Calendar Search Results: the d is fire
November 8, 1971 Led Zeppelin IV - the one with "Stairway To Heaven" - is released.More
December 12, 1970 At a Doors concert in New Orleans, Jim Morrison performs live for the last time - one of his final songs reportedly is an abbreviated version of "Light My Fire," which he cuts short in frustration as drugs and alcohol apparently have taken their toll. The singer dies on July 3, 1971.
September 18, 1970 Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax, that along with alcohol, caused a fatal overdose.More
July 27, 1970 A free concert in Chicago becomes a riot when fans pelt the stage with rocks and bottles before Sly & the Family Stone can go on. The band titles their next album There's a Riot Goin' On.More
August 18, 1969 Jimi Hendrix closes out Woodstock with an early morning performance of "Hey Joe." The festival headliner, he was supposed to play the previous night, but when it ran long, he ended up taking the stage on a Monday morning. His set includes a scorching rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."More
December 26, 1968 D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Monterey Pop, which chronicles the 1967 Monterey International Pop Music Festival (where The Who smashed their instruments and Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire) opens in theaters.
July 9, 1968 David Ruffin is fired from The Temptations after missing a show. The lead singer on their hits "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," Ruffin clashes with his bandmates and with Motown head Berry Gordy before he is fired.
April 4, 1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is killed after being shot on a Memphis motel balcony. King's life inspires a number of songs, including U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)."More
June 16, 1967 The first Monterey International Pop festival begins at the County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. It's the first of many big Rock festivals, with The Who, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Animals among those performing. Many consider it the beginning of the "Summer of Love."More
April 1, 1967 A former champion horse jockey named Sir William Pigott-Brown rents one of his properties - a 19th century farm in the countryside outside London - to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who has his recently signed band Traffic record their debut album there.More
January 15, 1967 Mick Jagger does as he's told and sings "let's spend the night together" as "let's spend some time together" when The Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Jagger rolls his eyes derisively when he sings the altered line.More
January 4, 1967 The Doors break on through with their eponymous debut album. The Doors is a hit with listeners and critics alike and produces the single "Light My Fire," which quickly hits #1 in the US.
August 21, 1966 Jim Morrison is a no-show for The Doors' set at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. They play the first set without him, then get him at his apartment, where he is tripping on acid. When The Doors return to the club with Morrison, they play "The End," and he improvises Oedipal lyrics: Father... I want to kill you Mother... I want to f--k you This gets them fired, but provides the final lyric that goes into the song when they record it for their first album.
August 13, 1966 With some members of the media turning on The Beatles after John Lennon's comments that they are "more popular than Jesus" are published, the Texas radio station KLUE-AM holds the first "Beatles Bonfire," where people can burn their Beatles albums.
June 5, 1966 Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, awakens suddenly in Memphis, convinced that her boy is in danger; at that moment, Elvis' first pink Cadillac catches on fire while en route from Fulton, Arkansas. Elvis is unharmed.
May 26, 1964 Lenny Kravitz is born in Manhattan, New York, to The Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker and TV executive Sy Kravitz. He releases his debut album, Let Love Rule, in 1989.More
August 22, 1963 Myra Ellen Amos is born to a religious family in Newton, North Carolina. She changes her name to Tori and becomes an alt-rock icon of the '90s with empowering tunes about women, right-wing politics, and religious oppression.More
October 24, 1962 In the thick of the Cuban Missile Crisis, James Brown records his electrifying stage show for the album Live at the Apollo.More
September 13, 1961 Dave Mustaine is born in La Mesa, California. The first lead guitarist in Metallica, he's fired from the band because of drug use in 1983 before their debut album is released, but he has writing credits on four of the tracks. Soon after, he forms Megadeth, becoming their frontman and main songwriter.
October 13, 1960 Anthrax lead singer Joey BellaDonna is born Joseph Bellardini in Oswego, New York. He joins the band in 1984 and sings on their classic albums Among the Living (1987) and State of Euphoria (1988), but over the next few years he butts heads with his bandmates and is fired in 1992. He returns to the lineup in 2005.
May 10, 1960 Paul Hewson is born in Dublin. He shortens his nickname from Bono Vox (Latin for "good voice") to simply Bono and fronts the band U2.More
November 20, 1959 Alan Freed, who is an influential DJ on the radio station WABC and host of the TV show Alan Freed's Big Beat Party, is fired from both outlets when he refuses to sign a statement saying he took payola, which was the practice of record companies paying for airplay.
May 3, 1958 The popular disc jockey Alan Freed hosts a rock concert at the Boston Arena (a hockey rink) that does not go well. The city doesn't host another rock concert until 1964.More
December 11, 1957 In what remains one of the most shocking celebrity scandals, Jerry Lee Lewis marries 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, who was the daughter of his cousin (and bass player), J.W. Brown. The marriage lasts 14 years but seriously damages Lewis' career.More
December 2, 1957 Al Priddy, a disc jockey at the Portland, Oregon, radio station KEX, is fired for playing the Elvis Presley version of "White Christmas," which the station has banned, their program manager saying it "desecrates the Spirit of Christmas and transgresses the composer's intent." The story makes national news, but it turns out to be a brilliant publicity stunt - Priddy is back on the air two weeks later, with the station claiming letters were pouring in to support the DJ. As part of the stunt, Priddy recorded the GM calling in to "fire" him for playing the song and played the conversation on his show before he left.
January 3, 1956 Elvis Presley plays a show at the Von Theater in Booneville, Mississippi, where he is advertised as "The Folk Music Fireball."
March 21, 1952 Cleveland stakes a claim on rock history when the Moondog Coronation Ball is held at the Cleveland Arena. Organized by the WJW DJ Alan Freed ("Moondog" on the air), it is widely considered the first rock concert. It may also be one of the shortest, as it is shut down after one song.More
May 9, 1949 Billy Joel is born in The Bronx, New York, raised in Hicksville on Long Island.More
January 8, 1946 The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger is born in Los Angeles. His skills on slide guitar and flamenco guitar are a major part of the band's unique, eclectic sound, while he also co-writes some of the group's biggest hits, including "Light My Fire."
June 24, 1942 Arthur Brown is born Arthur Wilton in Yorkshire, England. Making a name for himself in the world of performance art, he has a huge hit with "Fire."More
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