Are you ready to learn some stuff? It’s April 21st and here’s what happened Today in Rock History!
Starting it off big as it’s the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop’s birthday today!
Other birthdays today include Branden Steineckert of Rancid and The Used, Robert Smith of The Cure, Jerry Only of the Misfits, and Dave Brenner of Theory of a Deadman
Moving onto releases now, we have: Uncle Meat from The Mothers of Invention in 1969, Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 1987, Greta Van Fleet’s Black Smoke Rising EP in 2017 and Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys in 1992
We lost Prince in 2016 after overdosing on fentanyl. Say what you will about Prince, but the man did a lot for rock and music in general, earning acclaim from all corners of the music world. Whether it was by himself or with the Revolution, Prince kicked all the ass.
In 2001, Peter Buck of R.E.M. was arrested by British police at the Heathrow airport after a flight from Seattle. Buck was charged with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting the crew of the British Airways flight. Buck was accused of drinking 15 glasses of wine, overturning the service cart, and other bad behavior. The charges were eventually dropped. Not very Shiny Happy of you Peter.
“Weird Al” Yankovic made his television debut in 1981 on Tom Snyder’s The Tomorrow Show. Alongside drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, Yankovic played his Queen parody Another One Rides the Bus.
A year later in 1982, The Clash had to cancel a tour after frontman Joe Strummer disappeared. Strummer was found three weeks later living in Paris, France.
And finally in 2015, Phil Rudd of AC/DC plead guilty to the charge of threat to kill. The charge came from an issue at an album release party for his recent solo album, Head Job, where he asked for a former employee to be “taken out”. A few months later Rudd was sentenced to eight months home detention and fined $120,000 (NZ). With Rudd being sent to home detention, he wouldn’t be able to make a JAILBREAK huh?
I’ll see myself out.
This has been Today in Rock History! Keep on Rocking, keep on Rolling! Check back tomorrow for your next rock history lesson!
