Rock & Roll Never Dies, LLC

09/16/2026

09/16/2026

Henry Rollins and a small part of his massive record collection.

"Music, to me, is mankind's greatest possible achievement because look at all the good it does." - Henry Rollins

📷 Heidi May

09/16/2026

On This Day in 1970, Jimi Hendrix Gave His Final Public Performance

On September 16, 1970, Jimi Hendrix walked onto the stage at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London for what would become the final public performance of his life. Just two days later, he was dead at the age of 27.

Hendrix wasn't there for a scheduled concert of his own. He joined Eric Burdon and War during their set, picking up a guitar for an impromptu guest appearance. Together they played “Mother Earth” and “Tobacco Road,” giving the audience an unexpected final glimpse of the guitarist who had transformed the possibilities of the electric guitar.

The appearance came only days after Hendrix had returned to London following a difficult final European tour. His last full concert had taken place on September 6 at the Love & Peace Festival on the German island of Fehmarn, but Ronnie Scott’s became his last time playing guitar before a public audience.

There was no grand farewell and no indication that history was being made. Hendrix simply stepped onstage with fellow musicians and played — something he had done countless times since arriving in London four years earlier as a virtually unknown American guitarist.

Forty-eight hours later, Jimi Hendrix was gone. The final public notes of one of the most revolutionary guitarists in history had been played not in a stadium or at a major festival, but during an informal late-night appearance in a London club.

09/16/2026

On September 16, 1963, The Beatles released “She Loves You” as a single in the United States.

Originally released in the UK on August 23, 1963, the song became one of the defining records of Beatlemania and remains the band’s best-selling single in Britain. Featuring its iconic “yeah, yeah, yeah” chorus, “She Loves You” helped introduce American audiences to the phenomenon that would soon take over the world.

09/16/2026

RIP Marc Bolan — Passed Away on This Day in 1977
⠀
Marc Bolan (Mark Feld) (September 30, 1947 – September 16, 1977) was the singer, songwriter, and guitarist who transformed T. Rex into one of the defining bands of the glam-rock era. After beginning his career in the British underground and forming Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Peregrin Took, Bolan gradually exchanged acoustic psychedelia for electric guitars, huge riffs, and the flamboyant image that would help reshape British rock in the early 1970s.
⠀
The transformation produced an extraordinary run of records. Ride a White Swan opened the door, followed by classics including Hot Love, Get It On, Jeepster, Telegram Sam, Metal Guru, and 20th Century Boy. Albums such as Electric Warrior and The Slider captured Bolan at his creative peak, combining simple but irresistible guitar riffs with swagger, melody, and a sound that would influence generations of rock and punk musicians.
⠀
Bolan died on September 16, 1977, when the car driven by his partner Gloria Jones crashed into a tree in southwest London. He was only 29, just two weeks short of his 30th birthday. Today, 49 years after his death, we remember one of glam rock's great architects and one of the most distinctive figures in British rock history.

09/16/2026

September 16th 1963 - George flies to the USA

George in New York, en route to visit his sister, Louise.

George: "In 1963 I went to New York and St. Louis to see, and then I went to the countryside in Illinois, where my sister lived at the time."

Alan Clayson (journalist): "George was the first of the Beatles to set foot on the soil of the United States. Via New York and St. Louis, he and his brother Peter flew for two weeks to visit their married sister, who was then living in Benton, Illinois.

From George Harrison's letter to a fan in November 1963: "I had a great time in America, but I didn't like New York as much as I expected. It's a big, unfriendly, and kind of lonely place, but I guess I'd like it better if I knew someone there."

https://beatles-chronology.ru/1963/09/16/bitlz-otpravlyayutsya-na-kanikuly/

Full story of George's holiday in Illinois:-
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/charming-story-george-harrison-vacationed-small-town-america-180974593/

Photos from his trip but not on this date. Thanks to Peter Hodgson for sharing.

09/15/2026

On This Day in 1983, Huey Lewis & The News Released Sports

On September 15, 1983, Huey Lewis & The News released Sports, their third studio album and the record that transformed the San Francisco band into one of the biggest American rock acts of the 1980s.

The band's lineup featured Huey Lewis on vocals and harmonica, Chris Hayes and Johnny Colla on guitars, Mario Cipollina on bass, Bill Gibson on drums and Sean Hopper on keyboards. Their sound was deliberately direct: tight rhythm guitars, strong harmonies, touches of soul and R&B, and songs built to work just as well onstage as they did on radio.

Sports produced an extraordinary run of hits. “Heart and Soul,” “I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “If This Is It” all reached the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10, while “Walking on a Thin Line” became another major single. Chris Hayes’ guitar work was a crucial part of that sound, from concise melodic leads to the muscular rhythm playing behind the band's hooks.

Produced by the band themselves, Sports was recorded largely at the Record Plant in Sausalito. Rather than relying on elaborate studio experimentation, Huey Lewis & The News captured the punch and discipline they had developed through years of playing together.

The album eventually reached #1 on the Billboard 200 and became a seven-times-platinum seller in the United States. Sports wasn't built around virtuosity for its own sake — it was six musicians playing exceptionally tight, economical rock & roll, and in 1983 that formula turned Huey Lewis & The News into superstars.

09/15/2026

RIP Ric Ocasek — Passed Away on This Day in 2019
⠀
Ric Ocasek (Richard Theodore Otcasek) (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019) was the singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and creative force behind The Cars, one of the bands that most successfully bridged classic guitar rock and the emerging new-wave sound of the late 1970s. With his distinctive voice, angular guitar playing, and instinct for unforgettable hooks, Ocasek helped give American rock a strikingly modern edge.
⠀
The Cars' extraordinary 1978 debut produced Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl, and Good Times Roll, beginning a run that continued with Let's Go, Shake It Up, You Might Think, Magic, and Drive. Ocasek wrote the vast majority of the band's material, while his partnership with lead guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, drummer David Robinson, and bassist/vocalist Benjamin Orr created one of the most recognizable sounds of the era.
⠀
Beyond The Cars, Ocasek released solo records and became an influential producer, working with artists including Weezer, Bad Brains, and Guided by Voices. He died at his New York City home on September 15, 2019, aged 75. Today, seven years after his passing, we remember a songwriter and musician whose combination of guitars, pop melody, and new-wave cool left a lasting mark on rock.

09/15/2026

On This Day In Music History: September 15th 1961: A group from Hawthorne, California, called The Pendletones attend their first real recording session at Hite Morgan's studio in Los Angeles to record a demo called 'Surfin''.
The Southern California group would re-record the song in October and, by the end of the year, they would sign their first record deal and be rechristened The Beach Boys.
'Surfin’', meanwhile, became their first single. It not only became a popular regional hit, but also broke into the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No.75.

09/15/2026

On This Day In Music History: September 15th 2008: Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright died aged 65 from cancer.
Wright appeared on the group's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967 alongside Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason.
David Gilmour who joined the band at the start of 1968 said: "He was such a lovely, gentle, genuine man and will be missed terribly by so many who loved him."
In 2005, the full band reunited - for the first time in 24 years - for the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park.
Wright had also contributed vocals and keyboards to Gilmour's 2006 solo album On An Island.