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Music History Events: Sports

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July 10, 1977 Queen release their "We Are The Champions"/"We Will Rock You" single in the UK, providing stadium anthems for sporting events the world over.

April 5, 1974 The Guess Who host a celebrity tennis tournament in Toronto to benefit Ballet of Canada.

March 29, 2022 Eric Church cancels an upcoming concert in San Antonio so he can watch his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels take on Duke in the Final Four.

February 13, 2022 Dr. Dre anchors the first hip-hop-heavy Super Bowl halftime show, performing with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.

May 21, 2021 J. Cole suits up to play for the Patriots Basketball Club of the Rwandan African league. He scores three points in his debut.

September 10, 2020 Alicia Keys performs "Lift Every Voice And Sing" at the NFL season opener between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. The league has ordered the song, considered the "Black national anthem," played before every game in Week 1. The NFL cracked down on players who refused to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" after Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the song in 2016, a stance that is out of touch with the Black Lives Matter movement.

September 30, 2019 Green Day and the National Hockey League announce a partnership deal that includes the band playing halftime of the 2020 All-Star Game, and their song "Fire, Ready, Aim" as the opening theme to the Wednesday Night Hockey broadcasts.

January 8, 2018 The college football national championship game stages a halftime show for the first time, with Kendrick Lamar taking the stage. Georgia is up 13-0 at the break, but Alabama comes back to win 26-23.

April 8, 2016 The Baltimore Orioles play the Woody Guthrie song "This Land Is Your Land" during the seventh inning stretch in their game against the Rays, starting a tradition of playing the song at every Friday home game. It's part of their "Community Heroes" program to honor local citizens and an effort to diversify their musical selections to reflect progressive ideals. On Saturday nights they play "America The Beautiful," and on Sundays it's "God Bless America."

November 28, 2015 After defeating heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko in a unanimous decision, Tyson Fury gets a turn on the mic and sings the Aerosmith hit "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" to his wife, who has joined him in the ring.

September 4, 2014 All is well in Seattle as the Super Bowl champion Seahawks play the first game of the season, with local band Soundgarden performing during the pregame.

May 3, 2013 The reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants host "Metallica Night" at the ballpark, with Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield playing the national anthem on electric guitars and Lars Ulrich throwing out the first pitch.More

February 6, 2011 Christina Aguilera messes up a line of the US national anthem when she performs it at the Super Bowl. Instead of "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming," Aguilera sings: "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming." Aguilera later said of the mistake: "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."

May 10, 2010 In tribute to the recently deceased Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, Jose Feliciano performs the US national anthem before the Tigers/Yankees game at Tiger Stadium. In 1968, Harwell had Feliciano sing the anthem before a Tigers World Series game, and the 23-year-old blind Puerto Rican singer responded by playing the first non-traditional rendition of the song at a major sporting event. He and Harwell took a lot of heat, but in later years, it became common for singers to put their own spin on the song.

August 9, 2003 Daron Malakian of System Of A Down plays in the annual Hollywood Stars Night celebrity baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Vexed by his teammates, he writes "Old School Hollywood," which appears on their next album, Mezmerize. One actor gets a specific mention: "Tony Danza cuts in line."

March 13, 2002 Danny Bonaduce of The Partridge Family wins his bout against Barry Williams (Greg from The Brady Bunch) on the Fox TV special Celebrity Boxing. In another bout, Todd Bridges from Diff'rent Strokes whoops up on Vanilla Ice.

January 5, 2002 With the Pittsburgh Steelers down 24-7 in a playoff game against the Cleveland Browns, they play "Renegade" by Styx, which fires up the crowd and impels them to a comeback win. The song becomes a regular feature at Steelers home games, played in the second half when the team needs a boost.

January 30, 2000 Backed by drummers, bagpipers, and sign language interpreters, Faith Hill sings the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV, which the Rams win over the Titans. Like Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl performance, it goes over so well that it's released as a single, charting at #118.

November 15, 1996 The movie Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, opens in theaters. The soundtrack sells over 6 million copies, thanks mainly to the opening song, "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly. Other contributors to the soundtrack include Seal, Monica, and Coolio.

August 16, 1996 With the help of Broadway star Chita Rivera, over 50,000 baseball fans at Yankee Stadium break the record for the largest group dance when they bust a move to the "Macarena," the decade's latest dance craze.

July 3, 1996 Cliff Richard leads the Wimbledon Centre Court crowd in singing during a rain delay. His backing singers are former tennis stars Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova, Hana Mandlíková, Pam Shriver, Liz Smylie, Gigi Fernández and Conchita Martinez.

May 25, 1996 Seventeen-year-old basketball phenom Kobe Bryant takes the singer Brandy, also 17, to his prom in Philadelphia. The pair met earlier that year at the Essence Awards. They never get romantically involved but remain friends.

May 2, 1992 Dance Floor, a horse owned by MC Hammer, comes in third in the Kentucky Derby.

May 17, 1979 Billy Joel sings the national anthem before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers lose the game and the series.

April 15, 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd are celebrated before the Atlanta Braves home opener in a ceremony to honor the band for their live album One More For The Road, which was recorded at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

October 21, 1972 During a home game against the University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee's Pride of the Southland Band debuts what will become the school's unofficial fight anthem: "Rocky Top." The bluegrass homage to Tennessee was first recorded by The Osborne Brothers five years earlier.

October 10, 1964 The Olympic Games open in Tokyo, inspiring the song "Tokyo Melody."

April 13, 1958 Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" on The Ed Sullivan Show along with the song's writer, Jack Norworth.

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