DJ Fred’s Rock N’ Roll Factoids For January 20th [VIDEOS]

The DJ who penned the phrase "rock and roll" died, Def Leppard released their most popular album, and Ozzy bit a bat on the head.

Alan Freed, a popular WINS New York disc jockey in the late fifties who went by the nickname Moondog, came up with the phrase "rock n' roll."  Kudos to him for that!  Freed would later become destroyed by a big payola scandal and live the remainder of his life in ruins until he died on this day in 1965 at the age of 43.

Imagine this, it was a Monday night in 1969, the same night of Richard Nixon's Presidential inauguration, and Led Zeppelin played in front of only 55 fans at the Wheaton Youth Center, Wheaton, Maryland.  It was Zeppelin's first tour of America and they were paid only $250 for the night.  I'm guessing the promoter's almost broke even.

It was an infamous night in rock history on this date in 1982 when Ozzy Osbourne tried to bite the head off a bat while onstage.  The show was in Des Moines, Iowa, and a fan had thrown a bat onstage.  Apparently the poor critter was stunned by the stage lights and laid still, until Ozzy, thinking that it was a fake, picked it up and tried to gnaw at it's head.  That's when the bat came alive and started flapping it's wings prompting Ozzy to drop the rodent onto the stage.  Following the show Ozzy was rushed to the hospital to begin a series of rabies shots. Apparently Ozzy's mama never told him not to eat just anything that's thrown onto the stage.

On this day in 1983, Def Leppard released Pyromania, their third and most successful album.  It was the first Def Leppar album to feature guitarist Phil Collen.  With great songs like Photograph, Rock Of Ages, and Foolin', the album would on to sell over 10 million copies in the United States.  Eventually a Broadway play called Rock Of Ages would materialize, along with a horrible movie of the same name starring Tom Cruise.

On this day in 199o, Michael Bolton #1 with How Am I Suppose To Live Without You.  We're glad he finally figured it out. And, we thought that Laura Branigan looked much better singin' her version of the song.

Rick Evans, one half of the one hit wonder group Zager & Evans, was born on this day in 1943.  The group had a #1 song with In The Year 2525 in 1969.  Yes, I admit it, I bought the 45 RPM too.

And Paul Stanley, the fabulous and flamboyant lead vocalist for Kiss was born on this day in 1952. Stanley's birth name was Stanley Bert Eisen, which really didn't fit well for a rock star.  So, he changed it to The Starchild, thus the black star over his right eye while in stage makeup.  Kiss played the old Bangor Auditorium on April 16th, 1976, as part of the Alive Tour!