Rock and metal History, January 1
1952: Andy Johns, producer and engineer who worked on classic albums by Led Zeppelin, (Led Zeppelin II and all albums through to Physical Graffiti), the Rolling Stones, (Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, Jimi Hendrix (Axis: Bold as Love), Van Halen and many others. Johns, the younger brother of noted producer Glyn Johns died on April 7th 2013.
1958: David Wayne former vocalist with MetalChurch was born. David appeared on the Metal Church albums Metal Church, The Dark and Masterpeace.
1953: Hank Williams suffered a heart attack brought on by a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol and passed away. He was 29-years-old.
1956: Carl Perkins releases "Blue Suede Shoes."
1959: Johnny Cash peformed his first prison concert at San Quentin State Prison. 1962: The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records in London. The company opted for Brian Poole & the Tremeloes because the group was based in the south of England.
1964: The first edition of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops was transmitted from an old church hall in Manchester, England. Acts miming to their latest releases included The Rolling Stones, (I Wanna Be Your Man), The Dave Clark Five, (Glad All Over), The Hollies, (Stay), and The Swinging Blue Jeans, (Hippy Hippy Shake). The first song played was Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You'. Also featured on disc and film, The Beatles (I Want to Hold Your Hand), Freddie & the Dreamers, Cliff Richard and the Shadows and Gene Pitney.
1967: The Doors made their first live television appearance lip-synching their first single 'Break on Through' on Shebang, KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles. The single peaked No. 126 on the US chart mainly due to lack of airplay after censors objected to the drug use implied by the line "she gets high", which is repeated in the middle section of the song.
1976: Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant walks for the first time following his horrible car accident in Greece the previous year.
1977: Genesis played the first of three nights at the new-look Rainbow Theatre, London, tickets cost £2.50 ($4.25). The theatre had been completely renovated at a cost of £80,000 ($136,000).
1977: The Clash played the opening night at punk's first real venue, The Roxy Club in London.
1979: Bruce Springsteen's cheek was ripped open by a fire-cracker that was thrown onstage from the audience.
1980: RUSH released their seventh studio album, Permanent Waves. This album went on to become RUSH’s first top five album in the United States, peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart the very next month. Two songs featured on this album, The Spirit Of Radio and Freewill
1980: Richie Faulkner (Richard Ian Faulkner guitarist with Judas Priest.Faulkner was born in London. In the early stages of his career, he played in bands such as Dirty Deeds, Voodoo Six, Ace Mafia and Lauren Harris' band. On 20 April 2011, he was appointed as the successor of K.K. Downing in heavy metal band Judas Priest.His first performance with the band occurred on 25 May 2011 on American Idol, where the band played "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law" with James Durbin.He has also arranged music for actor Christopher Lee's heavy metal album Charlemagne: The Omens of Death, which was released on 27 May 2013, Lee's 91st birthday.
1987: Anthrax released their second EP "I'm The Man". The album was released in 1987 by Megaforce Worldwide/Island Records (although the song was supposedly written three years before [4] ). The band, Eddie Kramer and Paul Hammingson produced the album, which includes the single "I'm the Man". I'm the Man was certified platinum by the RIAA and its title song is considered among the first rap metal songs.
1987: Hellion released their debut album “Screams In The Night”
1988: SkidRow played their first gig in a now-defunct Toronto club called Rock and Roll Heaven.
1989: Nirvana signed a one-year recording contract with Sub Pop records. The Seattle based label began not as a record label but as a fanzine (called Subterranean Pop), in the early 80's, also signed Soundgarden and Mudhoney.
1990: New American radio station WKRL in Florida played the Led Zeppelin track 'Stairway To Heaven' for 24 hours, as a prelude to an all Zeppelin format.
1990: The Kinks and The Who are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
2001: Warrior released the album “The Code of Life”
2007: Queen beat out The Beatles in a BBC Radio 2 contest over in the U.K. to be dubbed the greatest British band of all time.
