Apr 5-11: Historic events this week from Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, Guns N’ Roses and Peter Frampton
APRIL 7, 2008: BOB DYLAN WINS PULITZER PRIZE
Having won Grammys, a Golden Globe, an Oscar & a Dove award; Bob Dylan became the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 2008.
For his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power. – pulitzer.org
• • •
APRIL 7, 1988: ALICE COOPER ALMOST HANGS HIMSELF
Alice Cooper\’s stage show has always involved mock executions. However, one night, Alice nearly hanged himself for real.
The piano wire that keeps Alice\’s noose from fatally hanging him snapped.
The wire snaps… and in an instant I flipped my head back. That must’ve been a fraction of a second…if it caught my chin, it would have been a different result. It went over my neck and gave me a pretty good burn. I went down to the floor and pretty much blacked out – Alice Cooper, Entertainment Weekly (2018)
• • •
APRIL 8, 2016: GUNS N\’ ROSES REUNION TOUR BEGINS
After a warm-up gig at The Troubadour in West Hollywood for a sold out crowd of only 500 (!), …the Not In This Lifetime…Tour finally got underway with two shows in Las Vegas.
However, at the Troubadour show, Axl Rose fell and broke his foot.
He had to resort to singing from Dave Grohl\’s \”rock throne\”.
The very one Grohl used in 2015 when he broke his leg.
• • •
APRIL 9, 2020: DYLAN\’S FIRST US #1 SINGLE
Remarkably, Bob Dylan has never had a #1 single in the US until now.
Dylan\’s \”Murder Most Foul\”, a 17-minute epic about JFK\’s assassination, was released on 3/27/20.
The song went to #1 on Billboard\’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart with over 10,000 sold in its first week.
• • •
APRIL 10, 1976: FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE! IS #1
Two days after being certified Platinum, Frampton Comes Alive! was #1 on the charts.
The live album would spend 10 non-consecutive weeks at #1.
The only album to spend more time at #1 in 1976 was Stevie Wonder\’s Songs in the Key of Life.