Today in rock history: on this date in 1975, Genesis lead singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel announced he was leaving the group. The theatrical singer, who often wore outlandish costumes onstage decided to leave the confines of the group to experiment on his own as a solo artist. He’d soon embark on an illustrious solo career that’s produced a string of marvelous albums and is still going strong. After his departure, Genesis auditioned over 400 singers to take Gabriel’s place; instead of hiring one, they decided to let longtime band drummer Phil Collins take over all vocalist duties.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1977, the end of an era truly occurred. At the age of 42, rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley succumbed to his death inside his Memphis, Tennessee mansion, Graceland. The cultural icon, often referred to as the King of Rock and Roll, starred in 31 feature length films and holds the record for the most appearances on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 chart with a staggering 154 entries.
Today in rock history: on this date in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, Madonna Louise Ciccone was born. The future icon relocated to New York City in 1978 to attempt a career in music and dance. After spending time in several dance troupes and bands, the ambitious performer dropped her last name and emerged as an exciting solo artist and released her first solo album in 1983; she has since become one of the best-selling and most popular musical artists throughout the world. On this same day in 1986, Madonna also took over the no. 1 spot on both Billboard’s singles and albums chart with her smash hit “Papa Don’t Preach” and the album from which it hails, True Blue.
Today in rock history: on this date in two separate years, California funk rock pioneers Red Hot Chili Peppers released two of its best and most consistent albums. In 1985, the band released its second album, Freaky Styley, which was produced by funk heavyweight and P. Funk founder, George Clinton. Among the album’s standouts are covers of Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me To Stay” as well as a rendition of “Hollywood (Africa)” which was originally recorded by New Orleans funk legends, The Meters. On this very date in 1986, the band’s fourth album, the breakout release Mother’s Milk was released as well. Benefitting from heavy college radio play and exposure on MTV, the singles “Taste The Pain,” “Knock Me Down” and a revved-up take on Stevie Wonder’s classic “Higher Ground” helped catapult the band from underground darlings to bona fide rock stars. The album scraped the lower reaches of Billboard’s Top 40, and became the first album that would achieve gold sales status (marking sales of over 500,000 copies sold) in the United States. Read our review of RHCP's April set at Tampa's Amalie Arena here.
This article appears in Aug 10-17, 2017.