It would take a few years before anybody realized it, but 41 years ago today (Jan. 5) a rock and roll revolution was launched from an unlikely place. Bruce Springsteen's debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,' was released upon an unsuspecting world on Jan. 5, 1973.
Perhaps the definitive Judas Priest offering of the '80s, 'Defenders of the Faith,' their ninth studio album, was released on Jan. 4, 1983.
Jimi Hendrix wasn't one to play by the rules, and on Jan. 4, 1969, during a guest appearance on the Lulu television show, the guitar legend was up to the task. While Lulu was a great pop singer, she and Hendrix were pretty much worlds apart in the public eye,. Still, the producers of her BBC TV show booked the Jimi Hendrix Experience and approached Hendrix about singing a duet with Lulu on her big hit, 'To Sir With Love,' which was not first and foremost on Hendrix' mind, to say the least.
When the Doors entered a Hollywood recording studio to make their debut album at the end of August 1966, they knew what they wanted. Months of serving as house band at the Whisky a Go Go had sharpened their playing and performing skills to the point where one member of the quartet could abruptly swerve toward a new direction and the others would follow without missing a beat.
Thin Lizzy's hard-living frontman and bassist Phil Lynott escaped the grips of crushing childhood poverty in Dublin, but ultimately couldn't out run his own demons. He died at 36 from heart failure and pneumonia on Jan. 4, 1986, having been admitted to Salibury Hospital in Wiltshire, England on Christmas Day after "a drink and drug binge" at his home.
The history of the Who is littered with tragic events. From Pete Townshend's abuse when he was a child to the 1979 deaths of 11 fans in Cincinnati to John Entwistle's overdose in 2000. One of the lesser known stories occurred on Jan. 4, 1970, when Neil Boland, who was Keith Moon's driver and bodyguard, was accidentally run over by Moon's Bentley.
Following the massive success of 1980's double album 'The River,' many expected Bruce Springsteen to follow up his first No. 1 album with another set of radio-friendly rock songs. Instead, the songwriter released 'Nebraska,' a stark acoustic record that was mostly recorded in one session, on Jan. 3, 1982.
It's arguably the most controversial album cover in rock 'n' roll history, and, if authorities in New Jersey had their way, every last one of them would have been destroyed.
Drummer Kenney Jones was already highly regarded in the British rock scene by the end of 1978, when he got the unexpected opportunity of a lifetime: being tapped to replace the late Keith Moon in the Who. The group announced its new drummer in January 1979, but Jones' tenure with the band would prove to be difficult and relatively brief, punctuated by internal strife and changing musical trends.
Jimi Hendrix's short-lived power trio Band of Gypsys made its debut appearances with a series of concerts held on Dec. 31, 1969, and Jan. 1, 1970, at New York City's Fillmore East. By the end of January, Hendrix had broken them up, but not before releasing a classic live set from the shows.