September 3rd
1977 Heart’s blistering ‘Barracuda” peaks at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1984 Iron Maiden’s“Powerslave” is unleashed.
The follow-up to “The Number Of The Beast,” like its predecessor, goes platinum (one million sales).
1990 Judas Priest roll out their 12th album “Painkiller.”
The set, which marks the debut of drummer the debut of drummer Scott Travis, enters the Billboard album chart at #26 on its way to moving more than 2-million units worldwide.
2021 Iron Maiden’s seventeenth studio album, “Senjutsu,” drops.
Maiden’s first full-length effort in nearly six years subsequently tops the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
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1942 The Beach Boys’ Al Jardine is born in Lima, OH. He’s the only original member who isn’t a cousin or a brother.
1947 One of Thin Lizzy’s founding members, guitarist Eric Bell, is born.
1948 Grand Funk Railroad’s drummer, Don Brewer, has a birthday. He sings the lead on the band’s major hit “We’re An American Band.”
1955 Never mind the bollocks – it’s Steve Jones’ birthday! The Sex Pistols’ guitarist is born in London.
1966 A sort of Psychedelic Folk song, “Sunshine Superman,” is #1. It’s the title track from Donovan’s third album.
1980 Sum 41 bassist Cone McCaslin (Jason Paul McCaslin) is born in North York, Ontario.
1982 The US Festival in San Bernadino, California draws 400,000. The three-day festival features, the Police, the Cars, Jackson Browne, David Edmunds, the Ramones, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead. This shindig is financed by Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer fame.
2008 More than 100 people are arrested early in the morning as fans leaving a Rage Against The Machine concert at Minneapolis Target Center stage an impromptu march to protest the Republican National Convention taking place in neighboring St. Paul. We have anti-war demonstrators vs. cops in riot gear – just like the ’60s.
1994 John Mellencamp and Me’shell Ndegeocello’s remake of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” gets up to #3 on the charts.
2013 Noel Gallagher (Oasis) receives the Icon Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London.
2015 Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks is named the Prog God at the Progressive Music Awards in London.
2017 Walter Becker, Steely Dan guitarist and co-founder (with Donald Fagen), passes away.
2021 Virginia Tech’s use of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” as entrance music into Lane Stadium shows up on seismograph readings. 65,000 football fans shake the earth before the Hokies upset 17-10 victory over #10 North Carolina.
2022 Disturbed’s “Hey You” is #1 song on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Frontman David Draiman says the track is a “wake up call” for “people (who) have lost themselves in outrage addiction.”
2022 Foo Fighters play the first of a pair of tribute concerts honoring their late drummer Taylor Hawkins at London’s Wembley Stadium. Special guests include Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Brian Johnson (AC/DC), Liam Gallagher (Oasis), Josh Homme (QOTSA), Brian May (Queen) and Wolfgang Van Halen, among others.
2023 A “Houses Of The Holy” album sleeve signed by all four members of Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham) sells for £15,000 ($18.000 U.S.) at auction in the U.K.
2024 Guitarist Mike Spreitzer leaves Devildriver. “After 20 years of playing guitar for Devildriver, I have decided it is time to go my own way,” said Spreitzer.
