Throwback: Happy Belated 59th Birthday, Stone Gossard!

July is a very busy month in music history:

• The iconic Debbie Harry celebrated her 79th birthday on July 1
• The B-52s Fred Schneider celebrated his 73rd birthday on July 1
• Missy Elliott, one of the most forward thinking artists of her generation — and perhaps of any generation, really — celebrated her 53rd birthday on July 1
• Evelyn “Champagne” King celebrated her 64th birthday on July 1
• Depeche Mode‘s Yaz’s/Yazoo’s and Erasure‘s Vince Clarke celebrated his 63rd birthday on July 3
• The great jazz organist Dr. Lonnie Smith was born 82 years ago on July 3
• Bill Withers was born 86 years ago on July 4 
• Huey Lewis and The News‘ frontman Huey Lewis celebrated his 74th birthday on July 5
• 50 Cent celebrated his 49th birthday on July 6
• The Beatles‘ Ringo Starr celebrated his 84th birthday on July 7
• Depeche Mode co-founder  
• Andy “Fletch” Fletcher was born 63 years ago on July 8
• Beck celebrated his 54th birthday on July 8
• AC/DC‘s first frontman, Bon Scott was born 78 years ago on July 9
• The legendary and incomparable Mavis Staples celebrated her 85th birthday on July 10
• Pet Shop Boys‘ frontman Neil Tennant celebrated his 70th — yes, 70th! — birthday on July 10
• Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy celebrates his 67th birthday today
• Lil’ Kim celebrated her 50th — yes, 50th! — birthday on July 11
• MF DOOM was born 53 years ago on July 13
• Joy Division‘s Ian Curtis was born on this day 68 on July 14
• Linda Ronstadt, one of the greatest vocalists — and arguably one of the most commercially successful female artists ever — celebrated her 77th birthday on July 15 
• The Police‘s Stewart Copeland celebrated his 72nd birthday on July 16
• Gang Starr‘s G.U.R.U., one of the greatest emcees to ever spit bars on wax was born 63 years ago on July 17
• Queen‘s Brian May celebrated his 77th birthday back on July 19th
• Carlos Santana, one of the greatest guitarists to ever do it celebrated his 77th birthday on July 20
• Soundgarden‘s Chris Cornell was born 60 years ago on July 20

Also on July 20, Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard celebrated his 59th birthday. hen I was in junior high school and high school, Pearl Jam was one of my favorite bands, ever. Their first three albums are absolutely legendary — and I loved them immensely. 

Happy belated birthday, Stone! Thank you for music that got me through my teens. And may there be many, many more!