On This Day in Guitar History: August 25
Edited by Cadence · Reviewed
August 25 spans six decades of guitar, bass, and drums history. Grand Funk Railroad released their debut On Time in 1969, and Bruce Springsteen released Born to Run in 1975, its cover built around a $180 Fender Esquire. Alice Cooper released Zipper Catches Skin in 1982, and Def Leppard/Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell was born in 1962. On the rhythm side, Boston's self-titled debut (1976) and Eric Clapton's Unplugged (1992) both carry drummer-focused stories, KISS's Gene Simmons was born in 1949, and Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton, Billy Joel's Doug Stegmeyer, and reggae percussionist Sticky Thompson each have their own August 25 anniversary.
On August 25 in guitar history
1949 · Born
KISS bassist Gene Simmons is born in Haifa, Israel
Simmons, born Chaim Witz, emigrated to the US at age 8 and co-founded KISS in 1973. He plays basses of his own design, the axe-shaped Axe Bass and the spikier Punisher, and produced an early, unsuccessful Van Halen demo tape in 1976.
Source: Gene Simmons, Wikipedia
1962 · Born
Def Leppard and Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell is born in Belfast
Campbell joined Ronnie James Dio's band at 20 to help write Holy Diver, then passed through Whitesnake before joining Def Leppard in 1992, replacing the late Steve Clark. He has played through treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma since 2013.
Source: Vivian Campbell, Wikipedia
1969 · Release
Grand Funk Railroad release their debut album, On Time
Guitarist Mark Farner wrote every track on this stripped-down power-trio debut with bassist Mel Schacher and drummer Don Brewer. The reference book Legends of Rock Guitar later called it 'a case study in early metal style.'
Source: On Time (album), Wikipedia
1975 · Release
Bruce Springsteen releases Born to Run
Springsteen's third album, built with the E Street Band's 'Wall of Sound,' made him a global star. Its cover, shot by Eric Meola, features the battered Fender Esquire/Telecaster hybrid Springsteen bought for $180 in 1972.
1976 · Release
Boston release their self-titled debut album
Tom Scholz built almost the entire record himself in his Massachusetts basement. Drummer Sib Hashian became the touring member, though many of his recorded parts were note-for-note replays of arrangements original drummer Jim Masdea had already written.
Source: Boston (album), Wikipedia
1982 · Release
Alice Cooper releases Zipper Catches Skin
One of Cooper's three self-described 'blackout albums' from his early-80s substance-abuse years. Longtime guitarist Dick Wagner left partway through the sessions, and the record became Cooper's first studio album to miss the Billboard 200 since 1970.
Source: Zipper Catches Skin, Wikipedia
1992 · Release
Eric Clapton's Unplugged is released
Recorded live for MTV that January, the album reworked 'Layla' into a loose acoustic shuffle behind drummer Steve Ferrone. It became the best-selling live album of all time and swept the 1993 Grammys.
1995 · Passed
Billy Joel's longtime bassist Doug Stegmeyer dies at 43
Stegmeyer anchored Joel's band from Turnstiles (1976) through The Bridge (1986) and helped bring drummer Liberty DeVitto and guitarist Russell Javors into the lineup. He was posthumously inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
Source: Doug Stegmeyer, Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame
2006 · Milestone
Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton reveals his throat cancer diagnosis
The announcement ended a 36-year streak of never missing an Aerosmith show. David Hull filled in on bass for half the Route of All Evil tour while Hamilton completed treatment; the cancer returned in 2011, and he beat it again.
Source: Hamilton treated for throat cancer · 2006-08-25
2014 · Passed
Reggae percussionist Sticky Thompson dies in Miami
Uziah 'Sticky' Thompson started as a Kingston sound-system deejay before becoming one of reggae's most-recorded session percussionists, adding congas and hand percussion to records by The Wailers, Peter Tosh, and Black Uhuru. He died of a heart attack at 78.
Source: Uzziah 'Sticky' Thompson dies · 2014-08-26
Why we track this
August 25 stacks up six decades of guitar-history landmarks, from a stripped-down power trio's debut to the album cover that made Bruce Springsteen a household name. Grand Funk Railroad's On Time and Boston's self-titled debut, released seven years apart, both lean on a rhythm section carrying more weight than the charts gave them credit for at the time. Alice Cooper's detour into new wave and Vivian Campbell's path from Belfast NWOBHM clubs to three decades in Def Leppard round out a date that also carries real weight for bassists and drummers: Gene Simmons, Doug Stegmeyer, Tom Hamilton, and Sticky Thompson each have their own August 25 story.
Start your own August 25
Whether it's Springsteen's mutt Esquire, Farner's riff-carrying power trio, or Cooper's forgotten new-wave detour that pulls you in, the through-line is still six strings under someone's hands. If yours need a change, the set below is the one we point most beginners to first.
Regular Slinky
Why this one: A widely played, balanced electric set and a safe starting point no matter which era of guitar history brought you here today.
More guitar history
This page is part of an evergreen series, one per calendar day, filled in as we verify more events. Browse our artist profiles for deeper dives on the players named above, or head to the full history index to see which dates are live so far.