March 29, 2024

This Day in History: 2024-06-24

JUNE 24th

“By the Way,” the title track from the Red Hot Chili Peppers eighth studio album, drops.  It becomes the band’s sixth #1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, staying for 14 weeks.  2002

Mötley Crüe roll out their “Saints Of Los Angeles” album. “We were firing on all cylinders,” proclaims bassist Nikki Sixx. The album debuts at #4 on the Billboard Album chart on first week sales of approximately 100,000 copies.  2008

Shinedown release their third album, “The Sound Of Madness.” “When I am dead and gone, I want people to say that this was a record that the world needed,” says singer Brent Smith. 2008

The album holds one multi-platinum single (“Second Chance”) and two platinum singles (“Sound Of Madness” and (“If You Only Knew”).  It goes on to become double platinum (2 million units moved).

Mastodon unfurl “Once More ‘Round The Sun.” “We’re all over the world as far as themes go,” explains singer/bassist Troy Sanders. “But there are a few sprinkles of epic goodness.” 2014

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck is born. Beck joins the Yardbirds and starts the Jeff Beck Group before embarking on a successful solo career. 1944

The late Christopher Gordon Blandford ‘Chris’ Wood, a founding member of Traffic, is born in Harborne, Birmingham, England. He was self-taught on flute and sax. 1944

The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone (great name) is born. 1945

Mick Fleetwood is born to eventually lend his name and drum talents to Fleetwood Mac. 1947

 Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz has a birthday. 1948

Dire Straits founding member, bassist John Illsley, starts life in Leicester, England. 1949

Nashville native and Black Crowes guitarist, Jeff Cease has a birthday. 1957

John Lennon’s second book (his first was “In His Own Write”) is published. The tome is entitled “A Spaniard In The Works.” 1965

The Monkees “Headquarters” tops the Billboard chart. It only stays at #1 for a week – a shorter time than any of the band’s first three albums.  1967

Turn it up. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” is released as a single. The song peaks at #8 on the pop chart. 1974

“The Last Waltz,” The Band’s triple box-set farewell, peaks at #16 on the U.S. album chart. 1978

Pantera’s fourth album, “Power Metal,” is their first to feature Phil Anselmo on vocals. 1988

Better late than never. Billy Joel gets his high school diploma. He overslept and missed his English and Gym finals twenty-five years earlier. 1992

Vocalist Eddie Vedder, suffering from stomach flu, has to bail on a San Francisco Pearl Jam concert after only seven songs. Neil Young steps in to finish the show. 1995

Eric Clapton auctions 100 guitars including Brownie, the guitar used to record “Layla,” to raise $5 million for the Crossroads Center, a drug rehab clinic Clapton founded. 1999

One of Eric Clapton’s prize guitars, “Blackie,” a black-and-white Fender Stratocaster, sells for $959,500 at an auction that raises more than $7.4 million for Crossroads Centre, a drug treatment facility. “Lenny,” the guitar Stevie Ray Vaughan played from the ’70s until his death in ’90, sells for $623,500. The guitar was donated by Vaughan’s estate. 2004

A self-portrait caricature of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, drawn by Lennon in ’69 during the couple’s Bed-In for Peace in Montreal, sells for nearly $56,000 at Christie’s Auction House in London. 2010

Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyric sheet for “Like A Rolling Stone” goes on the auction block at Sotheby’s in New York. It sells for over $2 million. Also, Elvis Presley’s sweat stained ‘peacock’ jumpsuit nets nearly a quarter of a million dollars. 2014

Blur’s Damon Albarn says “democracy has failed us” following Britain’s vote to leave the Europe’s Economic Union (EU). 2016

“Black Rose,” by Volbeat, is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs Airplay Chart. 2017

The Toronto High Park Zoo names three baby capybaras, large South American rodents, after Rush’s Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. This follows a poll conducted by the Friends of High Park Zoo where 32,500 votes were cast to give the capybaras the first names of the Rush members. 2017

Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock performs at the Peace Train Music Festival held in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. “I wanted to help them to build a bridge,” he says. “I wanted to show my solidarity.”  Matlock even sings the Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” in Korean.  “I don’t know how well I did it though.”  2018

Hole’s Courtney Love notes the similarities between the artwork for Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour Prom” concert film and Hole’s “Live Through This” album cover. “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude,” writes Love.  Rodrigo acknowledges the similarities.  2021

The Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision making it legal for states to ban abortions. The original ruling had established the constitutional right to abortion in 1973. There is an immediate response…  …”No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the freedom to choose,” states Pearl Jam. “The religious cults are one step closer to a theocracy. What a travesty. We have turned the clock back decades for women,” writes Queensryche’s Todd La Torre. “And yet somehow I fear this year will only get worse,” adds Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace.  2022