This is what happened this week in Rock History!
A few debuts, releases, and accolades:
Jimi Hendrix played his first show with the Midnighters in 1959
In 1960, Elvis Presley won his first Gold record for the album ‘Elvis’
The Beatles’ ‘Eight Days A Week’ was released in 1965 and would go on to be there 7th #1 on the Billboard
The Jackson 5 perform their #1 hit “I Want You Back” and their new single, “ABC,” on a 1970 episode on American Bandstand.
In 1975, Cher, who starred with her husband Sonny Bono in The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour from 1971-1974, gets her own show when Cher premieres on CBS. The first guests are Elton John, Bette Midler and Flip Wilson
The Eagles’ album “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)” was released in 1976.
In 1985, Wham!’s ‘Careless Whisper’ tops the charts
Ben and Jerry’s introduced a new flavor: Cherry Garcia, named after the Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia in 1987
Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1990
In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proclaimed it Rolling Stones Day in Minnesota, and congratulated Keith Richards for being alive. Ventura once worked as a Rolling Stones bodyguard
One Hollywood/Rockstar couple was made:
In 1995, Tommy Lee married Pamela Anderson
Its not a week in Rock History without some scandal:
Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for urinating on The Alamo in 1982. He was then banned from playing in San Antonio until 1992, had to make a public apology to the city, and had to donate $10,000 to the organization that maintains the Alamo grounds.
Unfortunately, there was a major tragedy:
In 2003, a fire broke out during a Great White rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., 100 people were killed and 200 were injured.
And we again lost some legends:
Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, died after a night of heavy drinking in 1980.
In 2015, Lesley Gore, known for the ’60s pop hit “It’s My Party,” dies of lung cancer at age 68
Monkees star Peter Tork died after a decade long battle with cancer in 2019
