Rock and metal History, December 21
1940: Frank Zappa multi' instrumentalist, producer and composer. Recorded with The Mothers Of Invention and solo, 1969 album 'Hot Rats', 1974 album 'Apostrophe', featuring 'Don't Eat The Yellow Snow'. First band was The Blackouts, recorded one of the first concept albums 'Freak Out'. Zappa died of prostate cancer on 4th December 1993.
1943: Guitarist Albert Lee is born in Lingen, Herefordshire, England. Worked with Jon Lord and Eric Clapton, among others.
1964: Charlie Watts, drummer of the Rolling Stones, published Ode to a High Flying Bird, a picture book tribute to Charlie Parker.
1966: The Who played at The Upper Cut in Newham, England near London.
1967: Pink Floyd appeared at the Speakeasy Club, London, England. Situated at 48 Margaret Street in the centre of London, the Speakeasy was a late-night haunt for the music industry from 1966 right up to to the late 1970s.
1968: Janis Joplin appeared as a solo performer at the Stax/Volt Yuletide Thing at Mid South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968: A new talent first appeared on the chart on this day, although it would be seven long years before he made it big. Bob Seger debuted with his first career single "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".
1974: Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin joined Bad Company on stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
1974: Today was the day that the classic "Cat's In The Cradle", which is without question one of The Most Important Songs of the Rock Era* by Harry Chapin, reached #1.
1978: Shaun Morgan was born, in South Africa.He is famously known as the co-founder, singer, songwriter and guitarist for the Alternative Rock/Metal band, Seether.
1978: The Cure release their debut single, "Killing An Arab," an existential song about a man who contemplates the meaning of life after murdering an Arab on a beach. Based on the controversial title, the band faces accusations of provoking anti-Arab.
1979: Blackfoot hits #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their hit Train, Train. This song is featured on the second studio album from Blackfoot, released in 1979: Strikes
1980: ACDC released the GREAT single “Back In Black”. It was released five months after lead singer Bon Scott died. The song is a tribute to Scott, and the lyrics, "Forget the hearse 'cause I never die" imply that he will live on forever through his music. With Brian Johnson on lead vocals, the Back In Black album proved that AC/DC could indeed carry on without Scott.
1980: Black Sabbath released the single “Die Young”. Die Young is the twenty-third single from Black Sabbath. It is the second single from the album Heaven and Hell.
1983: Van Halen released the single "Jump".It was the lead single from their album 1984. It is Van Halen's most successful single to date reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.David Lee Roth dedicated the song to martial artist Benny Urquidez, of whom he was a student.The synth line was written around 1981 by Eddie Van Halen but it was refused by the other members of the band.
1985: Bruce Springsteen's album Born in the U.S.A. passed Thriller by Michael Jackson for the second-most weeks in the Top 10 of the album chart with 79 weeks.
1985: Heart reached the top of the Billboard 200 Albums Chart for the first and only time, with their self-titled studio album. Heart.
1990: Iron Maiden performed at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany. Iron Maiden were touring in support of their eighth studio album: No Prayer For The Dying.
1991: "Bohemian Rhapsody"/"These Are The Days Of Our Lives", a single released following the death of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, took over at #1 in the U.K.
1996: "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", the cover version of Bob Dylan's song written by Ted Christopher of Dunblane, Scotland, rose to #1 in the U.K. Christopher wrote a new verse in memory of the children and teacher killed in the Dunblane massacre and the song features brothers and sisters of the victims singing the chorus with Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler on guitar.
2009: Greatest Hits (The Who) was released. The album was also re-released as Greatest Hits & More several weeks after the initial release, which featured a second disc of live songs culled from Greatest Hits Live.
2012: Lee Dorman (bassist for Iron Butterfly) dies in Laguna Niguel, California, at age 70.After replacing Jerry Penrod following Iron Butterfly’s debut album, Dorman had four stints with the group; 1967 to 1971, 1977 to 1978, 1978 to 1985, and from 1987 until his death in 2012. Shortly after his first departure from Iron Butterfly in 1971, Dorman co-founded the band Captain Beyond with ex-Deep Purple lead vocalist Rod Evans.
