Today in rock history 2nd May

Saturday May 2nd

1945 – Goldy McJohn (Steppenwolf) is born this day in rock history.

1950 – Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm is born in Rochester, N.Y.

1954 – Prescott Niles (The Knack) is born this day

1963 – The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘From Me To You’, the group’s first No.1

1964 – The Rolling Stones self-titled debut album started a 12-week run at No.1 on the UK charts.

1965 – Although he swore he would never allow the band to appear on his show again, Ed Sullivan plays host to the Rolling Stones for a second time.

1969 – The Who gave a press preview of their new rock opera ‘Tommy’ at Ronnie Scott’s in London, England.

1969 – The Beatles recorded a re-make of the new George Harrison song ‘Something’ at Abbey Road Studios

1972 – Bruce Springsteen auditioned for CBS Records A&R man John Hammond in New York. Springsteen played a short set for him in his office; Hammond was so impressed that he arranged a real audition that night at the Gaslight Club in New York for other Columbia executives. Bruce passed the audition.

1972 – Les Harvey, guitarist with soul/rockers Stone the Crows, is electrocuted after touching a faulty microphone onstage in Swansea, Wales. Harvey is thrown into the air and later dies in the hospital.

1977 – Eric Clapton records “Wonderful Tonight.”

1979 – The Who play their first gig since the death of Keith Moon at Rainbow Theatre, with Kenny Jones on drums.

1980 – South Africa bans Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II,” claiming the song is “prejudicial to the safety of the state.”

1991 – Appearing at The Marquee Club, London, Extreme

1992 – little known UK duo Nirvana filed a suit against the American band of the same name claiming that they had been using the name since 1968. The dispute was settled out of court in the British bands favour.

2000 – Metallica chat online with fans about their Napster woes. The metal band has also turned over a list of 300,000 Napster users to the company, asking them to be barred from the file-sharing service.

2003 – Kings Of Leon played their first ever UK date when they appeared at The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool.

2005 – Eric Clapton joined former Cream members drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce for the first of four nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had split up.

2006 – Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was released from hospital in New Zealand after the 62 year-old suffered “mild concussion” when he fell out of a coconut tree while on holiday in Fiji.

2008 – Chad Kroeger was banned from driving for a year after being convicted of drink-driving in the Canadian city of Vancouver.