Today In Music History
Important events in music history for the month of December.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 1, 1971 | John Lennon releases "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" in the US. |
| December 2, 1957 | Al Priddy, a disc jockey at the Portland, Oregon, radio station KEX, is fired for playing the Elvis Presley version of "White Christmas," which the station has banned, because it "desecrates the Spirit of Christmas and transgresses the composer's intent." |
| December 3, 1976 | Bob Marley is shot in the upper arm when intruders storm his house in Kingston, Jamaica, attempting to assassinate the singer. The attack was motivated by politics, as elections in Jamaica were days away and Marley was seen as supporting the ruling party. |
| December 4, 1969 | President Richard Nixon, Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, and forty US governors view "simulated acid trip" films and listen to rock music in order to comprehend the generation gap. |
| December 5, 1969 | The Rolling Stones release the foreboding album Let It Bleed, with the classic tracks "Gimme Shelter" and "Midnight Rambler." |
| December 6, 1969 | The Rolling Stones headline the Altamont concert at a speedway in California. It's a free event with Jefferson Airplane and Santana also on the bill, but it turns violent when the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, who are hired as security, kill a crowd member. The concert is documented in The Stones movie Gimme Shelter. |
| December 7, 1962 | At a pub in Chelsea, The Rolling Stones hold auditions for a bass player. They decide that Bill Wyman will do, as he has a nice amp. Wyman doesn't tell them that he has a wife and young son. |
| December 8, 1980 | John Lennon, 40 years old, is shot and killed outside his apartment in New York City. |
| December 9, 1989 | Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" hits #1 in America. |
| December 10, 2016 | Bob Dylan accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature. He doesn't attend the ceremony. |
| December 11, 1961 | Motown Records scores their first #1 on the Hot 100 when The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" tops the chart. |
| December 12, 1969 | Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Soul" album is certified gold. |
| December 13, 1999 | BMI publishes their list of the most-played songs on American radio and TV in the 20th century. The Top 5: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" "Never My Love" "Yesterday" "Stand By Me" "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" |
| December 14, 1968 | Motown acts hold the top three spots on the Hot 100: 1) "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye 2) "Love Child" by The Supremes 3) "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder |
| December 15, 1949 | The Birdland jazz club, named after Charlie Parker, opens in New York City. It quickly becomes a hotspot, with Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and many other luminaries performing there until it closes in 1965. |
| December 16, 1969 | Keith Emerson's band The Nice performs at FillMore West, in San Francisco, the same night as Greg Lake’s band, King Crimson. Before the concert, they get together for a jam session and talk about forming a band with Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster to become Emerson, Lake and Palmer. |
| December 17, 1969 | Thanks to play on underground FM radio stations, Chicago Transit Authority's self-titled debut album goes Gold, eight months after its release. For their next album, the band shortens their name to Chicago. |
| December 18, 2001 | Billie Eilish is born in Los Angeles. Working with her brother, Finneas, she composes her Grammy-winning debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, which is released in 2019 when she's 17. |
| December 19, 1968 | The Friends of Distinction record "Grazin' In The Grass." |
| December 20, 1986 | Thanks to its use in the movie of the same name, Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," originally released in 1961, reaches #9 in the US. |
| December 21, 1970 | Music and politics collide when Elvis Presley meets President Richard Nixon at the White House. A famous photo of the two shaking hands horrifies many Elvis fans. |
| December 22, 1968 | Singer Eric Burdon leaves The Animals for a solo career. |
| December 23, 1966 | London's premiere psychedelic hangout, the UFO club, opens on Tottenham Court Road, with Pink Floyd as the house band. |
| December 24, 1974 | James Taylor, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell go Christmas carolling in Hollywood. |
| December 25, 1973 | The Sting, a crime caper starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as con men in/1930s Chicago, debuts in theaters. With Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" as its theme, the film's soundtrack goes to #1 and revives the ragtime genre. |
| December 26, 1963 | The Beatles release their first hit single in the United States: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" backed with "I Saw Her Standing There." |
| December 27, 1927 | Show Boat opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway, changing the paradigm for modern musicals. |
| December 28, 1944 | Leonard Bernstein scores his first big hit when his musical On The Town, featuring the song "New York, New York," opens on Broadway. |
| December 29, 1902 | Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" is copyrighted. |
| December 30, 1967 | The Beatles "Hello Goodbye" becomes their 15th #1 single on the US charts. |
| December 31, 1967 | “Top Of The World” by The Carpenters reached No. 1 on the US singles chart. |
