A rockin' '50's riot! / A really cool '60's festival we wish we could have been at! / A sad news item that tried (again) to put the blame on rock 'n' roll...

Hyde Park Hippies
July, 1969; festival-goers, London. (Evening Standard/Getty Images)
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10/26/1958 (59 years ago today) - Bill Haley & His Comets are the first-ever American rock 'n' roll band to play in Germany, and on their second night at the Berlin Sportpalast, things quickly spiral out-of-control -- Five policemen are seriously beaten, six members of the audience had to be hospitalized and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage are made to the venue when the crowd of 7,000 goes bonkers!

10/26/1968 (49 years ago today) - In stark contrast to the aforementioned Bill Haley story: the "Summer Of Love" may be over according to the calendar, but peace and happiness (and other stuff) is in the air at the two-day San Francisco Pop Festival held at the Alameada County Fairgrounds -- On the bill: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Deep Purple, Procol Harum, The Animals, Iron Butterfly, Buddy Miles, Johnny Rivers, The Chambers Brothers, The Grass Roots, Canned Heat and Jose Feliciano and that, kids, is whatcha call a text-book mid-to-late-Sixties line-up if ever there was one...

10/26/1984 (33 years ago today) - 19-year-old John McCollum killed himself with a .22 caliber handgun after spending the day listening only to Ozzy Osbourne records -- One year later, McCollum's parents made an attempt to sue Ozzy and the CBS label, claiming that if their son hadn't been exposed to tracks like "Suicide Solution", he would likely still be alive. The case was eventually thrown out of court.

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"Such a shame/Who's to blame/And you're wondering why...", xoxo!

 

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