January 31st
1970 “Led Zeppelin II” begins a five-week stay at the top of the Billboard 200.
This comes after weeks of battling The Beatles “Abbey Road” for supremacy.
Meanwhile, the Led Zep classic “Whole Lotta Love” (from “II”) gets to #4 on the U.S. pop chart.
1995 Green Day’s “When I Come Around” is released.
The “Dookie” track peaks at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
2010 Green Day and the cast of “American Idiot” perform “21 Guns” at the 52nd Grammy Awards ceremony at Staples Center in L.A.
The show opens with a duet by Lady Gaga and Elton John – doing her “Speechless” and his “Your Song.”
And now the awards: Kings Of Leon win Record of the Year, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Performance honors for “Use Somebody.” Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” land the Best Rock Album award. And AC/DC earn the trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
MORE TODAY IN ROCK…
1946 Chicago’s original (and best) guitarist, Terry Kath, is born in the Windy City.
1951 Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera enters the world.
1956 You’re rotten Johnny, you are. John Lydon (a.k.a. Johhny Rotten) is born in London. He becomes the frontman for both the Sex Pistols and later, Public Image Ltd.
1964 Guitarist Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) is born.
1967 The Cure’s Jason Cooper has a birthday.
1969 It’s the 22nd and final day of The Beatles “Get Back” sessions (which later comprise the “Let It Be” album). They record final takes of songs not included in the band’s legendary rooftop concert: “Two Of Us,” “Let It Be” and “The Long And Winding Road.”
1969 Led Zeppelin opens for the Iron Butterfly and so thrills the audience the headliners refuse to go on.
1979 The Clash begin their first North American tour in Vancouver, B.C.
1981 The Tide Is High” (Blondie) is the #1 song in the U.S.
1998 The Presidents Of The United States Of America play their last show before pulling the plug. It’s a charity gig at Seattle’s Paramount Theater. They eventually get back together.
2005 Little privacy for Rock stars. The Edge takes Ireland’s Sunday World newspaper to court over its naming a seriously ill relative in an article about U2 postponing the start of its tour. The Edge gets a temporary injunction keeping the tabloid from printing the relative’s name again.
2005 It takes Cream (that would be Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker) a mere two hours to sell out four shows (May 2nd through 6th) at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The last time the group played together was at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ’93.
2007 The widow of Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia files a civil lawsuit in a California Superior Court against the corporation that manages her late husband’s estate. Deborah Koons Garcia seeks access to unreleased Garcia recordings, which she wants to have professionally restored. Koons Garcia belongs to the limited-liability group she is suing, which is made up of Garcia’s beneficiaries, some of whom oppose her plans.
2008 The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde participates in a PETA demonstration in New York. The animal-rights organization is protesting the use of horse-drawn carriages in the city. “I love horses and hate seeing them reduced to beasts of burden,” says Hynde.
2012 Former Mountain guitarist Leslie West plays his first public performance since his lower right leg was amputated as a result of complications from diabetes. West, who performs while sitting in a wheelchair, gets a standing ovation at New York’s BB King Blues Club.
2013 Socks and bonds. Patrick Carney, the drummer for the Black Keys, tells Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) that he has invested in Richer Poorer brand socks. “I’d never invested in anything outside of stocks and real estate,” says Carney. “Something as wholesome as socks sounded like a great idea to me.”
2017 Singer/bassist John Wetton dies of cancer in his sleep at age 67. Best known for his work with Asia, Wetton was also in King Crimson, Uriah Heep, and Roxy Music.
2019 KISS (Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer) launch their “End of the Road” farewell world tour. Original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are invited along as “guests,” not as band members – they will never be again, according to Simmons. COVID-19 halts the tour and later it’s re-scheduled.
2019 A letter written by late AC/DC singer Bon Scott in ’78 sells for over $9,800 at auction. The letter, written to Scott’s girlfriend Valerie while the band is on the Powerage tour in Pittsburgh, chronicles Scott’s drinking, lack of money and band personnel issues.
2019 The Jimi Hendrix documentary, “Electric Church,” screens in select cinemas worldwide. Footage from the John McDermott-directed film documents the guitarist’s Atlanta International Pop concert on July 4, 1970. The film also contains interviews with Hendrix’s bandmates Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell.
2024 AC/DC’s “Back In Black” video officially tops a billion views on YouTube. The title track from the band’s seventh studio album was released ’80 and was the first album to feature Brian Johnson as lead singer, following the death of previous vocalist, Bon Scott.
2024 Arch Enemy’s video for “The Eagle Flies Alone,” originally released in ’17, surpasses 100 million views on YouTube.
2024 Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and his wife, Courtney, are awarded legal fees in an ongoing case involving a woman who allegedly has been stalking them and their four-year-old daughter. The amount of the award is not revealed.
2024 Mark Knopfler, frontman for Dire Straits, puts his guitars and amps on the block at Christie’s in London. The auction of 120 instruments nets more than £8.8 million ($11 million) – with a portion going to charity. A 1959 Vintage Gibson Les Paul Standard goes for £693,000 ($884,000).
2024 Pearl Jam and Ozzy Osbourne accept honorary trophies at the Clio Music Awards in Hollywood. Pearl Jam is recognized for their “impactful philanthropic work through the Vitalogy Foundation” while Ozzy gets a Lifetime Achievement award for his “creative output and larger-than-life persona.” Clio Music celebrates creativity in music marketing and the use of music in advertising.
2024 Journey’s anthem “Don’t Stop Believin'” is officially declared the “Biggest Song Of All Time” by Forbes. The 18-times platinum-certified single has been heard on radio, TV (network and cable), in films, and at countless sporting events. It’s also a standard at wedding receptions and anniversary parties.
2025 The Grateful Dead are the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year. Band members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and the late Jery Garcia are honored for their philanthropic efforts.
