Today in rock history 4th September

Friday September 4th

1951 – Martin Chambers, the original drummer with the Pretenders, is born in Hereford, England.

1960 – Kim Thayil, guitarist for the Seattle-based grunge-group, Soundgarden, is born in Seattle, Wash.

1965 – The Rolling Stones play a concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland, before flying early the next day to Los Angeles so they can record “Get Off of My Cloud.”

1968 – The Rolling Stones’ latest single, “Street Fighting Man,” is banned in Chicago, where the Democratic National Convention is being held, because of its political content.

1970 – George Harrison releases “My Sweet Lord.”

1970 – The Rolling Stones release their definitive live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out.

1976 – Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album hit number 1 after being on the charts for over a year.

1978 – The Grateful Dead’s Labor Day concert at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium attracts 66,000 people.

1982 – “Valley Girl,” co-written by Frank Zappa and daughter Moon Unit, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #2.

1986 – Gregg Allman is arrested on charges of drunk driving in Florida. He had only recently gotten his license back after a five-year suspension.

1996 – In London, Cat Stevens has his first autograph-signing session since converting to Islam in 1977. Too bad he’s only signing copies of The Life of the Last Prophet, a spoken-word album praising Allah.

1997 – After performing during the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show in New York, Pat Smear publicly announces that he will no longer be the guitarist for the Foo Fighters, and introduces Franz Stahl as his replacement.

2003 – Nineties hit-makers the Spin Doctors (“Two Princes”) announce their reformation.