1973 - The Rolling Stones performed two shows at Foret Nationale, Brussels, Belgium, captured on the excellent, Brussels Affair, archives release in 2011. Longtime saxophonist Bobby Keys didn’t show up for the concert, which resulted in him being banned by Mick Jagger from future Rolling Stones tours until 1989, with occasional exceptions. According to legend, Bobby missed the gig due to him filling a hotel bathtub with Dom Perignon champagne (with a young Frenchwoman) and drinking most of it.
1977 - Lynyrd Skynyrd released Street Survivors, the last album with frontman Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, as both were killed three days later after the band's plane went down en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The original pressing of the cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd album “Street Survivors” had a photograph of the band standing in flames. Out of respect for the deceased, MCA Records withdrew the original cover and replaced it with a similar image of the band against a simple black background. Thirty years later, the deluxe CD version of “Street Survivors” restored the original “flames” cover.
1986 - Sid and Nancy, the biopic of Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, graced the silver screen for the first time. Starred Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. Courtney Love and Iggy Pop both appeared in the movie.
When asked about the film on it's 30th anniversary, director Alex Cox said: "No strong feelings. Some very good work by the actors, the cinematographers, the art department, and my co-author Abbe Wool – but it’s too long and the end feels bogus. We should have shown Sid dying in a pool of vomit. Instead we opted for a touchy-feely way out".
2000 - At a charity auction organized by Mick Fleetwood in London, George Michael pays £1.5 million for the upright piano on which John Lennon wrote the 1971 hit "Imagine."
2017 - Gord Downie, leader of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, dies at 53 after a battle with cancer.
2020 - Directed by Spike Lee, the film version of David Byrne's American Utopia, which ran on Broadway from October 2019 to February 2020, debuts on HBO. Many of the songs from Stop Making Sense, the concert film Byrne did with the Talking Heads, are also in this one, but a showstopper is a cover of Janelle Monáe's "Hell You Talmbout," which ties into the Black Lives Matter movement. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Rico Rodriguez, trombone player from The Specials, was born today in 1934.
Jim Seals of Seals & Croft was born today in 1941.
Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap and wacky neighbor Lenny Kosnowski in Laverne & Shirley) and brilliant but troubled lawyer Chuck McGill on Better Call Saul, is 75.
Ziggy Marley is 54. The oldest son of Bob Marley. Bob's final words to Ziggy were “On your way up, take me up. On your way down, don’t let me down.” Ziggy wrote a song about it called “Won’t Let You Down."
Wyclef Jean, The Fugees, is 53.
Eminem is 50.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Feel Numb, New York Times, Crack Magazine, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
www.kbco.com/listen