Queen

This Day in Music History — November 16

1978 : Replicating their infamous promo stunt for the single, Queen are joined onstage at Madison Square Garden by several dozen nude, semi-overweight women during their performance of Bicycle Race. (Overweight because the single mentions Fat Bottomed Girls, the title of the other half of the A-side.)

1985 : “We Built This City” by Starship hits #1 Billboard Hot 100. It would later be named Worst Song of All Time by Blender magazine.

2005 : Pink Floyd, The Kinks and Eurythmics are among the honorees inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The second annual show, which takes place in a ceremony at London’s Alexandra Palace, features some momentous reunions, including the gathering of the original Kinks and a performance by the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, featuring Ozzy Osbourne.

2010 : For the first time, The Beatles music is made available for digital download, as iTunes adds most of their catalog. Apple Computer spent decades battling the Beatles’ Apple Corps record label over the rights to sell music using the Apple name, but a 2007 agreement allowed the companies to work together, setting the stage for the deal.

This Day in Music History — November 10

1958 : Lou Rawls, who is fronting a group called the Travelers, is badly injured in a car accident in Marion, Arkansas that also involves Sam Cooke, who is headlining the tour. The driver, Edward Cunningham, dies in the accident.

1975 : Queen shoots the video for Bohemian Rhapsody, which according to director Bruce Gowers, takes about four hours. It airs repeatedly on the British show Top Of The Pops and helps the song become one of the most popular in UK history.

2002 : Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz, and Brian Setzer guest star on The Simpsons in an episode where they run a rock and roll fantasy camp. The first rule of the camp: There are no rules! Second rule: No outside food.

2003 : An emotional tribute to the recently-deceased Johnny Cash is held at Nashville’s famous Ryman Auditorium, featuring classic Cash songs performed by Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Kid Rock, and Steve Earle, among others.

Watch Panic! At The Disco’s Live Cover of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Panic! At The Disco has actually been covering the song for ages, but now, they’ve released an amazing live video of their concert performance. The band currently features Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie, and Dallon Weekes.

“We covered “Bohemian Rhapsody” by @QueenWillRock every night on #TheGospelTour and it was awesome and here’s a video,” the band shared on Twitter.

Simple enough! Check it out below:

This Day in Music History — August 23

1968 : Ringo Starr walks out on the White Album sessions and takes a vacation. Paul McCartney takes his place on drums for “Back In The U.S.S.R.” and “Dear Prudence,” but The Beatles welcome Ringo back with flowers on his drum kit when he returns.

1969 : Johnny Cash’s album Johnny Cash At San Quentin, which is the soundtrack to a documentary of the same name featuring Cash performing at the prison, hits #1 for the first of four weeks.

1970 : Lou Reed plays his last gig with The Velvet Underground at the club Max’s Kansas City in New York. His father brings him home to Long Island and puts him to work in his accounting firm, where he stays for two years before signing a solo deal.

2004 : Queen becomes the first band officially sanctioned by the Iranian government since the 1979 cultural revolution that outlawed rock groups. Lead singer Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar of Indian parents, had remained quite popular in the country.

2007 : Brian May of Queen gets a degree from London’s Imperial College. It’s not one of those honorary degrees either – he earned a PhD in astrophysics. He would have gotten it sooner, but he was busy being a rock star.

2008 : Erykah Badu joins My Morning Jacket during their performance in Dallas to perform her song Tyrone.