Rock History covering Velvet Revolver, Van Halen and happy birthday to Patty Smyth and Mick Jones

June 26th, 2004 Velvet Revolver start at the top, 1996 Van Halen repeat a change, and birthday shared by Patty Smyth and Mick Jones of The Clash.

Velvet Revolver and Van Halen | Today in Rock June 26

June 26th, 2004, the guys in Velvet Revolver do something that nobody expected. When the band first started a lot of people didn’t figure they would go too far. They had Scott Weiland as a front man. Who very famously had a lot of issues with drug abuse while he was in Stone Temple Pilots. Then the band also had three former members of Guns N’ Roses, which are also well known for the infighting that they had in the band. So nobody really expected much out of them. But today in 2004, they hit #1 on the album chart with their debut album “Contraband.”

Today in 1996, it’s about ten days after Sammy Hagar has been fired from Van Halen by Eddie, if you believe Sammy. They enter the studio with a new vocalist. I really shouldn’t say a new one, because it’s David Lee Roth. They record a couple of songs for their greatest hits collection. A lot of people assume that this is a reunion, especially becuase just a few months later they end up on an MTV awards show with Dave in tow. But they make it very clear immediately after that appearance, that this is not a reunion.

We find a couple Rock birthdays on the calendar today. Born on this date in 1957, Patty Smyth of Scandal. Patty at one point was writing songs with Eddie Van Halen and was considered to be the new singer for Van Halen. Born today in 1955, Form The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones.

See more today in rock history stories from Joe here

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