Photos: Looking Back at Philly's Spectrum

Philadelphia's Spectrum — one of rock's most hallowed arenas — is being demolished today. The arena opened in 1967 and hosted nearly every major rock act of the past 43 years. (See a complete list here.) The final event was an epic, nearly four-hour long Pearl Jam concert on October 31, 2009.

Rolling Stone's David Fricke grew up in Philadelphia and saw countless shows there in the 1970s. Click to see a photo gallery and read about his favorite Spectrum memories.

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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