Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s December 16th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Only one way to start it off as, on this day in 1993, Nirvana’s episode of MTV Unplugged premiered. Unlike other artists who have appeared on the show, Nirvana performed their entire fourteen-song setlist in just one take. It would also be one of Kurt Cobain’s last performances as he would be found dead just a few months later.
Moving onto releases now, in 1974, we got All the Girls in the World Beware!!! from Grand Funk Railroad and in 2008 we got both When the World Comes Down from The All-American Rejects and Folie a Deux from Fall Out Boy.
In 2004, gold and silver records for Black Sabbath were stolen from the Kent home of frontman Ozzy Osbourne’s former manager Patrick Meehan. The discs were recovered a week later after they were offered up on eBay.
It’s Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top’s birthday today!
It’s a busy day for ZZ Top, as in 1984 Billy’s opposite, Dusty Hill, was accidentally shot in the stomach after his girlfriend helped Hill take off his boots, causing his .38-caliber derringer to fall out and discharge. Hill drove himself to the hospital before going into shock and the bullet, which was designed to NOT exit whatever it was shot at, would mostly be removed by doctors with just a few fragments remaining in Dusty’s back, which stayed in there all the way to his death in 2021.
In 1974, Mick Taylor, the guitarist for The Rolling Stones, announced he would be leaving the band. He would be replaced the following year by Ronnie Wood of the Faces.
And finally in 2020, Twenty One Pilots ended their livestream for their Level Of Concern music video after nearly 178 days. The video would be refreshed after the song ended (every 3:40) with new footage submitted by fans, meaning the video could have theoretically gone on forever had enough people submitted footage. Guinness would declare the video as the longest music video ever made.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
