31
Featured Events
2016Taking the stage in Times Square to ring in the new year, Mariah Carey gets through "Auld Lang Syne" but then stops singing and narrates the technical problems to the crowd as the backing track plays on.More
2015Natalie Cole dies of heart failure at age 65. The singer (daughter of Nat King Cole) battled health problems for much of her life; drug use led to hepatitis C, and in 2009 she had a kidney transplant. Cole won nine Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist of 1975 and Record of the Year for "Unforgettable in 1992."More
1984Def Lepparddrummer Rick Allen loses an arm when he crashes his Corvette. He continues with the band, using computer aids and relying more on his feet.More
1972Dick Clark begins a new holiday tradition as his first New Year's Rockin' Eve concert is broadcast on ABC-TV. Dick himself will host the annual event for the next 32 years. Guests for the inaugural event include Three Dog Night and Al Green.
1966The Monkees' "I'm A Believer," written by Neil Diamond, hits #1 in America. The song stays at the top for seven weeks.
31
In Music History
2014Six months after divorcing salsa singer Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez officially drops her married name (Muñiz).
2009Blues singer Earl Gaines dies at age 74, after his declining health forces him to cancel a European tour.
2008At halftime of the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, 40,148 fans perform the "Y.M.C.A." dance while the Village People perform, establishing a Guinness World Record. It was the most memorable part of the game, which Oregon State won 3-0 over Pittsburgh.
2002Phish jump back in the pond with a concert at Madison Square Garden, their first show since going on hiatus in October 2000.
2000Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson marries actress Kate Hudson in Aspen, Colorado. Their seven-year marriage includes the birth of their son, Ryder.
1997Floyd Cramer, pianist and forerunner of the "Nashville sound," dies of lung cancer at age 64. He played piano as a session musician on Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel."
1996Queen Elizabeth II announces that Paul McCartney will be knighted - these announcements are traditionally made on New Year's Eve.
1991After 62 years, Radio Luxembourg, Europe's oldest commercial radio station, goes off the air for good.
1991Ted Nugent, who often donates meat from his kills to charity, serves about 200 pounds of venison courtesy of the Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger program at a Detroit soup kitchen, telling clients, "I kill it, you grill it."
1985Rick Nelson dies in a plane crash at age 45. A child star on The Ozzie and Harriet Show, he became a teen idol as a singer, charting 36 hits on the Top 40.
1982E Street Band guitarist Miami Steve and/or Little Steven Van Zandt marries Maureen Santora at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Little Richard officiates, Bruce Springsteen is the best man, and Percy Sledgesings "When A Man Loves A Woman" during the reception.
1980Bruce Springsteen plays an epic show at the Nassau Coliseum lasting 4 hours, 38 minutes and covering 38 songs. The best we can tell, it's the longest Springsteen show ever.
1978The Runaways play their final show at Cow Palace, near San Francisco. The all-female hard-rock band have been through several line-up changes, but are finally torn apart through conflict between Joan Jett, who wants to take the band in a glam-rock direction, and Lita Ford who wishes to stay in the hard-rock genre. The band formally split the following April.
1978Bauhaus play their first show, performing at the Cromwell Public House in Wellingborough, UK.
1978Bill Graham's Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco closes its doors for good after the Grateful Dead play their 48th concert there. Also on the bill: The Blues Brothers.
Mötley Crüe Play Their Final Concert
2015
Mötley Crüe play their last show: a New Year's Eve concert in Los Angeles complete with Nikki Sixx's flamethrower bass and Tommy Lee's drum roller coaster.
When the band sets out on their "Final Tour" in 2014, they make sure it sticks, signing a legal document stating they will never tour again as Mötley Crüe. The goal is to go out on top before they kill each other, or worse, end up playing county fairs and nostalgia shows.
The band formed in 1981 and rose to the top of the hair metal hierarchy with hits like "Dr. Feelgood" and "Girls, Girls, Girls." Along the way, they set new standards in infighting and excess. By 1987, all members are high-functioning alcoholics (drink of choice: Jack Daniel's), and bass player Nikki Sixx has developed a nasty cocaine problem.
They soldier on, losing Vince Neil from 1992-1997 and Tommy Lee from 1999-2004. In 2005, Lee returns, and Crüe resumes their cycle of touring, now in separate buses.
For their last show, they play the city where they spawned: Los Angeles. Lee's drum kit is attached to the "Crüecify" roller coaster, which extends into the crowd. During his drum solo, it takes him over the crowd and upside down, but then almost in a tribute to Spinal Tap, it stalls and the roadies come to his rescue.
In their four decades, the band has gotten pretty good at pyro, and lots of stuff is on fire throughout the performance. Apparently the fire marshal is a fan, since Nikki Sixx is allowed to bring out a bass attached to a flamethrower and shoot blasts 30 feet high. He uses it to light their pentagram logo on fire.
After a balloon drop to celebrate the new year, they play "Kickstart My Heart" and return for an emotional encore of "Home Sweet Home." Looking back on their years of destructive debauchery, each band member is shocked that they made it this far - alive.
The band formed in 1981 and rose to the top of the hair metal hierarchy with hits like "Dr. Feelgood" and "Girls, Girls, Girls." Along the way, they set new standards in infighting and excess. By 1987, all members are high-functioning alcoholics (drink of choice: Jack Daniel's), and bass player Nikki Sixx has developed a nasty cocaine problem.
They soldier on, losing Vince Neil from 1992-1997 and Tommy Lee from 1999-2004. In 2005, Lee returns, and Crüe resumes their cycle of touring, now in separate buses.
For their last show, they play the city where they spawned: Los Angeles. Lee's drum kit is attached to the "Crüecify" roller coaster, which extends into the crowd. During his drum solo, it takes him over the crowd and upside down, but then almost in a tribute to Spinal Tap, it stalls and the roadies come to his rescue.
In their four decades, the band has gotten pretty good at pyro, and lots of stuff is on fire throughout the performance. Apparently the fire marshal is a fan, since Nikki Sixx is allowed to bring out a bass attached to a flamethrower and shoot blasts 30 feet high. He uses it to light their pentagram logo on fire.
After a balloon drop to celebrate the new year, they play "Kickstart My Heart" and return for an emotional encore of "Home Sweet Home." Looking back on their years of destructive debauchery, each band member is shocked that they made it this far - alive.
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