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Recent announcements in astrophysics are reportedly provoking responses from music business executives, bemused about what it might mean if man does actually land on the moon by 1960 and other planets before 1975. Publisher Rocco Vocco, of Bregman, Vocco And Conn, speculates in Billboard magazine that, "It takes 36 years to get to Aldebaran, and a song published by us today would be in the public domain by the time it reached there. Our firm cannot afford to have the entire Milky Way singing our songs for free. Something must be done."
Andre Rico And The Cha Chaleros play in The Jazz Jamboree at The Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn, London, England, UK, Europe. Rico was, in fact, English jazzman George Davies.
Frank Zappa appears on the Steve Allen tv show in Los Angeles, California, USA, playing two bicycles - much to his host's bemusement. Zappa is introduced onto the show as "a musical bicyclist". Zappa will find worldwide success some years later after forming his group The Mothers Of Invention
Johnny Cash records a future hit single, Ring Of Fire, in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, for Columbia Records. In 2004, Cash's family will block an attempt by advertisers to use the song to promote haemorrhoid-relief products.
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Outrageous British comedy-horror rock'n'roller Screaming Lord Sutch announces that he intends to run for election as an independent candidate at the upcoming Stratford-Upon-Avon by-election.
The Top 5 tracks in the Lever Hit Parade in New Zealand, Oceania, on this date are as follows :
1. My Boyfriend's Back - The Angels
2. Bad To Me - Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas
3. Wipe Out - The Surfaris
4. Lipstick And High-Heel Shoes - Valentine And The Sweethearts
5. Hello Mudduh,Hello Fadduh (A Letter From Camp) - Allan Sherman
1. My Boyfriend's Back - The Angels
2. Bad To Me - Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas
3. Wipe Out - The Surfaris
4. Lipstick And High-Heel Shoes - Valentine And The Sweethearts
5. Hello Mudduh,Hello Fadduh (A Letter From Camp) - Allan Sherman
The Beatles appear on the Royal Variety Command Performance at the Prince Of Wales Theatre, London, England, UK, Europe. John Lennon delivers his celebrated intro "On the next number would those in the cheap seats clap their hands? And the rest of you, if you just rattle your jewellery."
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The Rolling Stones are caught urinating against a garage wall in Romford, Essex, UK. They also play a show Romford's ABC Cinema.
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UK tailoring trade magazine The Tailor And Cutter publishes an appeal to The Rolling Stones that they should wear ties, in order to help reverse the decline in the tie manufacturing industry.
Columbia Records deliver a second version of the new Bob Dylan single, Positively Fourth Street to radio stations in California, USA. 17,000 copies of the first version had accidentally been pressed up with a demo of Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? instead of Positively Fourth Street. Radio stations had been playing the single for several days without realising it was not the right song.
Despite the fact that he hates the song vehemently, Frank Sinatra records Strangers In The Night for Reprise Records. It will become his biggest hit.
A BBC Radio audition panel in London, UK, makes its observations on a demo tape submitted by Elton John - 'Male vocal in the 1968 feeling - thin, piercing voice with no emotional appeal... dreary songs... one key singer... pretentious material'.The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band plays the first of two nights at The Showboat, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, UK.
US President Richard Nixon takes part in a project to discover the causes of the generation gap. He and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew watch films of simulated acid trips and subject themselves to hours of protest music.
Lou Reed is bitten on the behind by a member of the audience during a show in Buffalo, New York State, USA.
Just a few months after they were married on the stage of Madison Square Garden, Kathy Silva sues Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone for divorce.Rick Wakeman stages his extravagant rock fantasy King Arthur On Ice at Wembley Stadium, London, UK, during which several ice-skating performers completely lose sight of each other because of clouds of dry ice. Chaos ensues, and the event is still cherished as a rock folly of the highest order.
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After a show at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Bruce Springsteen endeavours to meet Elvis Presley by the unorthodox method of scaling the walls of Graceland. He is ejected by a security guard. 
When Black Sabbath play at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, California, USA, support band Van Halen is seen to parachute down to the venue from a plane flying overhead. It is, however, a publicity gimmick using stunt men instead of the band. Also on the bill are Richie Lecea, Sammy Hagar and Boston.
The UK rock paper Sounds reports that Deep Purple have had to abandon plans to record their comeback album in the Von Trapp family mansion in Salzburg, Austria, Europe – famed for its appearance in the film The Sound Of Music – because local authorities have refused permission.
During their World Slavery Tour, Iron Maiden play at Hala Arena, Poznan, Poland, Europe. After the show, they repair to a local restaurant, The Adria, for a drink. However, there is also a wedding reception in the restaurant, and Maiden are talked into playing a brief live set for the bride and groom, during which they perform Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water.
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When Tina Turner plays the first of two nights at the NEC Arena, Birmingham, England, UK, Europe, she is joined onstage by David Bowie, who will also return the following night. When George Michael and Frankie Goes To Hollywood turn up unannounced for the after party at Tina Turner's hotel, they are not allowed in.
In the middle of their Reconstruction tour, at Barrymore's Club, Ottawa, Canada, a somewhat the worse for drink R.E.M. abandon their planned set and play an unscheduled evening of impromptu cover versions.
Ozzy Osbourne announces that he would like to do a tour of the world's insane asylums.When Inspiral Carpets headline the second day of The Reading Festival, Reading, England, UK, Europe, the band's roadie, Noel Gallagher, makes his first onstage appearance at Reading as half of a pantomime cow during their set. Also on the bill are The Wedding Present, The Buzzcocks, Billy Bragg, Ride, The Young Gods, The Chills and Psychic TV. Young Mr. Gallagher will find greater fame as a founder of Oasis. Deejay for the event is John Peel.
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When Sinead O'Connor visits Mrs Gooch's Natural Food Store in Beverly Hills, California, USA, one of Mrs Gooch's patriotic employees, Mike Reichtien, sings the US national anthem to her, in protest against her earlier refusal to perform a concert if the anthem was played.
Chubby Checker files a lawsuit against McDonald's in Canada seeking $14m and alleging that the burger chain had used an imitation of his voice when his hit single The Twist had been used on a tv commercial. (This is a particularly intriguing allegation, given that Chubby's own version of the song was a barely concealed impersonation of the original by Hank Ballard.)
It is announced that Prince has negotiated a new contract with Warner Brothers, under which he will have his own label on which his name will be denoted only by a symbol.
When 
The band appearing under the name 
Bob Dylan is admitted to hospital in Los Angeles, California, USA, for nine days suffering from "histoplasmosis", a potentially fatal heart condition. After recovering he quips, "I really thought I'd be seeing Elvis soon." 
B.B. King plays Merry Christmas Baby for an audience including Pope John Paul II and sundry assembled cardinals during a concert at The Vatican, Rome, Italy, Europe. Before the show King was granted an audience with The Pope, during which he gave one of his treasured 'Lucille' guitars to the pontiff.
When Travis perform their song Why Does It Always Rain On Me during their set at Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, England, UK, the rain begins to pour down. The band leaves the stage convinced that the weather has ruined their performance but BBCtv picks up on the moment and plays it on the evening news, giving Travis a huge and unexpected boost to their career.
During a performance at The Astoria, London, England, UK, Europe, DJ Sid of American shock-rockers Slipknot throws himself off a 35ft high balcony. Apparently uninjured, he does it again later, this time falling backwards. Tommy Lee, drummer of Motley Crue, begins studying at the University of Nebraska, for an NBC 'reality' tv show in which he takes classes in chemistry, literature and the history of rock'n'roll.
One-legged rock fan Andrew Miller removes his prosthetic limb and waves it around during an Alice Cooper gig in Southampton, England, UK, Europe. When John Lynch, sitting nearby, asks him to calm down, Miller punches him several times and is later charged with causing actual bodily harm.Cher speaks in a City Hall protest in Los Angeles, California, USA, to try to convince officials to cancel plans to build a new habitat for LA Zoo's much-loved elephant, Billy. Cher believes Billy should, instead, be moved to a new home. This puts her directly in opposition to Slash of Guns 'n Roses who favours the new elephant house. The council decides to press ahead with the new habitat.
The Australian newspaper reports that US singing star Katy Perry is suing Australian fashion designer Katie Perry. The legal action is intended to prevent Katie Perry (yes, that's the name she was born with) from trademarking her own name for her clothing label.
While staying at the Grand Hyatt hotel, Melbourne, Australia, Oceania, Katy Perry hears her hit single California Gurls blasting out from a student party for the all-male Melbourne High School and, on the spur of the moment, pops in to join them. Later she posts a Tweet saying, 'I totes just crashed a prom,' Still later on the same night she also attends a lesbian event, The Grouse Party, at The Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood.
Cage Against The Machine, a one-off supergroup consisting of Pete Doherty, The Kooks, Enter Shikari, UNKLE, Orbital, Billy Bragg, Imogen Heap, Dan Le Sac, Reverend Jon McClure, Crystal Fighters, Mr Hudson, Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots), The Big Pink, Coldcut, Does It Offend You Yeah?, Penguin Prison, Aeroplane, John Foxx, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool and Kilford The Music Painter release their re-recording of avant-garde musician John Cage's celebrated composition, 4'33", which comprises of four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence. Their aim is to make the silent single the UK's No1 song at Christmas.
The results of a survey carried out on behalf of the Lite Sprites toy range are published. The survey asked 1000 four to 16 year-olds in the United Kingdom to name their most magical people. Places 1 and 2 are occupied by mum and dad, with X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos of N-Dubz coming third.
To dispel widespread rumours that he had been found unconscious in a room at the Empress Hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital, Jon Bon Jovi posts a picture of himself on Twitter with a Christmas tree in the background and holding a note that reads, 'Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey. Dec 19th 2011 6.00'.
British national tabloid newspaper The Sun runs the headline "Ramadan A Ding Dong" after tv station Channel 4 broadcasts a controversial Muslim call to prayer. The headline is a reference to the 1961 hit single Rama Lama Ding Dong by The Edsels.
Via his Tumblr page, indie folk-rock singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens writes an open letter to Miley Cyrus, offering grammar advice to her on the lyrics of her song Get It Right. In particular he points out that the line, "I been laying in this bed all night long" should really be "I have been lying in this bed all night long." (The erudite fellow doesn't seem to have considered the possibility that Miley might actually have been laying all night long.)
After having received threats of picketing from extremist homophobic religious group The Westboro Baptist Church, Panic! At The Disco play at Crossroads KC, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Turning the situation to their advantage, the band decides to donate $20 to The Human Rights Campaign for every WBC member who turns up at the show. When only 13 picketers turn up, the band decides instead to donate $1000 to the Campaign.
Taylor Swift releases a new 'single' entitled Track 3 in Canada. The track consists of eight seconds of white noise, despite which it goes immediately to No1 in the Canadian iTunes chart.It is announced that a newly-discovered species of spiky sea-snail has been named Alviniconcha strummeri, after the late Joe Strummer, frontman of The Clash.
European Space Administration astronaut Alexander Gerst has his first interaction with a new artificial intelligence device, CIMON (short for Crew Interactive Mobile CompanioN), in the Columbus Lab aboard the International Space Station. During their interaction, Cimon plays the Kraftwerk song The Man Machine at Gersh's request, but does not stop playing the music when Gersh tells him to. Instead Cimon says, "I love music you can dance to." Later, Cimon tells Gersh, "Be nice to me."
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