This Day in History: 2024-11-11

NOVEMBER 11^th

KISS releases “Rock And Roll Over” which contains “Hard Luck Woman” and “Calling Dr. Love.” 1976

 The album goes platinum.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ double album, “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness,” debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200. 1995

The album has the classic tracks “1979” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.”

Pop Evil score their eighth #1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Skeletons.” It’s the title track and third single from the band’s seventh studio album, following “Eye Of The Storm” and “Paranoid (Crash & Burn).”  2023

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Yardbirds rhythm guitarist and later bassist, Chris Dreja, is born. Jimmy Page asks Dreja to join what would become Led Zeppelin but he declines preferring a career as a photographer. His claim to fame is the back cover photo on the band’s self-titled debut. 1944

Guitarist Vince Martell (born Vincent Martemucci) has a birthday. He does a stint in the Navy before joining Vanilla Fudge. 1945

It a birthday for XTC’s Andy Partridge. A founding member, the Malta-born Partridge serves as the group’s guitarist and chief songwriter. 1953

Jerry Lee Lewis releases his biggest song of the ’50s, the salacious “Great Balls Of Fire.” The track lands in the upper reaches of the pop, Country and R&B charts. Written by Otis Blackwell (composer of “Don’t Be Cruel”), it’s Sun Records’ best-selling disc. 1957

“Days Of Future Passed,” the second album and first concept effort by the Moody Blues, arrives in the U.S.  Thanks to steady FM radio play – especially of the song “Nights In White Satin –  the album peaks at #2 on the Billboard chart in ’72. 1967

The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison is busted for causing trouble on a flight from L.A. to Phoenix. The charges are eventually dropped. 1969

Allman Brother’s bassist Berry Oakley is killed in a motorcycle accident only a few blocks from where Duane Allman’s fatal motorcycle accident occurred a year earlier. 1972

Copenhagen is where Sharin Foo, vocalist for The Ravonettes, is born. 1973

Despite Roger Waters effort to legally dissolve Pink Floyd, the remaining band members (David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright) issue a press release saying they plan to carry on. The court eventually allows them to do just that. 1986

Following a stock market crash, U2 give a “Save The Yuppies” concert in San Francisco. Bono, who is wearing a hat, promises to pass it around (for contributions) later. 1987

“Wonderwall,” the majestic Oasis ballad, peaks at #2 on the U.K. singles chart. 1995

Metallica leads the “Million Decibel March” in Philly. The free concert also celebrates the upcoming release of the “Re-Load” album.  1997

Green Day’s in-store appearance at a New York Tower Records turns into a riot. First, Billie Joe Armstrong paints “Nimrod” (their album’s title) on the walls, incites the crowd to cut loose, body surfs the audience and moons people on the street. For some reason, Tower cancels the group’s planned post-concert appearance. 1997

“Holy Wood (In the Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)” is released.  Though the album eventually goes gold it is the least commercially successful of a trilogy of Manson albums that includes “Antichrist Superstar” and “Mechanical Animals.” One reason is that Manson suffers a severe backlash following the ’99 shooting at Columbine High School.  Manson is signaled out as a negative, warping influence on the shooters who killed 12 classmates, a teacher, and injured 21.  2000

“I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people,” says Elton John in the Observer’s Music Monthly Magazine. John, who exchanged vows nearly a year earlier in a civil-union ceremony with David Furnish, goes on to add, “I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn’t seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings, and it’s not really compassionate.” 2006

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour receives an honorary doctorate from Anglia Ruskin University in England. The Doctor of Arts degree is bestowed for Gilmour’s “outstanding contribution to music as a writer, performer and innovator.” 2009

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is divorced from his wife Jo after 24-years on the grounds of his admitted adultery (with Russian cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova). 2009

Having announced their break-up a couple months earlier, R.E.M. issue their first career spanning retrospective “Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011.” The set includes tracks recorded after the completion of the band’s final studio album, “Collapse Into Now.” 2011

Metallica, Black Keys, Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl perform at the Concert for Valor in Washington D.C. The Veterans Day event, organized by Starbucks and HBO, raises funds for veterans’ charities. 2014

Rock & Brews, a restaurant chain co-founded by KISS’ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, offers veterans, active military personnel and first responders a complimentary pulled pork sandwich with a choice of a side on Veterans Day in the U.S. 2015

The Black Crowes play their first reunion show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Joining brothers Chris and Rich Robinson are guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Tim Lefebvre, keyboardist Joel Robinow and drummer Raj Ojha. The group perform songs from “Shake Your Money.” 2019

Slipknot percussionist M. Shawn Crahan (a.k.a. Clown) undergoes surgery for a torn bicep tendon that occurred during the band’s Knotfest L.A. concert six days earlier. As a result, he misses the band’s “Welcome To Rockville” festival tour date in Daytona, FL. Crahan reports that “everything went great and I am recovering peacefully.”  2021

Starset’s single “My Demons,” off their ‘13 album “Transmissions,” is certified platinum (one million units sold) by the RIAA.  2021

Rush drummer Neil Peart posthumously receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis. Peart’s wife Carrie Nuttall and daughter Olivia accept the award on his behalf.  2021

Graeme Edge, co-founder and drummer of the Moody Blues (“Nights In White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon”), passes away at age 80.  2021

Former Guns N’ Roses photographer Katarina Benzova files a lawsuit against GN’R and their management claiming copyright infringement over unauthorized use and distribution of materials and sexual harassment by the band’s manager Fernando Lebeis.  2023