Week in Rock History: Led Zeppelin and the World Mourn John Bonham

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September 25, 1995: Courtney Love receives a one-year suspended prison sentence for assaulting Kathleen Hanna
The first day of the 1995 Lollapalooza Festival was a combative one: Courtney Love punched Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna in the face, resulting in a legal case between the two.

After Hanna allegedly made a heroin joke about Love's daughter with Kurt Cobain, Frances Bean, Love threw herself onto Hanna, as well as pelted her with hard candies and a lit cigarette. Bodyguards intervened before the fight could escalate, and Hanna pressed assault charges. Love received a one-year suspended prison sentence and was forced to enroll in anger management classes.

Hanna's interaction with Love may have been contentious, but she had a much more creative past with Love's late husband: she once spray-painted "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the Nirvana frontman's wall, inspiring the band's seismic hit.

September 29, 1997: Don Henley is awarded a National Humanities Medal
President Bill Clinton must've really enjoyed "Life in the Fast Lane." In the fall of 1997, he honored Eagles singer Don Henley with the National Humanities Medal for contributions to American popular culture.

Henley was honored at the White House for his contributions to rock music and also for his work with two environmental organizations, the Walden Woods Project and the Thoreau Institute. He shared the Humanities prize with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel, Latin percussionist Tito Puente and jazz singer Betty Carter.

The National Humanities Medal may have proved an unexpected catalyst for Henley's political future. In 2000, the raspy singer co-founded the Recording Artists' Coalition, which later caused him to testify on behalf of musicians' rights at California State Senate hearing – with, of all people, Courtney Love.

LAST WEEK: Jimi Hendrix Dies

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES The 10 Best Zombie Movie Scenes
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  TV The Most WTF? Moments of 'Mad Men'
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

More Song Stories entries »

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