Rock and metal History, November 12
1945: Neil Young, Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who as a member of Buffalo Springfield had the 1967 US No.17 single 'For What It's Worth'. Joined Crosby Stills Nash and Young who had the 1970 US No.1 and UK #5 album 'DejVu'. As a solo artist Young scored the 1972 US No.1 and UK No.10 single Heart Of Gold, and his 1972 UK No.7 album Harvest spent 66 weeks on the UK chart.
1947: Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, bass guitarist with Blue Oyster Cult, was born in Long Island, New York.
1964: David Ellefson, fofunding member and bassist of Megadeth, (1990 UK No.13 single 'No More Mr Nice Guy').
1966: The self-titled debut album The Monkees reached #1.
1966: Pink Floyd appeared at the Corn Exchange, Bedford, England. The set list for these early Floyd shows included: 'Let's Roll Another One', 'Gimme A Break', 'Interstellar Overdrive', 'Astronomy Domine' and 'Stoned Alone'. 'Stoned Alone' was also known as 'I Get Stoned', and was possibly the first song Syd Barrettwrote for Pink Floyd.
1966: At Sokol Hall in San Francisco, the Grateful Dead play a show for the Hells Angels biker gang.
1968: UK book and record chain W.H. Smiths refused to display The Jimi Hendrix Experience album 'Electric Ladyland' due to the naked girls featured on the sleeve. The album was then made available as two albums with changed artwork after the complaints.
1971: Led Zeppelin appeared at The Locarno, Sunderland, England, with tickets at 75p. The set included: 'Immigrant Song', 'Heartbreaker', 'Black Dog', 'Since I’ve Been Loving You', 'Rock And Roll', 'Stairway To Heaven', 'That’s The Way', 'Going To California', 'Tangerine', 'Dazed And Confused', 'What Is And What Should Never Be', 'Celebration Day', 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Communication Breakdown'.
1976: Queen released “Somebody to Love”, the first single off of their fifth album A Day at the Races. The song would reach number two on the U.K. Singles Chart and number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
1977: The Sex Pistols went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their debut LPNever Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols'. the punk group's only No.1 album. The album was met by a hail of controversy upon its release. The first problems involved the allegedly 'obscene' name of the album, resulting in the prosecution of the manager of the Nottingham Virgin record shop for having displayed it in a window. More outrage was sparked by the lyrics of the songs 'God Save the Queen' and 'Anarchy in the UK.'
1982: The Pretenders released the single "Back On The Chain Gang".
1983: Bob Dylan's Infidels album reached its highest position when it peaked at #9 in the UK chart. Dylan's 22nd studio album was co-produced with Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler. Dylan had also approached Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Frank Zappa as possible producers.
1984: Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey released the single "Easy Lover".
1988: U2 started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with their sixth studio album 'Rattle And Hum' which went on to sell over 14 million copies.
2002: Opeth released the album “Deliverance”. The band originally intended for Deliverance and Damnation to be released as a double album.
2008: Mitch Mitchell, drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead at age 61 in his hotel room in Portland, Oregon.
2012: The Rolling Stones release GRRR!, a hits compilation album.
2014: KISS Rocks Vegas Show #4 is tonight, at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Metal be thy name!
2020: AC/DC returned to the #1 spot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart with a song called. "Shot in the Dark". It was the first time the Australian band had a chart topping single since 2008, when "Rock N Roll Train" ruled for three weeks that November.
