A Brief History On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed on the streets of New York City by a crazed fan. Lennon, a former Beatle, was also a well-known advocate for world peace and had been vocal about his anti-war stance. Many musicians, be they rock n’ roll musicians or even folk singers, use their music as a means of protest and to communicate their feelings about hot and controversial topics such as politics, war, racism, sexism, etc. Here 10 protest songs are listed. These were not all necessarily big hits or particularly effective, but they were all spectacular on…
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A Brief History On December 1, 1960, Paul McCartney and Pete Best of The Beatles were arrested in Hamburg, Germany for the arson of the grubby room they had been staying in at a theater. For this crime, they were deported back to England. Digging Deeper Apparently Best, the drummer who was later replaced by Ringo Starr, and McCartney were dissatisfied with the room and had left a burning condom nailed on a concrete wall as a token of their contempt for the lack of amenities. Though they did not intend to burn anything down and though nothing actually burned…
A Brief History On November 28, 1967, the Number 1 song in the United States was “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees, a made-for-television rock band with its own zany television show. Certainly a Number 1 song is a big deal, and television gave us much iconic music and many iconic musical performances. Here 10 such instances are listed, some famous, some less famous. Digging Deeper 10. Rhythm Heritage, “Theme from S.W.A.T.,” 1976. Upon reaching Number 1 on the U.S. music charts in February of 1976, the “Theme from S.W.A.T.” became the first television theme song to hit that lofty height. Three months later…
A Brief History On November 27, 1968, the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association, the ABA, a major league basketball rival of the National Basketball Association, the NBA, actually put a woman on the court during a real basketball game. Letting Penny Ann Early play was just a publicity stunt, but it was valid, making her the first (and so far only) woman to play on a men’s top professional American sports team. Digging Deeper If you are unfamiliar with the ABA, it was an upstart rival to the NBA that operated from 1967 to 1976 before it merged with the NBA. It used…
A Brief History On November 26, 1977, the people of southern Britain were astonished to find their afternoon televisions hijacked by an entity claiming to be “Vrillon.” (Some television viewers reported the entity’s name to be Gillon or Asteron.) Digging Deeper Hijacking a television signal, even for only 6 minutes (5:10 pm to 5:16 pm) is highly unusual to say the least. That the hijacker claimed to represent the “Ashtar Galactic Command” is even more bizarre. The hijacked signal came from the Hannington transmitter, a type of transmitter that does not receive its signal via cable but rather one that rebroadcasts…