This Day in History: 2023-04-05

APRIL 5th

At the American Video Awards, the Best Group Video honor goes to The Police for “Every Breath You Take.” The black and white clip was the handy work of the team of Godley & Creme. 1984

“Synchronicity” was the Police’s best-selling album. In addition, it was the group’s last effort before Sting went solo. “Every Breath You Take” is one of those songs that got so big it was almost an embarrassing.

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain kills himself with a shotgun. 1994

After both drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Kirst Novoselic threatened to disband Nirvana if Cobain didn’t deal with his drug problem, he once again entered rehab. He was there less than a week before walking away.

Cobain’s mother filed a missing person’s report. The very next day, April 5th, ’94, Cobain shot himself in the head with a Remington 20-gauge shotgun in the garage apartment of his Lake Washington (Seattle) mansion. His body was discovered three days later.

Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley dies from a drug overdose. 2002

After performing Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock,” Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider is eliminated during an episode of “The Masked Singer.” Upon elimination, panelists try to figure out the identity of a singer who is in an elaborate costume.  Nobody pegs Snider who is dressed as “Doll.” Panelists guess he’s Iggy Pop, Gene Simmons (KISS), David Lee Roth (Van Halen) or Austin Butler, who played Elvis in a biopic.   2023

MORE TODAY IN ROCK….

Mike McCready is born.  He becomes the guitarist for Pearl Jam. 1966

5,000 radio stations play the African relief benefit single “We Are The World,” with vocals by Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Perry (Journey) and many others, simultaneously at 10:15 am EST.  1985

John Mellencamp’s ode to Rock n’ Roll, “R.O.C.K. In the USA” peaks at #2 on the U.S. charts. 1986

Aerosmith’s twelfth album “Nine Lives” tops the Billboard 200.  1997

R.E.M.’s Peter Buck is acquitted of ‘air-rage’ charges resulting from an incident on a Trans-Atlantic flight. U2’s Bono testified on Buck’s behalf. 2002

Based on their cultural or historical significance, James Brown’s “Live At The Apollo” (’65), the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” (’66), The Allman Brothers Band’s “At The Fillmore East” (’77) and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” (’91) are added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. 2005

“Itch, Love Stories About Heroin,” author Tanya Vece’s biography about the life and tragic death of Alice In Chains singer Layne Staley, is in bookstores. “The perception that he was just this junkie who got caught up in the music business, that’s not it at all,” says Vece, the eldest daughter of Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. “I want people to know Layne for who he really was.”  2009

Avenged Sevenfold’s “So Far Away” is the third single from their fifth studio album, “Nightmare.”  The song, a tribute to the band’s original drummer, the late Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, goes on to top Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock chart. 2011

Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil is charged with battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly jabbing his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Jacobs, in the Shimmer Cabaret lounge at the Las Vegas Hilton twelve days earlier.  2011

Tom DeLonge, ex-Blink 182 launches a cross-media series, ?Sekret Machines.” The first installment is a 704-page hardcover novel, “Sekret Machines Book 1: Chasing Shadows,” which DeLonge wrote with author A.J. Hartley. 2016

The Rolling Stones first exhibition showcasing hundreds of items from their career opens at the Saatchi Gallery in London. However, the group is banned from performing on the lawn outside the venue because residents in the affluent neighborhood overrule the Stones’ proposal. 2016

Soundgarden celebrate their 35th anniversary by launching a new vinyl album-of-the-month club starting with “Superunknown.”  2019