It’s August 23rd and here are some reasons why this day matters in rock history:

In 1967, while celebrating his birthday, The Who drummer Keith Moon drove his Lincoln Continental limousine into a Holiday Inn swimming pool as he drunkenly tried to get away from police who came to break of the party. The rocker released the handbrake on the car and watched as it rolled into the pool.

In 1969, Johnny Cash started a four-week run at number one on the album chart with Johnny Cash at San Quentin, which featured the show he gave inmates at San Quentin State Prison. It was the follow-up to his live album At Folsom Prison.

In 1970, a fan secretly taped Velvet Underground’s show at Max’s Kansas City in New York. The gig turned out to be Lou Reed’s last with the band and was later released as a live set.

In 1969, The Rolling Stones started a four-week run at number one on the singles chart with “Honky Tonk Woman,” their fifth song to top the chart in America.

And in 2002, Foo Fighters, Prodigy, Offspring, Muse, Jane’s Addiction, The Strokes, Sum41, Incubus, The White Stripes and many others performed at the Reading and Leeds Festival in England.

And that’s what happened today in rock history.

(H/T This Day in Music)

Mel Taylor