March 21st
1964 “She Loves You” lands at #1.
All Beatles, all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This song, along with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” allow The Beatles to hold the #1 spot on the U.S. pop survey for three consecutive months.
2000 The original edition of Pantera releases its swansong “Reinventing The Steel.”
Co-produced by Sterling Winfield, Pantera’s ninth album reaches #4 on the Billboard 200. It’s the last studio album with Phil Anselmo (vocals), ‘Dimebag’ Darrell (guitar), Rex Brown (bass) and Vinnie Paul (drums).
2009 U2’s “No Line On The Horizon” makes its debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
That’s after selling 484,000 copies during its first week of release. It’s the group’s 7th chart-topping album.
2018 Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” is inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.
Works included are determined to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings.
2023 Bruce Springsteen is among 11 artists and organizations who accept the 2021 National Medal of Arts at the White House.
The award is the nation’s highest accolade for artistic achievement. The ’21 National Medal of Arts ceremony was one of a backlog of events that were postponed throughout the pandemic.
MORE TODAY IN ROCK…
1949 Singer Eddie Money (Edward Joseph Mahoney) is born in New York City. The son of a police officer, Money wears the blue before becoming a musician.
1950 Supertramp’s Roger Hodgson (Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson) is born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
1952 A rather inauspicious beginning. It’s the first Rock n’ Roll concert. Put on by Cleveland DJ Alan Freed, there is a riot, vandalism and only one song is played. Everybody has a great time.
1961 Slim Jim Phantom, drummer for the Stray Cats, is a new arrival.
1968 Andrew Copeland, guitarist for Sister Hazel, has a birthday.
1976 David Bowie and Iggy Pop are arrested in New York and charged with marijuana possession. That’s pretty lightweight stuff for these two. They make bail and the charges are dropped providing they aren’t arrested again in the coming year.
1981 Rock ballad week. REO Speedwagon scores their first major hit with “Keep On Lovin’ You.” It’s #1 on the pop chart, followed by a couple more ballads; the late John Lennon’s “Woman” (#2) and “Best Of Times” (#3) from Styx.
1983 Pink Floyd release “The Final Cut” in the U.K. The group’s 12th studio album is also their last with Roger Waters.
1984 Kurt Jefferies wins MTV’s Lost Weekend With Van Halen promotion. He is never the same again.
1987 U2’s “The Joshua Tree” enters the U.K. album chart at #1.
1989 Dick Clark steps down as host of American Bandstand after a mere 33 years.
1992 Bruce Springsteen scores a #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart with “Human Touch,” the title track from his ninth studio album.
1992 Eric Clapton’s touching ballad, “Tears In Heaven” (about his deceased son, Conner), goes to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1994 Bruce Springsteen gets a Best Original Song Oscar for the mournful “Streets Of Philadelphia.” The song appears in the film “Philadelphia” starring Tom Hanks.
2008 Kid Rock is accused of helping beat up three men outside a Hollywood bar in ’06. A lawsuit filed in L.A. contends the alleged victims were ‘assaulted and battered’ by Rock and others after asking for autographs. The plaintiffs, who also claim Rock’s party stole cameras and bags during the attack, seek a settlement worth at least $8.5 million. Must have been very expensive cameras.
2009 Guns N’ Roses reveal that DJ Ashba has replaced Robin Finck. “DJ’s a gifted, energetic guitarist that GN’R is proud to have on board,” says singer Axl Roses in a statement.
2011 Bryan Adams gets the 2,435th star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. Adams’ star is placed in front of the Musicians Institute on Hollywood Boulevard.
2012 Thanks to a price war between Google Play and AmazonMP3 digital stores, Guns N’ Roses “Greatest Hits” is on sale for 25-cents. The 85,000 copies purchased push the set to #3 on the Billboard 200 – behind One Direction and Adele.
2013 “Ramones” (’76), by the Ramones, Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side Of The Moon” (’73), and “Cheap Thrills” (’68) by Big Brother & The Holding Company, are added to the Library of Congress’s national registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
2014 A letter from John Lennon to producer Phil Spector written in the mid-70s (during Lennon’s “Lost Weekend”) sells at auction. The missive accuses Harry Nilsson and The Who’s drummer Keith Moon of urinating on a studio console. “Phil: Should you not yet know it was Harry and Keith who pissed on the console,” the letter begins. Lennon, facing expulsion from A&M Studio in Hollywood over the incident, produced Nilsson’s ’74 album, “Pussy Cats,” which featured Moon. The letter is sold to a private collector for $88,000.
2015 Former Adrenaline Mob drummer Mike Portnoy rejoins his former bandmates to perform a show in New Jersey following the sudden death of the Mob’s drummer AJ Pero who passed away from an apparent heart attack a day earlier.
2016 Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl posts an open letter asking local authorities in Cornwall, England to lift restrictions on a teen Metal band, Black Leaves Of Envy, who are deemed too loud to jam in a family garage. “I believe that in doing so, you will be sending a message that Cornwall is not only a home to music and the arts, but a place that encourages children to follow their dreams,” writes Grohl.
2018 Ozzy Osbourne files an antitrust lawsuit against AEG Inc. The suit alleges that the venue owner and concert promoter has a “block booking” policy that requires acts who perform at London’s O2 Arena to also play at the Staples Center in L.A during the same tour cycle. Both venues are owned by AEG.
2019 Slipknot’s singles “Snuff” (‘08), “Before I Forget” (‘04), and “Wait And Bleed” (‘99) are certified platinum (one million units sold or equivalent) by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). They are the first platinum single certifications for the band.
2022 Billboard reports that Ghost’s fifth album, “Impera” is #2 on the album chart. It marks the third Top 10 effort by the band.
2022 Rush’s Geddy Lee makes a guest appearance on the long-running Canadian TV mystery drama “Murdoch Mysteries.” In the episode titled “Devil Music” Lee plays “Tom Sawyer,” a carriage driver.
2022 Kid Rock’s one-on-one interview with Tucker Carlson airs on FOX. Carlson asks Rock, “Why haven’t you been canceled? Like, people aren’t allowed to say what they think. You are.” Rock responds that he is “uncancelable… ’cause I don’t give a (expletive). In the same interview, Rock says Donald Trump, while president, once asked him for advice about U.S. policy on the Islamic State and North Korea.
