March 29, 2024

This Day in History: 2024-09-11

SEPTEMBER 11th

John Cougar (‘Mellencamp’ not yet added) has the #1 album on the Billboard 200.   “American Fool, with “Jack & Diane” and “Hurts So Good” the album has a nine-week run at the top.  1982

Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” wins big at the MTV Video Music Awards: Best Male Performance, Best Overall Performance in a Video, Best Concept Video and another half-dozen categories. Also, Aerosmith performs “Walk This Way” with Run DMC. 1987

“Brave And Crazy,” from Melissa Etheridge is released. The platinum album stays on the Billboard 200 for 58 weeks. 1989

Linkin Park’s “Breaking The Habit” takes over the top spot on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart replacing Three Days Grace’s “Just Like You.” “Breaking The Habit” also tops the Modern Rock Tracks. 2004

Linkin Park’s debut album, “Hybrid Theory” is officially certified 12-times platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of 12-million copies.  2020

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

One half of the Grateful Dead’s dual drummer lineup, Mickey Hart, enters the world. Hart joins the Dead in ’67. He and Bill Kreutzmann are known as “the rhythm devils.” 1943

Vocalist/guitarist Jack Ely, The Kingsmen (“Louie, Louie”), is born.  1943

Styx (and Damn Yankees) guitarist, Tommy Shaw, has a birthday. He hails from Montgomery, AL. 1953

Producer George Martin insists on having drummer Andy White sit in on The Beatles session in case new drummer Ringo Starr doesn’t work out. Martin has a point. Ringo lasts less than eight years. Of course, those were some eight years! 1962

“Help!” is #1 on the U.S. album chart.  The soundtrack to The Beatles second film features the title track and “Ticket To Ride.”  1965

Nothing you can do that can’t be done. The Beatles’ single “All You Need Is Love” is a certified million seller. Also, the group starts filming “Magical Mystery Tour.” There are some great bits (like the “I Am The Walrus” performance) but it’s mostly a waste. 1967

Sly & The Family Stone have a rough time in London. Bass player Larry Graham is busted for drug possession so the BBC drops the group’s TV appearance. On top of that, their hotel cancels their reservation. 1968

David Bowie tapes a Bing Crosby Christmas TV special (aired in December). The two sing “Little Drummer Boy” (Crosby) and “Peace On Earth” (Bowie) simultaneously. Weird effect. 1977

Jonathan (Jon or Jonny) Buckland makes his debut. The Coldplay guitarist is born in London. The band’s vocalist, Chris Martin, once claimed, “There would be no Coldplay music without Jonny Buckland.” 1977

Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train” is #5 on the pop chart. 1993

On a day that lives in infamy, the terrorist attacks in N.Y.C, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, Slayer unfurls their eighth studio album “God Hates Us All.” 2001

PJ Harvey receives the Mercury Prize, awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The honor comes on the same day terrorist attack the U.S. “Quite naturally I look back at that and only remember the events that were taking place across the world and to win the prize on that day – it didn’t have much importance in the grand scheme of things,” notes Harvey. 2001

A Hamburg square is dedicated recognizing The Beatles pre-fame time playing clubs in the city’s St. Pauli district. There are five statues: John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison plus then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best. Approximately half the construction cost was donated by the city with the remaining funds coming from sponsors and donors. 2008

Blink-182 perform a surprise show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg as a 9/11 tribute and to raise funds and awareness for two hospitals: New York’s William Randolph Hearst Burn Center and L.A.’s City of Hope. “It was important to Travis (Barker, the band’s drummer) to give to the burn center, based on everything he’d suffered from in the (’08) plane crash,” says Barker’s longtime publicist. 2013

Five Finger Death Punch and Breaking Benjamin, who toured together during the summer, donate a portion of their ticket sales to charity. Five Finger Death Punch give $95,000 to Concerns Of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) while Breaking Benjamin present $95,000 to Prevent Child Abuse America.  2018

Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee is honored with a solo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Artists For Peace And Justice (APJ) gala in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lee is being recognized for his “commitment to philanthropy.” 2021

Steve Perry, former Journey singer, submits a petition to cancel the trademark registrations filed by two of the band’s members – guitarist Neil Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain – claiming their attempt to register 20 Journey tracks through Freedom JN LLC for usage on marketing hats, T-shirts, athletic jackets and other paraphernalia, was not agreed to by Perry. He contends that the Schon/Cain filing violated an earlier agreement that requires consent of all partners in each instance. 2022