This Month in music History
October 1
• 1975: Al Jackson of The MG’s is shot to death in his Memphis, Tenn. home by an intruder; oddly, his wife had shot him in the chest in July
October 2
• 1994: John Mellencamp announces he has had a mild heart attack brought on by a four-pack-per -day cigarette habit
• 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, in Newcastle, England
October 3
• 1967: Woody Guthrie dies in Queens, New York, 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 during an appearance 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 one night 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
• 1954: Humanitarian and Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof is born
• 1949: Brian Johnson of AC/DC is born
October 6
• 1994: Glen Frey undergoes colon surgery
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 to John Ono Lennon and Yoko Lennon Ono
• 1940: John Lennon is born
October 10
• 1978: Steve Perry joins Journey
• 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 and a thorn pierces his eye
• 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/musician Paul Simon is born
October 16
• 1977: John Mayer is born
• 1971: Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft” is released
• 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
• 1974: Eminem is born Bruce Marshall Mathers III
October 18
• 1931: Phonograph inventor Thomas Edison dies
• 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 a cocaine overdose at the age of 28
October 24
• 1962: James Brown records “Live From The Apollo”
October 25
• 1991: Concert promoter Bill Graham dies in a helicopter crash
October 27
• 1975: Bruce Springsteen is on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines as a result of his “Born To Run” popularity
• 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 in 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
