It’s April 17th and here are some reasons why this day matters in rock history:

In 1998, Paul McCartney’s wife and one-time member of Wings, Linda McCartney, died at the age of 56 after a three-year-long battle with breast cancer.

In 2008, longtime E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici died from cancer at age 58. Federici worked with Bruce Springsteen for over four decades, starting in the early Springsteen bands Steel Mill and Child.

In 1995, Courtney Love and her band, Hole, performed for the sixth season premiere of MTV’s Unplugged.

In 1971, Three Dog Night started a six-week run at number one on the singles chart with “Joy To The World.”

In 1995, following Bill Berry’s operation for a brain aneurysm that caused him to collapse onstage during a show, R.E.M.announced they would resume their worldwide Monster tour. Even though Berry recovered and rejoined the band, he left in 1997 for good.

In 2006, in a VH1 poll, a line from U2’s 1992 hit “One” was voted Viewers’ Favorite Song Lyric. The lyric is “One life, with each other, sisters, brothers.”

And in 1991, Nirvana performed at Seattle’s OK Hotel. They played a new song live for the first time ever. It was called “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

And that’s what happened today in rock history.

(H/T: This Day in Music)

Clint August