April 19 in Music History: Brian Johnson joins AC/DC, the first Record Store Day is held

1968 – The Zombies release Odessey and Oracle.

1968 – John Lennon, George Harrison, and their wives leave the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India two weeks before their study was complete. Ringo and Paul had already left. Later, all four Beatles publicly distance themselves from the Maharishi.

1980 – Brian Johnson replaces Bon Scott as the lead singer of Australian group AC/DC, who had died after binge drinking two months prior. Johnson had previously performed with cabaret/club band The Jasper Hart Band, performing songs from the musical Hair, among other bands.

1980 – For the first time ever, the top 5 artists on the US country chart are all female. Crystal Gayle is at #1 with Dottie West, Debbie Boone, Emmylou Harris, and Tammy Wynette being the other four.

1980 – R. E. M. play their first gig under that name at the 11:11 Koffee Club in Athens, Georgia to 150 people. The show ends at 2am when police shut it down due to the venue being unlicensed.

1982 – Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a world tour, but split up again in the midst of it.

1986 – Prince becomes the 5th songwriter to have two top 10 hits at the same time. The songs are “Kiss” by Prince & the Revolution and “Manic Monday” by the Bangles, which he wrote under the pseudonym “Christopher.”

2002 – Layne Staley of Alice in Chains is found dead in his apartment.

2008 – The first Record Store Day is held. The event is founded to celebrate and encourage support for the culture of independently owned record stores. Metallica officially kicks off the first event at Rasputin Music in San Francisco, CA.

2012 – Levon Helm dies of throat cancer at age 71. A drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist; Helm formed his own high school band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, at 17. He later joined The Hawks, who became Bob Dylan’s backing group, who then became known as The Band. He sang on Band classics like “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and “The Weight.”

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.