APRIL 5
TODAY IN 1980, R.E.M. PLAYED THEIR FIRST-EVER GIG, A FRIEND’S BIRTHDAY PARTY AT ST. MARY’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN ATHENS, GEORGIA. THE BAND HAD NO NAME AT THIS POINT BUT THEY SETTLED ON “R.E.M.” AFTER LEAD SINGER MICHAEL STIPE SELECTED IT AT RANDOM FROM A DICTIONARY.
WE LOST A ROCK PIONEER TODAY IN 2012: JIM MARSHALL, INVENTOR OF MARSHALL AMPLIFIERS PASSED AWAY AT AGE 88. JIMI HENDRIX, JIMMY PAGE, ERIC CLAPTON, EDDIE VAN HALEN, SLASH, AND OTHERS USED THEM ON COUNTLESS CLASSIC SONGS.
AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF PEARL JAM, GUITARIST MIKE MCCREADY, WHO WAS BORN IN 1966.