The last 20 years have drawn some legendary acts to our stages.

The Weekly’s distribution chief remembers the best day of his life clearly. It wasn’t the first time he got laid– or the day he got his beloved cockapoo Seamus; it was the day Run DMC played the old Doc Ricketts Lab off Cannery Row in 1991.

“Dude. I mean, f***,” says Aaron Thomas, 39. “Confined into a small room with three of my heroes rapping right in my face, almost touching me?

“Are you kidding me?”

Deservedly, shows like those are the stuff of legend. Monterey County has operated in that echelon of mythical music often in the last 20 years, perpetuating a legacy of extraordinary appearances that includes Billie Holiday scorching Jazz Fest fans (in 1958, less than a year before she died), Crosby, Still, Nash & Young playing an acoustic set at Esalen, and a kid named Jimi lighting something or other on fire at the Pop Festival. Since ’88, The Grateful Dead recorded their only MTV video ever (“Touch of Gray”) on this very terrain; Phish and Bob Dylan appeared at Laguna Seca back-to back years; and the Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson performed at Fernwood and Henry Miller Libray on consecutive days in 2007.

Still not convinced this has been a fertile land for epic bands? Try these guys on for size: James Brown. Santana. Taj Mahal. Willie Nelson.

To help commemorate the magic, Weekly compiled this list of luminous visitors to help readers look back. And rock on.

Artists and photos compiled by Adam Joseph.