🎸CLASSIC ROCK🎸 Led Zep Almost Bassist | Harrison’s Worst Tour | Boss’s Grandfather | Elvis Heartbreak and more...

Today’s lineup dives into Elvis and Priscilla’s complicated love story, a near-miss in Led Zeppelin history, George Harrison’s rough 1974 tour, and fresh and classic tales from Bruce Springsteen, David Lee Roth, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, and more.

Have a Rockin Day,
Hippy Pete

TODAY IN CLASSIC ROCK

​​1957 – Bill Haley & His Comets opened the first-ever rock & roll tour of Australia, playing two sold‑out shows in Sydney and effectively bringing big‑stage rock to the country for the first time.​

• 1958 – The Everly Brothers kicked off a 17‑date North American package tour in Charlotte, North Carolina, sharing the bill with Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Danny & The Juniors and others, a snapshot of early rock’s biggest names on one stage.​

• 1966 – The Beatles’ album Rubber Soul began a six‑week run at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, while on the very same day their double A‑side single “We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper” hit No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart.​

• 1966 – The Who and The Kinks appeared on the final broadcast of ABC‑TV’s music variety show Shindig!, which had first aired in 1964 and helped bring British Invasion acts into American living rooms.​

• 1968 – Stax Records released Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in the U.S., just weeks after his death; it would become the first posthumous No. 1 single in U.S. chart history, backed with Sam & Dave’s “I Thank You.”​

• 1969 – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were ordered to leave the exclusive Hotel Crillón in Lima, Peru, after being barred for wearing only “op art” pants and refusing to change, a small but famous episode in Stones tour lore.​

• 1973 – On his 38th birthday, Elvis Presley filed for divorce from Priscilla Presley, citing irreconcilable differences; the petition went uncontested and the divorce was finalized later that year.​

• 1974 – The compilation LP The Early Beatles, drawn from material first issued on Vee‑Jay’s Introducing… The Beatles, was certified Gold in the U.S., nine years after its original 1965 release.​

• 1974 – Casablanca Records signed KISS to a recording contract after seeing the band in New York; their debut album followed weeks later and became the first of many Casablanca releases to reach the upper half of the Billboard 200.​

• 1977 – Queen’s album A Day at the Races reached No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, giving the band a back‑to‑back run of major mid‑’70s studio successes following A Night at the Opera.​

• 1979 – Cher’s divorce from Gregg Allman (of the Allman Brothers Band) became final; the couple had married in 1975 and had one son together, Elijah Blue Allman.​

• 1979 – Canadian trio Rush were officially named Canada’s “Ambassadors of Music” by the federal government, recognizing their international success and growing stature as a major rock export.​