Born on October 21, 1971, in Los Angeles and raised in Palm Springs, Nick Oliveri cut his teeth in the desert rock scene as the bassist for Kyuss, playing on 1992's Blues for the Red Sun before leaving the band. He resurfaced in 1998 as the bassist and co-vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age, co-writing much of Rated R and Songs for the Deaf with Josh Homme before his volatile behavior got him fired in 2004. Nicknamed "Rex Everything" and once described by Homme as a "rock and roll komodo dragon," Oliveri built a reputation for chaos onstage, including a 2001 arrest in Rio de Janeiro for performing nude at Rock in Rio III. He has kept busy ever since fronting Mondo Generator, co-founding Stöner with Brant Bjork, and lending his snarl to the Dwarves and Turbonegro.

On October 21, 1995, Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon, died of a cocaine-induced heart attack on the band's tour bus in New Orleans at age 28. The Lafayette, Indiana native formed the band in Los Angeles in 1990, and his friendship with Axl Rose landed him backing vocals on Guns N' Roses' "Don't Cry." Blind Melon's self-titled 1992 debut struggled until "No Rain" broke through on MTV in 1993, its video featuring Heather DeLoach as the "Bee Girl" becoming one of the era's most recognizable images. Hoon had battled addiction through multiple rehab stints, and his death came months after the birth of his daughter, Nico Blue. The band released the outtakes collection Nico in his memory before disbanding in 1999, and the 2019 documentary All I Can Say, built from footage Hoon shot himself, remains the fullest portrait of his life.

On October 21, 1977, Meat Loaf released Bat Out of Hell, a theatrical, operatic collision of hard rock and Wagnerian excess written entirely by Jim Steinman. The album paired Meat Loaf's booming voice with Steinman's teenage-melodrama lyrics on tracks like "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and the title song, while Todd Rundgren's production, and Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band in the backing group, gave it a widescreen, almost Broadway-sized sound. It sold slowly at first before word of mouth and relentless touring turned it into a phenomenon, eventually moving over 40 million copies worldwide and spending a staggering 474 weeks on the UK charts. Rolling Stone later ranked it among the best selling albums ever made. Produced by Todd Rundgren.