Rock and Metal history, December 7
1958: George Harrison joined the Quarrymen, named after John Lennon's school. The group also included Paul McCartney, Len Garry and John Lowe.
1968: Eric Burdon announces that The Animals would split up after a December 22nd concert at Newcastle City Hall. He moved to California to embark on a largely unsuccessful acting career, while bass guitarist Chas Chandler would go on to manage Jimi Hendrix.
1968: The Grateful Dead play "Rosemary" at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite the song being one of the most popular among Deadheads, this is the only time the band plays it live.
1971: Paul McCartney's new band, Wings, release their first album, "Wild Life", in the UK. The LP would not be issued in the US until 1980.
1976: The Eagles released the single "New Kid In Town".
1979:The Police had their second UK No.1 single with 'Walking on the Moon', taken from their second album 'Reggatta De Blanc'. The video for the song was filmed at Kennedy Space Center interspersed with NASA footage.
1984: Agent Provocateur, the fifth studio album from Foreigner, was released. This album went on to reach #4 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling three million copies (plus) in the United States.
1987: Uriah Heep become the first hard rock act to play behind the Iron Curtain in Moscow, Russia. They do 10 shows at the Olympic Stadium.
1987: Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Judy Collins (among others) appear onstage at Carnegie Hall to pay tribute to Harry Chapin, who would have been celebrating his 45th birthday.
1991: U2’s Achtung Baby debuted at number one on the charts.
1998: Nightwish released the album “Oceanborn”. Oceanborn is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in Finland by Spinefarm Records. The album peaked at number 5 on the Finnish Albums Chart.In 2017, Loudwire ranked it as the 10th best power metal album of all time.
1999: The Eagles were honored by the Recording Industry Association of America with the Best-Selling Album of the Century--Eagles' Greatest Hits 1971-1975.
2011: The Black Keys, who won three Grammy Awards in 2011, appear on The Colbert Report. They play "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling."
2011: 30 Seconds to Mars breaks the record for most shows performed during a single album cycle when they play their 300th concert in support of their album This Is War at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
2015: Less than a month after their concert was invaded by terrorists and many of their fans murdered, Eagles of Death Metal make an emotional return to the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, where they lay flowers in memory of the 90 dead. They also join U2 on stage at the Accors Hotel Arena to perform Patti Smith's "People Have the Power." "Don't Let It Go Away" is performed by the Missing People Choir in a carol service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square in the evening.
2016: Greg Lake, who fronted both King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died aged 69 after a battle with cancer. One of the founding fathers of progressive rock, the band combined heavy rock riffs with a classical influence. They scored hit albums with Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery and Lake had his solo hit 'I Believe in Father Christmas'. Jimi Hendrix considered joining ELP in their earliest incarnation, and if this had happened, the band would've been known as HELP.
2018: Metal Church released the album “Damned If You Do”. It is their first release with former W.A.S.P. drummer Stet Howland, who replaced longtime member Jeff Plate in 2017.
2018: Dark Moor released the album “Origins”. The band is from Madrid, Spain and formed in 1993.
