Rock Bands in History - On This Day

Events 1 - 100 of 126 1957-07-06 John Lennon (16) & Paul McCartney (15) meet for 1st time as Lennon's rock group Quarrymen perform at St. Peter's, Woolton's Parish Church in Liverpool, introduced by mutual friend Ivan Vaughn

Events in Music

Events 1 - 100 of 126

Music Concert

1957-07-06 John Lennon (16) & Paul McCartney (15) meet for 1st time as Lennon's rock group Quarrymen perform at St. Peter's, Woolton's Parish Church in Liverpool, introduced by mutual friend Ivan Vaughn

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

1957-12-01 Seminal rock band Buddy Holly & The Crickets make their "Ed Sullivan Show" debut, performing "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue"; singer Sam Cooke also performs after getting bumped due to time constraints on November 3rd - he sings "You Send Me" and “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” [1] [2]

  • 1964-11-24 British rock band "The Who" begins a 22-week Tuesday night residency at the influential Marquee Club in London, England
  • 1965-06-17 British rock band The Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their 1st US tour
  • 1965-07-06 Psychedelic rock band "Jefferson Airplane" forms in San Francisco, California
  • 1965-07-24 British rock group "The Animals" 1st time in British charts
  • 1965-09-04 Rock group The Who's van is vandalized with $10,000 worth of equipment stolen; group was inside the Battersea Dogs Home, buying a guard dog at the time
  • 1965-12-05 Brunswick Records releases "My Generation", the debut album of British rock group The Who, in the UK and Australia
  • 1966-01-08 British rock bands The Who and The Kinks perform on the last "Shindig" TV show on ABC

Music History

1966-03-03 Canadian-American rock band "Buffalo Springfield" forms (Stephen Stills, Neil Young, et al)

  • 1967-06-07 Two members of American psychedelic rock band "Moby Grape" arrested for contributing to delinquency of minors, charges were later dropped
  • 1967-07-16 American pop-rock group "The Monkees" perform at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, New York, with psychedelic rock Jimi Hendrix Experience as opening act;
  • 1967-07-16 British rock band "The Who" begin 1st full US tour, appearing at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California, and then going coast-to-coast opening for Herman's Hermits

TV Show Appearance

1967-09-17 American rock band "The Doors" appear for 1st and last time on "The Ed Sullivan Show"; singer Jim Morrison reneges on promise to change a lyric, prompting producers to offer no further invitations [1]

Television Debut

1967-09-17 British rock band "The Who" make US television debut, performing "My Generation" on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", and detonating Keith Moon's drum kit

  • 1967-12-20 Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick form rock group "Jethro Tull" in Blackpool, England
  • 1968-04-20 British rock band billed as "Roundabout" debuts in Kastrup, Denmark; after a brief tour of Scandinavia, they change their name to "Deep Purple"

Music History

1968-07-07 British rock group "Yardbirds" disbands; guitarist Jimmy Page recruits new members to fill concert commitments - the new group evolves into Led Zeppelin

  • 1968-07-09 BBC-TV broadcasts "Farewell", folk-rock band The Seekers final performance, draws 10 million viewers
  • 1968-09-06 American rock band "The Doors" open their first European tour with four sold-out shows over two days at London's 2.500 seat Roundhouse
  • 1968-11-26 Rock band Cream gives "final" concert at Royal Albert Hall, London, England - but re-unites briefly for a short tour in 2005
  • 1969-02-07 British rock band The Who record their song "Pinball Wizard" at Morgan Studio's, London
  • 1969-04-28 British progressive rock band King Crimson with Robert Fripp, Greg Lake & Ian McDonald debuts
  • 1969-07-02 American guitarist Leslie West and producer, bassist Felix Pappalardi form rock group Mountain
  • 1969-10-10 British progressive rock band King Crimson releases their debut album "In The Court Of The Crimson King"
  • 1970-06-07 British rock band The Who's perform their rock opera "Tommy" at the Metropolitan Opera House at NYC's Lincoln Center [1]
  • 1970-06-17 British rock band Led Zeppelin begin their last European tour

McVie Joins Fleetwood Mac

1970-08-07 British keyboard playing singer-songwriter Christine McVie (née Perfect) joins rock band Fleetwood Mac

The Yes Album

1971-02-19 Progressive rock band Yes release their break-through third studio album "The Yes Album"

  • 1971-05-23 American rock group Iron Butterfly ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida") disbands

Music Concert

1971-12-04 Montreux Casino, in Montreux, Switzerland, burns down to the ground after a fan fires a flare gun during concert by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention; incident inspires rock band Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water"

  • 1972-05-18 American pop rock band Looking Glass release their single "Brandy"
  • 1972-10-16 Rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival break up
  • 1973-01-30 Rock band Kiss plays their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens, NY

Wings Member Quits

1973-08-09 Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough quits rock band Wings, founded by Paul McCartney

  • 1973-08-28 "Smoke on the Water" single by British rock band Deep Purple goes gold
  • 1973-08-30 Drummer Danny Seiwell quits rock band Wings, which he co-founded with Paul McCartney

Pretzel Logic

1974-02-20 ABC records releases "Pretzel Logic", the third studio album by rock band Steely Dan; it features hit single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"

  • 1974-03-28 Rock group Raspberries breakup
  • 1974-06-08 Keyboardist Rick Wakeman quits rock group "Yes" (for the first time)
  • 1974-08-05 Joan Jett forms her rock group Runaways in England

The Ramones Debut

1974-08-16 American punk rock band "The Ramones" concert debut at CBGB's in New York City

  • 1974-11-18 "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" album by English progressive rock band Genesis is released, their last to feature original frontman Peter Gabriel

Music History

1976-09-17 British punk rock band the Sex Pistols play before a captive audience at Chelmsford Prison, Essex, England

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

1976-09-20 Albert Records releases rock band AC/DC's third studio album "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" in Australia and Europe

Music History

1976-09-25 Bono, David Evans, his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton respond to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band, which becomes U2

  • 1977-01-06 EMI records drop punk rock group Sex Pistols
  • 1977-02-18 American rock band KISS play their first concert in their hometown venue of Madison Square Garden in New York City
  • 1977-10-14 American rock band Kiss release their 2nd live album "Alive II"
  • 1977-10-20 Plane chartered by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd runs out of fuel and crashes in a wooded area near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Six people are killed, including band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gains, and Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick
  • 1978-06-28 UNICEF chooses rock group Kansas as Ambassadors of Goodwill
  • 1978-10-20 British ska-rock band The Police perform 1st US concert at CBGBs in NYC
  • 1979-06-14 Rock group "Little Feat" disbands
  • 1979-06-16 Single "Logical Song" by Supertramp peaks at #6
  • 1979-06-23 Supertramp's "Breakfast in America" becomes No. 1 album in the US featuring "Take the Long Way Home"
  • 1979-08-11 British rock band Led Zeppelin performs for what becomes the final time in England at Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, before over 200,000 fans
  • 1979-08-24 Rock band "The Cars" play concert at the Wollman Rink in NYC's Central Park
  • 1979-09-18 Briitish rock band "The Who" plays first of five concerts at Madison Square Garden, NYC
  • 1979-10-10 Rock band Fleetwood Mac gets a star in Hollywood
  • 1979-12-30 Rock group, Emerson, Lake & Palmer break up
  • 1980-05-20 Drummer Peter Criss quits rock band Kiss

Music History

1980-07-07 The original line-up of British rock band Led Zeppelin unknowingly performs its final show, at the Eissporthalle in West Berlin, West Germany; drummer John Bonham dies in September

Under Pressure

1981-10-26 British rock band Queen and David Bowie release their serendipitous collaborative single "Under Pressure"

  • 1982-03-31 American rock group The Doobie Brothers split up
  • 1983-12-16 Spokesperson for rock band "The Who" announces the group is disbanding

Slippery When Wet

1986-08-18 American rock band Bon Jovi release their 3rd album "Slippery When Wet" (Billboard's top selling album of 1987)

  • 1988-06-21 American rock band The Rascals begin their 1st tour in 20 years
  • 1988-07-07 Reprise Records releases "Stunt", the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies; their most successful album, it features the #1 hit single "One Week"
  • 1988-09-16 Fish leaves rock group Marillion

Smells like Teen Spirit

1991-09-10 Rock band Nirvana release their single "Smells like Teen Spirit", often dubbed the anthem of Generation X

  • 1992-08-29 Irish rock band U2 plays the 1st of two sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, NYC
  • 1993-11-18 American rock band Nirvana films a mostly acoustic set at Sony Music Studios in New York City, for the television series MTV Unplugged
  • 1993-12-16 Television series MTV Unplugged broadcasts American rock band Nirvana performing a mostly acoustic set NYC
  • 1994-05-10 DGC Records releases "Weezer" (known as The Blue Album), the debut album of rock band Weezer
  • 1995-08-14 Seattle rock band "Foo Fighters" appear on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in their network television debut, performing their single "This Is A Call"

The Grateful Dead Break Up

1995-12-07 American rock band The Grateful Dead break up after the death of Jerry Garcia

  • 1996-08-06 American punk rock band "The Ramones" perform for the last time, at the Palace in Hollywood, California

Birthdays in Music

  • 1928-07-12 Barbara Cowsill, American singer and rock band mother (The Cowsills - "Hair"; "We Can Fly"), born in Cranston, Rhode Island (d. 1985)
  • 1932-04-10 Adrian Henri, British poet and founder of poetry-rock group (Liverpool Scene), born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England (d. 2000)
  • 1935-04-05 Peter Grant, English rock band manager (Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), born in South Norwood, England (d. 1995)
  • 1940-08-24 Tony Secunda, English rock band manager (The Moody Blues), born in Epsom, Surrey, England (d. 1995)
  • 1944-07-22 Rick Davies, British rock vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter (Supertramp - "Goodbye, Stranger"), born in London, England
  • 1945-02-15 John Helliwell, British rock Saxophonist (Supertramp - "The Logical Song"), born in Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
  • 1947-09-23 Neal Smith, American musician and drummer for rock group "Alice Cooper", born in Akron, Ohio
  • 1948-11-27 Dave Winthrop, American saxophonist (Supertramp, 1970-73), born in New Jersey
  • 1949-10-31 Bob Siebenberg, American rock drummer (Supertramp - Crime Of The Century), born in Glendale, California
  • 1950-03-21 Roger Hodgson, British rock singer-songwriter (Supertramp - "Take The Long Way Home"; "Breakfast In America"), born in Portsmouth, England
  • 1951-03-24 Dougie Thompson, Scottich bassist (Supertramp - "Bloody Well Right"), born in Glasgow, Scotland
  • 1954-05-22 Aaron Rapoport, American photographer, and music album cover designer (Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling; Supertramp - Breakfast In America), born in San Mateo County, California
  • 1991-02-07 Spencer Elden, baby and model on grunge rock band Nirvana's "Nevermind" album cover (1991), born in Los Angeles, California

Weddings in Music

  • 1967-06-23 British bassist John Entwistle (22) of rock group Who weds Alison Wise
  • 2008-05-17 American singer-songwriter and actress Ashlee Simpson (23) weds American rock band Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz (28) in Encino, California; divorce in 2011
  • 2009-09-12 Platinum-selling rock band "3 Doors Down" lead singer Brad Arnold weds horseback rider Jennifer Sanderford in Escatawpa, Mississippi
  • 2011-08-27 American Oscar winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola (41) weds vocalist of French indie rock band "Phoenix" Thomas Mars (34) at her family's villa, Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda, Italy

Deaths in Music

  • 1985-01-31 Barbara Cowsill, American singer and rock band mother (The Cowsills - "Hair"; "We Can Fly"), dies of emphysema at 56
  • 1985-12-23 James Vance (20) and Raymond Belknap (18) attempt suicide (Belknap dies). Their families later sue rock group Judas Priest for subliminal messages in song "Better By You, Better Than Me".
  • 1995-02-12 Tony Secunda, English rock band manager (The Moody Blues), dies at 54
  • 1995-11-21 Peter Grant, English rock band manager (Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), dies of a heart attack at 60
  • 2000-12-20 Adrian Henri, British poet and founder of poetry-rock group (Liverpool Scene), dies at 68
  • 2010-06-28 Bill Aucoin, American rock band manager(KISS, 1973-82; Billy Idol, 1981-86), dies of prostate cancer surgey complications at 66
  • 2010-09-20 Leonard Skinner, American high school gym teacher; namesake of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies at 77

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