Today in Rock and Roll History

2007 - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, a convicted sex offender, was arrested for failing to properly register a new permanent address. The 59-year-old had pleaded guilty in 1993 to charges of attempted capital sexual battery by an adult on a victim younger than 12 and being principal to lewd and lascivious behavior on a child younger than 16. He was sentenced to eight years of probation.

I didn't know any of this yukky stuff.

2019 - Irving Burgie
American musician and songwriter, Irving Burgie regarded as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music died aged 95. He composed 34 songs for Harry Belafonte, including eight of the 11 songs on the Belafonte album Calypso (1956), the first album of any kind to sell one million copies. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007.

December 3rd
1969 - The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones recorded 'Brown Sugar' at Muscle Shoals studios. The single went on to be a UK & US No.1. The song was written by Mick Jagger with Marsha Hunt in mind; Hunt was Jagger's secret girlfriend and mother of his first child Karis.

1976 - Pink Floyd
A giant 40ft inflatable pig could be seen floating above London, England after breaking free from its moorings. The pig, nicknamed Algie, was being photographed for the forthcoming Pink Floyd Animals album cover. The Civil Aviation Authority issued a warning to all pilots that a flying pig was on the run, and the pig eventually crashed into a barn in Godmersham, Kent, where the farmer complained of his cows being scared by the incident.

2015 - Scott Weiland
American musician and singer-songwriter Scott Weiland died aged 48. He was found in cardiac arrest on his tour bus in Bloomington, Minnesota, just before he was scheduled to go on stage with his band The Wildabouts. He was 48 years old. Weiland was best known as the lead singer for Stone Temple Pilots from 1986 to 2013, as well as Velvet Revolver from 2003 to 2008.

injinji said:

2007 - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, a convicted sex offender, was arrested for failing to properly register a new permanent address. The 59-year-old had pleaded guilty in 1993 to charges of attempted capital sexual battery by an adult on a victim younger than 12 and being principal to lewd and lascivious behavior on a child younger than 16. He was sentenced to eight years of probation.

I didn't know any of this yukky stuff.

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Damn, I didn't know about that. I wonder if he hung with ted nugent. I'll never be able to listen to their music now without thinking about this sicko. Kind of like michael jackson. I can't listen to it.

xtsho said:

Damn, I didn't know about that. I wonder if he hung with ted nugent. I'll never be able to listen to their music now without thinking about this sicko. Kind of like michael jackson. I can't listen to it.

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It's been a long time since I listened to Skynyrd anyway. They were huge when I was growing up and I had all their records. But over the years my taste changed, not to mention them going full GOP later in life.

December 4th
1956 - Carl Perkins
The so-called 'Million Dollar Quartet' impromptu jam session took place at Sun Studios in Memphis with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

1965 - The Byrds
The Byrds started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' the group's second No.1. A No.26 hit in the UK. Unlike their first chart topper, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’, the entire band was allowed to play on the recording, instead of studio musicians.

1971 - Frank Zappa
The Montreux Casino in Switzerland burnt to the ground during a gig by Frank Zappa. The incident is immortalized by Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water'. In 1967 the Casino became the venue for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was the brainchild of music promoter Claude Nobs. On the night of the blaze, Nobs saved several young people who, thinking they would be sheltered from the flames, had hidden in the casino from the blaze. A recording of the outbreak and fire announcement can be found on a Frank Zappa Bootleg album titled Swiss Cheese / Fire.

1976 - Tommy Bolin
American guitarist Tommy Bolin died from a heroin overdose aged 25 the day after opening a show for Jeff Beck in Miami, Florida. Bolin was a member of Zephyr (1969 to 1971), The James Gang (1973 to 1974) and Deep Purple (1975 to 1976).

1993 - Frank Zappa
Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer. Zappa recorded many albums with The Mothers Of Invention as well a solo recordings including the 1969 album 'Hot Rats' and 1974 album 'Apostrophe'. Zappa recorded one of the first concept albums, 'Freak Out' released in 1966, it was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music (although Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde preceded it by a week). He married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, in 1967, they had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

December 5th
1987 - Fat Larry
Fat Larry James, drummer, singer and leader of Fat Larry’s Band died of a heart attack aged 38. Scored the 1982 UK No.2 single 'Zoom'. The opening drum break from Down On The Avenue, from the band's first album, Feel It has been sampled by N.W.A. Ice-T, Jungle Brothers and Run-D.M.C.

1993 - Doug Hopkins
Doug Hopkins co-founder of American rock band Gin Blossoms died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds age 32. The guitarist and songwriter was in a detox unit of Phoenix's St. Luke's Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona when he snuck out and bought a .38 caliber pistol. The next day Hopkins committed suicide.

On December 6, 1969, a fan who attended the Rolling Stone concert at the Altamont Free Concert 1969, was killed. The fan, named Meredith Hunter, had previously tried to approach the stage and was violently chased away by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who were "approved" by the manager to be a security guard.Altamont, a new music festival in Northern California, was the brainchild of the Rolling Stones, who hoped to cap off their U.S. tour in late 1969 with a concert that would be the West Coast equivalent of Woodstock, in both scale and spirit. Unlike Woodstock, however, which was the result of months of careful planning by a team of well-funded organizers, Altamont was a largely improvised affair that did not even have a definite venue arranged just days before the event.

It was only on Thursday, December 4, 1969, that organizers settled on the Altamont Speedway location for a free concert that was by then scheduled to include Santana; the Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and the Grateful Dead, all in support of the headlining Stones. The event would also include, infamously, several dozen members the Hells Angels motorcycle gang acting as informal security staff in exchange for $500 worth of beer as a “gratuity.”

It was dark by the time the concert’s next-to-last act, the Grateful Dead, was scheduled to appear. But the Dead had left the venue entirely out of concern for their safety when they learned that Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin had been knocked unconscious by one of the Hells Angels in a melee during his band’s performance. It was during the Rolling Stones’ set, however, that a 21-year-old Hells Angel named Alan Passaro stabbed a gun-wielding 18-year-old named Meredith Hunter to death just 20 feet in front of the stage where Mick Jagger was performing “Under My Thumb.” Unaware that someone had died, the Rolling Stones completed their set without further incident, bringing an end to a tumultuous day that also saw three accidental deaths and four live births.

The killing of Meredith Hunter at Altamont was captured on film in Gimme Shelter, the documentary of the Stones’ 1969 tour by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, which opens with Jagger viewing the footage in an editing room several months later. In the years since, Jagger has not spoken publicly about the killing, for which Passaro was tried but acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

The Chaos of Altamont and the Murder of Meredith Hunter

A lot has been written about the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, where dozens of people were beaten and a black teen was killed, but so much of the language around it has been passive, exonerating.

www.newyorker.com

December 10th, 1969: Four people died over the weekend at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival

Here's the story of Altamont in quotes from many of the people involved.

gaslightrecords.com

Murder In The Midst Of The Rolling Stones Concert In History Today, December 6, 1969

On December 6, 1969, a fan who attended The Rolling Stone concert at the Altamont Free Concert 1969, was killed. The fan, named Meredith Hunter, had previously tried to approach the stage and was violently chased away by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who were "approved" by the...

voi.id

December 6th
1949 - Leadbelly
American blues artist, Leadbelly died. Huddie William Ledbetter wrote many songs including 'Goodnight Irene', ‘Cotton Fields’, 'The Rock Island Line', and ‘The Midnight Special'. Leadbelly was jailed several times for fights and knife related incidents, he was once jailed for shooting a man dead during an argument over a woman.

BarnBuster said:

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On December 6, 1969, a fan who attended the Rolling Stone concert at the Altamont Free Concert 1969, was killed. The fan, named Meredith Hunter, had previously tried to approach the stage and was violently chased away by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who were "approved" by the manager to be a security guard.Altamont, a new music festival in Northern California, was the brainchild of the Rolling Stones, who hoped to cap off their U.S. tour in late 1969 with a concert that would be the West Coast equivalent of Woodstock, in both scale and spirit. Unlike Woodstock, however, which was the result of months of careful planning by a team of well-funded organizers, Altamont was a largely improvised affair that did not even have a definite venue arranged just days before the event.

It was only on Thursday, December 4, 1969, that organizers settled on the Altamont Speedway location for a free concert that was by then scheduled to include Santana; the Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and the Grateful Dead, all in support of the headlining Stones. The event would also include, infamously, several dozen members the Hells Angels motorcycle gang acting as informal security staff in exchange for $500 worth of beer as a “gratuity.”

It was dark by the time the concert’s next-to-last act, the Grateful Dead, was scheduled to appear. But the Dead had left the venue entirely out of concern for their safety when they learned that Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin had been knocked unconscious by one of the Hells Angels in a melee during his band’s performance. It was during the Rolling Stones’ set, however, that a 21-year-old Hells Angel named Alan Passaro stabbed a gun-wielding 18-year-old named Meredith Hunter to death just 20 feet in front of the stage where Mick Jagger was performing “Under My Thumb.” Unaware that someone had died, the Rolling Stones completed their set without further incident, bringing an end to a tumultuous day that also saw three accidental deaths and four live births.

The killing of Meredith Hunter at Altamont was captured on film in Gimme Shelter, the documentary of the Stones’ 1969 tour by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, which opens with Jagger viewing the footage in an editing room several months later. In the years since, Jagger has not spoken publicly about the killing, for which Passaro was tried but acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

The Chaos of Altamont and the Murder of Meredith Hunter

A lot has been written about the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, where dozens of people were beaten and a black teen was killed, but so much of the language around it has been passive, exonerating.

www.newyorker.com

December 10th, 1969: Four people died over the weekend at The Altamont Speedway Free Festival

Here's the story of Altamont in quotes from many of the people involved.

gaslightrecords.com

Murder In The Midst Of The Rolling Stones Concert In History Today, December 6, 1969

On December 6, 1969, a fan who attended The Rolling Stone concert at the Altamont Free Concert 1969, was killed. The fan, named Meredith Hunter, had previously tried to approach the stage and was violently chased away by members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who were "approved" by the...

voi.id

Click to expand...

1969 - The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones played a free festival at Altamont in California, along with Jefferson Airplane, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Rolling Stones fan Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death as the group played by Hell's Angels who'd been hired to police the event. It's claimed Hunter was waving a revolver. One other man drowned, two men were killed by in a hit-and run accident and two babies were born.

1988 - Roy Orbison
American singer songwriter Roy Orbison died of a heart attack aged 52. Scored the 1964 UK & US No.1 single 'Pretty Woman', plus over 20 US & 30 UK Top 40 singles including ‘Only the Lonely’ and ‘Crying’. Formed his first band The Wink Westerners in 1949, was a member of The Traveling Wilburys (known as Lefty Wilbury) with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty and had the 1988 UK No.21 single 'Handle With Care'. Orbison endured a great deal of tragedy in his life. His first wife, Claudette died in a motorcycle accident in 1966 and two of his three sons, died in a house fire.

December 7th
1967 - Otis Redding
Otis Redding went into the studio to record '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay'. The song went on to be his biggest hit. Redding didn't see its release; he was killed three days later in a plane crash. Redding wrote the first verse of the song, under the abbreviated title 'Dock of the Bay', on a houseboat at Waldo Point in Sausalito, California a short time after his appearance at The Monterey pop festival. Redding's familiar whistling, heard before the song's fade was the singer fooling around, he had intended to return to the studio at a later date to add words in place of the whistling.

2016 - Greg Lake
Greg Lake, who fronted both King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, died aged 69 after a battle with cancer. One of the founding fathers of progressive rock, the band combined heavy rock riffs with a classical influence. They scored hit albums with Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery and Lake had his solo hit 'I Believe in Father Christmas'. Jimi Hendrix considered joining ELP in their earliest incarnation, and if this had happened, the band would've been known as HELP.