thebuzzr Independent Music Coverage

December 17, 1989

The Simpsons debuts on Fox with the episode “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” The show quickly attracts big-name guest stars, including many musicians. In Season 3, Michael Jackson, Sting and Aerosmith appear.

December 18, 2009 

Pollstar declares Dave Matthews Band the highest-grossing touring artist of the 2010s in North America, with about $530 million in earnings. Their secret: contant touring and affordable tickets. The rest of the Top 5:

2) Celine Dion
3) Kenny Chesney
4) Bruce Springsteen
5) The Rolling Stones

December 19, 1985 

Johnny Paycheck is drinking at a bar in Hillsboro, Ohio, when two guys recognize him and sit near him. Things get tense, and Paycheck pulls out a .22 pistol and shoots one of them, grazing his head. That man, Larry Wise, claims that Paycheck got testy after they offered him a meal of deer meat and turtle soup. Wise says Paycheck yelled, “What do you think I am, a country hick?,” and shot him.

The country singer is convicted and serves 22 months in jail.

December 20, 1973 

Bobby Darin dies at age 37 after surgery to repair his ailing heart.

December 21, 1970 

Music and politics collide when Elvis Presley meets President Richard Nixon at the White House. A famous photo of the two shaking hands horrifies many Elvis fans.

December 22, 1987 

After a night of debauchery with Robbin Crosby of Ratt and Slash from Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx suffers a drug overdose and his heart stops beating. He is declared clinically dead, but comes back to life.

December 23, 1996

Two weeks after his divorce from Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt is finalized, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx marries Baywatch star Donna D’Errico.

December 24, 1988 

Hair metal reaches its apogee as Poison’s power ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” hits #1 in the US. It stays for three weeks.