Rock and Metal History, December 24
1945: Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Fraser Kilmister) was born in England. The legendary Lemmy is world-famously known as the bassist, vocalist, co-founder and co-songwriter for the iconic Motörhead.Since the release of 1977’s debut and self-titled studio album, Motörhead have amassed an enormous discography which includes 21 studio albums. With relentless world-wide touring and never succumbing to the commercial mainstream, Motörhead has persevered and achieved success with their unique blend of Rock N’ Roll savagery.Regardless of Motörhead’s non-mainstream sound and persona, the band won a Grammy in 2005 for Best Metal Performance and have been nominated once again for 2015. This may sound cliché, yet there has never been another Lemmy and Motörhead and there never will be either.Before Motörhead, Lemmy was a member of such bands: The Rockin’ Vickers, Sam Gopal and Hawkwind. On 28 December 2015, four days after his 70th birthday, Lemmy died at his apartment in Los Angeles at 4pm PST, from prostate cancer, congestive heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmia. Motörhead announced his death on their official Facebook page later that day. According to the band, his cancer had only been diagnosed two days prior to his death.
1946: Jan Akkerman, guitar, Focus, (1973 UK No.4 single 'Sylvia', 1973 US No. 9 single 'Hocus Pocus').
1962: Darren Wharton, British keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Worked with Thin Lizzy and fronted his own band, Dare.
1963: Neil Turbin, American thrash metal vocalist known for being the first full-time vocalist for American band Anthrax and the heavy metal band DeathRiders.
1965: The Beatles had the No.1 album in the US for the third Christmas in a row. Rubber Soul was at the top of the LP chart, following Beatles For Sale in 1964 and With The Beatles in 1963. The Fab Four would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The Beatles (The White Album) and again in 1969, with Abbey Road.
1976: The Eagles sixth album, Hotel California spent the first of eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. The band's first LP with Joe Walsh and last with bassist Randy Meisner which has now sold over 16 million copies.
1977: The Sex Pistols played their last ever UK gig, (until 1996), before splitting, at Ivanhoes in Huddersfield. It was a charity performance before an audience of mainly children.
1977: Nirvana started recording their first album 'Bleach' using a $600 loan from an old school friend.
1977: Guns N’ Roses hits #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their song Welcome to the Jungle. This song is featured on the band’s debut studio album: Appetite For Destruction, released in 1987.
1988: Poison collected their only #1 with "Every Rose Has It's Thorn". American glam metal band Poison started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn.'
1994: Pearl Jam went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Vitalogy'. Their third studio album was first released on vinyl record, followed by a release in other formats two weeks later.
1994: Bon Jovi reaches #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with their power ballad Always. This song is featured on Bon Jovi’s 1994 Greatest Hits album: Crossroad.
2011: The Black Keys started a 14-week run at number one on the Billboard Rock Song chart with “Lonely Boy.”
2016: Rick Parfitt of Status Quo dies at age 68 after years of heart-related ailments.
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