Politics

A question is asked in the British House Of Commons about why a music hall poster in Birmingham had been removed by police. The answer given is that the poster "displayed a portion of a Treasury Note on an advertisement".

Benny Goodman And His Orchestra begin the sixth of seven months in residence at The Joseph Urban Room of The Congress Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Bing Crosby records the patriotic cantata Ballad For Americans, for Decca Records in the USA.

The musical comedy, Call Me Madam, with music by Irving Berlin and starring Ethel Merman, is playing at The Imperial Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 644 performances.

Frank Sinatra introduces US Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy to a young lady named Judith Campbell when Kennedy passes through Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, between campaign appearances in Oregon and New Mexico. Kennedy will subsequently have an affair with Miss Campbell.

During a huge public protest outside Davidson Courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, following the bombing of the home of black lawyer Z. Alexander Looby, a young white man called Guy Carawan strums his guitar and sings an old gospel song, I Will Overcome Some Day, with its lyric changed to We Shall Overcome. Soon the whole crowd is singing along. The civil rights revolution now has its anthem, which will be sung by protest movements worldwide.

On learning that tonight's dance concert at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia, USA, is to be segregated [whites on the dance floor, blacks in the balcony] headiner Ray Charles announces that he will not be performing and immediately leaves town. He will be sued, taken to court and fined $757.

The Max Roach Quintet, Abbey Lincoln and Mal Waldron play during a two-week residency at The Jazz Gallery, New York City, USA. The gigs provide a showcase for Roach's Freedom Now Suite, which powerfully advocates civil rights.

The LP Another Black And White Minstrel Show by The George Mitchell Minstrels reaches No1 in the UK's NME Popular Albums chart. It will remain at No1 for a total of eight weeks. The show has since become regarded as perhaps the most blatantly racist television programme ever broadcast.

The satirical album The First Family by Vaughan Meader is awarded a Gold Disc in the USA by the R.I.A.A.

The first of several violent confrontations between two dominant youth groups, Mods and Rockers, takes place in the seaside town of Clacton-On-Sea, UK. This and subsequent 'teenage riots' will provide some of the inspoiration for The Who's rock opera Quadrophenia.

Congressman Buchanan of Alabama, USA, speaking in The House Of Representatives, Washington DC, describes the recently broadcast CBS-tv music special It's What's Happening, Baby! as "disgraceful and disgusting". The show, partly funded by the US Office Of Economic Opportunity, featured performances by Jan And Dean, Martha And The Vandellas, Mary Wells, The Dave Clark Five, Gary Lewis And The Playboys, The Supremes, Tom Jones, Bill Cosby, Patti LaBelle And The Bluebelles, The Drifters, The Miracles, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, The Ronettes, Chuck Jackson, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Righteous Brothers and Little Anthony And The Imperials

Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez leaves Cuba in a boat with his mother and twelve others to seek asylum in the USA. The boat does not make it and his mother dies, but Elian is rescued by fishermen and taken to live with relatives in Miami, Florida. He later became the subject of a major news story when he was ordered back to Cuba to live with his father. US marshals had to seize Elian and send him back to Cuba against the wishes of his relatives. The incident will inspire Manic Street Preachers to write their song Baby Elian.

Donovan releases the EP Universal Soldier in the UK. The title track is composed by Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother And the Holding Co., and Congress of Wonders play the first of two nights at Winterland, San Francisco, California, USA.

Phil Ochs plays at The Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Phil Ochs plays at The University Of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Europe.

Merle Haggard releases a new single, Okie From Muskogee on Capitol Records in the USA. Critical of marijuana smokers and long-haired men, it will become not only one of the most successful but one of the most controversial of Haggard's career. It was said he wrote the song after becoming disheartened by watching hippie anti-Vietnam War protests on tv, but in interviews he was always careful to avoid explaining what the song meant to him.

The song Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen is named as the "Unofficial Youth Rock Anthem" of New Jersey, USA, by the New Jersey State Assembly. Springsteen found this accolade somewhat ironic because the song was "about leaving Jersey."

After a group of Iranian students, supporting the Iranian Revolution, take over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, fifty-two American diplomats and citizens are held hostage for 444 days. This international incident will become known as The Iran Hostage Crisis and will inspire rockabilly revivalists The Stray Cats to record Storm The Embassy. Jethro Tull will address the same incident in their 1980 song Crossfire.

Jello Biafra of anarcho-punk-rock band The Dead Kennedys suffers defeat in the attempt to be elected as Mayor Of San Francisco, California, USA. Dianne Feinstein, chair of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors gets 46.63% of the vote, while Senator Quentin Kopp gets 44.72%.

Gang Of Four take part in a free Rock Against Racism concert in Central Park, New York City, USA. Other acts playing include Startoon, The Ants, Bad Brains and The Senders.

The No Nukes concert movie, starring Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, The Doobie Brothers, Bonnie Raitt and Gil Scott-Heron, opens at The Dominion, London, England, UK, Europe.

The Mayor of Nashville proclaims this to be Bill Monroe Day in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. WSM radio's Grant Turner presents the proclamation to Monroe at a surprise birthday party in Mason’s Restaurant, Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and Jerry Hall attend an Independence Day party aboard the yacht of multi-millionaire Malcolm Forbes, as it sails round Manhattan, New York City, USA.

It is announced that Jello Biafra, frontman of The Dead Kennedys, may be facing a year in prison, because outraged parents in Los Angeles, California, USA, plan to prosecute him for obscenity. The charges are based on the images of penises adorning the cover of the latest Dead Kennedys' album, Frankenchrist.

Johnny Cash is honoured with the Shalom Peace Award from the Jewish National Fund at a testimonial dinner held in The Peabody Hotel, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Besieged General Manuel Noriega surrenders to the US military forces who have been blasting his refuge in the Papal Nuncio's residence in Panama City, Panama, Central America, with high volume rock music in a psychological warfare technique aimed at demoralising him. The tactic, known as Operation Nifty Package, included playing such tracks as I Fought The Law by The Clash and Panama by Van Halen at extremely high volumes through loudspeakers pointing at the residence.

The Indigo Girls play on The Capitol Steps, West Lawn, United States Capitol, Washington DC, USA.

Fear Of A Black Planet by Public Enemy is awarded a gold disc in Canada.

Singer, composer, and actress Mireille dies of pneumonia, aged 90, in Paris, France, Europe. In her long and auspicious career, Mireille Hartuch composed over six hundred songs and was twice decorated by the French government for her contributions to French national culture.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the city police lodge a protest against a new Bruce Springsteen song, American Skin, inspired by the 1999 police slaying of unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo.

Twenty-five historically-significant music recordings are added to the 2006 National Recording Registry at the US Library Of Congress. These include singles such as Black Bottom Stomp by Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers [1926], Wildwood Flower by The Carter Family [1928], Pony Blues by Charley Patton [1929], Peace in the Valley by Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys [1951], Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins [1955], Be My Baby by The Ronettes [1963], We Shall Overcome by Pete Seege [1963], [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones [1965] and A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke [1965]. The additions also include complete albums such as The Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground [1967], The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake by Eubie Blake [1969], Burnin' by The Wailers including Bob Marley [1973], Live in Japan by Sarah Vaughan [1973] and Graceland by Paul Simon [1986]. This brings the number of recordings named in the registry to 225.

Charley Pride, Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss And Union Station play at The White House, Washington DC, USA, as part of an educational workshop about country music.

Ronnie Milsap and a group of fifty Tennessee firefighters, picket the office of Capitol Records in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Milsap had recorded a song, My First Ride, as a fundraiser to benefit firefighters and police officers, but Capitol refused to service the record to radio and iTunes, because it featured an unauthorised vocal contribution by their artist Trace Adkins. During the protest Milsap sings the song from atop a vintage fire truck.

When BBC Radio 4 show Any Questions is broadcast live from The Corn Exchange, Devizes, Wiltshire, England, UK, Europe, one of the panellists is Billy Bragg.

Agents for the federal government in the USA execute four search warrants on The Gibson Guitar company's facilities in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The agents seize several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. Gibson has to cease its manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day, while armed agents execute the search warrants. The search is undertaken because the Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal. If the same wood from the same tree had been finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.

Korean rapper Psy meets UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City, USA. During the meeting Ban Ki-Moon expresses his desire to work with the singer because of his "unlimited global reach".

Future US President Donald Trump declares country singer Trace Adkins the winner of reality tv show The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC-tv in the USA. Adkins had sung Honky Tonk Badonkadonk during the episode.

Muse release their seventh album Drones on Warner Bros. Records in the USA, Canada, Spain and Italy.

Madonna announces on Instagram that she will take part in the 1 Million Women's March in Washington DC, USA, on January 21 - the first day of Donald Trump's Presidency. Already committed to the march are Katy Perry, Cher and Zendaya.

Singer Halsey reads a moving poem she penned for the occasion at the Women's March in New York City, USA. The march, held on the one-year anniversary of U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration, had several objectives, including an end to sexual harassment, environmental sustainability, civil rights and the protection of immigrants.

Humanitarian musician, philanthropist and politician Bobi Wine is arrested in Uganda, Africa, on charges alleging unlawful possession of firearms and incitement to violence.