Wednesday, June 15, 2011

This Week In Rock History

1954--Guitarist Denny Cedrone is killed in a fall down a staircase just a few weeks after recording the iconic solo in Billy Haley & the Comets "Rock Around the Clock"

1957--Elvis Presley's song "All Shook Up" debuts on the charts at #24 weeks before it's official release date, after DJs obtain copies of the single intended as gifts for US service men.

1964--British railway workers discover a young girl packed in a tea-chest on a station platform. The girl, who was uninjured, was attempting to mail herself to the Beatles.

1970--Promoters of the Woodstock concert announce that they lost over $1-million dollars on the concert. They would later make the money back through sales of the soundtrack, movie, and related memorabilia.

1972--Keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan played his last show with the Grateful Dead at the Hollywood Bowl. McKernan would die less than a year later from liver failure brought on by years of hard drinking at the age of 27.

1982--Pretenders guitarist and founding member James Honeyman Scott died of a cocaine related heart-attack. Scott's death came just 2 days after the dismissal from the band of bass player Pete Farndon for drug related reasons.

1995--Beatles producer George Martin receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

1999--British musician and politician David "Screaming Lord" Such, founder of the "Official Monster Raving Loony Party," committed suicide by hanging.

2002--A copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band autographed by all four Beatles sells at auction for over $57,000.


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