Today in Rock History with Chris DeCarlo

December 4 |  

In 1980, Led Zeppelin officially announced the end of the band, a few months after the death of drummer John Bonham. The surviving members would reunite a few times after that, including Live Aid in 1985, and London’s O2 Arena in 2007.  

On this day in 1991, Van Halen played a free concert in Dallas. Sammy Hagar had promised to do the gig because he had lost his voice during a show there three and a half years earlier.  

And in 1971, the Montreaux Casino burned down during a show by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The event inspired the Deep Purple classic, “Smoke on the Water.”