Lafayette’s Rock and Alternative 106.3 wants to help you look back at the best events, music, news stories, and more from the rock and alternative genre.
Each week, we will bring you a list of major events from history that opened in our music scene.
Let’s dive in!
August 4th
1966 – The Rolling Stones recorded their longest title yet: “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?”. The artwork for the single’s U.S. distribution, released on Sept. 23, 1966, generated some controversy: It featured the lads in drag, posing for a photo outside 124 East 24th Street in New York, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue.
1967 – Pink Floyd released their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett, though two tracks on the album are credited to the band collectively and one track was written by Waters. The studio album borrows its name from the title of chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows, which refers to the nature god Pan, who plays his pan pipes at dawn. In 1973, the album was packaged with the band’s second album A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) and released as A Nice Pair, to introduce the band’s early work to new fans gained with the success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). In subsequent years, the record has been recognized as one of the seminal psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s. In 2012, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was placed at number 347 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, and number 253 in the 2020 edition.
1967 – A Monkees fan stowed away on the band’s plane between shows in Minneapolis and St Louis. The girl’s father threatened to bring charges for transporting a minor across state lines.
1971 – Ringo Starr picked up a Gold record for “It Don’t Come Easy,” an unlikely but catchy hit which he wrote and George Harrison produced. The song was Starr’s first single release since the breakup of the Beatles, and was a commercial success, peaking at No. 1 in Canada and No. 4 in both the U.S. and U.K. singles charts. It has remained one of his most popular hits as a solo artist, and Starr and Harrison performed it together in August 1971 at Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh” shows in New York.
1972 – The movie Super Fly was released, along with a soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield that became a soul music landmark, taking on the drug culture portrayed in the film with vivid commentary.
1974 – Paul Simon released “Love Me Like A Rock.”
1975 – Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and his wife were both badly injured when the rental car he was driving spun off the road and crashed on the Greek island of Rhodes. Plant smashed both his ankle and his elbow, and it took nearly two years for Plant to fully recover from his injuries.
1984 – Prince started a 24-week run at the top of the U.S. album charts with Purple Rain. The album, which features hits “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and the title track, has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling soundtrack album of all time.
1987 – Dirty Dancing: Original Soundtrack was released. It features “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers), “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen, and “She’s Like the Wind” by Patrick Swayze.
1990 – Mariah Carey started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Vision Of Love,” her debut release.
2000 – Coyote Ugly, about an aspiring singer-songwriter (Piper Perabo) who takes a job at a bawdy bar, opens in theaters. LeAnn Rimes, who appears in the film, anchors the soundtrack with four new songs, including the theme, “Can’t Fight The Moonlight.” It’s one of the best-selling soundtracks of the ’00s.
August 5th
1986 – Lionel Richie released his third solo studio album, Dancing on the Ceiling. It features the title track, “Say You, Say Me,” “Ballerina Girl” and “Se La.”
1986 – Culture Club keyboard player Michael Rudetsky was found dead at Boy George’s London home in Hampstead.
1993 – Randy Hobbs, bass player with The McCoys, Edgar Winter Group, and Motrose was found dead in his hotel room in Dayton Ohio from a drug overdose aged 45.
1996 – Long a mainstay of U.K. television, the music show “Top Of The Pops” reported its lowest audience ever, only 2.5 million viewers. In its heyday, the show attracted more than 17 million viewers each week.
1997 – Atmosphere released their debut studio album, Overcast!
1997 – 311 released their fourth studio album, Transistor. It features the title track and “Beautiful Disaster.”
2003 – Ween released their eighth studio album, Quebec.
2007 – DNA testing on about a dozen people who claimed late soul star James Brown was their father revealed that at least two of them were telling the truth.
2008 – The Airborne Toxic Event released their self-titled debut album. It features “Sometime Around Midnight.”
2008 – The Faint released their fifth studio album, Fasciinatiion. It features “The Geeks Were Right.”
2009 – Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fell off the stage at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, suffering injuries to his head and neck, which forced the rest of their tour to be canceled. Tyler fell when he was entertaining the crowd with a dance while a technical problem was being sorted.
2013 – Musician, composer, singer and producer George Duke died from chronic lymphocytic leukemia at age 67. He released over thirty solo albums, of which A Brazilian Love Affair from 1980 was his most popular. Duke worked with other musicians, particularly Frank Zappa and also appeared on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall album.
2014 – Spoon released their eighth studio album, They Want My Soul. It features “Do You,” “Rent I Pay,” and “Inside Out.”
2015 – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats made their late-night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The band performed their single, “S.O.B.,” giving the band and that song greater exposure to a national audience.
2016 – Dinosaur Jr. released their 11th studio album, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not. It features “Tiny” and “Goin Down.”
August 6th
1982 – Pink Floyd’s film version of The Wall had a limited release in theaters in and around New York.
1988 – Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite For Destruction, went to No. 1 in the U.S. after spending 57 weeks on the chart and selling more than five million copies.
1991 – P.M. Dawn released their debut album, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience. It features “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss.”
1994 – Lisa Loeb started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Stay (I Missed You).” Loeb’s friend, actor Ethan Hawke, asked her to provide a song for the upcoming movie, Reality Bites; “Stay” was featured in the film.
1996 – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released Songs and Music from the Motion Picture “She’s the One”. It features “Walls (Circus).”
2001 – N.E.R.D. released their debut album, In Search of…. It features “Rock Star.”
2001 – Following the critical and commercial success of her 1998 album My Love Is Your Love, Whitney Houston became one of the highest-paid musicians in the world after signing a new deal with Arista Records, said to be worth more than $100 million. However, her personal struggles began overshadowing her career, and the 2002 album Just Whitney received mixed reviews. Though she lost her life too young in 2012 at the age of 48, she is said to be the most-awarded woman artist of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records and is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 200 million records worldwide.
2004 – Rick James was found dead in his Los Angeles home at age 56.
2007 – Kate Nash released her debut studio album, Made of Bricks. It features “Foundations.”
2009 – Willy DeVille (no relation to The Current’s Bill DeVille) died at the age of 58 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The band he formed, Mink Deville, appeared at the legendary CBGB club in New York in the 1970s and scored the 1977 hit “Spanish Stroll.”
August 7th
1980 – John Lennon began recording his final album, Double Fantasy, at The Hit Factory in New York City. It would be released on November 17 by the newly formed Geffen Records and would win the 1982 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
1981 – The Pretenders released their second album, Pretenders II. It features “Talk of the Town.”
1981 – The animated sci-fi film Heavy Metal was released. Although it shares its name with the hard-rock genre, the film isn’t intended to have anything to do with music, but instead is an anthology of various stories from the comic magazine Heavy Metal. Almost as an afterthought, an all-star soundtrack is added, featuring songs by Sammy Hagar, Devo, Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Journey, and Black Sabbath, to name a few.
1982 – Fleetwood Mac started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with “Mirage,” the band’s third U.S. No. 1.
1987 – A landmark lawsuit against Ozzy Osbourne was dismissed by a Los Angeles judge. It had been contended by the parents of a teen who died by suicide that an Ozzy song, “Suicide Solution,” had compelled him.
1987 – At a Fleetwood Mac band meeting, Lindsey Buckingham became angry and quit the group, forcing them to tour without him in support of their latest album, Tango In The Night. He didn’t re-join until 1997.
1990 – Extreme released their second studio album, Extreme II: Pornograffitti. It features “More Than Words” and “Hole Hearted.”
1990 – Deee-Lite released their debut album, World Clique. It features “Groove Is in the Heart.”
1997 – Garth Brooks played to a massive crowd in New York’s Central Park, which some estimates put at 100,000.
2001 – Usher put out his third album, 8701, the title a reference to the release date (in MDYY format). It includes two No. 1 hits: “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad.”
2001 – Harmonica player Larry Adler died aged 87. Adler is known for his performances of music by Beethoven, Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Gershwin and Ralph Vaughan Williams; for his collaborations with Kate Bush, Sting and Elton John; and for his own virtuoso performances.
2002 – Ween drummer Claude Coleman, Jr. fractured his back and pelvis in a car accident. The other members of Ween organized benefit shows to help cover Coleman’s medical bills, and in December 2002, Coleman returned to his place behind the drum kit.
2005 – “Walking In Memphis” singer Marc Cohn was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking in Denver, Colorado. Miraculously, he made a full recovery.
2005 – The Showtime cable TV original series Weeds debuted. The series, about a drug-dealing suburban mom, is notable for using the song “Little Boxes,” by folk artist Malvina Reynolds, as its theme song. The folk song, originally released in 1962, enjoyed a popular revival because of its inclusion in Weeds.
2007 – Okkervil River released their fourth studio album, The Stage Names.
2007 – Lily Allen had her U.S. work visa canceled after arriving at Los Angeles airport. Allen was due to tour North America in September and had flown in for the MTV Video Music Awards launch. She was held at the airport for five hours in connection with an arrest for an alleged assault in London in June. After questioning, Allen was permitted to enter the U.S. on a tourist visa until the legal matter was resolved.
2008 – The Police wrapped up their reunion tour at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Their first tour since 1986, it lasted 151 shows and finished as the third-highest grossing of all time.
2008 – Elvis Presley’s peacock jumpsuit was sold at auction for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold at an auction. The white outfit with a plunging V-neck and high collar featured a blue-and-gold peacock design, hand-embroidered on the front and back and along the pant legs.
2009 – Folk singer/musician Mike Seeger (of New Lost City Ramblers) died of cancer eight days before his 76th birthday in Lexington, Virginia.
2011 – Marshall Grant, who played bass for Johnny Cash in the Tennessee Two from 1954 to 1980, passed away at the age of 83.
2012 – Madonna played a concert in Moscow during which she expressed support for the group Pussy Riot, who had been jailed for performing their song “Mother Of God, Putin’s Run” in a Moscow cathedral.
2015 – Mac DeMarco released the mini-LP Another One. It features “The Way You’d Love Her” and the title track.
August 8th
1986 – David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash was released from prison after serving three years for drug and weapons possession. His conviction would be overturned by a Texas appeals court in November 1987.
1987 – U2 scored their second U.S. No. 1 single from their The Joshua Treealbum with ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. The song received two nominations for the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988, for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
1988 – N.W.A’s debut album Straight Outta Compton was released.
1991 – On A Friday, (later to become known as Radiohead), appeared at The Jericho Tavern, Oxford, England. The band had met while attending Abingdon School, a boys-only public school. “On a Friday”, referred to the band’s usual rehearsal day in the school’s music room.
1992 – Madonna went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘This Used To Be My Playground’. A No. 3 hit in the U.K., the track was taken from the film ‘A League Of Their Own.’
1994 – The Notorious B.I.G. releases his debut solo single, “Juicy.”
1995 – Luna released their third studio album, Penthouse. It features “23 Minutes in Brussels.”
1999 – It’s a nu-metal moment at the Family Values Tour in Kansas City when Puddle Of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin sneaks backstage and slips a demo tape to Fred Durst’s security guard. The Limp Bizkit leader gives it a listen and signs the band to his label, Flawless Records.
2000 – De La Soul released their fifth studio album, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump. It features “Oooh.”
2000 – A class-action lawsuit was filed against the major record labels, claiming that they kept CD prices high by punishing retailers who sold the discs for less than their “minimum advertised price.” The case was eventually settled for $143 million, with 3.48 million claimants who bought CDs between January 1, 1995 and December 22, 2000, receiving checks for $13.86.
2004 – There was a big stink (hey-o!) when The Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped its sewage through a metal-grate bridge deck into the Chicago River. Making matters worse, a Chicago Architecture Center sightseeing boat, carrying more than 100 passengers, was passing under the bridge at the time the septic tank was emptied. The band members were not on the bus at the time, but the driver eventually pleaded guilty to reckless conduct and discharging contaminants to cause water pollution, receiving a sentence of 18 months’ probation, 150 hours of community service and the maximum $10,000 fine, which was paid to the environmental nonprofit group, Friends of the Chicago River. The Dave Matthews Band also agreed to pay a $200,000 settlement. At the time of the incident, the then-mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, described the dumping as “absolutely unacceptable” but acknowledged the Dave Matthews Band were still a very good band. The incident is sometimes referred to as “Poopgate.”
2006 – Heartless Bastards released their second studio album, All This Time.
2007 – M.I.A. released her second studio album, Kala. It features “Paper Planes.”
2007 – Amy Winehouse overdosed on a mixture of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine after a London pub crawl. Her hospitalization causes the cancellation of her first US tour. The singer refused her record company’s request to enter rehab for alcohol abuse, inspiring her hit record “Rehab.”
2011 – Jay-Z and Kanye West released their collaborative album, Watch the Throne.
2014 – The Gaslight Anthem released their fifth studio album, Get Hurt. It features the title track, “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” and “Stay Vicious.”
2015 – Rapper Sean Price died at the age of 43.
2016 – The judge overseeing Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” trial ruled against the band and their publishing company’s attempts to recoup nearly $800,000 in legal fees. While a federal jury determined that Led Zeppelin were not guilty of plagiarizing Spirit’s “Taurus” in a copyright infringement trial, judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that, since the lawsuit itself was not frivolous and meritless, the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy (California) Wolfe and their attorney Francis Malofiy were not obligated to repay the defendants’ legal fees.
News and Information from The Current