This Month in music history
October 2
• 1967: All six members of the Grateful Dead are arrested for drug possession after a raid at their 710 Ashbury Street house in San Francisco
• 1951: Sting is born Gordon Sumner
October 3
• 1967: Woody Guthrie dies at the age of 55
• 1954: Stevie Ray Vaughan is born
October 4
• 1970: Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose in a Los Angeles hotel room at the age of 27
• 1956: Johnny Cash is jailed for one night for drug possession
October 5
• 1954: Humanitarian and Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof is born
• 1949: Brian Johnson of AC/DC is born
October 7
• 1957: “American Bandstand” with Dick Clark premieres on U.S. television
October 8
• 1980: Bob Marley collapses during a concert in Pittsburgh and will never perform again
• 1966: The U.S. Government officially declares LSD an illegal substance
October 9
• 1975: Sean Ono Lennon is born
• 1940: John Lennon is born
October 10
• 1953: David Lee Roth is born
• 1917: Thelonius Monk is born
October 12
• 1997: John Denver is killed when the plane he is piloting crashes over Monterey Bay, Calif.
• 1979: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull suffers an eye injury after a rose is thrown on stage
• 1978: Nancy Spungen, girlfriend to ex-Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, is found dead of knife wounds in Room 100 of New York City’s Chelsea Hotel
October 13
• 1941: Singer/songwriter Paul Simon is born
October 16
• 1977: John Mayer is born
• 1962: Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers is born Michael Balzary
• 1947: Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead is born
October 17
• 1974: Eminem is born Bruce Marshall Mathers III
October 18
• 1926: Chuck Berry is born
October 19:
• 1965: Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd is born
October 20
• 1977: Lynyrd Skynyrd loses Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines when their plane crashes into a Mississippi swamp
• 1971: Snoop Doggy Dogg is born Calvin Broadus
October 21
• 1995: Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon, dies of an overdose at the age of 28
October 25
• 1991: Concert promoter Bill Graham dies in a helicopter crash
October 27
• 1967: Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver is born
October 28
• 1936: Charlie Daniels is born
October 29
• 1971: At the age of 24, Duane Allman dies undergoing surgery after he is injured in a motorcycle accident in Macon, GA
October 30
• 1986: License To Ill by The Beastie Boys becomes the first rap album to reach #1
October 31
• 1966: King Ad-Rock of The Beastie Boys is born Adam Horovitz
Compiled from the archives of Rock & Roll Library www.rocklibrary.com
