March 29, 2024

This Day in History: 2024-05-12

MAY 12th

The debut Jimi Hendrix Experience album, “Are You Experienced,” is released in the United Kingdom. Only The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” keeps it from reaching #1 on the U.K. charts. 1967

Rolling Stones release their double album “Exile On Main Street.” 1972

Recording began in ‘69 in England and continued in mid-‘71 at a rented villa in the south of France.

The album is originally met with mixed reviews before a positive critical reassessment during the ‘70s. It has since been viewed by many critics as the Rolling Stones’ best work.

Led Zeppelin’s “Houses Of The Holy” tops the Billboard 200 for the first of two weeks. It’s their first album not named after the group. 1973

Garbage releases their second album, “Version 2.0,” in North America, The album features the track “Push It.” 1998

“The Foundations Of Decay,” by My Chemical Romance, drops.  The track tops the Hot Hard Rock Songs chart.  It becomes the band’s first-ever #1 hit on a Billboard chart.  2022

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Faces keyboardist Ian McLagen is born. 1946

It’s Steve Winwood’s birthday. Winwood is in the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith before launching a solo career. 1948

Billy Squier (“The Stroke”) is born in Wellesley, MA. 1950

Guitarist Brett Gurewtiz (Bad Religion) enters the world.  1962

Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) marries his first wife, Bianca Perez-Mora, in St. Tropez, France.  It lasts seven years.  1971

At a free concert at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, singer Mickey Thomas makes his live debut with Jefferson Starship. 1979

Linda Ronstadt earns a platinum record for “Mad Love” which contains three Elvis Costello tunes. Costello hates the covers and is very vocal about it. 1980

U2’s Bono visits Prime Minister Paul Martin to applaud Canada’s funding to battle AIDS. 2004

Metallica’s James Hetfield is honored at the second annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert in Hollywood. He receives the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his “devotion to helping other addicts with the recovery process.” 2006

Guns N’ Roses play the first of four shows at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The concerts include songs from GN’R’s long delayed “Chinese Democracy” album. Ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach makes guest appearance but more importantly, it’s guitarist Ron Thal’s (aka Bumblefoot) debut with the group. He replaces Buckethead who left in ’04. 2006

The Edge (U2’s guitarist) receives an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music. He’s acknowledged “for enduring contributions to American and international culture.” “Collaborating with talented people is not easy,” says the guitarist. “But it’s the way to really shine.” 2007

Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland enters a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department jail to begin serving his sentence for a DUI conviction stemming from an arrest the previous November. The singer is in custody for ten hours but only spends 14 minutes behind bars before he’s released. 2008

Kid Rock teams up with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Fox Theatre for a fundraising concert to benefit the orchestra. “As a musician, and of course a Detroiter, I am proud to be supporting this longstanding cultural institution,” says Kid Rock. The performance raises over $1 million. 2012

At MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert’s 10th anniversary in L. A., Joe Walsh (The Eagles) presents the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award to Ozzy Osbourne.  2014

Former Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagan publishes “How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions)” along with a companion EP featuring Izzy Stradlin (GN’R) and Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains).   2015

Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron misses the band’s concert in Oakland after testing positive for COVID-19. It was the first time Cameron misses a Pearl Jam show since joining the band 24 years earlier.  2022

Avenged Sevenfold plays its first concert in five years at AREA 15 in Las Vegas, NV.  They spent four of the last five years working on their eighth studio effort, “Life Is But A Dream…”  2023