January 17th

January 17th


1970


The Doors play New York’s Felt Forum.


This show comprises a large portion of “Absolutely Live.” The NY version of “When The Music’s Over” is a classic.

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1996 David Bowie is inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.

The Talking Heads’ David Byrne leads the induction ceremony. Accepting on Bowie’s behalf, Madonna says he “truly changed my life.”


2007 “Snow (Hey Oh),” off the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Stadium Arcadium” album, is #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Singles Chart

“Snow” is the Peppers’ 11th chart-topping song; their first was “Give It Away” from their multiplatinum ’91 album, “Blood Sugar Sex Magik.”


Pearl Jam release “Live On Ten Legs.”

The 18 songs, recorded by the band’s engineer John Burton between ’03 and ’10, is the follow-up to Pearl Jam’s ’98 live album, “Live On Two Legs” and marks the 20th anniversary of the Seattle-based band. 2011

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

1948 One-time Rolling Stones guitarist, Mick Taylor, begins his life. He starts playing guitar at age nine and gets the Stones gig (replacing Brian Jones) on the recommendation of English Blues musician John Mayall.

1956 Paul Young has a birthday. The vocalist for Mike & The Mechanics is from Luton, England.

1959 The Bangles’ singer, Susanna Hoffs, has a birthday.

1970 “Led Zeppelin II” makes the second of three trips to the top of the Billboard 200.  It replaces “Abbey Road” at #1 but loses the top spot a week later to The Beatles album. 

1971 James Ritchie, best known as Kid Rock, is born in Romeo, MI.

1981 “Zenyatta Mondatta,” reaches #5 in the U.S. It’s the Police’s first Top 10 album in the States.

1987 Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” returns to the top of the Billboard 200 (after one week at #1 in October, ’86) for a seven-week run. 

1990 The Who and The Kinks are welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Who’s Pete Townshend claims that his band has been a Rock N’ Roll ‘irritant’.

1996 Pink Floyd is inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame by the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, who performs “Wish You Were Here” with the group. David Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, and the Velvet Underground are also inducted.

2001 Bassist Jason Newsted leaves Metallica due to a limited creative role.  At the time, Metallica is fighting Napster and Newsted is recovering from neck and back injuries sustained from headbanging.

2004 The estate of George Harrison settles its lawsuit against Dr. Gilbert Lederman, who treated the ex-Beatle. He is accused of coercing the dying Harrison into signing a guitar belonging to his son. The settlement comes ten days after the lawsuit was filed against Lederman, his three children, and his employer, Staten Island University Hospital.

2006 Guitarist Zakk Wylde, (Qzzy Osbourne/Black Label Society) is inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk.

2007 Ted Nugent performs in a cutoff T-shirt adorned with a Confederate flag at the inaugural ball for second-term Texas Governor Rick Perry. Using machine guns as props, Nuge shouts offensive remarks about illegal aliens at the Austin event. A spokesman says the Governor does not approve.

2007 Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Ronnie James Dio (Dio/Black Sabbath), and Terry Bozzio (Missing Persons) are inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk on Sunset Blvd. 

2008 Psycho Circus or Into The Void. KISS’ Gene Simmons is fired at the end of the third episode of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” after his team fares poorly in the week’s task – create and manage a mobile printing station for Kodak.

2010 Paul McCartney presents the award for the best animated feature at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony in L.A.  McCartney says animation isn’t just for kids. “It is also for adults who are on drugs.”

2012 Johnny Otis, bandleader and songwriter who was often called the “Godfather of R&B,” dies at his suburban Los Angeles home. Otis, best known for the song “Willie And The Hand Jive,” helped pave the way for Rock ‘n roll in the early ’50s. He was 90.

2018 Former Ataris bassist Michael Davenport is arraigned in federal court on fraud and conspiracy charges related to a telemarketing real estate plot that allegedly scammed $27 million over a seven-year period.  Davenport and fellow California resident Cynthia Rawlinson face more than 30 years in prison. 

2018 The Eagles settled a lawsuit to stop a Mexico hotel from using the name “Hotel California,” the title of the band’s most famous song, after the hotel’s owners withdrew their application to trademark the name in the United States.

2020 Rush song streams surge by 776% while sales grew by more than 2,000% in the U.S. in the days following drummer Neil Peart’s passing on 1/7.  According to Billboard, on-demand audio and video streams of Rush’s catalog hit 24.54 million with the ’81 classic Tom Sawyer being the most streamed song (2.8 million). 

2022 Every Time I Die call it quits largely over differences with vocalist Keith Buckley.  The band’s run began in ‘98.

2023 Van Connor, bassist for Screaming Trees dies from an extended illness at the age of 55.  “It was pneumonia that got him in the end,” writes bandmate and brother, Gary Lee Conner.   

2025 Spiritbox announce a raffle of band equipment to aid L.A. wildfire victims. “(We) want to not only donate” but to “raise as much as possible to help,” writes guitarist Mike Stringer. “Watching the destruction and its impact has been heartbreaking.