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1
The Watergate criminal trial ends with H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Robert Mardian
and John Mitchell
convicted of obstructing justice. On Feb. 21, Judge Sirica
will sentence all four to prison terms of lengths ranging from ten months to eight years.
President Ford
signs the Freedom of Information Act, giving, for the first time, individuals access to federal files on themselves, excepting law enforcement and security information.
2
U.S. District Court Judge
Richard Owen
rules in New York City that
John Lennon
and his lawyers will have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case. The move allows the former Beatle to look into whether or not the government's case against him stems solely from his 1968 British drug conviction or from his antiestablishment comments during the years of the Nixon
administration, and Lennon will file suit against specific Nixon administration officials on June 19.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
allows that U.S. military intervention in the Middle East is possible if another Arab economic boycott is initiated.
3
5 Nelson Rockefeller
heads a commission to investigate charges of illegal domestic spying by the CIA.
The Wiz,
a souled-out resetting of
The Wizard of Oz,
opens at Broadway's Majestic Theater in New York City. Three years later, the production will be turned into a motion picture
starring Diana Ross
and Michael Jackson
.
6
Three thousand
Led Zeppelin
fans, waiting overnight inside the lobby of the Boston Garden for tickets to the band's February 4 concert to go on sale, cause an estimated $30,000 damage to the premises when they riot, breaking seats and doors. Boston Mayor
Kevin White
promptly cancels the show.
7
In a major victory on South Vietnamese soil, North Vietnam captures the capital of the Phuoc Long province. Ten days later, South Vietnam counterattacks along the Cambodian border to halt a Communist takeover of the Kien Tuong province.
A Led Zeppelin
concert is cancelled by the mayor of Boston after fans cause $30,000 worth of damage while waiting to buy tickets.
8
Three
Led Zeppelin
concerts at New York City's Madison Square Garden -- a total of 60,000 seats -- sell out in a record four hours. The Garden box office must call on the other ticket outlets to help handle the extraordinary demand.
9 British heavy-metal band
Deep Purple
wins a gold reocrd for its eleventh album,
Stormbringer.
It is their fourth gold record, the others were for the albums
Made in Japan
(1972) and
Who Do We Think We Are?
(1973) and the single "Smoke on the Water" (1973).
10 Memphis soul singer
Al Green
earns his twelfth gold record for the album
Al Green Explores Your Mind,
twelve days later, he will earn his thirteenth gold record for the album's hit single, "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)." Green's other gold records were for the singles "Tired of Being Alone" (1971), "Let's Stay Together"
(1972), "I'm Still in Love with You" (1972), "You Ought to Be with Me" (1972), "Call Me (Come Back Home)"
and "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" (1973), as well as the albums
Tired of Being Alone
(1971),
Let's Stay Together
(1972),
I'm Still in Love with You
(1972),
Call Me
(1972) and
Livin' for You
(1974).
11 Shirley and Company
's "Shame, Shame, Shame" enters both the pop and R&B charts. After sixteen weeks on the pop chart, it will hit Number One on March 1. The Shirley of Shirley and Company is
Shirley Goodman
, who, as half of the New Orleans duo
Shirley and Lee
, scored such hits as "Let the Good Times Roll" in the late Fifties. Shirley and Company will have only one more hit, "Cry Cry Cry," which will reach #91 in the summer of 1975.
Raspy rocker Joe Cocker
enters the charts with a surprise tender ballad, "You Are So Beautiful," which in the weeks to follow becomes his biggest solo recording and wins him a whole new set of fans. In the coming year he duets on Saturday Night Live
with John Belushi
, gamely playing along as the actor does an (in)famous Cocker impersonation. But the notoriously hard-living singer thrives and survives, while the lampooning Belushi is the one who buys the farm in 1982 with a drug overdose.
12
A nine-city, eighteen-show tour of Europe starts for Warner Brothers acts
Little Feat, Tower of Power
, the
Doobie Brothers, Bonaroo, Montrose
and
Graham Central Station
. The Warner Brothers Music Show goes over well with European audiences, especially Little Feat, which establishes an adoring cult audience during the month-long tour.
ABC-TV airs Judgement: The Court Martial of Lt. William Calley.
The dramatization stars Tony Busante
as Calley, who had been charged under military justice with the pre-meditated murder of at least 70 Vietnamese civilians who had been living in the hamlet of My Lai in March 1968.
The Pittsburgh Steelers rise to football prominence as they defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX, 16-6.
13
14 Pop vocal trio
Three Dog Night
earn their sixteenth, and last, gold record for the album
Joy to the World - Their Greatest Hits.
Their other gold records were for the singles "One" (1969), "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"
(1970), "Joy to the World"
and "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song" (1971), "Shambala"
(1973) and "The Show Must Go On" (1974), plus the albums
Three Dog Night
and
Suitable for Framing
(1969),
Captured Live at the Forum
and
It Ain't Easy
(1970),
Naturally
and
Harmony
(1971),
Seven Separate Fools
(1972),
Around the World with Three Dog Nigh
t (1973) and
Hard Labor
(1974).
Joe Walsh
earns a gold record for his third solo album,
So What.
Walsh, former singer/guitarist with the
James Gang
, will go on to join Los Angeles country-rock band the
Eagles
in 1976.
Former CIA agent Philip Agee
's Inside the Company: CIA Diary
is published, offering a detailed look at agency activities in various Central American countries. CIA director William Colby
later states that the book has compromised CIA operations and put some operatives under the threat of death.
15
16 Years of missed performances and sliding creativity finally catch up with
Sly and the Family Stone
when they begin an eight-show, six-night stand at Radio City Music Hall and bomb at the box office. Attendance averages 2,000 persons per show each, far below the hall's 6,000-plus seating capacity. Said a Radio City employee: "Sly has no credibility left."
Paul McCartney and Wings
arrive in New Orleans to begin sessions for the album that becomes
Venus and Mars.
The band records with
Allen Toussaint
at his Sea-Saint Studio; the LP will be released four months later and eventually reach #1.
17 Baretta,
starring Robert Blake
as a lone wolf detective who has little regard for standard police practice, premieres on ABC-TV. In the first episode, he tries to nail down the hoodlum who killed his girlfriend.
18 All In the Family
's George, Louise and Lionel Jefferson "move on up" to Manhattan's East Side with their very own spinoff series on CBS-TV, The Jeffersons.
"Brandy" had already been the subject of a No. 1 song several years earlier with the Looking Glass
's "Brandy, You're a Fine Girl."
So when budding singer Barry Manilow
was first shown a schmaltzy song named "Brandy," he decided a little name change was in order. The result, "Mandy,"
debuted in November 1974 and reaches the top today. "Who knew that this little album cut would turn out to be the beginning of my career?," the Brooklyn native who once worked as a piano accompanist to Bette Midler
, and later helped produce her first two albums, would later say. The peak of his career will come later in this decade, when he will have five albums on the charts simultaneously -- a feat matched only by Frank Sinatra
and Johnny Mathis
.
The Top Five
1. "Mandy"
- Barry Manilow
2. "Please Mr. Postman"
- Carpenters
3. "Laughter in the Rain"
- Neil Sedaka
4. "You're the First, the Last, my Everything" - Barry White
5. "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"
- Elton John
19
20
21
The Labor Dept. announces that the Consumer Price Index rose 12.4% in 1974, the highest annual rate since 1946. Inflation will continue to plague the economy throughout the decade, with the CPI rising a record-setting 13.5% in 1980.
John Dean
gets a $300,000 advance for book rights to tell his side of Watergate.
22
In Goss v. Lopez, the United States Supreme Court rules that a public school must conduct a hearing before subjecting a student to suspension.
23
24
Larry Fine
, one of the Three Stooges
, dies. On May 3, Moe Howard
, the last remaining Stooge, will follow.
25 B.T. Express
enters the R&B chart with what will become its second consecutive Number One R&B hit, "(Here Comes) The Express," which will also reach #5 on the pop chart. Its prior Number One R&B hit was 1974's "Do It (till You're Satisfied)," which went gold.
The Top Five
1. "Please Mr. Postman"
- Carpenters
2. "Laughter in the Rain"
- Neil Sedaka
3. "Mandy"
- Barry Manilow
4. "Fire"
- Ohio Players
5. "Boogie On Reggae Woman" - Stevie Wonder