This Day in History: 2024-01-06

JANUARY 6^th

Show me the way.  Peter Frampton releases “Frampton Comes Alive!” The double live album goes on to sell over 11-million copies in the U.S.  1976

Smashing Pumpkins’ brilliant single “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” goes to #22 on the pop chart – the band’s first Top 40 song.  It peaks at #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and goes on to win the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. 1997

The Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is named the Best Motion Picture at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association also presents the Best Actor honor to Rami Malek for his portrayal of Queen singer Freddie Mercury. Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor are in attendance. 2019

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett is born. He is immortalized in the song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” That says it all. 1946

A native of Detroit, singer Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds), is born. 1951

Malcolm Young (AC/DC) enters the world. The guitarist is born in Glasgow, Scotland. 1953

Instead of “The Ed Sullivan Show” they should have called it “Ed Presents Elvis Presley.” Elvis gets 20 minutes on the nationally televised one-hour program and sings no less than seven songs. It a tribute to Presley’s popularity. Elvis even gets an endorsement from the host who had once said he would never have Presley on his show. Sullivan calls Elvis a “real decent, fine boy.” 1957

“He could play the guitar just like a-ring in a bell.” Chuck Berry records the incredible “Johnny B. Goode” at Chess Studios in Chicago. 1958

Roll up… “Magical Mystery Tour” goes to #1 on the Billboard 200. The album includes the title track, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I Am The Walrus.” 1968

During the filming of The Beatles final film, “Let It Be,” Paul McCartney criticizes George Harrison’s guitar playing on “Two Of Us.” “I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all if you don’t want to me to play,” replies Harrison. “Whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it.” Days later, Harrison announces he’s leaving the group but he subsequently returns. 1969

Neighbors sue Max Yasgur for damages resulting from the Woodstock Festival the previous year. Yasgur owns the farm where the festival was held. 1970

Rock N’ Destruction. Fans waiting to purchase tickets for an upcoming Led Zeppelin show at Boston Gardens throw beer bottles against the building causing extensive damage. The mayor immediately cancels the concert. 1975

EMI Records drop the Sex Pistols after only three months. The band’s “aggressive behavior” is cited as one of the reasons. 1977

Alex Turner, vocalist/guitarist for Arctic Monkeys, celebrates his birthday. 1986

George Harrison’s estate sues cancer specialist Dr. Gilbert Lederman claiming he coerced the ailing ex-Beatle into signing a guitar. Lederman was treating Harrison, who died in November ’01, about two weeks after the signing. 2004

 Rush has the #1 song on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with “Show Don’t Tell.”  1990

Six years later, Seven Mary Three’s “Cumbersome” tops the Rock Airplay chart.  1996

Let ’em in. Paul McCartney promises that when he performs during the half-time show at the upcoming Super Bowl that “we will not be having a wardrobe malfunction.” Of course, Janet Jackson’s “malfunction” the previous year was a huge scandal. 2005

Audioslave’s Chris Cornell submits a petition requesting that his ex-wife, Susan Silver, return all earnings she received while managing his former band, Soundgarden. The singer alleges in documents filed with California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement that Silver was not licensed for the management job. Silver calls the suit “baseless and absurd.” 2006

Ron Asheton, guitarist for The Stooges, is found dead in his Ann Arbor residence. Officials say Asheton apparently had been deceased for several days and that no foul play was suspected. Asheton (along with Iggy Pop) founded The Stooges in ’67. He was 60. 2009

The Offspring sell the rights to most of their music to Round Hill, a music rights company for approximately $35 million. “We felt that having the right caretaker for our catalogue, both the masters and the publishing, is incredibly important to the future of our career,” says Offspring’s Dexter Holland. 2016

Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio Band and Aaron Neville perform in New York City (Radio City Music Hall) at “A Concert for Island Relief” benefiting hurricane relief efforts in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. 2018

All That Remains files a lawsuit in United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against Elizabeth Herbert, the widow of the band’s late guitarist Oliver “Oli” Herbert, claiming that she is holding up royalty payments to the group’s surviving members and making overly broad ownership claims of select songs.   Of course, she denies the allegations and makes a few of her own.  2023