January 2

 

Rock heroism turned tragic today in 1997 when Spirit guitarist Randy California drowned at 45 while saving his 12-year-old son from a riptide in Hawaiian surf, the musician who wrote "Nature's Way" dying as he lived, selflessly and connected to the elements…

 

 

Rolling Stones' most colorful member Ron Wood married girlfriend Jo Karslake on this date in 1985 in Buckinghamshire, England, the union that would produce two sons before ending in divorce 24 years later, another chapter in Ronnie's eventful romantic history…

 

Art met censorship today in 1968 when the entire shipment of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 'Two Virgins' album was seized by New Jersey authorities, the controversial cover featuring the couple fully nude causing customs officials to deem it obscene material…

 

Soft pop lost half its most successful duo on this day in 2019 when Daryl Dragon, "The Captain" of Captain and Tennille, died of kidney failure at 76, ending the life of the keyboardist whose maritime outfit and hits like "Love Will Keep Us Together" defined 1970s easy listening…

 

Music history's most important address opened today in 1950 when Sam Phillips launched the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue, the facility he would rename Sun Studio where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash would revolutionize popular music…

 

The Beatles' final chapter began filming today in 1969 at Twickenham Studios in England as cameras captured their rehearsals for 'Let It Be,' the documentary revealing the tension and dissolution of rock's greatest band in their last days together…

 

British music journalism was born today in 1926 when Melody Maker published its first issue, the influential magazine that would chronicle jazz, rock, and pop for 74 years before folding in 2000, outlived by the music it had documented.