This Day in History: 2024-01-01

JANUARY 1^st

Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsys (with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles) debuts at New York’s Fillmore East. A live album results. 1969

Guitar World readers name Limp Bizkit the “worst band of 2003” in the magazine’s annual poll. Creed and The Strokes check in at #2 and 3, respectively. 2004

Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell confirms, via Twitter, that the band is reuniting. “The 12-year break is over & school is back in session,” writes Cornell. The group disbanded in ’97.  2010

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Country Joe McDonald (Country Joe & The Fish) is born. 1941

The late Metal Church frontman David Wayne is born in Renton, WA.  1958

Johnny Cash plays the first of several shows (over the years) at San Quentin Prison in CA. He later records a live album there. 1959

The Doors make their TV debut in L.A. on KTLA’s Shebang. They perform their first single, “Break On Through (To The Other Side).” 1967

Following a New Year’s Eve concert featuring the Grateful Dead, the Winterland Theatre closes. The San Francisco venue, run by Bill Graham, featured The Dead no less than 48 times. 1969

The Clash officially open the Roxy Club in London’s Covent Garden. 1977

Brody Dalle, former vocalist for The Distillers, is born in Australia with the name Bree Joanna Alice Robinson. 1979

Hinder vow to cut down their vaunted alcohol consumption. Guitarist Joe “Blower” Garvey resolves “not to start drinking before noon” in the coming 12 months, while bassist Mike Rodden pledges to “stop blacking out.” Tough New Year’s resolutions! 2007

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong reprises his role as St. Jimmy in the musical American Idiot (based on the Green Day albums “American Idiot” and “21st Century Breakdown”) on Broadway. Armstrong appeared in the musical for one week a few months earlier and that resulted in a 93.4 percent increase in ticket sales. 2011

The Ted Lapidus-designed white suit that John Lennon wore on the cover of “Abbey Road” is auctioned at the Braswell Galleries in Norwalk, CT. It sells for $46,000. 2011

Black Label Society announce that they have selected Lizzy Borden guitarist Dario Lorina as a replacement for Nick Catanese, who left the previous month. 2014

Dirty Honey help kick off the National Hockey League (NHL) Winter Classic as part of TNT’s event coverage. The game is in Minneapolis, so they perform a pre-recorded cover of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” on a frozen lake as a tribute to the hometown hero.  2022