Calendar Search Results: on about
November 5, 1973 Pete Townshend freaks out when the backing tapes for the sound effects on "5:15" don't play properly during a Who concert at the Newcastle Odeon. Townshend takes out his rage by punching the road manager in charge of the tapes and tearing up the equipment. The show is stopped, but resumes about 15 minutes later.
September 29, 1973 Grand Funk Railroad hit #1 in America with "We're An American Band," a song about their adventures on tour, including encounters with "Sweet Connie" and "four young chiquitas in Omaha."
September 20, 1973 The body of The Byrds guitarist Gram Parsons is stolen and taken to Joshua Tree National Park, where it is set on fire.More
August 11, 1973 At a dance party in the Bronx, DJ Kool Herc plays a set with lots of instrumental breaks that his friend MCs over, marking what many consider the beginning of hip-hop.More
July 29, 1973 Led Zeppelin has about $180,000 stolen from their safe at the Drake Hotel after a show at Madison Square Garden, an event chronicled in their concert documentary The Song Remains The Same.
July 28, 1973 The "Summer Jam" concert takes place at Watkins Glen racetrack in New York, outdrawing Woodstock with a crowd of over 600,000. The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Band play to the massive crowd that paid $10 a ticket - if they bought one.More
July 25, 1973 The Doobie Brothers release "China Grove." Lead singer Tom Johnston made up the story about the strange little town, and later found out that there's a real China Grove in Texas.
June 17, 1973 Dolly Parton records "I Will Always Love You," a song written about her mentor, Porter Wagoner.
April 21, 1973 Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" hits #1 in the US. The song is based on a fictional newspaper story about a man returning from jail who asks his wife to tie a yellow handkerchief on the landmark oak tree in town if she still loves him.
April 15, 1973 Alice Cooper makes the cover of Forbes magazine under the headline, "A New Breed Of Tycoon." The story, which plays into Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies album, is about how rock music has become big business.
April 13, 1973 The Wailers, led by Bob Marley, release their fifth studio album, Catch a Fire. The first album on their new label, Island Records, it makes Marley and the Wailers international recording stars and brings reggae music to the forefront.More
March 29, 1973 Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, who have a hit with "The Cover Of 'Rolling Stone'," appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.More
March 17, 1973 The sci-fi musical Lost Horizon, scored by Burt Bacharach, bombs at the box office. The failure precipitates Bacharach's split from longtime songwriting partner Hal David and Dionne Warwick, who had performed their songs for more than a decade.More
February 18, 1973 At Elvis Presley's concert in Las Vegas, four men climb on stage and try to shake his hand. They are quickly thwarted by security and Elvis' bass player Jerry Scheff. Elvis tells the crowd, "Immobilize the men using karate moves." No charges are filed. Elvis tells the audience: "I'm sorry I didn't break his goddamned neck, is what I'm sorry about."
January 20, 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis makes his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, telling the crowd at the end of his set: "Let me tell ya somethin' about Jerry Lee Lewis, ladies and gentlemen; I am a rock 'n' rollin', country-and-western, rhythm 'n' blues-singin' mothaf---er."
January 13, 1973 Eric Clapton returns to the stage for the first time in about 18 months, playing the first of two all-star shows at the Rainbow Theater in London. Recorded as Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert, it also features Pete Townshend (of The Who); Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Ric Grech and Rebop Kwaku Baah (of Traffic); and Ronnie Wood (of Faces). Townshend helped set up the shows to get Clapton out of his drug-induced depression. A highlight of both shows is Clapton performing on "Layla."
December 16, 1972 "Me and Mrs. Jones," a song about a man cheating on his wife, knocks Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" out of the top spot on the Hot 100.
November 15, 1972 Harry Chapin's son Josh is born, which gives him a new appreciation for the poem his wife Sandy wrote (about her ex-husband) called "Cat's In The Cradle." Harry puts music to the poem and it becomes his biggest hit.
October 21, 1972 Chuck Berry lands his only #1 hit on the Hot 100 with "My Ding-a-Ling," a novelty song about... you'll have to read the Songfacts.
October 17, 1972 Eminem is born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in St. Joseph, Missouri. He eventually settles in Warren, Michigan.More
October 14, 1972 Michael Jackson's "Ben," a song about a boy and his love for a pet rat, hits #1 in the US.More
August 20, 1972 Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known as Wattstax.More
August 4, 1972 The movie Super Fly is released, along with a soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield that becomes a soul music landmark, taking on the drug culture portrayed in the film with vivid commentary.More
July 24, 1972 Bobby Ramirez, the 24-year-old drummer with Edgar Winter's White Trash, is beaten to death in a Chicago barroom brawl after a patron complains about the length of Ramirez's hair.
July 8, 1972 Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" hits #1 in America. The song endures as a message of compassion and goodwill; in 1989 it is used as the theme to the movie Lean On Me, about a troubled school and its no-nonsense principal.
June 16, 1972 David Bowie unveils his landmark album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. His breakthrough LP, it sells over 7 million copies and is hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time.More
April 24, 1972 John Lennon releases the controversial song "Woman Is The Ni--er Of The World." It was his wife, Yoko Ono, who came up with the title. The song is about how women aren't valued like the should be.
March 25, 1972 Deep Purple's album Machine Head is released in America. Most of it was recorded in their hotel after the Montreux Casino, where they planned to record it, burned down, a story told in the song "Smoke On The Water."More
March 16, 1972 The Dripping Springs Reunion festival kicks off in a field near Austin, Texas. Envisioned as the Woodstock of country music, the 3-day event features performances by Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens and Dottie West. The festival is poorly promoted and a huge flop, with attendance estimated at about 20,000 (combined) when at least 180,000 were expected. Two years later, Willie Nelson uses the same site for the first of his Fourth of July Picnic concerts, which becomes a popular annual event and helps establish Austin as a music destination.
January 4, 1972 Yes releases "Roundabout."
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