This Day in History: 2023-06-25

JUNE 25th

Van Halen’s “OU812” is the #1 album on the Billboard 200.  The album features the tracks “When It’s Love” and “Finish What Ya Started.”  1988

Stone Temple Pilots’ second album “Purple” is #1 on the Billboard 200.  The album sells 252,000 copies in its first week, eventually moving over six-million copies. 1994

Queensryche release their first album with vocalist Todd La Torre, who replaced Geoff Tate. The self-titled album contains the single “Redemption.” 2013

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Keyboardist/guitarist Allen Lanier (Blue Oyster Cult) enters the world. 1946

Multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald is born in Osterley, Middlesex, England. He is known for his work with Foreigner and King Crimson. 1946

David Paich starts his life in L.A. The son of Jazz composer, Marty Paich, David works as a session musician (keyboards) prior to fronting Toto. 1954

Bo Diddley’s two-sided hit, “Bo Diddley” and “I’m A Man,” tops the R&B chart. Both songs become Rock N’ Roll staples. 1955

Paul McCartney’s “Paperback Writer” is yet another #1 song for The Beatles. 1966

Four-hundred million people watch The Beatles perform “All You Need is Love” on Our World, the first international satellite television program. The BBC commissioned The Beatles to write a song for the program and requested that it contain a message that would easily translate across the globe. 1967

Michael Douglas Henry Kroeger, bassist for Nickelback, is born in Hanna, Alberta. He is the half-brother of frontman Chad Kroeger. 1972

Robert Plant’s solo career gets off to a solid start with “Pictures At Eleven.” The album by the former Led Zeppelin vocalist subsequently peaks at #5 on the Billboard 200. 1982

Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and co-founding member, Hillel Slovak, dies from a heroin overdose at age 26.  1988

David Bowie collapses backstage at the Hurricane Festival in Germany.  He immediately undergoes surgery for a blocked artery that requires emergency angioplasty. 2004

“X&Y,” Coldplay’s third album, tops the Billboard 200.  2005

“Rockin’ The Corps,” an all-star concert film, premieres in Washington D.C. Filmed at Camp Pendleton (Oceanside, CA) it features performances by Godsmack, KISS, Ted Nugent and Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora before an audience of military personnel and their families. Proceeds from the screening benefit the Support The Corps charity. 2005

Sky Saxon (born Robert Marsh), leader of the ’60’s Garage-Rock group the Seeds, dies in Austin TX. The Seeds are best known for their proto-Punk “Pushin’ Too Hard,” a Top 40 hit in ’67. 2009

The outlandish Sacha Baron Cohen comedy “Bruno” premieres in L.A. The film closes with a parody of “We Are The World” that features Bono (U2), Sting and Elton John. 2009

Michael Jackson dies after suffering a heart attack. The King of Pop had one of the most successful yet downright weird careers in music history. He was 50. 2009

Atlantic City mayor Lorenzo Langford supports James Hetfield’s criticism of area hotel prices that resulted in moving the Metallica curated Orion Festival to Detroit. “I thought Atlantic City was going to be a lot better than it was,” says Metallica’s frontman. “There was some gouging going on in hotels, ripping people off, crap like that.” 2013

Disturbed singer David Draiman says that he is “done with social media” after dealing with Twitter trolls who baited him about his views. Draiman, the son of Israelis and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, often spoke out against anti-Semitism. 2015

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “The Getaway” lands at #2 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. It’s kept out of the top spot by Drake’s “Views” which is #1 for the eighth consecutive week. 2016

An electric guitar owned by Prince and a lock of David Bowie’s hair are sold at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills. Prince’s Yellow Cloud guitar is bought for $137,500 by the owner of the Indianapolis Colts. Bowie’s hair, which sells for $18,750, came from a former employee of Madame Tussauds in London. 2016

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Coheed & Cambria announce they will donate all profits (a minimum of $25,000) from its upcoming concert in Oklahoma City to the Center For Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group that represented the clinic at the center of the case.  2022

Elton John performs at the Glastonbury Festival in England.  He tells the massive audience that he never believed that he would play Glastonbury, adding that this “may” be his final ever show in the U.K.  2023