Today in Rock History is a music orientated segment where we would like to encourage readers to share their thoughts and tastes in music and discuss the various aspects of any music topic. This post is not limited to rock music. You are encouraged to bring anything music-related along that you would like to share, either by typing the name of a song and artist into the comments section or by sharing a youtube, Vimeo, Spotify or SoundCloud link. If you are unsure how to add a link, simply write the name of the song and the composer and someone may very well do it for you.

Music is a huge part of peoples lives even if we aren’t all music enthusiasts. Music is all around us in advertising, background noise in shops and on the streets. It’s inescapable when you have teenagers but for most of us, it is a huge part (if not a ritual) of our lives that we feel close to.

So kick back and enjoy Nechtan’s Today in Rock History playlist and see what new gems you discover.

Today in Rock History:

Born today in 1942, James Robert “Bob” Mosley songwriter, singer and bassist with Moby Grape.

Born today in 1944, Chris Hillman singer, songwriter and bassist with The Byrds.

Born today in 1944, Dennis Wilson songwriter, singer and drummer with The Beach Boys.

Born today in 1947, Terry Woods songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist with The Pogues.


Born today in 1951, Gary Rossington songwriter and guitarist with Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Today in 1960, The Crickets released “I Fought the Law”.


Today in 1964 The Beatles released the album “Beatles For Sale”.

Today in 1965, The Byrds went to number 1 in the US with “Turn, Turn, Turn”.


Today in 1971, Led Zeppelin went to number1on the UK album charts with their 4th (untitled) album.  Also today in 1980 the three surviving members officially announced they would not continue after the death of drummer John Bonham.

Today in 1971, The Montreux Casino in Switzerland burnt to the ground during a concert by Frank Zappa. This inspired Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” as they were in Montreux at that time to record an album at the Casino the next day and watched the fire from their hotel.

Died today in 1976, Tommy Bolin songwriter, singer and guitarist with Zephyr, The James Gang, Deep Purple and solo aged 25.


Died today in 1993, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Frank Zappa aged 52.

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