June 1st

June 1st

1967 The Beatles release “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in the U.S. 

Critically acclaimed, the album contains the title track, “With Little From My Friends” and “A Day In The Life.” 

1972 “The Eagles,” the band’s self-titled debut album arrives.

The set contains “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman” and Peaceful Easy Feeling.” It goes platinum.

1999 Blink 182 release “Enema Of The State.”

The group’s third studio effort is their first to feature drummer Travis Barker, who replaced Scott Taynor. With the busty nurse on the cover and the songs “What’s My Age Again?,” “All the Small Things” and “Adam’s Song,” the album sells over 15 million copies.

2013 Vampire Weekend debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 with “Modern Vampires Of The City.”

Selling 134,000 copies, the album is Vampire Weekend’s second #1, following ’10’s “Contra.”

2018 Ghost offers their fourth studio album, “Prequelle.” 

Recorded at Artery studios in Stockholm with producer Tom Dalgety, the effort tops the iTunes sales chart. The album also goes to #3 on the Billboard 200.

2023 Linkin Park’s video for “Numb” is the band’s first to reach two billion views on YouTube.

The “Meteora” track was released in ’03 and uploaded to YouTube in ’07.

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

1947 Ron (Woody) Wood is born. Wood serves as bassist for The Jeff Beck Group (with Rod Stewart) and guitarist with The Faces (with Rod Stewart again) but finds long term employment as a Rolling Stone (with Mick Jagger).

1960 The Cure’s Simon Gallup is born in in Duxhurst, England.

1968 Rolling Stones release “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” in the U.S.  The song peaks at #3 on the Billboard pop chart. 

1969 “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” The anti-war anthem “Give Peace A Chance” is recorded during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s bed-in for peace in Montreal. Holed up in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel with John and Yoko are acid guru Timothy Leary, singer Petula Clark, comedian Dick Gregory, poet Allen Ginsberg and comedian Tommy Smothers (who plays acoustic guitar with Lennon). They and others contribute vocals to the song. “Give Peace A Chance” eventually gets to #2 on the U.K. charts (kept out of the top spot by the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”).

1973 Paul McCartney & Wings release “Live And Let Die,” the title track from the James Bond film.  The song peaks at #2 on the Billboard 100.

1974 Alanis Morissette is born in Ottawa. In the course of her career she wins over a half-dozen Grammy Awards. Isn’t it ‘ironic’?

1975 Replacing guitarist Mick Taylor who’d left the group, the Rolling Stones perform for the first time with Ron Wood in Baton Rouge, LA.

1976 The Runaways issue their self-titled debut album.  Even with Lita Ford and Joan Jett the album barely dents the Billboard 200 (#194). 

1982 The Rolling Stones release “Still Life.”  The live set goes platinum in the U.S. 

1983 “Speaking In Tongues,” the Talking Heads first platinum album, is released.

1991 “Silent Lucidity” is Queensryche’s first pop hit (#9).

1998 Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots is arrested for possession of $100 worth of heroin in New York City.  

2003 Paul Gray, Slipknot bassist, is arrested in his hometown of Des Moines, IA after crashing into another car. Gray is charged with possession of marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

2010 A California judge rules that Republican senatorial candidate Chuck DeVore violated copyright laws by recording parody versions of two Don Henley (The Eagles) songs for a YouTube video campaign. DeVore turned “The Boys Of Summer” into “Hope Of November” (an attack on President Obama and Hollywood’s liberalism) and “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” became “All She Wants To Do Is Tax” (a slam against incumbent California Senator Barbara Boxer).

2011 Elton John writes Florida Governor Rick Scott requesting that he protect an AIDS/HIV funding initiative. John states that lowering income eligibility for the program would result in over 1,600 people losing their antiviral treatments. The governor does not respond.

2013 “The Hangman’s Body Count” (Volbeat) is the top song on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. 

2019 Five Finger Death Punch, with help from Kenny Wayne Shephard, Brantley Gilbert and Brian May, have the #1 song on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart with “Blue On Black.” 

2023 No Doubt joins YouTube’s Billion Views Club with “Don’t Speak” their first to cross the threshold. The track is from the ‘95 album “Tragic Kingdom” while the video first premiered on YouTube in ‘09. 

2023 Songwriter Cynthia Weil passes away.  With her husband Barry Mann, Weil wrote “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (Righteous Brothers), “Kicks” and “Hungry” (Paul Revere & The Raiders), “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” (The Animals) and “On Broadway” (The Drifters/George Benson).   

2024 Godsmack’s “Truth” is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. The track, from the band’s eighth album, “Lighting Up The Sky,” is their 13^th song to top the survey. 

2024 Guns N’ Roses guitarist, Slash, debuts at # 1 on Billboard‘s Blues Albums chart with “Orgy Of The Damned.”  It’s also #2 on the Top Rock Albums chart. 

2024 KISS’s “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” surpasses one-billion streams on Spotify.   The disco-tinged track originally appeared in ’79 on the band’s seventh studio effort, “Dynasty.”