Top 10 legendary moments of Rock ‘n’ Roll

Rock ‘n’ Roll is so much more than just a genre of  music. It is a sound, it’s an image, it’s a feeling, and for some it is a way of life. As colorful as the music is, Rock ‘n’ Roll is only as colorful as the legends that made the music…and the legendary moment that made them a legend.

So what makes a moment legendary? There is not an easy answer to this question. For some it was an on stage antic (think Alice Cooper biting head off of a chicken), and for others it was the tragic moment of death that propelled them to their spot of legendary famedom.
What follows is my opinion of the top 10 most legendary moments of Rock ‘n’ Roll history. These are only my views so please feel free to agree or disagree in the comments.

The top 10 are ~

10. Axl Rose dives off stage and attacks fan for taping the concert

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During a 1991 concert in St. Louis, Axl Rose freaked out at the sight of a fan with a camera, something that he does not tolerate at Guns N’ Roses concerts. Rose yelled to security to take the camera, but when they took longer to act than Axl thought they should, he took matters into his own hands. “I’ll take it God damnit” he said as he threw himself into the crowd, attacking the audience member. Rose eventually went back onto the stage where he continued. “Well thanks to the lame ass security, I’m going home,” he said throwing his mic and storming off the stage. The Rock and Roll didn’t end there though. When the lights went up minutes later, sure to not be outdone by Axl, the fans rioted, completely damaging the venue and sending some 60 people to the hospital.

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9. Jim Morrison exposes himself

During a 1969 concert in Miami, Jim Morrison decided to stick out from the rest. What really happened is still open for debate, but the story goes that on March 1, 1969, after having a little bit too much to drink, Jim Morrison comes to the Dinner Key Auditorium to perform a concert.
When an extremely intoxicated Morrison finally took the stage, he mumbled and ranted, unable to really perform. Someone jumped on stage and soaked Morrison in Champaign so he began to unclothe himself.
“You didn’t come here for music did you? You came for something more, didn’t you? You didn’t come to rock ‘n’ roll, you came for something else didn’t you? You came for something else. What is it? You want to see my cock, don’t you? That’s what you came for isn’t it? Yeahhh!”
At this point, no one really knows what Morrison may or may not have shown, but ultimately he was convicted of 2 misdemeanors, open profanity and indecent exposure. Morrison claimed that although he did use profanity, he didn’t actually expose himself.
Due to no proof of the incident, in Dec. 2010, 39 years after his death, Morrison was pardoned for the indecent exposure.

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8. Judas Priest goes to court for subliminal messages

In 1989, the members of Judas Priest were named as defendants in an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging that subliminal messages on their albums had caused the suicide attempts of 20-year-old James Vance and the suicide of 18-year-old Raymond Belknap.
After drinking and doing drugs while listening to Judas Priest albums, the men took a shotgun to a nearby park to kill themselves. Belknap shot himself first and died instantly, but Vance survived his injuries.
The prosecution alleged that a subliminal message of the phrase “do it” had been hidden in the Judas Priest song “Better By You, Better Than Me”. They believed the command in the song triggered the suicide attempt. The suit was eventually dropped.

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7. The Alice Cooper chicken incident

Cooper claims it was nothing more than an accident that while during a 1969 show, a chicken somehow made its way onto the stage and into the feathers of a pillow that was to be torn during Cooper’s performance. Cooper thought that the chicken would be able to fly away, so he picked it up and threw it out over the crowd. The chicken bombed the first few rows and some disabled people reportedly proceeded to tear the bird to pieces.

The next day the incident was all over the news, but was reporting that Cooper had bitten the head off of the chicken and drank the blood. Supposedly Zappa called Cooper to ask about the incident.  When Cooper denied the claims, he was jokingly told by Zappa to never deny it, that he couldn’t buy that kind of publicity.

6. “The King” dies

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August 16, 1977
Elvis Presley was arguably the most popular singer of the 20th century. But after several years of failing health, Elvis was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his hotel.
Thousands of people gathered outside Graceland to view the open casket and approximately 80,000 people lined the processional route to Forest Hill Cemetery, where Presley was buried next to his mother. After an attempt to steal Elvis’ body in August, the remains of both Elvis Presley and his mother were reburied at Graceland.

5. John Lennon murdered

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December 8, 1980                                                                                                      After returning from the studio with his wife, Yoko Ono, John Lennon was shot 5 times in the back with a .38 revolver by “fan” Mark David Chapman.  After shooting Lennon, Chapman dropped his gun and sat down waiting for the police to arrive.  As Lennon lay there dying, the doorman asked Chapman if he knew what he had just done, to which Chapman calmly replied, “Yes, I just shot John Lennon.”

Officers arrived moments later and found Chapman “very calmly” sitting on the sidewalk. They reported that Chapman was holding a book, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, with the words “To Holden Caulfield. From Holden Caulfield. This is my statement.” He would later claim that his life mirrored that of Holden Caulfield.

4. The “day the music died”

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On February 3, 1959, during a grueling tour, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, 3 American Rock ‘n’ Roll stars, as well as pilot Roger Peterson, all died when their plane went down near Clear Lake, Iowa shortly after takeoff.
The tour was packed and extra shows were added. To make matters worse, the heater on the tour bus had gone out shortly after the tour began, ultimately leading to Holly’s drummer, Carl Bunch, being admitted to a hospital for severe frostbite. Due to the circumstances, a small airplane and pilot was chartered. With the flip of a coin, Valens fate was set, as he won the last seat on the doomed flight with the others.
Originally, Waylon Jennings was to have a seat on the plane, but gave it to Richardson because he had a bad case of the flu. When Holly found out that Jennings was not going to be on the flight he jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up” and Jennings joking back responded, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes”. This would prove to weigh on Jennings’ conscience til his death. It is without a doubt the greatest tragedy in Rock ‘n’ Roll. In the Song “American Pie,” Don McLean dubbed it “The day the music died.”

3. Beatles on Ed Sullivan

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In 1963, Ed Sullivan was passing through Heathrow Airport when the Beatles were arriving back from Stockholm. He noted how the fans greeted them and was intrigued, comparing it to the hype over Elvis Presley all over again.
In 1964, after negotiating the terms, The Beatles would go on to perform on the Ed Sullivan show for 3 consecutive Sundays. Their first appearance on February 9th was so popular, pulling a record 73 million viewers, that it is considered to be the start of the British invasion in music, and the second wave of Rock ‘N’ Roll (Elvis on Ed Sullivan being the first.)

2. Elvis on Ed Sullivan

I had to put this over The Beatles due to a few factors. The first is the fact that Elvis came first, and on the show, he really set to motion the first wave of Rock ‘n’ Roll. If history was any different and Elvis had not existed as we know him today, then Rock ‘n’ Roll would be very different, and the majority of you agree. The results from my online poll “Which Ed Sullivan guest(s) were more influential?” posted February 25, Elvis won out over The Beatles. Elvis Presley 60%, The Beatles 40%.

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In 1956, after Sullivan vowed never to let him appear on the show, Elvis made his first of 3 appearances on the show. Most people will tell you that while on the Ed Sullivan show he was only shot from the waist up. The truth is that out of the 3 times Elvis appeared on the show, the first 2 they shot his entire body. What sets this to legendary status is that on January 6, 1967, on his 3rd and final appearance on the show, word had made it to Marlo Lewis, Sullivan’s co producer, that “Elvis has been hanging a small soft-drink bottle from his groin underneath his pants, and when he wiggles his leg it looks as though his pecker reaches down to his knee!” So except for a brief portion of “Hound Dog”, the remainder of his final appearance was filmed from the waste up.

1. Woodstock

For number 1, I had to choose Woodstock. I mean how could I not pick Woodstock as the most legendary, most awesome moment in Rock ‘n’ Roll history?  God I wish I could have been there. 32 acts, 3 days, 500,000 people and a little rain (well maybe a little more than a little) all came together to make music history.

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The Woodstock music and art fair, simply known as Woodstock, was originally put together by Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. Tickets were sold for $18 in advance and were to be sold for $24 at the gate, but the night before the festival the fences were cut, allowing free access.  Woodstock was intended to pull about 150,00 – 200,000 concert goers, but an estimated 500,000 showed up and there was no way to keep them out. The night before, instead of placing tighter security measures that may have resulted in violence, the decision was made to cut the fence and place all manpower into finishing the stage.
Some of the more notable performances of Woodstock include Richie Havens, Santana, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

Well, there it is.  My list of the top 10 legendary moments of Rock ‘n’ Roll.  So what are your thoughts?

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