Tolhurst, keyboardist and founding member of the Cure, left the band.
1994 - The Offspring's breakthrough album Smash is released. Thanks to the success of the singles "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem,"Smash" eventually becomes one of the best selling independent records of all time, selling at least 15 million copies worldwide.
- The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon had become the fourth biggest-selling album in US history and had passed the 13 million mark in sales. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
- Electrician Gary Smith who was working at Kurt Cobain's house in Seattle discovered Cobain's body lying on the floor in the greenhouse. Local radio station KXRX broke the news at 9.40am that the Nirvana singer and guitarist was dead. A shotgun was found next to Cobain's body. A suicide note was found that said, 'I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now'.
1997 -KISS released the album "Greatest Kiss."
2006 - The Rolling Stones play their first-ever concert in mainland China with a gig in Shanghai.
2016 - The Guns N' Roses reunion tour gets underway in Las Vegas. Axl Rose, who fractured his foot at a warm-up show, performs from the throne Dave Grohl used to playFoo Fightersshows when he was hobbled.
- Steve Miller, notoriously averse to awards ceremonies, goes on a backstage rant when he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2017 - Joan Baez and Pearl Jam were all entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.They were inducted alongside the Journey and Yes during a concert in New York City.
Comments