ME5SENGER_24

The Animals had to cancel a show at New York's Apollo Theater after the US Immigration Department forced the group to leave the venue. Their only New York appearance would be on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Alan Freed, who many credit with first associating the term "Rock and Roll" to music, died at the age of 43. Freed was a Cleveland disc jockey who started promoting dances that featured the top artists of the day, including, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. After moving to New York and appearing in some teen movies, he was caught up in the payola scandal of 1959 for accepting money for playing certain records on his radio show. Before his death, he was virtually broke and fighting charges of tax evasion. It was a sad ending for one of Rock and Roll's most important pioneers.

The soundtrack to the 1969 film Easy Rider, featuring "Born To Be Wild", "If 6 Was 9" and "Ballad of Easy Rider", is certified Gold for sales of 500,000 copies. The LP had peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart the previous September.

Jimmy Carter's inauguration had entertainment provided by Linda Ronstadt, John Lennon, Paul Simon, Gregg Allman, The Marshall Tucker Band and The Charlie Daniels Band.

JIMMY CARTER: ROCK AND ROLL PRESIDENT

A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road kept its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church. In 1976, Elvis released an album called "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee", which was recorded at his home studio at Graceland.

Jamaican authorities open fire on Jimmy Buffett's seaplane, mistaking it for a drug trafficker's plane. U2 singer Bono and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell were with Buffett, but no one was hurt. The incident inspired Buffett to write a song called "Jamaica Mistaica".

Nearly two months after it was issued in the United States, George Harrison releases his first solo single, "My Sweet Lord" in the UK. It would go on to become the biggest selling record of the year in Great Britain. Unfortunately for George, Bright Tunes Music Corporation would file a law suit alleging copyright infringement of the late Ronnie Mack's song "He's So Fine". In September 1976, a court found that Harrison had subconsciously copied "He's So Fine", since he admitted to having been aware of the Chiffons' recording.

David Jones starts using the stage name David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single, "Can't Help Thinking About Me". He would later say that he chose "Bowie" because he likes that "big American bear-killin' knife." His family name would remain Jones.

Parlophone Records releases The Beatles' "Please Please Me", which would go on to be their first number one single in the UK. Written mostly by John Lennon, the song made it to the top in just three weeks and would sell over 1.5 million copies world wide. Despite this success, the record wouldn't appear on the US charts for another year.

Pete Townshend of The Who helped Eric Clapton to overcome some personal problems by getting him involved in a show he called The Rainbow Concert. Clapton had fallen into alcohol abuse and drug dependency. Townshend recruited Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and others to play a sold out show that was later released as the album, "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert".

The now world famous Los Angeles night club, The Whiskey A-Go-Go, opened its doors. Johnny Rivers, Alice Cooper and Kansas have recorded live albums there. Rivers also recorded two Top 10 singles, "Memphis" and "Seventh Son", live at The Whiskey.

Foghat's "Slow Ride" becomes the first of their five Billboard chart entries and the only one to crack the Top 20. In 2009, it was named the 45th "Best Hard Rock" song of all time by VH1