Today in rock history 8th August

1952 – Journeyman drummer Anton Fig (Frehley’s Comet, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper) is born in Cape Town, South Africa. 1959 – Poison drummer Rikki Rocket is born in Mechanicsburg, Pa. 1961 – The Edge, U2 guitarist with the funny name, is born in East London as mere Dave Evans. 1963 – Oregon band the Kingsmen release “Louie Louie.” Many radio stations ban the song when they decide the indecipherable lyrics must be obscene. 1964 – Bob Dylan releases his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. 1970 – Janis Joplin buys a headstone for the grave of blues singer Bessie Smith, one of her idols. 1976 – Epic Records releases Boston’s self-titled first album. The album becomes the fastest-selling debut ever. 1980 – The Plasmatics suffer a blow in London when local authorities tell them they can’t blow up a car onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon. 1981 – MTV makes its first live concert stereo broadcast. The lucky band is REO Speedwagon. 1982 – Mickey Thompson, singer with Starship, marries Sara Kendrick in San Francisco. 1985 – Keith Richards guests on Phantom, Rocker & Slick’s “My Mistake.” He accepts a leopard-skin coat as payment. 1986 – David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is released from prison after serving time for drug and weapons charges. 1992 – Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses walks off stage after 55 minutes at a concert at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, complaining of a sore throat. Many of the 53,000 fans who came see the group and Metallica riot. 1998 – The Rolling Stones perform their first concert in Russia, playing through a driving rain before an appreciative crowd estimated at 70,000. 1999 - The Guess Who reunited with Randy Bachman & Burton Cummings for the first time in 16 years to appear at the closing of the Pan American Games in Winnipeg as a personal request from the Premier of Manitoba. 2006 - Dennis DeYoung formerly of Styx & Roger Hodgson formerly of Supertramp served as mentors on Canadian Idol where they also performed.