March 28, 2024

This Day in History: 2024-08-21

AUGUST 21st

The Rolling Stones “Out Of Our Heads” with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” tops the U.S. album chart. It’s the first Rolling Stones album recorded in stereo. 1965

“Brothers And Sisters,” by the Allman Brothers Band, is a gold record. The album, which contains “Ramblin’ Man,” sells 760,000 copies in its first three weeks.  1973

“Facelift,” Alice In Chains debut album, containing the song “Man In The Box,” is released.  The Grunge album ships three million copies in the U.S.  1990

“The Pretender,” the first single from the Foo Fighters sixth album, “Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace,” arrives.  It goes to #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs Chat. 2007

Arcade Fire’s third album, “The Suburbs,” debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 selling 156,000 copies. It beats out Eminem’s “Recovery” by a mere 4,000 units. 2010

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Guitarist James Burton is born in Minden, LA. He picks up the guitar at age 13 and plays on Dale Hawkins ’57 hit “Susie Q.” Heard on Rick Nelson’s hits, he goes on to become a key member of Elvis Presley’s band. 1939

Joe Strummer of The Clash is born in Ankara, Turkey with the handle John Graham Mellor. 1952

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple/Black Sabbath) enters the world. The bassist/vocalist is born in Cannock, Staffordshire, England. 1952

Metal Church vocalist Mike Howe enters the world via Taylor, MI.  1965

The Doors are fired from the Whiskey-A-Go-Go following singer Jim Morrison’s profanity filled/Oedipus laced version of “The End.” Fortunately, the band signed a recording contract with Elektra Records only days earlier. 1966

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian is born in Beirut, Lebanon. At age five, he moves with his family to L.A. 1967

Tough time for Jefferson Airplane in Akron. First, there’s a phoned-in bomb threat. Next, the audience starts pelting police cars with rocks. The cops respond with tear gas. Airplane bassist Jack Casady objects from the stage. All that does is get him busted. Afterwards, singer Grace Slick and guitarist Paul Kantner go check on Casady. Slick gets maced and Kantner gets slammed to the floor. A good time was had by all. 1972

The Rolling Stones headline the Knebworth festival. It’s advertised as the group’s last ever U.K. concert (wrong!). 200,000 show up. 1976

Anthrax issues their fifth album “Persistence Of Time.” The gold album is the last full studio effort to feature Joey Belladonna on vocals until his return twenty-years later.  1990

B.B. King gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  1990

David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads, files suit against the rest of the group performing under the name, The Heads. Mercifully, the dispute is settled out of court. 1996

Don’t bad mouth Ozzy! Iron Maiden is pelted with eggs in Devore, CA, during their final appearance at Ozzfest. Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson reportedly makes negative comments about Ozzy Osbourne.  2005

The soundtrack to Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx’s biography “The Heroin Diaries” is out. Recorded by Sixx: AM, each track matches a chapter in the book. “It’s given me some closure on a lot of different issues, to be able to discover, through the book, what was driving me,” explains Sixx. “Life Is Beautiful” is the first single. 2007

Weezer and their fans set five official Guinness World Records in L.A. while shooting the video for “Troublemaker,” a single off the band’s self-titled album (aka “The Red Album”). The records are for the Largest Air Guitar Ensemble, the Largest Game of Dodgeball, Most People in a Custard Pie Fight, Most People Riding on a Skateboard and Longest Guitar Hero World Tour Marathon. 2008

Kings Of Leon’s documentary “Talihina Sky” makes its television premiere on Showtime. The film, directed by Stephen C. Mitchell, includes home video recordings as well as behind the scenes footage of the band. 2011

Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan uses Twisted Sister’s ’84 hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” as intro music at a rally in Pennsylvania, which brings the wrath of Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider. “There is almost nothing he stands for that I agree with,” says Snider.  2012

The “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert” in Central Park takes place before a vaccinated crowd of 60,000 and marks New York City’s comeback” after 17-months of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.  But the concert is cut short, by a heavy rainstorm with lightening.  Only Santana, Journey, Earth Wind & Fire and a few others perform shortened sets before the storm forces the concert’s cancellation.  2021

Don Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, dies at age 84 in Nashville, TN. The duo recorded the hits “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” and “Cathy’s Clown.”  Their vocal harmonies influenced countless musicians, including The Beatles. 2021

Nightwish announce the addition of bassist Jukka Koskinen as an official member of the band. Koskinen made his live debut with Nightwish in May ’21.  2022

Hoobastank’s “The Reason” rolls past the one-billion YouTube views. Released in ’04, it’s the title track from the band’s second studio album.  2023

For the second time in less than a month Disturbed gets drenched (this time in Camden, NJ) when a pyro display during the closing song, “Inside The Fire” sets off the venue’s emergency sprinkler system, pouring water all over the group and stage.  The same thing happened July 27th during a concert in Houston, TX.  2023