This Day in Rock – December 26

Posted By: December 26, 2018 @ 3:49 pm Afternoons, Music News, Rock History

Join Gunner as he goes over all the important Rock dates in history weekdays at 3:50. Relive all the chart-topping moments, milestones, bad breakups and first times again.

There will be no hall pass today. Here’s what happened today in Rock N’ Roll.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Lars Ulrich (drummer, Metallica) (55)
Jared Leto (frontman, 30 Seconds To Mars; actor Fight Club, Requiem For A Dream, Alexander, Dallas Buyers Club, Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049) (47)
Chris Daughtry (singer, American Idol finalist, Daughtry) (39)
James Mercer (frontman, the Shins) (48)
Kit Harington (actor, Jon Snow on Game Of Thrones) (32)
Carlton Fisk (Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, hit the most famous home run ever at Fenway Park to win the World Series on October 21, 1975, which has been called the most famous moment on television sports) (71)
David Sedaris (writer, author of Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day, brother of actress Amy Sedaris) (62)
Phil Spector (Influential 1960s music producer, currently in jail for murder) (79)
John Walsh (America’s Most Wanted host) (73)

ON THIS DAY:
1799 George Washington is eulogized 12 days after his death by Colonel Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
1908 Jack Johnson becomes the first African American to win the world heavyweight title when he knocks out Canadian Tommy Burns in the 14th round in a championship bout held in Australia.
1919 The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox reached an agreement on the sale of Boston’s Babe Ruth to the Yankees. So begins the mythical “Curse of the Bambino,” which for years sees Boston unable to win a World Series.
1924 Two-and-a-half-year-old Judy Garland, billed as Baby Frances, makes her debut as part of her family’s vaudeville act.
1944 Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie has its first public performance, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.
1954 One of radio’s most popular programs, The Shadow, airs for the last time after 24 years.
1963 The Beatles release the single “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” which became their first U.S. smash hit, marking the beginning of Beatlemania and music’s “British Invasion.”
1966 The first Kwanzaa is celebrated in Los Angeles under the direction of Dr. Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. The seven-day holiday, which has African roots, was designed by Karenga as a celebration of African-American family, community, and culture.
1972 The 33rd U.S. president, Harry S Truman (1945-1953), dies at 88.
1973 The Exorcist, starring a young Linda Blair, opens in movie theaters. It is viewed as so shocking that it’s given an “X” rating and there are stories of people fainting in movie theaters.
1974 Comedian Jack Benny dies at age 80.
1982 Time magazine names a non-human as Man of the Year for the first time. “The Computer” gets the title as 1982’s “greatest influence for good or evil.”
1996 The beaten and strangled body of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado, home. The case remains unsolved.
2007 Amy Winehouse‘s album Back To Black is named the biggest selling album of the year.