November 21st
1975 David Bowie releases the dance-oriented “Golden Years.”
1980 “Hi Infidelity,” the ninth studio album by REO Speedwagon, arrives.
For eighteen straight weeks either “Hi Infidelity” or “Paradise Theater” by Styx is #1 on the Billboard 200. But “Hi Infidelity” spends fifteen weeks at #1 while “Paradise Theater” has three.
1995 Soundgarden’s “Alive In The Superunknown” is A&M Records’ first multi-media/enhanced album.
2011 Nickelback issue their seventh studio album, “Here And Now.”
Selling 227,000 copies in its debut week the set lands at #2 on the Billboard Album Chart.
The self-produced follow-up to ‘08’s triple platinum album “Dark Horse” features “When We Stand Together” and “Bottoms Up.”
2006 Daughtry’s self-titled debut drops.
The album debuts #2 on the Billboard 200 (behind Jay-Z’s “Kingdome Come”) selling approximately 304,000 copies in its first week.
MORE TODAY IN ROCK…
1955 Guitarist and founding member of The Church, Peter Koppes, enters the world.
1955 RCA Records sign Elvis Presley. For a mere $35,000 to $40,000 (numbers vary) they buy out Elvis’ Sun Records contract and get a legend.
1960 George Harrison is deported from Germany for working under the legal age limit (he’s 17). The remaining Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and drummer Pete Best) eventually follow him back to Liverpool ending the band’s first Hamburg excursion.
1968 Alex James (Blur) is born. The bassist hails from Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, England (that’s a mouthful).
1974 Having vowed he would never perform with Jefferson Airplane again Marty Balin, one of the band’s founders, is onstage with the Airplane at a Winterland concert in San Francisco.
1978 Neil Young’s “Comes A Time” goes gold. It’s his ninth studio album.
1980 The Eagles’ drummer Don Henley runs afoul of the law when a sixteen-year-old girl is treated at Henley’s home for drug intoxication. The law finds marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes. Henley is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
1981 After topping the Billboard 200 in August, “Foreigner 4” returns for a four-week run at #1. “Juke Box Hero,” “Urgent” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” are the album’s calling cards.
1987 Billy Idol’s remake of the Tommy James & The Shondells hit “Mony Mony” is the top song in the U.S.
1987 Also, Bruce Springsteen’s trip down the “Tunnel Of Love” is #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
1990 Mick Jagger marries Jerry Hall in Bali (or does he?). The couple already have a common-law marriage and two children – the result of having been together for ten years. Jagger later claims the ceremony wasn’t legal. A British court, unable to find documentation, agrees with him.
1991 An animated Aerosmith is the first Rock band to make a guest appearance on The Simpsons when they perform “Walk This Way” at Moe’s Tavern.
1992 “Keep The Faith, the title track from Bon Jovi’s fifth studio album, is #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
1995 Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong takes it “on the cheek” when he is fined $141 for dropping his pants at a Milwaukee concert.
2003 Today reads like a casualty report… Fred Durst reportedly requires seven stitches on his chin after getting struck by an object thrown from the audience during a “Back 2 Basics” concert in New York. The Limp Bizkit frontman manages to finish the concert before seeking treatment. Also, Meat Loaf undergoes heart surgery in London. The 52-year-old singer collapsed during a London show four days earlier.
2003 KoЯn unfurls “Take A Look In The Mirror.” Their sixth studio album is the last to feature the group’s original lineup.
2005 A queen and her prince. Ozzy Osbourne sings for Queen Elizabeth II at Britain’s Royal Variety Performance. Ozzy was invited the previous year but had to miss the annual event due to other commitments. He cancels an L.A. appearance just to make the show. “I cannot turn down this incredible honor twice,” says the Prince of Darkness. He performs a cover of The Beatles’ “In My Life” backed by Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash.
2006 Red Hot Chili Peppers nab a pair of honors, for favorite Rock band and favorite alternative-music artist, at the American Music Awards in L.A. The Peppers accept their trophies via satellite from London. Nickelback win the Favorite Rock album award for “All the Right Reasons.”
2010 Muse win the Alternative Rock Music – Favorite Artist honor at the American Music Awards.
2010 Metallica’s four sold-out shows in Sydney set an Australian record with the group moving 74,244 tickets. That’s nearly 8,000 more than Britney Spears, the previous record holder, sold over four nights of her ‘09 “Circus tour.”
2011 Occupy Musicians (Occupymusicians.com), an online resource for musicians who support the Occupy Wall Street movement and its affiliated protests, is launched. Among the first signers are Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and Lou Reed. Organizers say the site will help coordinate performances at protest sites.
2014 AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and his Fifty Plus Racing team host the “Endures for a Cure” Alzheimer’s Benefit in Chattanooga, TN. The team donates close to $100,000. AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young retired from the group after being diagnosed with dementia.
2015 Bring Me The Horizon’s song “Throne,” off their album “That’s The Spirit,” is #1 on the Active Rock Radio chart, replacing Breaking Benjamin’s “Angels Fall.” It’s the U.K. band’s first #1 song on the chart.
2017 Jack White (White Stripes) published a children’s book titled “We’re Going To Be Friends.” The title was inspired by the White Stripes song of the same name.
2018 “Get Up,” the second single from Shinedown’s “Attention Attention” album is #10 on Billboard’s Rock Airplay chart giving the band sole possession of the most Top 10s in the chart’s history. Their 11th Top 10 breaks a tie with the Foo Fighters. Cage The Elephant and Muse are next with 9 Top 10 songs each.
2018 Bob Seger launches his farewell U.S. tour in Grand Rapids, MI, where it is ‘Bob Seger Day’ (Seger is from Detroit). The trek is named “Travelin Man: The Final Tour” after the song from his ‘75 album, “Beautiful Loser.”
2021 Rage Against The Machine shared a statement about the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict on their Instagram. Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in connection with two fatal shootings during a ’20 protest over the police killing of African-American Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI. “Kyle Rittenhouse armed himself and killed people who were fighting for racial justice. He claimed self-defense. Whiteness must cast itself as the victim in order to justify its violence against those resisting its oppression.”
2021 Machine Gun Kelly picks up the Favorite Rock Artist trophy at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. “I read a headline that says the age of the Rock star is dead, but [it] looks pretty alive to me,” says Kelly.
2023 Chad Allan, founding member and original lead singer of the Guess Who, dies at the age of 80.
