March 28, 2024

This Day in History: 2024-12-11

DECEMBER 11th

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces Heart. eligible for over a dozen years, will be among the Class of ’13.  2012

Heart’s Ann Wilson offers an observation on why it took so long for the Hall to honor her band. “Some people have an idea of what the shape of Rock & Roll is supposed to look like,” says Wilson. “We’re not really it. Personally, that’s why I think it’s taken quite a while.” The formal induction comes in April, ‘13.

Led Zeppelin officially release their first two albums, “I” and “II,” for streaming via Spotify. The legendary band had been a conspicuous hold out. The remaining Zep catalog follows. 2013

Metallica‘s “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” tops Billboard magazine’s year-end Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums charts.  2017

The disc sold 1.1 million units in the ‘17 chart year, the only Rock album to top 800,000 units.

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the most-streamed song from the 20th Century. Universal Music Group (UMG) announces that the song has garnered more than 1.6 billion global streams — a figure that includes registered streams on global on-demand streaming services plus official song or video streams on YouTube. 2018

MORE TODAY IN ROCK…

Mötley Crüe bassist and co-founder Nikki Sixx (Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr.) is born in San Jose, CA. 1958

Rolling Stones begin filming “Rock And Roll Circus.” Planned as a TV special it features performances by the Stones, along with The Who, Eric Clapton and John Lennon, who sings “Yer Blues,” backed by Clapton, The Stones’s Keith Richard on bass and Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell. The program never airs. 1968

Avenged Sevenfold’s guitarist, Zacy Vengeance, is born. 1981

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers score a #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart with “You Got Lucky.”  1982

Courtney Love (Hole) has two drug-possession cases and an assault charge dismissed by a Los Angeles Superior Court justice after successfully completing her court-mandated drug-rehab program. “Thank you for giving me (another) opportunity,” Love tells the judge. 2006

Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway tour tops Billboard’s Boxscore (an annual list of the highest-grossing tours). The trek earns $210.6 million. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band land at #2 ($205 million). 2008

The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger makes a guest appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman to deliver a Top 10 list based on “10 Things I, Mick Jagger, Have Learned After 50 Years In Rock N’ Roll.” At #1: “You start out playing Rock ‘n’ Roll so you can have sex and do drugs. But you end up doing drugs so you can still play Rock ‘n’ Roll and have sex.” 2012

Metallica announces that their All Within My Hands Foundation (AWMH) has launched a major workforce education initiative that provides direct support to community colleges to enhance their career and technical education programs. $100,000 is designated to support more than 1,000 students training to enter the American workforce. 2018

At the end of their fall joint tour Five Finger Death Punch donate $30,000 to VETPAW (Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife) while Breaking Benjamin sends $30,000 to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. VETPAW employs combat veterans to end illegal poaching of rhinos, elephants and other endangered species. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital battles childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Both groups combined donated over $250,000 to charities during the year. 2018

Expected to sell in the neighborhood of $19,000 to $23,000 at a London auction, K.K. Downing’s Flying V guitar goes for approximately $189,000. It was his main instrument on Judas Priest albums from ‘74 to ‘81. Downing bought the guitar in the mid-1970s. 2018

A Paul McCartney-played Yamaha BB-1200 bass guitar — used in his ‘70s group Wings — sells for $496,100 at auction organized by the charity Music Rising, to support live music in New Orleans. 2021

Drummer Hayley Cramer announces her departure from Pop Evil. She joined the band in ’16.  2023