April 14th

1994: Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain was cremated at the Bleitz Funeral Home in Seattle. One third of Cobain’s ashes were later scattered in the Wishkah River in Washington, one third were scattered in a Buddhist temple in New York & the rest are with Courtney Love.

1983: David Bowie released his fifteenth studio album Let’s Dance which went on to reach number four on the Billboard 200 album chart and sell one million copies in the U.S.

1983: The Pretenders’ bassist Pete Farndon was found dead in a bathtub at his home after a heroin overdose. He was 30 years old.

1982: Van Halen released their fifth album Diver Down which went on to reach number three on the Billboard 200 album chart and sell four million copies in the U.S.

1980: A member of the New Jersey State Assembly introduced a resolution to make “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen the official state song. The resolution didn’t pass.

1979: Dire Straits peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 album chart with their self-titled debut album. It later went on to sell two million copies in the U.S. alone.

1975: Mick Jagger announced that Ronnie Wood of The Faces would replace Mick Taylor in The Rolling Stones on their tours of North and South America. Wood officially join the Stones the following February.

1974: The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend made his solo live debut at London’s Roundhouse being back by his own prerecorded tapes.

1967: David Bowie released his novelty single, “The Laughing Gnome” which consisted of a conversation between Bowie and a creature of the title.

Birthdays:
Ritchie Blackmore-guitarist for Deep Purple and Rainbow born in 1945