This Day in History: 2025-03-24

MARCH 24th

“5150” is released. Van Halen’s seventh studio album is their first with vocalist Sammy Hagar, replacing David Lee Roth. Recorded at Eddie Van Halen’s home studio, 5150, the set goes to #1 on the Billboard album chart. 1986

Alannah Myles takes “Black Velvet” to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, which references Elvis Presley, is steamier than a Louisiana swamp in the summer. 1990

Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball” makes its debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. With first week sales of 196,000 units, the album beats out Adele’s “21.”  Springsteen is tied with Elvis Presley for the 3rd most #1 albums at 10. The Beatles hold the record with 19. 2012

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Nick Lowe, ‘The Basher’, is born. Credits include singer, songwriter, producer and member of Rockpile. 1949

Elvis Presley is inducted into the Army. His serial number (as in name, rank and serial number) is: 53310761. 1958

A walk on the wild side or taking it on the cheek. During a show in Buffalo, NY, a fan bites Lou Reed on the butt. The assailant shouts “leather” before security hauls him away. 1973

Chad Butler has a birthday.  A co-founding member of Switchfoot the drummer hails from Amsterdam.  1974

A stretch of Highway 19 in Macon, GA, is named Duane Allman Boulevard.   It’s near where the Allman Brothers guitarist died in a ’71 motorcycle accident.   2001

“Walk This Way” tops the U.K. chart. Unfortunately, it’s not Aerosmith’s version but a cover by girl groups, Sugababes and Girls Aloud. It’s a charity single. 2007

Velvet Revolver’s Scott Weiland  and his wife, Mary, trash a room at Graciela luxury hotel. The Burbank establishment considers pressing charges. Later that day, Mary is arrested for torching her husband’s wardrobe in front of their Toluca Lake home. Mary blames her bipolar disorder for the incidents. “The weekend’s difficulties were brought on by a reaction to an imbalance in (my) medications,” she explains in a statement. “Reports that we were fighting are untrue. Scott was simply trying to help calm me down.” 2007

The Smashing Pumpkins file a breach-of-contract lawsuit in Los Angeles against their former label Virgin Records. The band claims Virgin ‘irreparably harmed the group’ by illegally authorizing the use of the Pumpkins’ music and image in a joint promotional campaign by Amazon.com and PepsiCo. “It’s a frustrating situation, honestly, to be treated so poorly by a label where we had so much success,” says mainman Billy Corgan. 2008

Jimi Hendrix’s estate wins a summary judgment in the U.K. against The Times of London. Experience Hendrix and a co-claimant sued The Times for using a live Jimi Hendrix Experience recording as a CD insert in a September’ ’06 edition of the newspaper. The London court determines that the newspaper didn’t establish sufficient rights to the recording. 2008

24/7 Wall Street names U2’s Bono the “Worst Investor in America” due to his involvement with Elevation Partners, “arguably the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States” according to the site. Bono is one of the five members of the firm’s team who made a series of bad investments including the Palm mobile device. 2010

Bon Jovi plays a special show for fans of the defunct Philadelphia Soul Arena Football League team at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Jon Bon Jovi, the team’s majority owner, promised a free show if the Soul didn’t win the championship in ’09 but the league folded before the season. Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora was a minority owner. 2010

Sheryl Crow performs at the Starbucks shareholders meeting in Seattle. She confesses to being a “Starbucks groupie.” 2010

Black Crowes return from a self-imposed ‘indefinite hiatus’ when they launch a week-long U.K. tour in Manchester. 2013

Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) appears on Oprah’s Master Class. Nicks offers some useful advice to the cable show’s viewers. “If you’re gonna start doing coke, save your money because it’s gonna cost you $50,000 to go to rehab.” 2013

Two years later, Nicks is honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore 33rd Annual Awards Dinner. Nicks holds the USO record for the most hours spent over a five-year period visiting combat-wounded service members. She also wrote the song “Soldier’s Angel” after visiting recovering vets. 2015

Jesus & Mary Chain release their first album in 18 years, “Damage And Joy.”  2017

A cache of 350 previously unseen Beatles photos taken by Mike Mitchell in ’64 are sold at an auction in England for over $358,000.  2018

Five Finger Death Punch’s single “When The Seasons Change” is #1 on the Rock Radio chart.  It’s their seventh #1 on the survey.    2019