On This Date, July 29th, in 1973: after playing the final show of three nights at Madison Square Garden, Led Zeppelin lost $180,000 in cash when a thief stole their hotel safe deposit box containing receipts from the two previous concerts. The theft – a crime largely suspected to be an inside job perpetrated by employees of the hotel – was never solved.
On This Date, July 14th in 1967: The Who kicked off their first large scale U.S. tour at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon as the opening act for Herman’s Hermits.
Gary Numan Signed Promo Pic
On This Date in 1979: Tubeway Army had the #1 single in the UK with “Are Friends Electric?” from the album, Replicas. Much in the way that Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor, Tubeway Army was (at the time anyway) basically a solo project of electronic music pioneer Gary Numan (born Gary Webb).
Cliff Burton Action Figure By Super7 (Photo By Gail)
On This Date, September 27th, in 1986: Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was killed in Sweden when the band’s tour bus skidded off the highway and flipped onto the ground. Burton was thrown through the window of the bus, which then fell on top of him, crushing him to death. He was 24 years old.
“Cheers!”
This is probably a weird thing to remember, or feel the need to validate, but every year on March 9th I celebrate what I call my “Queeniversary,” which is the anniversary of the night I saw the band Queen live for the first time at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles, way back in 1976. I don’t listen to my Queen albums as much these days as I once did, but between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, I swear that band saved my sanity. So thanks Freddie, Brian, Roger and John, for being the band I needed to have in my life at that time, and for making such unforgettable music.