It’s October 17th and here are some reasons why this day matters in rock history:
- Gord Downie, lead singer of Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, lost his battle with brain cancer. He was 53. Downie had revealed his terminal diagnosis of glioblastoma in May 2016, five months after he suffered a seizure. "We are less of a country without Gordon Downie," said prime minister Justin Trudeau. "We all knew it was coming but we hoped it wasn’t. It hurts."
- In 1998, Canada's Barenaked Ladies had the No. 1 song in the country with “One Week,” which spent one week in the top spot.
- In 1999, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band played the first rock concert at the brand new Staples Center in Los Angeles.
- In 1989, Billy Joel released the album Storm Front, which featured the hit singles “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and “I Go to Extremes.”
- In 1999, Santana had their first No. 1 album in 28 years when their record Supernatural topped the charts.
- In 1964, Manfred Mann had the No. 1 song in the country with “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” It spent two weeks on top of the charts.
- In 1995, in an interview with UK publication The Observer, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher said he wished Damon Albarn and Alex Cox of Blur would die from AIDS. Gallagher later retracted the comment.
- And in 2008, Guns N’ Roses announced that their long-awaited album Chinese Democracy would finally be coming out.
And that’s what happened today in rock history.
Original article by Dave Basner at iHeartRadio