Today in Rock History – March 13

Kicking it off with birthdays, it’s Adam Clayton of U2 and David Draiman of Disturbed’s birthday!

Today is also the late Hillel Slovak of the Red Hot Chili Peppers birthday! One of the founders of the Chili Peppers, Slovak helped the band find their funk sound and appeared on their early records Freaky Styley and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan. He would unfortunately pass of a drug overdose in 1988 before the band saw the major success it would have in the ’90s. He was inducted as a member of the Chili Peppers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Here’s just a taste of what Hillel offered!

Moving on to releases now, we have Generator from Bad Religion in 1992, Don’t Say No by Billy Squier in 1981, A Beard of Stars from T. Rex in 1970, Heartbeat City from The Cars in 1984 and both King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime from Faith No More and The Bends by Radiohead in 1995

In 1977, Iggy Pop began the North American leg of his The Idiot World Tour in Canada. David Bowie played with the band on keyboards and provided backing vocals. Iggy’s opener? Blondie.

In 2006, the 21st Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place in Cleveland. Inductees included Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blondie and the Sex Pistols. The Pistols refused to attend the ceremony, and in a handwritten letter posted on their website, called the institution ‘urine in wine’, and added ‘We’re not your monkeys, we’re not coming. You’re not paying attention’.

And finally, at a Dropkick Murphys’ show in 2013, the crowd came onstage for the encore. During said encore, a skinhead ‘fan’ performed a Nazi salute. Across the stage, Bassist Ken Casey sees this, runs across stage, takes the ‘fan’ to the floor and just beats the ever-loving crap out of guy. After returning to his bass, Casey calmly says: “Nazis are not welcome at a Dropkick Murphys show.” Atta boy Ken.