Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s April 20th and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Happy 420 to all you stoners out there! Here’s some Dead to celebrate
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s kick it off with releases! We have two, both from 1993: Primus’ Pork Soda and Get a Grip from Aerosmith.
We have a double Mike birthdays today, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater and the late Mikey Welsh of Weezer
We lost Bert Weedon in 2012. Creator of the Play in a Day guitar guide, Weedon help lead some of rock’s most legendary guitarists on their way to greatness. Play in a Day, released in 1957, sold over 2 million copies and was used by a whole generation of musicians including Eric Clapton, the late John Lennon, and Brian May.
We also lost Steve Marriott of the Small Faces and Humble Pie in 1991 in a house fire.
In 2002, during a dispute over the rights of Nirvana’s music, former members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic asked a Seattle Court to prove Courtney Love’s mental stability. The members told the court that she was ‘irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable.’ They also claimed that the contract that way signed by Love was invalid, due to Love being ‘stoned’ when she signed it.
In 1968, a British band named Roundabout made their live debut in Denmark and the band decided it was time for a name change. Their new name? Deep Purple.
In 2010, Green Day made their Broadway debut with the stage adaptation of American Idiot. The show closed a year later on 2011 after 422 (so close) performances. The show won two Tony Awards and was nominated for Best Musical. Even though Green Day didn’t appear in the show itself, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong did perform as the character St. Jimmy on occasion.
In 1976, George Harrison of The Beatles performs with comedy troupe Monty Python in a one off appearance to sing the troupe’s famous The Lumberjack Song. Did I mention that Harrison dressed in full Mountie garb and no one in the audience was made aware of it? Members of Python would perform the number again at George Harrison’s tribute concert a year after his death in 2001
And finally in 1992, the Concert for Life, aka the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, was held at Wembley Stadium in honor of the Queen frontman and to help raise money for AIDS research. Performers include: Guns N Roses, Metallica, Def Leppard, David Bowie, Elton John, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and, of course, the remaining members of Queen. The concert helped serve as a launch pad for the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
