The Current Music Blog: December 4, 2009 Archive

On This Day in Music History: Led Zeppelin Deflates

Posted at 7:42 AM on December 4, 2009 by Jill Riley (2 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

Birthdays:
CHRIS HILLMAN (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers) is 65
DENNIS WILSON (The Beach Boys) was born on this day in 1944 in Inglewood, California. In a bitter irony, he drowned in the ocean in Marina del Rey, California, on December 28, 1983.

On this day in 1956, What would later be well-named "The Million Dollar Quartet," Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash got together for an impromptu jam on Gospel, Country, R&B, what-have-you, at the Sun studios in Memphis. Tape happened to be rolling, and the session was released by RCA as The Million Dollar Quartet in 1990.
In 1957, Urged on by reports that many radio stations across the country were banning Elvis's Christmas album because of his hip-swiveling, etc., DJ Allen Brooks of a Kingston, Ontario, radio station, played the disc and invited his listeners to call in with their opinions. Of the 800 who did, only 56 objected to Presley's interpretations of religious tunes.
In 1969, Oh, to have been a fly on the wall: President Nixon, Vice President Agnew and 40 U.S. governors gathered to try to determine the causes of the generation gap. They talked, watched films of simulated LSD freak-outs and listened to hours of anti-establishment hard rock music.
In 1993, Frank Zappa died at age 52 of prostate cancer. He led the satirical '60s/'70s group, The Mothers of Invention.
In 1997, the band Dinosaur Jr. broke up. They have since reformed.
In 2003, Courtney Love takes a break from rehab to go nightclubbing in Los Angeles. She's seen performing with local band Let's Go Sailing.
In 2005, Two people are shot and injured outside of a Lil' Flip concert at the Quest nightclub in downtown Minneapolis.

History Highlight:
On This day in1980, Led Zeppelin declare that they will not re-form following the death of drummer John Bonham, although Jimmy Page and Robert Plant later tour together in the '90s. Their statement reads, "We wish it to be known that the loss of our dear friend, and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were."

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