This Day in History: 2023-08-16

AUGUST 16th

Elvis Presley has left the building – permanently. A heart attack claims the King of Rock n’ Roll at the age of 42. 1977

Red Hot Chili Peppers release “Mother’s Milk.”  Containing a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” the album goes platinum (1-million copies sold).  1989

Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s album “Sleeps With Angels,” the title track referencing Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, is released. Cobain’s suicide note contained a reference to Young’s “My My, Hey, Hey (Out Of The Blue”). “It’s better to burn out than fade away.” 1994

Melissa Etheridge’s “Yes I Am” reaches the 5-million sales mark. The album was released in late ’93. 1995

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Barry Hay, vocalist for Golden Earring, starts his life.  1948

Drummer Scott Asheton (Iggy Pop And The Stooges) enters the world.  1949

Guitarist Tim Farriss (INXS) is born in Perth, Western Australia. 1957

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and manager Brian Epstein make the decision to fire their drummer Pete Best. Ringo Starr is Best’s replacement. The Beatles line-up is complete. Best had been with the group for two years. 1962

Jack Ely, the Kingsmen vocalist who sang “Louie, Louie,” leaves the group before the song becomes a hit. 1963

The Monkees release their debut single “The Last Train To Clarksville.”  It goes to #1.  1966

The first Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young show is at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago.  Young is a recent addition. He joins after the release of CSN’s debut album but before the band’s Woodstock appearance (two days later). 1969

Hey Ho. The Ramones take up residence at New York’s CBGB’s (Punk’s breeding ground). 1974

A disco version of KISS’ “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” goes gold (500,000 units moved). It is the end of western civilization as we know it. 1979

The ’Knack’s infectious summer hit “My Sharona” also goes gold. 1979

Drugs, alcohol and endless band pranks cause drummer Bill Ward to quit Black Sabbath for the first time.  1980

MTV airs the Rap/Rock hybrid “Walk This Way” with Run DMC and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It revives Aerosmith’s career and brings Rap to a white audience. 1986

Green Day wins in the Choice Music: Rock Track category with “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” at the Teen Choice Awards in L.A. 2005

Paul McCartney joins other musicians in calling for clemency in the case of Russian punk group Pussy Riot. The three female band members are on trial for staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The next day, the group is convicted of “hooliganism driven by religious hatred and offending religious believers” and receive two-year sentence. 2012

Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker score their first #1 album on the Billboard 200 with “Hypnotic Eye.” It took the group a mere thirty-seven years to get to the top spot. 2014

Bad Wolves are the year’s first Rock group to score a platinum single (one million sales). They do it with their cover of The Cranberries song “Zombie.” 2018

Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” dies from pancreatic cancer at her home in Detroit at age 76. Her signature song was “Respect.” 2018

The estate of “Dimebag” Darell Abbott (Pantera) wants out of an endorsement deal with Dean Guitars and files a lawsuit to accomplish that end.  The suit claims breach of contract, fraud and accounting irregularities related to the partnership. “(The) claims — across the board — are baseless, without any merit, and not grounded in reality,” states Dean Guitars in a statement.” Abbott started playing Dean Guitars when he was 14 and continued until he was fatally shot onstage in ’04.  2021

New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert undergoes surgery for a cancerous tumor on his spine. “Things went really well,” reports Gilbert. “They were able to remove almost all of it besides a microscopic amount of tumor that was in the bone.” 2022

Rage Against The Machine reveal on Twitter that they’ve raised $1 million for charity during a five-night stand at Madison Square Garden. The money is donated to the Immigrant Defense Project, WhyHunger, Neighbors Together and to The Campaign Against Hunger in New York City.  2022

Poison’s Bret Michaels partners with Uvalde Radio to provide free tickets to the band’s San Antonio “Stadium” show for the families of victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in nearby Uvalde, TX.  The Bret Michaels Life Rocks Foundation, Uvalde Radio and the City of Uvalde worked together to reach out to the families.  2022