Pick a Day

Music History Events: Song Inspirations

February 1, 1994 Tori Amos releases her second album, Under The Pink, featuring the hit single "Cornflake Girl."More

March 20, 1993 Two children are killed in an Irish Republican Army bombing in Warrington, England, inspiring the Cranberries song "Zombie."

April 16, 1992 David Milgaard is released from jail in Canada after serving 23 years for a crime he didn't commit. The Tragically Hip, who have helped in his fight for justice, write the song "Wheat Kings" about the ordeal.

January 8, 1991 Jeremy Delle, a 15-year-old student at Richardson High School in Texas, shoots himself in his English class. When Eddie Vedder reads about it, he writes the song "Jeremy" about Delle and other young people who have committed suicide in schools.

February 9, 1990 Midnight Oil release the album Blue Sky Mining. The lead single, "Blue Sky Mine," is inspired by the Wittenoom industrial disaster in the band's native Australia. The song is a Top 10 hit on the ARIA singles chart and tops the rock charts in the US.More

October 16, 1989 Kate Bush releases her sixth studio album, The Sensual World. The title track, inspired by James Joyce's novel Ulysses, earns her a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance.

January 22, 1987 Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, who had been found guilty of accepting bribes, pulls out a gun and kills himself at a press conference, inspiring the Filter song "Hey Man Nice Shot."

July 3, 1986 Bono's 26-year-old personal assistant Greg Carroll is killed in a motorcycle act while running an errand in Dublin. U2's next album, The Joshua Tree, is dedicated to Carroll, who inspired the song "One Tree Hill."

September 7, 1985 "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" hits #1 in the US. David Foster and John Parr wrote the song for the film St. Elmo's Fire, but they wrote it about Rick Hansen, who went around the world in his wheelchair raising money for spinal cord research on his "Man In Motion" tour.

October 23, 1984 The BBC runs a news report showing shocking and disturbing footage of famine in Ethiopia. Bob Geldof springs into action, setting up the Band-Aid relief effort, which releases the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" a little over a month later. Geldof later organizes Live Aid to assist in relief efforts.

August 9, 1983 22-year-old Thomas Reilly is shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast. He was a friend of the band Spandau Ballet, and sold merch on their True tour. His death would inspire the band's song "Through The Barricades" and the Bananarama song "King Of The Jungle."

April 12, 1981 Rush are guests at Kennedy Space Center to witness the first space shuttle launch, which inspires their song "Countdown."

May 6, 1978 The model Cheryl Tiegs appears on the cover of Time magazine, inspiring Bob Seger's song "Hollywood Nights."More

March 5, 1977 18-year-old Kate Bush writes "Wuthering Heights" after catching the end of a BBC adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel of the same name. The ethereal tune becomes her debut single the following year and hits #1 in the UK.

February 18, 1977 Fela Kuti's residence is sacked by nearly a thousand soldiers, inspiring his song "Zombie."

May 31, 1976 Tom Waits begins a two-week stint performing at Ronnie Scott's Club in Soho, London, England. The club is run by Pete King, and the experience inspires Waits to write "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)."

May 24, 1975 On his 34th birthday, Bob Dylan attends the annual Romani celebration of their patron saint Sarah the Black in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France. The experience inspires the song "One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)."

April 30, 1975 The Vietnam War ends with the fall of Saigon. Many returning veterans suffer ill effects, which is the subject of the song "Still in Saigon" by The Charlie Daniels Band.

March 24, 1975 Paul McCartney throws a party on the Queen Mary to celebrate the release of the Wings album Venus And Mars. Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell are among the guests; their conversation about painting leads to Dylan's song "One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)" and Mitchell's "Paprika Plains."

September 15, 1973 The protest singer Victor Jara is brutally murdered in Chile under orders by the country's new dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The incident inspires Calexico's 2008 track "Victor Jara's Hands."

December 22, 1972 Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter writes "All The Way From Memphis" and dedicates it to two of their crew, Leee Childers and Tony Zanetta. And Memphis, Tennessee.

September 5, 1971 While Wishbone Ash are on stage at an outdoor concert in Austin, Texas, hot dog vender Francisco Carrasco is shot dead. The tragedy inspires the song "Rock 'N' Roll Widow."

September 4, 1971 At a Bruce Springsteen show at the Student Prince in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the E Street Band comes together when sax player Clarence Clemons joins the band on stage for the first time, a story recounted in the song "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out."

August 21, 1971 Inmate George Jackson is shot dead in a bizarre escape attempt at San Quentin prison, prompting the Bob Dylan song "George Jackson."

December 18, 1970 Segregationist Georgia governor Lester Maddox walks off The Dick Cavett Show when the host implies his supporters are bigots. Randy Newman writes a song about it, "Rednecks," which begins: Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show

August 11, 1970 Jimmy Buffett releases his debut album, Down To Earth, a folk-rock collection that includes "The Captain and the Kid" - a song written in honor of his late grandfather. The album sells just 374 copies.

October 15, 1969 John Fogerty is inspired to write "Effigy" after President Richard Nixon casually dismisses millions of protesters who show up worldwide for the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. "Effigy" becomes the final track on Willy and the Poor Boys and is notable for being the lone song on the album that is not upbeat.

May 4, 1969 Al Stewart and his girlfriend Mandi attend a party at the Putney home of John Martyn which inspires the song "Night Of The 4th Of May."

April 7, 1968 Three days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nina Simone performs "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)" at the Westbury Music Fair in Long Island, New York, in his honor. The song was written by her bassist, Gene Taylor, less than 24 hours earlier.

January 1, 1968 Al Stewart moves into a basement flat, number 10 Elvaston Place. One of his visitors is Yoko Ono, who records "The Snow Is Falling" there.