April 26, 2002-This Day in Rock & Roll History

59 years ago Gary Wright is born. (1943)

42 years ago Drummer Roger Taylor of Duran Duran is born. (1960)

36 years ago The New York Times reports R&B immortal Ray Charles will undergo tests in a Boston hospital to see whether or not he has abstained from narcotic drugs. (1966)

35 years ago CBS-TV broadcasts "Inside Pop -- The Rock Revolution." Among the guests that host Leonard Bernstein has on is 16 year old Janis Ian, who sings "Society Child." A year before the song was banned by some radio stations because of its subject (an interracial love affair). Following her television appearance, the song races into the Top Twenty. (1967)

25 years ago New York's legendary disco Studio 54 opens its doors. (1977)

24 years ago Ringo Starr's TV special, "Ringo" a musical version of "The Prince and the Pauper" airs on American television. Ringo played both characters. George Harrison provides the narration but it still get low number finishing 53 out of 65 shows. (1978)

20 years ago Rod Stewart is mugged in Los Angeles in broad daylight and is robbed of his $50,000 Porsche. He was not hurt. (1982)
20 years ago On his way to the Clash's West London rehearsal studio, lead singer Joe Strummer gets on a train for the English coast and then takes a ferry across the channel to France. His disapearances forces the band to cancel their tour of the U.K. and puts their June tour of the U.S. in trouble. He shows up in London on May 18 and says exhaustion and doubts about his career drove him to Paris. Two days after he's back, the Clash surprises the audience at an outdoor festival in Holland with an unscheduled concert. (1982)

16 years ago 5150, the first Van Halen album to feature Sammy Hagar, tops the charts for the first of four weeks. The album is named after the New York police code for the criminally insane and Eddie Van Halen's recording studio. (1986)

8 years ago The historic Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco. (1994)

8 years ago Grace Slick pleads guilty to pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, California home on March 5, 1994. She claims she was under stress because her Mill Valley home had burned down the previous fall, and she lost most of her possessions. On June 7, she is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week for three months. (1994)

7 years ago Courtney Love of Hole reportedly turns down Playboy magazine's $1 million offer for her to pose nude. (1995)
5 years ago ABC's telecast of "U2: A Year in POP" becomes the lowest-rated prime-time program in the history of major network television. (1997)