The Current Music Blog: December 3, 2009 Archive

On This Day in Music History: When Pigs Fly!

Posted at 4:58 AM on December 3, 2009 by Jill Riley (1 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

This day in music history for December 3rd.

Birthdays:
Mickey Thomas is 60 (Elvin Bishop Band and Jefferson Starship)
Ozzy Osbourne is 61.

On this day in 1965, While performing "The Last Time" in Sacramento, Calif., Keith Richards' guitar accidentally touches his microphone. The resulting electric shock knocks him unconscious. He recovers after seven minutes and the show goes on.
In 1966, NBC-TV broadcast the special, Elvis, sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The King was making a comeback.
In 1971, the Montreux Casino in Switzerland burned down during a performance by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Deep Purple was the opening act and wrote about it in their song "Smoke on the Water."
In 1976, Bob Marley was injured after gunman randomly shot into his house in Kingston, Jamaica while he and the Wailers were rehearsing. Marley, his wife Rita, a friend and Wailer manager Don Taylor all suffered minor injuries. The shooters were never caught. Marley and the band performed two nights later.
In 1979, eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the Who was performing. Dozens of others were injured.
In 1980, Annie Leibovitz photographs John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Dakota apartment in New York.
In 1998, Coolio was found guilty of stealing clothes from a boutique in Stuttgart, Germany, and punching the boutique owner. He was fined $30,000 dollars.
In 2002, Bono and friends launched a "talking tour" through the heartland of America in Lincoln, Nebraska on World Aids Day. The two-week bus tour continued via Omaha, Iowa City, Dubuque, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Nashville, with formal and informal stops in smaller communities along the way.

History Highlight:
On this day in 1976, Pink Floyd released a 40-foot helium-filled pig at
Battersea Power Station in England so they could photograph it for
their "Animals" album cover. The pig broke loose, and authorities
had to alert pilots to watch for a flying pig. We pay tribute to the day that pigs flew with Pink Floyd "Pigs on the Wing Part 1."

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