October 2, 1996 – Several people are injured when a Pearl Jam show in Hartford, CT gets out of control. Police estimate there is a crowd of 30,000 with only 36 security officers to quell the large-scale fights that break out.
October 2, 2002 – Adam Ant (real name Stuart Goddard) pleads guilty to threatening pubgoers who had mocked his cowboy-style clothes. The 47-year-old singer threw a car alternator through the window of a London pub and threatened onlookers with a starter pistol that they feared was a real gun. He had struggled with severe depression for years and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act shortly after the incident and ordered to continue his psychiatric treatment.
October 2, 2003 – Courtney Love is arrested for attempted burglary after admitting to breaking four windows trying to enter her ex-boyfriend’s home. That same night, after posting bail, paramedics are called to her house for a female with a “suspected drug overdose.” She is taken to the hospital where she recovers.
October 2, 2003 – Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx sues Thrasher skateboarding magazine and Vans shoe company for allegedly using his image in an ad without his permission. Sixx is later awarded $600,000 for the commercial use of his likeness without his permission.
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Classic Rock Birthdays
October 2, 1951 – Sting (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner), vocals, guitar (The Police, solo)
October 2, 1950 – Mike Rutherford, bass, guitar, vocals (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)
October 2, 1945 – Don McLean, vocals, guitar
October 2, 1938 – Eddie Cochran, vocals, guitar (d. 1960)
October 2, 1949 – Richard Hell (born Richard Lester Meyers), vocals, bass (the Voidoids)
October 2, 1949 – Annie Leibovitz (born Anna-Lou Leibovitz), photographer (Rolling Stone, among many others)
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Classic Rock Birthdays
October 2, 2017 – Tom Petty dies accidentally from “mixed drug toxicity,” later found to be a combination of opioids, sedatives and an antidepres-sant. He was 66. He had reportedly been suffering from pain related to a hip fracture, a knee problem and emphysema. Petty was the founder, lead singer and lead guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a band he formed in 1976. He was also the co-founder of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. Fun facts – Petty met Elvis on a movie set where his uncle was working when he was just 11, and one of his first guitar teachers was Don Felder, who later joined The Eagles. In 2008, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headlined the halftime of Super Bowl XLII and in 2001, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
