This Day in History: 2024-07-28

JULY 28th

“Chicago VI” is #1 on the Billboard 200.  The album contains “Just You And Me” and “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day.”  1973

Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water,” a song about a Swiss casino burning down, arrives. 1973

The band’s only gold single is a classic.

When The Beatles’ “Revolution” is heard in a Nike commercial, the group sues Nike for using the song and Capitol Records for licensing it. 1987

Calling the lyrics to Fall Out Boy’s “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs” (a disemvoweling of “Thanks for the Memories”) ‘trashy’ and ‘inappropriate’ for teens the school board bans Pennsylvania’s Garden Spot High School marching band from performing the song, even though they would only play an instrumental version. FOB’s Pete Wentz speaks out against the ban during a concert a few days later and offers to perform with the students at the school. 2014

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Another brick in the wall. Keyboardist Rick Wright (Pink Floyd) is born in London. 1945

Guitarist Steve Morse is born in Hamilton, OH. Aside from a solo career, Morse has a short stint with Kansas and a lengthier stay with Deep Purple following Ritchie Blackmore’s second departure from the band in ’94. 1954

Jerry Lee Lewis makes his network television debut on The Steve Allen Show performing “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.” Afterwards, the song’s sales go through the roof. The appearance is also a ratings triumph for Allen. A win-win all the way around. 1957

Guitarist Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) enters the world.  1969

Mott The Hoople release “All The Young Dudes,” a song written by David Bowie. 1972

One of the largest and most successful Rock festivals is held at Watkins Glen raceway. 600,000 turn out to see The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and The Band. 1973

Jacoby Shaddix, Papa Roach vocalist, is born in Mariposa, CA.  1976

Singer/Keyboardist Stephen Christian (Anberlin) has a birthday.  1980

Jimi Hendrix’s dad, Al, finally gains the rights to his son’s name, likeness, image and music after prolonged legal actions. It puts an end to the rampant Hendrix exploitation that had occurred. 1995

The Red Hot Chili Peppers perform in Boston at a Creative Coalition-sponsored fundraiser dubbed Seconding The First: A Celebration of the First Amendment. The concert coincides with the Democratic National Convention. 2004

Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, are at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe to unveil a T-shirt he designed to benefit the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program. 2006

There are probably no more than a half-dozen photos of Iggy Pop wearing a shirt. Yet the Punk legend appears at Barney’s Co-Op in New York to promote his Archive 1887 line of T-shirts. “There’s tons of irony,” explains Pop. 2010

Jack White (White Stripes) makes a $200,000 donation to the National Recording Preservation Foundation, an organization that preserves sound libraries and cultural institutions from recorded music history. White is a foundation board member. 2013

Good Charlotte perform at Annapolis Rising: A Benefit for the Capital Gazette and Free Press that honors the memory of the five Capital Gazette employees killed by a deranged shooter who had disputes with the paper. Good Charolette’s Joel and Benji Madden grew up in nearby Waldorf, MD.  2018

Joseph Michael “Dusty” Hill, the bassist and secondary lead vocalist of ZZ Top dies his sleep at his home in Houston at age 72. ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in ’04.  2021