Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s July 19th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Starting the day in 1988, Bruce Springsteen played his first show behind the Iron Curtain when he performed a four-hour concert in East Berlin in front of 300,000 people. Broadcasted on TV, the show was viewed as the catalyst to help end communism in the East Germany.
Moving onto Birthdays now, we have Brian May of Queen!
Other birthdays today include Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rob Flynn of Machine Head, Keith Godchaux of the Grateful Dead, and Bernie Leadon of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles!
Today’s releases include Neil Young’s On the Beach in 1974, Apple from Mother Love Bone in 1990, Order in Decline by Sum 41 in 2019, the Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream in 1993 and Portrait of an American Family by Marilyn Manson in 1994!
We also got Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey in 1991!
In 2013, Pearl Jam played a sold-out show at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The show was delayed after just seven songs by a lightning storm. The group returned to the stage after midnight to a packed house. Oh, and the show was the first stop on their tour supporting their 10th album Lightning Bolt.
In 2018, New York declared this day would be known as Billy Joel Day after the singer became the first artist to appear 100 times at Madison Square Garden.
In 1976, the Mark IV version of Deep Purple announced they were breaking up, just seven months after releasing their album Come Taste The Band, their first without co-founder Richie Blackmore. Singer David Coverdale would go on to form Whitesnake, Ian Gillian would form Gillian, Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed Paice Ashton Lord with Tony Ashton, and Richie Blackmore formed Rainbow.
And finally in 1974, The Ozark Music Festival began at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. The three-day festival was supposed to sell only 50,000 tickets, 350,000 festival goers attended. Featuring performances from Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, and the Eagles among others, the event resulted in over $100,000 in damage and over 1,000 drug overdoses. One of the largest festivals ever held, the city council decided to ban future rock shows in the area.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
