Pick a Day

Music History Events: Music and Politics

May 5, 1972 Paul Simon, Chicago and Carole King all perform at a benefit concert for US presidential candidate George McGovern.

March 9, 1972 Carole King, James Taylor, Quincy Jones and Barbra Streisand take part in a fundraiser for presidential hopeful George McGovern.

December 10, 1971 At the "Free John Sinclair Rally" in Ann Arbor, Michigan, John Lennon debuts his new song, fittingly called "John Sinclair." Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger and Phil Ochs also appear at the rally, which is an effort to get Sinclair, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of two marijuana joints, out of jail. Sinclair was released two days later.

October 14, 1970 Leading up to his "War On Drugs" initiative, US President Richard Nixon encourages radio stations to work with him in stopping drug abuse. "If you can make a contribution here, I believe you will be serving the national interest," he says at the White House Conference on Drug Abuse.

October 10, 1970 The head of the FCC issues a statement in rebuttal to Vice President Spiro Agnew's complaint that radio stations were playing too many songs about drugs. The statement reads: "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President."

September 15, 1970 Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the US, claims that "The youth of America are being brainwashed into a drug culture of rock music, movies, books and tabloid newspapers."

April 24, 1970 Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, invited to a White House tea party by Tricia Nixon because they both attended Finch College, shows up with Abbie Hoffman and a plan to slip LSD into Richard Nixon's tea. They never get past security.

April 17, 1970 Johnny Cash plays for President Richard Nixon at the White House, performing his song "What Is Truth." Nixon requested a song called "Welfare Cadillac," which Cash politely declines to play.

December 22, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Health John Munro to discuss drug abuse.

December 4, 1969 President Richard Nixon, Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, and forty US governors view "simulated acid trip" films and listen to rock music in order to comprehend the generation gap.

November 25, 1969 As a protest against Britain's military involvement in foreign conflicts, John Lennon returns his MBE (Member of the British Empire) medal, with an attached letter that reads, puckishly, "Your Majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against 'Cold Turkey' slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon of Bag."

June 5, 1969 Donovan and Joan Baez perform at a rally for nuclear disarmament in London.

May 10, 1969 The Turtles and The Temptations perform at the White House for President Richard Nixon's daughter, Tricia. Things don't go so well for the Turtles' Mark Volman, who falls off the stage five times.

March 22, 1969 Two days after their wedding in Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their "Bed-in," inviting members of the media into their Amsterdam hotel room where they are promoting peace with songs, signs and dialogue. These events are outlined in the song "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

December 6, 1968 President Richard Nixon sends out 66,000 signed letters to potential administrative office holders, including Elvis Presley.

July 10, 1968 Early prog-rockers The Nice are banned from London's Royal Albert Hall after burning an American flag on stage as an antiwar protest.

February 4, 1968 US Attorney General John Mitchell receives a secret memo from Senator Strom Thurmond, in which Thurmond suggests deporting John Lennon due to his antiwar stance.

January 18, 1968 Joan Baez is released from jail after serving 31 days for a protest where she and other antiwar demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California. "Jail is really peanuts," she tells reporters. "It's nothing for people like us."

January 14, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. visits Joan Baez and other inmates at the Santa Rita Jail who are serving time for protesting the Vietnam War. Baez has long supported King, performing at his March On Washington in 1963 and joining his movement to peacefully desegregate Mississippi schools in 1966.

August 13, 1967 A planned Joan Baez concert at Washington DC's Constitution Hall is canceled after the Daughters of the American Revolution protest her recent anti-war remarks concerning Vietnam.

May 3, 1967 Beach Boy Carl Wilson goes to court on draft evasion charges.

May 1, 1967 Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys is arrested by the FBI for draft-dodging and refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the United States. Wilson, a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, is eventually exonerated by his draft board and rejoins the band, touring in Ireland.

June 11, 1965 Some MBE (Members of the British Empire) recipients return their awards in protest when it is announced that The Beatles will be honored with the award. The group is generally mystified, but their older relatives seem thrilled, so they accept the awards at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace.

October 15, 1964 British singer Screaming Lord Sutch runs for the English Parliament. He goes on to lose 40 elections (mostly by-elections).

July 5, 1964 US President Lyndon Johnson invites The Four Seasons to play at the White House.

January 2, 1962 A scheduled appearance by The Weavers on the Tonight Show with host Jack Paar is canceled after the folk group refuses to sign a statement denying any involvement with the US Communist Party.

May 2, 1960 Dick Clark testifies before Congress on the matter of payola.More

June 29, 1957 The government of Iran officially bans rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "harmful to health." The ban would stay in place until the 1990s.

January 19, 1957 Pat Boone performs at the inaugural ball for President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

April 25, 1955 The UN's commission on narcotics releases a report stating "definite connection between increased marijuana smoking and that form of entertainment known as bebop and rebop."