This Day in Rock History: February 24

Breakthrough Hits and Milestones

• 1965: The Beach Boys recorded "Help Me Rhonda," a song they had previously recorded with the spelling “Ronda,” for their The Beach Boys Today! album. The song peaked at No. 1 in May.
• 1976: Making history, The Eagles became the first band ever to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. To receive platinum status, the band sold over 1 million albums and 2 million singles from the Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 album.

Cultural Milestones

• 1950: George Thorogood was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He started his career in the 1970s and became hugely successful in the following decade due to high-energy blues songs like "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Alone."
• 1998: Elton John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He was given this honor in recognition of his contributions to the music industry and charitable services.
• 2006: Making waves in the industry, the Sex Pistols refused to attend the ceremony when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They claimed the induction was too mainstream and would contradict their musical roots.

Notable Recordings and Performances

• 1967: Fleetwood Mac, also called Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac at the time, released their self-titled debut album via Blue Horizon Records. It was a mixture of blues covers and original material, and was an instant hit in Green's native UK.
• 1969: At the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played their final British concert. Some songs from the concert were included in the 1971 live release of the Experience album.
• 1973: The Byrds made their final live appearance, playing at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. Band leader Roger McGuinn was planning on retiring the band's touring lineup and getting back together with the original band, but his plans were tragically cancelled a few months later, when guitarist Clarence White was killed in an accident.
• 1975: Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin's sixth studio album, was released in the U.S. as a double album. The collection made it to No. 1 in the U.K. and topped out at No. 3 in the U.S.
• 1979: The Police released one of their most famous singles, "Roxanne." Although it initially failed to make any impact and didn't even chart, it later got traction after an Austin DJ started playing it, and other stations around the country followed.

Industry Changes and Challenges

• 1999: Lenny Kravitz took home his first GRAMMY Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his song "Fly Away." This was the first of four consecutive times Kravitz won the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance GRAMMY.
• 2008: A life-size bronze statue of Bon Scott, the former singer for AC/DC, was erected in Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour in Western Australia. Scott had lived in Fremantle since he was 10 years old, but his family had immigrated to Australia from Scotland when he was just six years old.