January 11th

January 11th

1974 Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” goes gold.

Released the previous October, the album is on its way to multi-platinum status.

1992  Nirvana’s “Nevermind” tops the Billboard 200. 

Grunge arrives and it “Smells Like Teen Spirit!”

2011 Cake’s “Showroom Of Compassion” drops.

Frontman John McCrea says the album is “very different” from previous Cake records. It debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Rock Albums charts.

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1942 The late Clarence Clemons, the sax player for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, is born.

1958 Victoria (‘Vicki’ for short) Peterson is born in the Northridge section of L.A. She is a founding member of The Bangles.

1968 L.A native and No Doubt guitarist, Tom Dumont, has a birthday.

1981 Kasabian vocalist Tom Meighan is born in Leicester England.

1992 Break out the flannel. With “Nevermind” #1 on the Billboard 200 Nirvana appear on “Saturday Night Live.” The band trashes their gear to end the performance.

2000 Sharon Osbourne resigns as the Smashing Pumpkins manager for ‘medical reasons.’ “(Frontman) Billy Corgan was making me sick,” says Osbourne, who was the group’s manager for less than four months.

2004 Ted Nugent cuts himself with a chainsaw while filming his VH1 reality series “Surviving Nugent: The Ted Commandments.” It takes 40 stitches to close the wound. The contest has city slickers living off the land and enduring Ted for a $100,000 prize. Big fun.

2005 Jefferson Airplane drummer, Spencer Dryden, dies of cancer at age 66.

2010 Vampire Weekend roll out their sophomore album, “Contra.” The set contains the lead single “Cousins.” It debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200.

2011 After an assassination attempt on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D) in Tuscon, AZ, critically injuring the congresswoman, Drowning Pool responds to widespread suggestions that their song “Bodies” inspired the nutcase shooter. In a statement, they explain that the track was never intended to have a violent message. “‘Bodies’ was written about the brotherhood of the mosh pit and the respect people have for each other in the pit,” writes the band. “If you push others down, you have to pick them back up. It was never about violence.”

2012 Maroon 5 win the Favorite Band of the Year honor at the 38th annual People’s Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre in L.A.

2012 The Velvet Underground file a lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court against the Andy Warhol Foundation over the iconic banana image on the cover of the band’s ’67 debut album, “The Velvet Underground And Nico.” Band leaders Lou Reed and John Cale claim the foundation has illegally licensed the image in an attempt to “deceive the public” into believing that the band has given their “sponsorship or approval” to the merchandise. The band seeks unspecified damages.

2014 U2 plays “I Will Follow,” “Desire” and “Vertigo” at actor Sean Penn’s third annual Help Haiti benefit at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. “It’s been a while since we played a hotel lounge,” frontman Bono says. “I think the last time was a bar mitzvah.”

2016 Food & Beverage magazine officially rename a Jack & Coke “The Lemmy” in honor of Mötörhead’s recently deceased bassist Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister. He made the drink famous at the Rainbow Bar And Grill on the Sunset Strip.

2022 Pearl Jam and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello sign an open letter urging action from the U.S. government to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan where more than 23 million people are facing what the United Nations calls “acute food insecurity” and near famine-level conditions. The crisis follows the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the takeover by the Taliban. The letter is co-signed by nearly a dozen non-governmental organizations. 

2023 “Orbit: Dave Grohl,” a comic book revolving around the Foo Fighters frontman, is released.  The book is part of TidalWave Productions’ “Orbit” series, which focuses on “personalities who impact the world.” David Bowie and John Lennon are among those previously profiled in the series.