This Week in Rock

On this day thirty-one years ago… Nirvana taped their MTV Unplugged segment in New York City. It was not really unplugged since frontman Kurt Cobain insisted on feeding his acoustic guitar through effects pedals and amplifiers. Brilliant, though it initially displeased the MTV execs. That was one of many issues. Cobain’s decision to play “MTV Unplugged” was…

Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” is one of the most iconic songs in Rock.  Flush with classic riffs, it was not too surprising a dispute over the origins of a portion of the song would occur – especially since guitarist Jimmy Page had a notorious reputation for lifting riffs from other musicians. On this day…

On this day forty-three years ago… Jim Morrison landed on the cover of Rolling Stone. “He’s hot, he’s sexy, he’s dead,” screamed the headline. The accompanying article chronicled the renewed interest in the singer, who died a decade earlier, and his band. “The Doors Greatest Hits” was awarded a platinum album (1,000,000 units shipped) the next…

On this day, twenty years ago… Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, a high school dropout, begins classes in chemistry, literature and the history of Rock n’ Roll (should get an ‘A’) at the University of Nebraska. NBC gleaned enough footage for “Tommy Lee Goes To College,” a six-segment series. But all was not as it appeared….

On this day twenty-nine years ago… The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame opens. The night before Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis performed. Soul Asylum backed Iggy Pop (on “Back Door Man”) and Lou Reed (for “Sweet Jane”). Jerry Lee (with help from Springsteen & The E Street Band) delivered “Whole Lotta…

On this day thirty-six years ago… John Lennon gets a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a crowd of 1,500 spontaneously broke into the chorus of “Give Peace a Chance,” a star for John Lennon was unveiled by his widow, Yoko Ono, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a crowd of…

On this day, thirty-four years ago… Pearl Jam play their first show. It’s at the Off-Ramp in Seattle. Here’s how it happened. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament were members of Seattle-based Grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. In late 1987, Gossard and Ament were in Malfunkshun with vocalist Andrew Wood. They morphed into…

On this day nine years ago… While awarding the Medal Of Honor at the White House to Florent Groberg, a former Army captain who tackled a suicide bomber in Afghanistan and was seriously injured, President Obama recounted a moment during Groberg’s recovery when he thought he was hallucinating because KoЯn singer Jonathan Davis appeared at…

Last year on this day… Staind was #1 on Billboard’s Active Rock survey with “Lowest In Me,” the lead single from the band’s “Confessions Of The Fallen.” In ’12, after seven LPs in fourteen years, Staind announced they would be going on hiatus. Lewis then embarked on a solo Country career. Meanwhile, guitarist Mike Mushok joined former Metallica…

On this day eleven years ago… Tired of listening to her roommate play The Eagles endlessly, Vernett Bader (pictured) of North Charleston, SC grabbed a serrated knife from the kitchen and repeatedly stabbed her male 65-year-old roommate. The gent suffered wounds on his arm, hand and elbow. And here’s the shocker, according to police, both…