The Biggest 'Where I Was When' Rock + Metal Moments of Each Decade

There are moments in our lives where we can always place where we were when they happened and sometimes those moments have rock and metal ties.

On this list, we're taking you back through some 50-plus years of rock and metal and delivering the biggest of the "where I was when" moments of each decade. In some cases, the enormity of the event eclipsed genre classification and went straight into pop culture significance.

For instance, were you one of the nearly two billion people worldwide that tuned in to watch some of the biggest musicians in the world unite for the charitable 1980s fundraiser Live Aid to aid famine relief in Ethiopia? Surely you have memories from that day that have stuck with you over the years, whether it be the Led Zeppelin reunion, Phil Collins' jet-setting performances or what has arguably been described as the best live performance in history when Queen took the stage.

READ MORE: 10 Iconic Rock + Metal Live Aid Setlists

And what about a decade later in the 1990s? Do you remember where you were or how you found out that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain had died? It was a death that certainly resonated well beyond the grunge world as the "voice of his generation" was gone. It was a meteoric rise at the top of the decade and a tragic ending to a life with so much promise.

So join us as we go decade hopping starting in the 1970s and on through the '80s, '90s, 2000s, 2010s and even the 2020s, reflecting on those "I remember where I was when" moments of rock and metal history in the gallery below.

Now check out the most shocking rock and metal moments of the '90s.

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