MAY
- During an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Ringo Starr revealed that The Beatles “Come Together” was his favorite Beatles song.
- Former Judas Priest drummer John Hinch passed away at 73.
- Former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider came out victorious in his $1-point-two-million copyright case against Australian politician Clive Palmer. A judge ruled that Palmer did in fact use the rhythm and melody from the Snider-penned hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” for his 2019 campaign ads without permission.
- Global Citizen "VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World,” hosted by Selena Gomez took place at SoFi Stadium featuring performances by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Foo Fighters.
- Bruce Springsteen was honored with the Woody Guthrie prize, which honors artists who speak out for the less fortunate.
- Nirvana was sued for copyright infringement over some of their classic merch. Jocelyn Susan Bundy, the granddaughter of prominent 20th-century academic Charles-Wilfred Scott-Giles, who claimed the band had been using an image created by her grandfather without permission since 1997.
- U2’s Bono and The Edge teamed with DJ Martin Garrix for a new song, “We Are The People We’,” for the European Championship Soccer finals.
- Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood was named ambassador to the addiction recovery charity Turn Up For Recovery, which was founded in 2019 by Eric Clapton’s wife Melia Clapton.
- New Orleans legend Aaron Neville announced he was retiring from touring.
- Paul McCartney was honored by the Royal Mail with 12 postage stamps, featuring photographs from the making of his solo albums and records with Wings.
- Pearl Jam released 186 live “bootlegs” to streaming services. The released concerts came from shows in 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2013, and translates to 5,404 songs.
- The FBI quietly released their files on Kurt Cobain to the online archive “The Vault.”
- Elton John was honored with the Icon Award at the 2021 iHeartRadio Awards. Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Lil Nas X presented Elton with the honor.
- The 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class was announced, with this year’s class made up of Tina Turner, Foo Fighters, Carole King, The Go-Go's, Jay-Z and Todd Rundgren. In addition, LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads got in with the Musical Excellence Award, and Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton were named recipients of the Early Influence Award.
- The Royal Mint announced The Who would be the fourth addition to its “Music Legends” series, which already honored Queen, Elton John, and David Bowie.
- Paul McCartney topped the “The Sunday Times’” annual Music Rich List, with a fortune of $1.16 billion. That number was an increase of about $28 mil from last year.
JUNE
- The Who’s Pete Townshend said in an interview that he thinks he used to be pansexual. At one point in his life, the rocker thinks he’d have been open to hook up with pretty much anyone – regardless of their gender identity.
- Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford said in a interview that he doubted the band will perform again.
- A never-before-seen performance by Van Halen was unearthed. The band’s long-lost promo video for an Italian TV show called “Happy Circus” surfaced on the Van Halen Italia Fan Club YouTube channel.
- Lindsey Buckingham and his wife Kristen Messner called it quits after 21 years of marriage.
- The Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp announced its first-ever Women Only Rock Camp… featuring special guest mentors. Melissa Etheridge, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, and virtuoso guitarist Orianthi.
- Metallica took legal action against London-based insurer Lloyd’s of London after some of their shows that were postponed due to coronavirus.
- A 1992 hand-drawn self-portrait by Kurt Cobain sold at auction for just over $281,000.
- Roger Waters said he rejected a “huge amount of money” from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Apparently, the CEO wanted to use Pink Floyd’s song “Another Brick In The Wall Part II” to promote Facebook and Instagram… but Roger declined the offer.
- Eric Clapton opened up about his anti-COVID vaccine stance in a new interview with Oracle Films, who describe themselves as “a filmmaking team fighting for open debate and freedom of information.”
- The lineup for the iHeart Radio Festival was announced, which included Cheap Trick, and Journey.
- Queen guitarist Brian May launched a competition challenging fans to recreate a scene from the band’s history in 3D.
- Disney + announced Peter Jackson’s much-anticipated Beatles documentary “Get Back” would premiere over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
- On 50th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s classic album “Blue,” she dropped a surprise digital EP of outtakes from the album.
- Bruce Springsteen brought back his Broadway show “Springsteen on Broadway” to help Broadway reopen following closures due to the pandemic.
- Don McLean’s daughter, singer Jackie McLean, opened up about growing up with her dad, calling him both mentally and emotionally abusive (but not physically).
- Former Skid Row singer Johnny Solinger has died at 55 years old. The rocker reportedly passed away, about a month after revealing he’d been diagnosed with liver failure.
- Elvis Costello shut down folks on the Internet who were accusing Olivia Rodrigo of plagiarizing his 1978 hit “Pump It Up,” noting “This is fine by me...It's how rock & roll works."
photo: Getty Images