This Day in Rock History: July 29

Breakthrough Hits and Milestones

• 1966: British supergroup Cream, featuring Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, and Jack Bruce, played for the first time in front of an audience at the Twisted Wheel club in Manchester, England. They would stay together for three years and release four genre-defining albums that are now seen as a huge step forward in the transition from old-school blues to more modern rock sounds.
• 1967: The Doors topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their song “Light My Fire.” It was the first song that guitarist Robby Krieger had ever written.
• 1974: Neil Peart became the Canadian progressive rock band Rush’s drummer on this day.
• 1984: Prince achieved an amazing milestone, as his hit single “When Doves Cry” was at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the movie Purple Rain was the highest-grossing at the box office. This made him the first-ever singer to have a No. 1 single, album, and film in the US.
• 1991: Metallica released the single “Enter Sandman,” a couple of weeks before the release of their album, The Black Album. The song was a huge success and paved the way for Metallica’s transition from underground to mainstream popularity.

Cultural Milestones

• 1953: Rush vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist Geddy Lee was born on this day in Ontario, Canada. He was already a member of Rush at age 16, and by 18, he was playing alongside his band at various local events, bars, and clubs. In 2013, Rush was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1965: The second movie featuring The Beatles, called Help!, premiered in London. It featured all members of the band playing themselves, but generally received less positive reviews than their previous film, A Hard Day’s Night.

Notable Recordings and Performances

• 1966: The Grateful Dead had their first show outside of the U.S., performing at the PNE Garden Auditorium in Vancouver, Canada. The show went so well that it was later released as a live album named July 29 1966, P.N.E. Garden Aud., Vancouver, Canada.
• 1968: The Beatles held their first recording session for the epic “Hey Jude.” The session included Paul McCartney laying down some vocal tracks, John Lennon recording some acoustic guitar parts alongside George Harrison’s electric guitar, and Ringo Starr keeping rhythm with his drumming.
• 1968: On the same day when the Beatles were recording one of their most iconic songs, the Byrds were starting their controversial tour of South Africa. Gram Parsons famously declined to join the rest of the group due to the political issues that were marring South Africa at the time.
• 1973: Led Zeppelin closed out their 33-date tour of North America with a spectacular show at Madison Square Garden in New York. The night is equally memorable because, as they were performing, a thief broke into their hotel’s deposit box and stole around $203,000 in cash from the band.
• 2015: The Eagles played their last show with co-founder and singer Glenn Frey at the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City, Louisiana. He would pass away from health-related complications on Jan. 18 the following year.