November 11, 1968 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono release Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins which is the first of three experimental albums they produce. The album features a cover photo of the pair naked, which many record stores carry in a brown paper wrapper.
November 11, 1990 – A 21 year-old AC/DC fan dies after suffering fatal head injuries when a New Jersey State trooper tries to break up a fight in a parking lot after an AC/DC show at Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey. The trooper hit the fan causing him to fall backwards and strike his head. The trooper is eventually cleared of all wrongdoing, but the fan’s family later receives a $250,000 settlement payment on behalf of the state police.
November 11, 2012 – At the Perth Arena in Perth, Australia, INXS drummer Jon Farriss announces, “Tonight is very likely to probably be the last show we ever do.” The next day, the band confirms that they are calling it quits after 35 years. Band member Kirk Pengilly states that it “was appropriate to finish where they had started 35 years earlier.” The last song they perform is “Need You Tonight.” Their final show with the late Michael Hutchence was September 27, 1997.
November 11, 1969 – Jim Morrison is arrested by the FBI and charged with drunk and disorderly conduct, and interfering with the flight of an aircraft. He and actor friend Tom Baker are flying to Phoenix, AZ for a Rolling Stones show when they start “attacking and sexually harassing” a flight attendant after a day of drinking. They spend the night in jail but are released the next day on $2,500 bail; the charges are later dropped. Baker later dies of a drug overdose in 1982.
Classic Rock Birthdays
November 11, 1950 – Jim Peterik, vocals, guitar (Ides Of March, Survivor)
November 11, 1953 – Andy Partridge, vocals, guitar (XTC)
November 11, 1957 – Mike Mesaros, bass, vocals (The Smithereens)
November 11, 1945 – Chris Dreja, guitar, bass (The Yardbirds)
November 11, 1945 – Vince Martell (born Vincent James Martellucci) guitar (Vanilla Fudge)
Rock Remembrances
November 11, 2021 – Graeme Edge, co-founder and drummer of the Moody Blues, dies at at his home in Bradenton, Florida of metastatic cancer. He was 80. Edge described himself as a poet and was the only original member of the band from 1964 until his retirement in 2019. Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward said, “When Graeme told me he was retiring, I knew that without him it couldn’t be the Moody Blues anymore. And that’s what happened. It’s true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it.” In 2018, Edge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
November 11, 2015 – Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, drummer of Motörhead, dies of liver failure. He was 61. Phil had two stints in Motörhead, from 1975–1984 and from 1987–1992. The Motörhead line-up consisting of Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Taylor is considered the “classic” line-up of the band. Taylor had many physical mishaps during his lifetime – once he was dropped on his head, which broke his neck, and he also broke his wrist, causing him to play with his drumstick taped to his hand. Taylor was eventually fired for “poor performance,” but reunited with the band several times prior to his death.
November 11, 1972 – Berry Oakley (born Raymond Berry Oakley III) is killed when his motorcycle hits a bus in Macon, Georgia. He was 24. Oakley was the bass player in the Allman Brothers band, and died only three blocks from where Duane Allman had died a year earlier. After the accident, Oakley claimed he was okay, declined medical treatment, and went home. Three hours later, he was rushed to the hospital in terrible pain, and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull. Doctors at the time stated that even if he had gone straight to the hospital from the scene of the accident, he would not have survived. Oakley’s bass lines in “Whipping Post” from the live album At Fillmore East display his musical prowess.
