Today in Rock and Roll History

1979 - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin played their last ever UK show when they appeared at Knebworth House, England. The set list included: The Song Remains The Same, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Nobody's Fault But Mine, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter, Hot Dog, The Rain Song, White Summer/Black Mountainside, Kashmir, Trampled Under Foot, Sick Again, Achilles' Last Stand, In The Evening, Stairway To Heaven Rock And Roll, Whole Lotta Love and Communication Breakdown.

1997 - Luther Allison
American Blues guitarist Luther Allison died of cancer age 57 in Madison, Wisconsin. He played with Howlin' Wolf's band and backed James Cotton.

2010 - Richie Hayward
Richie Hayward, drummer and co-founder of Little Feat, passed away at the age of 64 after contracting pneumonia as he battled liver cancer.

August 13th
1952 - Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton
The original version of 'Hound Dog' was recorded by Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton. It would become the first hit for the song-writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and went on to top the Billboard R&B chart for seven weeks, selling nearly two million copies.

1966 - Lovin Spoonful
Lovin Spoonful started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Summer In The City', it made No.8 in the UK. The song features a series of car horns during the instrumental bridge, starting with a Volkswagen Beetle horn, and ends up with a jackhammer sound, in order to give the impression of the sounds of the summer in the city.

1971 - The Who
The Who released their fifth studio album Who’s Next which featured the classic song 'Won't Get Fooled Again' and has since been viewed by critics as the Who's best record and one of the greatest rock albums of all time. The cover artwork shows a photo of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling, but according to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the band members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect.

injinji said:

2010 - Richie Hayward
Richie Hayward, drummer and co-founder of Little Feat, passed away at the age of 64 after contracting pneumonia as he battled liver cancer.

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One of my all time favorite bands, saw them several times, waaaay back in the day.

1969 - Woodstock
Woodstock Festival was held on Max Yasgur's 600 acre farm in Bethel outside New York. Attended by over 400,000 people, the event featured, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Santana, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Canned Heat, Joan Baez, Melanie, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shanker, Country Joe and the Fish, Blood Sweat and Tears, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker. During the three days there were three deaths, two births and four miscarriages.

1961 - Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline recorded 'Crazy'. The ballad composed by Willie Nelson became one of her signature tunes and gave Cline a No.2 country hit in 1962. Nelson originally wrote the song for country singer Billy Walker, but Walker turned it down. The song's eventual success helped launch Nelson as a performer as well as a songwriter.

1969 - The Who
Hippie leader Abbie Hoffman was knocked offstage by Pete Townshend while attempting to make a political statement during The Who's set at Woodstock. Later, Townshend said he didn't know it was Hoffman at the time.

August 17th
1959 - Miles Davis
American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis released Kind of Blue which is regarded by many critics as jazz's greatest record, Davis's masterpiece, and one of the best albums of all time. Its influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded.

1969 - Woodstock Festival
The final day of the 3 day Woodstock Festival took place at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. Acts who appeared included Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Sha Na Na, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, The Band, Ten Years After, Johnny Winter and Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Over 186,000 tickets had been sold but on the first day the flimsy fences and ticket barriers had come down. Organisers announced the concert would be a free event, prompting thousands more to head for the concert.

1974 - Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 461 Ocean Boulevard, a No.3 hit in the UK. The house featured on the album cover is 461 Ocean Boulevard in the town of Golden Beach, Florida near Miami where Clapton lived while making the album.

I wore this one out. When mowing my mother in law's yard, I would sing Mainline Florida, as their yard was a mirror image of the state. (and mowing it would reveal the effects of sea level rise. OK, I might have had too much time on my hands)

August 18th
1977 - The Police
The Police made their live debut as a three-piece band when they played at Rebecca's Birmingham, England. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

1991 - Rick Griffith
Rick Griffin, died after being forced off the road by a van he was attempting to pass on his Harley Heritage Softail motorbike. One of his best known album covers was for the Grateful Dead's 'Aoxomoa' LP, and the legendary "Flying Eyeball" poster he designed for a series of concerts in San Francisco featuring the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Albert King and John Mayall.

2019 - Duane Allman
The guitar Duane Allman played on the classic Derek and the Dominos song ‘Layla’ sold for $1million (£820,000) at auction. The 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop was Allman’s main guitar during the first two years of the Allman Brothers Band and was played on their 1969 self-titled debut album and 1970 follow-up Idlewild South. 'Layla' was one of the final recordings that featured Allman playing that guitar as soon after, the guitarist swapped it for a 1959 Les Paul.

2019 - Larry Taylor
American bass guitarist Larry Taylor died age 77. He is best known as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis. He was the younger brother of Mel Taylor, long-time drummer of The Ventures.

August 20th
1965 - David Bowie
Davy Jones & The Lower Third released the single 'You've Got a Habit of Leaving' the last song that David Bowie (born David Jones), released before changing his name to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees, and the first of two singles that he recorded with The Lower Third after leaving his previous band, The Manish Boys.