This Day in History: 2024-03-13

MARCH 13^th

“The Eagles – Their Greatest Hits” begins a four-week stay at #1 on the Billboard 200.  It recaptures the #1 position the following month on its way to becoming the best-selling album of all-time.  1976Eric Clapton’s “Unplugged,” a live set recorded in front of an audience for the “MTV Unplugged” television series, is #1 on the Billboard 200. The album, featuring an acoustic version of “Layla,” sells 26-million copies worldwide.  1993

Nickelback’s “All The Right Reasons” is certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) for sales and streams of ten million units in the U.S. “We’re very thankful to have an album that so many people have appreciated,” says guitarist Ryan Peake in a statement. 2017

Nickelback is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the Juno Awards in Edmonton, Alberta.  2023

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

U2 may be an Irish band but bassist Adam Clayton is born on this day in Chinnor, Oxfordshire, England. 1960

“Eight Days A Week” (The Beatles) is the #1 song in the U.S. 1965

Melody Maker reports that Eric Clapton has left the Yardbirds. After Jimmy Page (future Led Zeppelin guitarist) passes on replacing Clapton, Jeff Beck signs on as the Yardbirds’ guitarist. 1965

Disturbed’s David Michael Draiman is born in Brooklyn. 1973

Bob Seger is inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1987

Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World” lands at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1993

Here’s an unlikely combination. The Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blondie are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. “Don’t accept the old order,” says the Pistols’ Johnny Rotten. “Get rid of it.” 2006

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan buys a copy of Action Comics No. 1, the first comic book to feature the Superman character, for $317,200 at an Internet auction. Dolmayan, a longtime collector, also operates an online comic selling business. “This is one of the premier books you could collect,” says Dolmayan. “It’s considered the Holy Grail of comic books.” He purchases the rare 1938 magazine representing an unidentified client. 2009

Mix lingerie clad models with billionaire socialites and there’s bound to be trouble. A Guns N’ Roses VIP party in Sao Paulo, Brazil, turns nasty when the group doesn’t show for a performance. As event organizers break the news, patrons begin fighting and destroying the club. “The audience got angry and started to mount the stage, and fight and destroy everything,” an eyewitness tells the New York Post. “I guess the free drinks didn’t help.” Ya think? It may have been the best GN’R no show ever. 2010

Jon Bon Jovi criticizes Apple’s Steve Jobs in the Sunday Times Magazine saying that Jobs is “personally responsible for killing the music business.” “Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like,” says Bon Jovi. Apple’s iTunes had recently sold its 10-billionth track. 2011

A fight breaks out during a Van Halen concert in Manchester, NH. Singer David Lee Roth halts the band’s rendition of Roy Orbison’s “(Oh) Pretty Woman.” “What do you think this is, a f-ing mosh pit?,” Roth shouts at the fighters. “You’ve got all the best-looking women on the f-ing east coast here and all you can f-ing think of is f-ing fighting?” As security sorts out the mess, Roth instructs the band to “start it back at the top… let’s do the whole thing over again.” 2012

Judas Priest’s world tour begins in Wilkes-Barre, PA. It’s the band’s first performance since guitarist Glenn Tipton announced that he is not touring due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease. 2018

Jim Gordon, a drummer for Eric Clapton, George Harrison and others, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had a lifelong battle with mental illness, dies from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, CA. Gordon was a member of Clapton’s Derek & The Dominos and was a credited co-writer of the ‘70 hit “Layla.” 2023