June 23rd
1990 Billy Idol’s “Cradle Of Love” is #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
2015 Breaking Benjamin release “Dark Before Dawn.”
The band features a new line-up: founding member Ben Burnley along with guitarists Jasen Rauch and Keith Wallen, bassist Aaron Bruch and drummer Shaun Foist.
2017 Imagine Dragons release “Evolve.”
The set contains the singles “Believer,” “Thunder” and “Whatever It Takes.”
MORE TODAY IN ROCK…
1941 Grateful Dead lyricist Robert C. Hunter is born in San Luis Obispo, CA. After volunteering to take LSD as part of the CIA’s early ’60s experiments, Hunter plays in a Bluegrass band with The Dead’s future founder, Jerry Garcia. Hunter composes the lyrics for Dead classics, “Uncle John’s Band,” “Truckin’,” “Casey Jones” and “Dark Star.”
1962 Testament vocalist Chuck Billy has a birthday.
1965 Singer Glenn Danzig (Danzig/Misfits) has a birthday.
1965 Oasis guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs is born in Manchester, England.
1973 George Harrison’s “Living In A Material World” tops the Billboard 200. The set includes “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) and his comment on The Beatles current financial affairs “Sue Me, Sue You Blues.”
1978 Bassist Frederic Leclercq (Kreator/Sinsaenum /ex-DragonForce) enters the world.
1984 “The Reflex” (Duran Duran) begins a two-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1990 Actor Gary Busey pays $242,000 for a Buddy Holly guitar. The actor played Holly in the film “The Buddy Holly Story.”
2000 Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project opens in Seattle. The tribute to American music has performances by Metallica, Matchbox 20, Beck and No Doubt.
2006 The legendary Carlos Santana is inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Proceeds from the event at the famous venue benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonics Association’s Music Matters education program.
2010 The Library of Congress adds R.E.M.’s debut single “Radio Free Europe,” to their National Recording Registry, saying it’s “one of the cornerstones of ’80s College Rock.” Also added are Patti Smith’s “Horses,” Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning.”
2010 Original Kinks bassist, Pete Quaife, dies at age 66 (he’d been on kidney dialysis for over a decade). Quaife quit the band in ’69 but last played with the group at their ’90 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
2013 Pink Floyd publishes an editorial in USA Today regarding Pandora’s attempt to reduce artist royalties from internet radio. “We hope that many online and mobile music services can give fans and artists the music they want, when they want it, at price points that work,” writes Floyd’s Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason. “But those same services should fairly pay the artists and creators who make the music.”
2016 Guns N’ Roses kick off their 14-month “Not In This Lifetime” reunion tour. By the time it’s done the tour generates over $230 million in revenue.
2016 Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Linkin Park, Courtney Love (Hole) and Beck are among the over 150 musicians and artists who sign an open letter to Congress pleading for an end to gun violence. The letter, drafted by the editors of Billboard magazine, comes in the wake of the murder of Voice contestant Christina Grimmie and the mass shooting at a gay bar in Orlando.
2016 A federal court jury in L.A. finds that Led Zeppelin did not steal a riff from Randy California’s instrumental “Taurus,” for the opening of “Stairway To Heaven.” Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was accused of copying a passage the Spirit guitarist wrote in ’68 for his band’s debut album.
2021 Blink-182 singer and bassist Mark Hoppus reveals that he is battling cancer. “For the past three months, I’ve been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer,” writes Hoppus. “It sucks and I’m scared, and at the same time I’m blessed with incredible doctors and family and friends to get me through this.”
2022 Metallica (through its All Within My Hands foundation) and Universal Music Germany donate over $135,000 (130,000 €) to flood disaster victims in Germany. Severe flooding occurred the previous year. To raise relief funds Metallica releases a limited-edition “Enter Sandman” single available exclusively in Germany.
2023 The Churnups (aka Foo Fighters) give an unpromoted performance on the second day of England’s Glastonbury Festival. “We only have one hour; so we are going to try to fit in as many songs as we can,” Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl tells the audience. One of the songs they play is “Everlong,” which they dedicate to their late drummer Taylor Hawkins.
2024 “The Heart Of Rock And Roll,” a rom-com musical based on the songs of Huey Lewis & The News, closes on Broadway after only earning less than $300,000 at the box office (meager by Broadway standards).
