July 19, 1986 – Van Halen headline the Texxas Jam at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, preceeded by Dio, Loverboy, Krokus, Keel and Bachman-Turner Overdrive who are joined by Leslie West on “Mississippi Queen.
July 19, 1976 – Deep Purple disband at the end of their UK tour. David Coverdale goes on to form Whitesnake, and the classic line up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice reform in 1984. Glenn Hughes returns to Trapeze and Tommy Bolin puts together his own band before dying at the end of the year.
July 19, 1991 – Steven Adler files suit against his ex-bandmates in Guns N’ Roses for $26 million claiming that they fired him for being a junkie despite introducing him to drugs in the first place. Adler later wins the lawsuit and is paid $2 million and 15% of royalties for everything he recorded up until his firing.
July 19, 1980 – The final World Series of Rock in Cleveland takes place at Municipal Stadium. The bill includes Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, The J. Geils Band, Eddie Money and Def Leppard.
July 19, 1974 – The Ozark Music Festival begins and is held over a three day period at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. It is one of the largest music festivals ever held, with a crowd of 350,000 people. Bands include Aerosmith, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Öyster Cult, America, the Marshall Tucker Band, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, and REO Speedwagon.
Top 20 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
Classic Rock Birthdays
July 19, 1947 – Brian May, guitar, vocals (Queen)
July 19, 1952 – Allen Collins (born Larkin Allen Collins Jr.), guitar (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1990)
July 19, 1947 – Keith Godchaux, keyboards (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1980)
July 19, 1947 – Bernie Leadon, guitar (Eagles)
