May 3, 1976 Paul McCartney opens his first US tour with Wings as the massively successful Wings Over America tour begins in Fort Worth, Texas.
April 30, 1976 Human rock stereotype Keith Moon of The Who adds to his legend when he pays nine New York City cab drivers $100 each to block both ends of a street so he can throw furniture out of his room at the Hotel Navarro. Details of this story may have been exaggerated or embellished, but it is consistent with his behavior.
April 29, 1976 Bruce Springsteen, fresh from playing a Memphis concert on his Born To Run tour, tries to climb over the fence at Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in an attempt to see Presley. He is escorted off the premises by guards who inform him the King is not at home.More
April 24, 1976 With rumors of a Beatles reunion swirling, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels goes on camera to offer the guys $3,000 (union scale) to reunite on the show. Paul McCartney and John Lennon are watching at Lennon's New York City apartment and consider showing up on a lark, but pass up the opportunity.
April 23, 1976 The Ramones release their self-titled debut album, a punk rock landmark filled with frantic 2-minute songs like "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat On The Brat."More
April 21, 1976 A night after George Harrison joins Monty Python during their performance of "The Lumberjack Song" at a New York show, Harry Nilsson tries it. While Harrison blended in as a member of the chorus (dressed as a Mountie), Nilsson wears dark glasses and makes a spectacle. When he goes to the front of the stage to shake hands with audience members, he falls into the crowd and breaks his arm.
April 20, 1976 George Harrison, who is good friends with Eric Idle, joins Monty Python on stage at the comedy troupe's show at New York's City Center. Dressed as a Canadian Mountie, Harrison joins the chorus for "The Lumberjack Song." No mention is made of Harrison's appearance, and few in the audience recognize him. The next night, Nilsson shows up to perform the same feat, but with disastrous results, as he falls into the audience and breaks his arm.
April 16, 1976 Boz Scaggs goes to visit friend Bobby "Blue" Bland backstage at the famed Antone's in Austin, Texas, and is beaten unconscious by two bouncers.
April 12, 1976 Bob Seger, beloved in Michigan but an obscurity elsewhere, releases Live Bullet, which captures the intensity of his live performances and makes him a national act.More
April 10, 1976 Stevie Wonder is featured in an ad in Down Beat magazine, endorsing the Mu-Tron III effects pedal, which uses synthesizer envelopes to create a wah effect for guitar. Wonder had used the pedal on his 1973 smash "Higher Ground."
April 1, 1976 Rush disregard their record label's wishes and release 2112. Mercury wanted the band to produce an album with more radio-friendly singles than Caress of Steel, but 2112 is just as ambitious and "progressive" as its predecessor. This time, however, advances in the band's skills and changes in the market make 2112 successful, though it will take 1977's A Farewell to Kings to help nudge 2112 to Gold status.
March 22, 1976 While campaigning for US President, Jimmy Carter tells NARM (The National Association of Record Merchandisers) that he listened to Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, and Led Zeppelin while Governor of Georgia.
March 19, 1976 The Doobie Brothers release Takin' It To The Streets, their first album with Michael McDonald. He was brought into the group to play keyboards, but claimed the role of lead singer when he belted out the title track, which he wrote, in the studio for producer Ted Templeman.
March 15, 1976 Deep Purple, fronted by David Coverdale, wrap up their UK tour with a show at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, then break up. When they return in 1984, it's with the "Mark II" lineup of the band, which includes lead singer Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.
February 27, 1976 Record executive Clive Davis throws a party the night before the Grammy Awards to celebrate Barry Manilow's "Mandy," which is up for Record Of The Year. The song doesn't win, but Davis' pre-Grammy party becomes an annual event, attracting huge stars and growing increasingly lavish and more exclusive over the years.
February 22, 1976 Shortly after emerging from poverty and alcoholism to make a musical comeback, Florence Ballard (of The Supremes) dies at age 32 of a cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot.
February 19, 1976 Donna Summer's lascivious "Love To Love You Baby" is certified Gold.
February 17, 1976 The Eagles release Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), a collection of 10 songs from their first four albums. It becomes the top-selling album in US history.More
February 14, 1976 After singing about "The valentines I never knew" in her song "At Seventeen," Janis Ian gets hundreds of Valentine's Day cards from fans.More
February 7, 1976 Paul Simon lands his first #1 American hit as a solo artist when "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover" claims the top spot. It's no "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon calls it a "nonsense song" - but listeners love it and it stays on top for three weeks.
February 7, 1976 Bob Dylan's album Desire, featuring the songs "Hurricane," "Isis" and "Mozambique," hits #1 in America.
February 6, 1976 Just hours after finishing the soundtrack for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, longtime Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi dies suddenly of a heart attack (or a possible aortic aneurysm) at age 47. At the jazz pianist's funeral, Charlie Brown music is played over the church's sound system.
February 2, 1976 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Gimme Back My Bullets. It's their fourth album, following Nuthin' Fancy and preceding Street Survivors, which is their last release before a fatal plane crash ends the original lineup.
January 31, 1976 The Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" hits #1 in America. The scream in the instrumental section is rumored to be the sound of a woman being killed in the studio, an urban legend that persists for decades.
January 27, 1976 David Bowie sues his former attorney, Michael Lippan, for unfair business practices and withholding of funds. Bowie claims Lippan took a 15% fee instead of the customary 10% and adds that after his dismissal, Lippan withheld $475,000 from the musician.
January 17, 1976 Barry Manilow's "I Write The Songs," written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys, hits #1 in America. It goes on to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.More
January 13, 1976 Seven employees of Brunswick Records and Dakar Records are tried on charges of withholding more than $184,000 in artist royalties. The case is eventually thrown out, but the reputations of the defendants are irreparably damaged.
January 6, 1976 Peter Frampton's live double album, Frampton Comes Alive!, is released. Powered by his trusty talkbox sound, it becomes one of the best-selling live albums in history.More
December 31, 1975 Casablanca Records' single release party for Donna Summer's debut single, "Love To Love You Baby," features a life-size cake in the shape of the singer, flown in all the way from Los Angeles to New York (it's also Summer's 23rd birthday).
December 29, 1975 Time magazine introduces the phrase "Sex Rock" in an article taking aim at Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby."More
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