Paul McCartney did an interview with London newspaper The Daily Mirror that appeared in today's edition in 1966. He acknowledged that he had told Life Magazine that he had taken LSD four times, didn't regret it, and knew his fans would understand.
The Rolling Stones marked their 7th British #1 single, Jumpin' Jack Flash today in 1968. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had written the song at Keith's country house while under the influence of something likely those jazz cigarettes. They'd heard stomping coming from outside, and when Mick asked what it was, Keith said it was his gardener, Jack Dyer. "Oh that's just Jack...Jumping Jack". When they stopped laughing, they wrote the rest of the lyrics.
Led Zeppelin played the second of two nights at the Seattle Center Coliseum (Of late the Key Arena, currently being demolished save for the historic roofline) tonight in 1972. The show the night before was originally supposed to be in Vancouver BC, but the city council there had declared a "freeze on rock concerts", so Zeppelin announced that all Vancouver tickets would be honored at the Seattle "make up" show.
The Sex Pistols were continuing to win friends and influence people with their God Save The Queen single today in 1977 when a group of six drunken men with knives and pieces of re-bar ran into drummer Paul Cook at a London Tube Station, and beat him senseless, sending him to a hospital where he received 15 stitches for a head wound. Singer John "Rotten" Lydon had been attacked the night before.
Rickey Goodrich, who had been employed as financial manager for Pearl Jam, was charged in King County Superior Court today in 2012 with 33 counts of theft. It seems that over the previous couple of years, Rickey had managed to spend somewhere over $380,000 of their money on lavish vacations for his family, pricey collectible wines, and other luxury items. He would plead guilty and be sentenced to 14 months in prison. It would lead to this strange song from South of the border, who's title roughly translates to "I returned the bag...Rickey Charles Goodrich".
Rock and Roll Birthdays
Influential British singer-songwriter Nick Drake would be 72 today, he died of an overdose of an anti-depressant medication at age 26, but family members have disputed the coroner's assertion that the death was suicide.
Seattle's own Heart's lead singer Ann Dustin Wilson is 70, and still owns one of the great voices in rock and roll, which she has used to sell tons of records, get herself in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and make Robert Plant cry. She was born in San Diego to a Marine Corps Colonel who finally settled the family in Bellevue where she graduated from Sammamish High School, while her sister Nancy went to rival Interlake.