May 5th
1973 David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane” tops the U.K. album chart.
1986 Cleveland is selected as the sight of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
They build it right on the Lake Erie shoreline.
2006 Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ninth album, “Stadium Arcadium,” drops.
It is initially released in Germany (May 9th in the U.S.) and becomes the band’s first #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
2019 “Stairway To Heaven” Is To Die For.
According to a poll conducted by Co-Op Funeral Care, the U.K.’s largest funeral provider, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” is the most popular Rock song played at memorial services. The song was also #1 in 2016.
Overall, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is the top selection.
MORE TODAY IN ROCK…
1948 Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) is born. The drummer is from Aston, England.
1959 Vocalist Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen) is born.
1959 Billy Idol’s guitarist Steve Stevens has a birthday.
1963 Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie (born Kevin James LaBrie) has a birthday.
1972 Devin Garrett Townsend, of Strapping Young Lad and the Devin Townsend Project fame, is born.
1973 Elvis Presley’s live concert “Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite” tops the Billboard 200.
1984 Singer/guitarist Wade MacNeil (Alexisisonfire) enters the world.
1994 Palaye Royal singer, Remington Leith, has a birthday.
1997 Bruce Springsteen is awarded the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden.
2003 During a Denver radio interview Ted Nugent spouts racist remarks (against Blacks and Asians). The DJs stop the interview. As a result, Nugent is dropped from the upcoming Summer Celebration Festival in Michigan.
2006 Sting is presented an honorary Doctor of Music degree by England’s Newcastle University. The institution hands out special degrees annually to individuals who “have achieved successes that are an inspiration.”
2012 Rush receive the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, a recognition of lifetime artistic achievement. The award, presented in Ottawa, includes $25,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and a commemorative medallion struck by the Royal Canadian Mint.
2012 Former KoЯn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch performs with the group for the first time in seven years at the Carolina Rebellion Festival. “I want to bring out one of my dearest, oldest and most beloved friends to have some fun with us,” says vocalist Jonathan Davis. Welch left KoЯn in ’05 to focus on his sobriety and his faith.
2015 Slash’s guitar solo on Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is #1 on the NME (New Musical Express) editors’ list of the 50 Greatest Guitar Solos. Jimmy Page’s fretwork on Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” and the Jimi Hendrix solo for “All Along The Watchtower” are second and third, respectively.
2015 Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s memoir, “Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams and Drugs With The Grateful Dead,” is out.
2016 The Rolling Stones demand that presidential candidate Donald Trump stop playing their music (“Start Me Up,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Brown Sugar”) at his rallies. A Stones spokeswoman says Trump did not ask for permission to use the songs.
2016 Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, both avid surfers, take part in a cleanup at San Francisco’s popular Ocean Beach as part of an event sponsored by the San Francisco Giants. The fourth annual Metallica Night at AT&T Park is the following evening.
2017 Slipknot surpasses one billion views on their YouTube channel.
2018 Bad Wolves cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie’ is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
2018 Mother Love Bone reunites for a benefit show for SMASH (Seattle Musicians Access to Sustainable Healthcare) at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle. Featuring Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Amet, it is the first time the band performs together in eight years.
2023 Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, after getting dropped as Grand Marshall for the upcoming San Francisco Gay Pride Parade for voicing support for a statement on children and gender transition (and the parents who are “normalizing and even encouraging participation”), made by KISS vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley, says he still endorses Stanley’s position but adds he shouldn’t be labeled “transphobic.” Snider insists he remains an ally of the LGBTQ community and argues those with moderate views should not be labeled as transphobes.
2023 Fear Factory plays its first headlining concert with singer Milo Silvestro and touring drummer Pete Webber at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood. Silvestro replaces the band’s original singer Burton C. Bell.
