October 2nd, 2017, sadly, we lose Tom Petty. He’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, multiple Grammy Award winner, and in fact, earlier in the year, Tom had been recognized by the Recording Academy as the MusiCares Person of the Year. Tom’s songwriting output is unmatched, and I can’t imagine anybody who doesn’t have a favorite number of Tom Petty songs.
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Today in 1981, The Police released their 4th album, “Ghost in the Machine.” It features hits like “Spirits in the Material World”, “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, and “Invisible Sun.” And in fact, two years earlier to the day, in 1979, The Police released their second album, “Regatta de Blanc.” And actually for a while there, the band was putting out an album a year all around the same time of year.
Today in 1971, Rod Stewart goes to #1 on the charts with “Maggie May”, a song inspired by the woman who took his virginity, which was included on the album “Every Picture Tells a Story”, which also goes to #1 today in 1971.
Then we take a look at the rock calendar, find a few rock birthdays on it. Born today in 1951, Matthew Gordon Sumner. You probably know him better as Sting, bassist, singer-songwriter, solo artist, and member of The Police. Born today in 1950, guitarist from Genesis, Mike Rutherford, and born today in 1945, the man behind hits like “American Pie” and “Vincent”, Don McLean.
See more today in rock history stories from Joe here