Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s April 17th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Changing it up today and starting with birthdays, we have: Chuck Biscuits of many groups including D.O.A., Black Flag and Danzig, Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, Liz Phair, and Maynard James Keenan of Puscifer, A Perfect Circle and, of course, Tool.
Moving into releases, we got Desparado from the Eagles in 1973
Other releases include Thirds from the James Gang in 1971, Paul McCartney’s solo debut McCartney in 1970 and The Pixies gave us Doolittle in 1989.
We lost Felix Pappalardi in 1983 after he was shot dead by his wife Gail Collins. Pappalardi was not only the bass player for Mountain, he was also an acclaimed producer who had worked on many great albums including two Cream albums, Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire.
We also lost Danny Federici of the E Street Band in 2008.
On this day in 1991, Nirvana appeared at the OK Hotel in Seattle. This performance was significant as it was the first time the band had played their future hit and era defining song Smells Like Teen Spirit live.
In 1982, Johnny Cash appeared as the host for an episode of Saturday Night Live with musical guest Elton John. Cash would also perform and participated in skits. Cash even poked fun at himself by switching clothes with Elton for a once in a lifetime moment.
In 1973, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon became a gold record in the US.
In 1983, Joe Strummer of The Clash ran in the 1983 London Marathon. After finishing with a time of 4hrs 13mins., Strummer claimed that his training included just 10 pints of beer the night before.
And finally, in 2006, a commercial for Coca-Cola is released on YouTube and featured a new song from Jack White called Love Is The Truth. But for some reason, the ad was quickly removed with no explanation from either White or the Coca-Cola company. The song itself vanished without a trace until 2016, when White would release it as apart of the compilation Jack White Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016. Here’s the ad in all it’s 2006 graininess.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
