It’s December 8th and here are some reasons why this day matters in rock history:

In 1980, John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York apartment by Mark David Chapman. Lennon and Yoko Ono were just returning from the Record Plant studios.

In 2003, Ozzy Osbourne broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a neck vertebra in an ATV accident on the grounds of his English estate.

In 1998, Bruce Springsteen announced that for the first time in a decade, he would tour again with the E Street Band.

In 1995, Courtney Love appeared on Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People of 1995special, where she tearfully told the host she wished she’d done “eight-thousand million things” differently to prevent husband Kurt Cobain’s death.

In 2013, Metallica performed in a dome at the Argentine Antarctic Base Carlini, becoming the first band ever to play on all seven continents.

In 1979, Styx started a two-week run on top of the singles charts with “Babe,” their only song to go to number one.

And in 2004, Damageplan and Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott was murdered onstage in Columbus, Ohio during a shooting spree that also claimed the life of the band’s head of security, a club employee and an audience member.

And that’s what happened today in rock history.

(H/T This Day in Music)

Jeff K