July 1

• 1970: Casey Kasem’s “The American Top-Forty” radio show debuts in eleven U.S. cities

July 2

• 1980: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and manager Joel Rifkin of the Grateful Dead are arrested in San Diego for interfering in the drug-related arrest of a concert-goer

July 3

• 1969: Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool

July 4

• 1898: Chautauqua Theatre Boulder opens

July 6

• 1957: 15-year-old Paul McCartney and 16-year-old John Lennon meet at a church picnic near Liverpool

• 1962: Ella Fitzgerald performs at Red Rocks.

July 7

• 1940: Ringo Starr is born

• 1961: The Fox Theatre in Boulder opens as a movie theater, part of the Inter-Mountain Theatre group.

• 1980: The original lineup of Led Zeppelin performs for the last time

July 9

• 1971: Doors lead singer Jim Morrison is buried at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France

• 1995: Jerry Garcia plays with the Grateful Dead for the last time at Chicago’s Soldier Field; he will die of a heart attack one month later

July 11

• 1969: David Bowie releases “Space Oddity” as an ode to American space travel to the moon

July 13

• 1985: Live Aid, a concert to benefit world hunger, takes place at Wembley Stadium in England and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia

July 17

• 1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience opens for The Monkees at N.Y.’s Forest Hills Tennis Stadium

• 1986: Willie Nelson performs at Red Rocks

July 19

• 2008: Denver hosts the first Mile High Music Festival at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, after Denver Zoo officials oppose the event in City Park

July 21

• 1986: The album Appetite For Destruction is released by Guns N’ Roses

• 1990: Roger Waters performs “The Wall” at  the former site of the Berlin Wall

July 23

• 1980: Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux dies two days after a car accident

July 25

• 1965: Bob Dylan plugs in his guitar and is booed at the Newport Folk Festival

• 1969: Neil Young makes his first appearance with Crosby, Stills & Nash at The Fillmore East

July 26

• 1977: Bob Marley performs at Red Rocks

July 30

• 2009: Phish returns to Red Rocks for a four-night sold out run. It was the band’s first shows there in 13 years

June 1

•             1974: Alanis Morissette is born

•             1969: During their “bed-in,” John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance” with friends Tommy and Dick Smothers and Timothy Leary

•             1967: The Beatles release Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the U.S.

•             1947: Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood is born

June 2

•             1970: B-Real of Cypress Hill is born Louis Freeze

•             1941: Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is born

June 5

•             1971: Grand Funk Railroad sell out Shea Stadium in 72 hours (less time than The Beatles)

June 6

•             1990: 2 Live Crew’s As Nasty As They Wanna Be LP is deemed obscene by a federal judge in Florida

June 7

•             1993: Prince celebrates his birthday by changing his name to a symbol

•             1946: Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzman is born

June 9

•             1915: Les Paul is born

June 11

•             1969: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” is released to coincide with the first lunar landing

June 14

•             1961: Boy George is born George O’Dowd

June 15

•             1956: John Lennon (15) and Paul McCartney (13) meet for the first time (Lennon’s group The Quarrymen are performing at a church dinner)

•             1937: Waylon Jennings is born

June 16

•             1971: Rapper Tupac Shakur is born Lesane Parish Crooks

•             1967: Rock’s first major festival, The Monterey International Pop Festival, takes place, with Jimi Hendrix, The Mamas and The Papas, The Who, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Otis Redding, Buffalo Springfield and many more.

June 18

•             1942: Paul McCartney is born

June 20

•             1942: Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys is born

June 22

•             1936: Kris Kristofferson is born

June 24

•             1942: Mick Fleetwood is born

June 25

•             1984: Prince’s album Purple Rain sets a record when 1.3 million copies are sold in one day

June 27

•             1989: At New York’s Radio City Music Hall, The Who perform their rock opera Tommy in its entirety for the first time in 17 years

•             1971: New York’s Fillmore East, the heralded rock venue, is closed

June 29

•             1967: Keith Richards is sentenced to one year in jail on drug charges

Compiled from the archives of Rock & Roll Library www.rocklibrary.com

May 1

• 1967: Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu

May 2

• 1980: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” is banned by the South African government

May 3

• 1928: James Brown is born

May 4

• 1970: Four students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State are shot by National Guardsmen

May 7

• 1946: Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead is born

May 8

• 1955: Alex Van Halen of Van Halen is born

May 10

• 1957: Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is born John Simon Beverly

May 13

• 1966: Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish is born

• 1950: Stevie Wonder is born

May 14

• 1998: Frank Sinatra dies in Los Angeles

• 1952: David Byrne of The Talking Heads is born

May 15

• 1945: The first U.S. album chart is introduced

May 16

• 1966: The Beach Boys release Pet Sounds

May 17

• 1980: Kiss drummer Peter Criss leaves the band

for a solo career

May 19

• 1945: Pete Townshend of The Who is born

May 20

• 1972: Busta Rhymes is born

• 1944: Joe Cocker is born

May 22

• 1979: Cheap Trick’s album Live at Budokan goes platinum

• 1975: “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels raises his previous cash offer to The Beatles to reunite and appear on the show.

• 1959: Morrissey is born Stephen Patrick Morrissey in Manchester, England

May 24

• 1969: Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes is born

• 1941: Bob Dylan is born Robert Zimmerman

May 26

• 1994: Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson marry

• 1926: Miles Davis is born

May 31

• 1948: John Bonham of Led Zeppelin is born

April 1

•  1984: Marvin Gaye’s father shoots him twice and kills him

•  1948: Jimmy Cliff is born

April 2

•  1947: Emmylou Harris is born

•  1939: Marvin Gaye is born

April 3

•  1996: MC Hammer files for bankruptcy

•  1948: Bassist Berry Oakley is born

April 4

•  1996: Half of the late Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered in the Ganges River in India

April 5

•  1994: Kurt Cobain, 27, commits suicide

April 7

•  1998: George Michael is arrested in a Beverly Hills bathroom for “engaging in a lewd act”

April 9

•  1932: Carl Perkins is born

April 10

•  1956: Nat King Cole is beaten onstage by segregationists in Birmingham, Ala.

April 11

•  1970: The single “Let It Be” by The Beatles hits #1

April 12

•  2000: Napster Inc. is sued by Metallica

April 15

•  1996: Half of the late Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered by the Golden Gate Bridge

April 18

•  1993: Police arrest David Lee Roth in New York City for buying a $10 bag of marijuana

April 19:

•  1968: John Lennon and George Harrison leave India, citing philosophical differences with the Maharishi

April 21

•  1959: Robert Smith of The Cure is born

•  1947: Iggy Pop is born

April 22

•  1950: Peter Frampton is born, or “comes alive,” if you will

April 23

•  1936: Roy Orbison is born

April 24

•  1975: SNL producer Lorne Michaels makes on-air offer to pay $3000 for a Beatles reunion on the show.

April 25

•  1990: Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock Fender Stratocaster fetches $295,000 at auction

April 30

•  1983: Blues legend Muddy Waters dies of a heart attack at the age of 68

• 1969: Jim Morrison of The Doors is arrested during a Miami concert for indecent exposure

• 1944: Roger Daltrey of The Who is born

March 2

• 1967: The Beatles’ song “Michelle” is named Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards

• 1944: Lou Reed is born

March 4

• 1966: John Lennon tells a London newspaper that The Beatles are “more popular than Jesus right now”

March 5

• 1963: Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee

March 7

• 1955: Carl Perkins’ classic “Blue Suede Shoes” enters the R&B charts

March 8

• 1973: Grateful Dead keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan dies of cirrhosis of the liver

• 1968: The Fillmore East, owned by promoter Bill Graham, opens in New York City

March 9

• 1997: The Notorious B.I.G. is shot and killed

March 12

• 1955: Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker dies of heart failure at the age of 34

• 1948: Singer/songwriter James Taylor is born

March 15

• 1947: Guitarist Ry Cooder is born

• 1944: Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone is born

March 16

• 1963: Peter, Paul and Mary release the single “Puff the Magic Dragon”

• 1959: Rapper Flavor Flav of Public Enemy is born William Drayton

March 17

• 1967: Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins is born

• 1917: Singer/jazz musician Nat “King” Cole is born

March 18

• 1970: Queen Latifah is born Dana Elaine Owens

March 19

• 1982: Randy Rhoads dies in a plane accident

March 20

• 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry

March 25

• 1947: Elton John is born Reginald Kenneth Dwight

• 1942: Aretha Franklin is born

March 26

• 1948: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is born

• 1827: Ludwig van Beethoven dies in Austria

March 27

• 1986: Sammy Hagar debuts as lead singer of Van Halen

March 29

• 1969: Perry Farrell of Porno for Pyros and Jane’s Addiction is born

March 30

• 1945: Eric Clapton is born Eric Patrick Clapp

March 31

• 1959: Angus Young of AC/DC is born

February 1

•   1952: Rick James is born (bitch!)

•   1949: RCA Victor introduces the 45 RPM record

February 2

•   1979: Ex-Sex Pistol Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose in New York City

•   1942: Graham Nash, co-founder of The Hollies and later of Crosby, Stills & Nash, is born (not on Jan. 2, like we inadvertently reported last month)

February 3

•   1959: Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly are killed in an Iowa plane crash

February 4

•   1983: Karen Carpenter dies of heart failure as a complication of anorexia

•   1948: Alice Cooper is born

February 6

•   1962: Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses is born William Bruce Rose Jr.

•   1945: Bob Marley is born Robert Nesta Marley

February 7

•   1964: The Beatles land at Kennedy Airport and set foot on American soil for the first time

February 9

•   1964: The Beatles set new records for television ratings when appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show”

February 11

•   1972: David Bowie debuts his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, at a concert in Tollworth, England

February 13

•   1981: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon finishes 402 consecutive weeks (more than seven years) on the Billboard charts

February 17

•   1982: Jazz legend Thelonious Monk dies

February 19

•   1980: Bon Scott, vocalist of AC/DC, dies in London after choking on his own vomit

•   1963: Seal is born Sealhenry Olusegun Olumide Samuel

•   1948: Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath is born

•   1940: Smokey Robinson, founding member of The Miracles, is born

February 20

•   1996: Snoop Doggy Dogg and his bodyguard McKinley Lee are found not guilty of murder in a shooting death case

•   1967: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is born

February 22

•   1989: Jethro Tull is selected over Metallica to win the first Hard Rock/Metal Grammy

February 24

•   1969: Johnny Cash performs at San Quentin Prison, spawning the legendary Live at San Quentin album

February 25

•   1943: George Harrison of The Beatles is born

February 26

•   1932: Johnny Cash is born

February 28

•  1984: Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards for his album Thriller

•   1942: Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones is born

January 2

• 1943: Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash is born

January 3

• 1946: John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is born

• 1945: Steven Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash is born

January 4

• 1960: Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is born

January 6

• 1957: Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but is only shown from the waist up

• 1946: Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd is born Roger Barrett

• 1924: Earl Scruggs is born

January 7

• 1958: Gibson registers patent for the Flying V Model Electric Guitar

January 8

• 1947: David Bowie is born David Robert Jones

• 1935: Elvis Presley is born

January 9

• 1950: David Johansen of The New York Dolls is born

• 1944: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin is born

January 11

• 1964: Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire becomes the first country album to top the U.S. pop album chart

January 14

• 1968: LL Cool J is born James Todd Smith

January 15

• 1967: The Rolling Stones appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and, at Sullivan’s request, change the lyrics from “Let’s spend the night together” to “Let’s spend some time together”

• 1949: Ronnie Van Zandt of Lynyrd Skynyrd is born

January 19

• 1981: Chris Wright, the chairman of the British Phonograph Industry, predicts the new cassette format will cause the death of vinyl

• 1943: Janis Lynn Joplin is born

January 20

• 1982: Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off of a live bat

• 1950: Paul Stanley of Kiss is born

January 23

• 1910: Django Reinhardt is born

January 24

• 1947: Warren Zevon is born

• 1941: Neil Diamond is born Noah Kaminski

January 26

• 1957: Eddie Van Halen is born

January 27

• 1984: Michael Jackson suffers second and third degree burns to his head and neck after his hair catches fire from sparks from pyrotechnic effects during the filming of a Pepsi commercial

January 29

• 1952: Tommy Ramone of The Ramones is born Thomas Erdelyi

January 30

• 1969: The Beatles perform together for the last time atop the roof of Apple Records’ headquarters in London.

December 1

• 1983: Neil Young is sued by Geffen Records for producing albums that are “not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums”

• 1982: Epic Records releases Thriller – Michael Jackson’s first solo album in three years

December 2

• 1970: Jay-Z is born Shawn Corey Carter

• 1967: The Monkees set a record by achieving four number one albums in the same year

December 3

• 1979: Eleven Who fans are trampled to death rushing to gain admittance for general seating at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.

December 6

• 1988: Roy Orbison dies of a massive heart attack at the age of 52

• 1969: The Rolling Stones headline a free show at Altamont Speedway in California; the Hell’s Angels handle security and stab a man to death during the show (See: Gimme Shelter)

• 1956: Randy Rhodes is born

December 7

• 1949: Tom Waits is born

December 8

• 1980: John Lennon is gunned down in front of his N.Y.C. apartment building after returning home from a recording session with his wife Yoko Ono

• 1947: Gregg Allman is born

• 1943: Jim Morrison is born

December 10

• 1967: Otis Redding dies in a plane crash

December 11

• 1964: Sam Cooke is shot and killed by hotel manager Bertha Franklin

• 1957: Jerry Lee Lewis secretly weds his third wife, third cousin Myra Gale Brown

December 18

• 1943: Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones is born

December 23

• 1966: Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is born

• 1955: Bruce Hornsby is born

December 24

• 1945: Lemmy of Motorhead is born

December 25

• 1946: Jimmy Buffett is born

December 26

• 1968: Led Zeppelin begins its first U.S. tour

• 1940: Legendary music producer and “Wall of Sound” creator Phil Spector is born

December 27

• 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens to the public in New York City’s Rockefeller Center

• 1952: David Knopfler (the younger brother of Mark Knoplfer) of Dire Straits is born

December 30

•  1999: George Harrison is stabbed several times after he and his wife, Olivia, are attacked by an intruder in their home outside London

December 31

•  1943: John Denver is born John Henry Deutschendorf

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

October 3

• 1967: Woody Guthrie dies at the age of 55

• 1954: Stevie Ray Vaughan is born

October 4

•  1992: Singer Sinead O’Connor rips up a picture of Pope John Paul on “Saturday Night Live”

•  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 drug possession

October 5

• 1992: Guns N’ Roses holds the top two positions on the charts with their albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II

October 8

•  1980: Bob Marley collapses during a concert in Pittsburgh and will never perform again

October 9

• 1975: Sean Ono Lennon is born to John Ono Lennon and Yoko Lennon Ono

•  1940: John Lennon is born

October 12

• 1997: John Denver is killed when the plane he is piloting crashes over Monterey Bay, Calif.

• 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 16

•  1962: Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is born Michael Balzary

• 1947: Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead is born

October 17

• 1990: Vanilla Ice’s To The Extreme is the first album to top the U.S. album chart on CD without a vinyl counterpart

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 a cocaine overdose at the age of 28

October 25

•  1991: Concert promoter Bill Graham dies in a helicopter crash

October 29

•   1971: At the age of 24, Duane Allman dies while 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 number one.

October 31

• 1966: King Ad-Rock of The Beastie Boys is born Adam Horovitz

• 1995: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland

September 3

• 1967: Folk singer Woodie Guthrie dies in New York City at the age of 52

September 5

• 1987: After 30 years, the television show “American Bandstand” is cancelled

• 1946: Freddie Mercury of Queen is born Frederick Farookh Bulsara

September 6

• 1989: Neil Young wins Best Video at the MTV Music Awards for “This Note’s For You,” which was originally banned by the station

September 7

• 1978: The Who’s Keith Moon dies of a drug overdose

• 1936: Buddy Holly is born Charles Hardin Holley

September 9

• 1941: Otis Redding is born

September 11

• 1987: Peter Tosh is murdered in his Jamaican home

September 13

• 1996: Tupac Shakur dies in a Las Vegas hospital six days after being shot

• 1976: Fiona Apple is born

September 16

• 1977: Marc Bolan of T-Rex dies in a car crash at age 29

• 1925: B.B. King is born Riley B. King

September 18

• 1983: KISS appear on MTV without makeup

• 1970: Jimi Hendrix dies in London

September 19

• 1981: Simon and Garfunkel reunite to perform in New York City’s Central Park for over 400,000 fans

September 23

• 1949: Bruce Springsteen is born

September 24

• 1993: Drummer Steven Adler of Guns N’ Roses is awarded $2.5 million from the band for being kicked out due to an ongoing heroin addiction

September 25

• 1980: Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham dies

September 28

• 1991: Miles Davis dies in New York at the age of 65

September 29

• 1963: Les Claypool of Primus is born

• 1935: Jerry Lee Lewis is born

September 30

• 1964: Trey Anastasio of Phish is born