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Today in rock history: On this date in 1961, long before worldwide fame would come their way, The Beatles played three separate shows in three separate locations in the same day. All were in the band’s hometown of Liverpool, England with the first taking place around the lunch hour at The Cavern Club, a venue that would soon become famous in its own right for hosting The Fab Four as its house band. The two evening shows happened at the Cassanova Club followed by a late night show at Litherland Town Hall.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1972, Led Zeppelin released “Rock and Roll” to American radio. The band wasn’t fond of releasing singles, but its label, Atlantic Records, felt that singles would improve the band’s chances of getting radio airplay stateside. “Rock and Roll” was written spontaneously when John Bonham played the drum intro to Little Richard’s classic “You Keep A-Knockin” before guitarist Jimmy Page put a fat guitar riff over it. Within minutes, the basis of the song was created.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 2012, inspired by a religious leader’s support for Vladimir Putin during Russia’s elections, Russian all-female punk outfit Pussy Riot unleashed an impromptu performance inside a Catholic Church. The band was abruptly stopped by security, but not before the act was filmed and made into a music video. Within a month of the protest, three of Pussy Riot’s members were arrested, sent to trial and sentenced to two years of jail time for what the courts regarded as religious hatred.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1962, Mark McLaughlin, better known as Mark Arm, was born at the Vandenberg Air Force in Lompoc, California. The founder of Mudhoney (a band which many say kicked off Seattle’s grunge scene) had a lengthy career as the group’s frontman and was a major catalyst in the rise and success of indie rock label Sub Pop, whose roster would later feature bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana.
This article appears in Feb 21-28, 2019.