Today in rock history: on this date in 1976, British weekly music paper Melody Maker featured the up and coming punk rock phenomenon Sex Pistols on the front cover. The band was already starting to gain a reputation for their antics and all the controversy surrounding them and this cover feature at the onset of their short lifespan would be the first of many more that would follow.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1970, the three-day Goose Lake International Music Festival took place at Goose Lake Park in Jackson, Michigan. Tickets for the festival were priced at $15 for admission for all three days. Artists who appeared on the bill included Faces, MC5, The Stooges, Jethro Tull, Flying Burrito Brothers and many more. It was estimated that 60,000 fans would attend the event, but the actual attendance number exceeded 200,000. The festival is notable for featuring a rotating stage that was specifically built for the event that made it possible for to there to be no time needed in between acts for setup and breakdown of equipment.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1983, legendary heavy metal group Black Sabbath released its 11th studio album, Born Again. After the departure of lead singer Ronnie James Dio, the band embarked on a search for a new lead singer. It was decided that ex-Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan would take over vocal duties for the band. The record was met with mixed reviews and didn’t fare as well as expected in the U.S. barely cracking the Top 40 on album sales charts. Its success in the U.K. was far more substantial; the record climbed as high as no. 4 on British sales charts, making it one of the band’s best-performing albums in their native England. The record featured one single, the album’s opening cut “Trashed” and wound up being the only record that would feature Gillian as part of the Black Sabbath lineup.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1980, former Beatle John Lennon began recording sessions for what would end up being his final release, Double Fantasy. The record was released in November that same year and within a month of its release, Lennon would be murdered. The album produced several hit singles, reached the no. 1 spot on Billboard’s album sales chart and won a Grammy award for Album of the Year.