DJ Fred’s Rock N’ Roll Factoids For December 31th [VIDEOS]

The band that would  eventually turn into an American institution made their live debut on this date in 1961.

The Beach Boys appeared at the Long Beach Civic Auditorium in California on this night.  Sand, surf and bikinis would soon rule the music world, until Brian Wilson got frightened and locked himself in his room.

Another big live debut happened on this date in 1963 when the Kinks began their thirty two year run.  Brothers Ray and Dave Davies stuck it out for quite awhile before eventually having enough of each other and disbanding.

The end for the Beatles began on this date in 1970 when Paul McCartney filed suit against the rest of the band to dissolve their partnership. Shortly there after John Lennon would refer to McCartney as Engelbert Humperdinck when asked about his former band mate and song writing partner. Meanwhile, Engelbert was heard saying, "What the f**k?"

And yet another big live debut on this date when AC/DC took the stage in Chequers Bar in Sydney, Australia. The year was 1973, and the Highway To Hell has been a long road, so far.

It was on this date in 1984 that Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident in England.  Allen was driving his Corvette on his way to a New Year's Eve party at his parent's home when a person in a Jaguar began to egg him on.  Eventually Allen would lose control of the Vette and crash. His was thrown from the car and had his arm severed by an improperly fastened seat belt.  It didn't stop his music career, as he is still with the band to this day.

In 1985, Ricky Nelson and six others died in a plane crash in Texas.  Investigators believed that an explosion from freebasing cocaine had caused the crash. The former child star of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet TV show and early rocker was 45.

In 2000 Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson married actress Kate Hudson the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn. The couple separated in 2006.  I'm guessing all it would have taken was a shave and a shower to keep her around. What a fool to let her go.

Birthdays: Guitarist Andy Summers of the Police is now 73. John Denver would have been 68, if he hadn't crashed his homemade plane off the coast of California in 1997.  By the way, Denver's birth name was Henry John Deutschendorf.  Good thing that he found Colorado, and changed it.  Burton Cummings, the fine lead singer for the Guess Who is now 68.  The beautiful Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco,  would have been 67 today.  And Tom Hamilton, the bass player for Aerosmith is now 64, and damn glad that he is after battling cancer for awhile now.