Random selection from around 930 Facts
Click to filter results
Sotd
Dominic of Osma is canonized (made into a Saint) by Pope Gregory IX at Rieti, Italy, Europe. In 1963, under the name The Singing Nun, Dominican nun Sister Luc-Gabriel (real name Jeannine Deckers), will score a world-wide hit with her composition, Dominique about the life of Saint Dominic.
Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by Filipino tribesmen, just months after becoming the first man to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. His life, death and achievements will be celebrated in the song Philippines History by Yoyoy Villame, The Ballad Of Magellan by Animaniacs and Magellan Was Wrong by Bob Lind.
Followers of agrarian communist Gerrard Winstanley begin digging the common land on St. George Hill, Surrey, England, UK. It is their belief that the English Civil Wars had been fought against the king and the great landowners and that land should be made available for the very poor to cultivate. These people will become known as The Diggers. The Billy Bragg song World Turned Upside Down and the Chumbawamba song The Diggers Song will be inspired by the work and beliefs of The Diggers.
After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William
Kidd is hanged in London, UK. The traditional song Captain
Kidd, aka The Ballad Of Captain Kidd, will be inspired by Kidd
and his exploits.
Notorious highwayman Dick Turpin is executed by hanging (aged 33) at Knavesmire, York, England, UK. Somewhat romanticised accounts of Turpin's life will inspire several poems and folk songs including Turpin's Rant, but to hear a more modern re-telling, there's The Ballad Of Dick Turpin, recorded by Freddie And The Dreamers in 1965.
The Battle Of Waterloo is fought thirteen kilometres south of Brussels, Europe, between the French, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Allied armies commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blucher from Prussia. Napoleon's defeat will inspire the opening verses of Abba's 1974 hit single, Waterloo, and will also provide inspiration for the 1959 USA hit single Waterloo by Stonewall Jackson.
Eighteen political protesters are killed and over 400 are injured in The Peterloo Massacre at St Peter's Field, Manchester, UK, when British cavalry charge into a crowd of 60 – 80,000 people that have gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. This infamous incident will inspire the song Ned Ludd Part 5 on electric folk group Steeleye Span's 2006 album Bloody Men, and the song Peterloo by The Oldham Tinkers.
Jack Donahue, a member of a bushranger gang known as The Wild Colonial Boys, is shot dead by a soldier, John Muckleston, following a shootout between bushrangers and troops at Bringelly, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania. Donahue's life, exploits and death will inspire the writing of the folk song The Wild Colonial Boy some years later.
Clifton T. Clowers is born in Center Ridge, Arkansas, USA. He will gain a certain amount of local notoriety for keeping his daughter locked up in his home on Woolverton Mountain, away from potential suitors. His overly protective ways will inspire the song Wolverton Mountain which will become a major country music hit in 1962 for Claude King.
Sailor Joshua Slocum completes the first solo circumnavigation of the world. Folk musician Don Charbonneau's song South Wind is inspired by Slocum's voyage.
The 1900 Galveston hurricane makes landfall on the city of Galveston, Texas, USA, and will cause around 8,000 deaths. The song Wasn't
That A Mighty Storm, inspired by the disaster, will first be recorded in 1934. Originally a spiritual, it will be revived and popularised by Eric Von Schmidt and Tom Rush in the 1960s.
Kimi Iwasaki is born in a village in the foothills of old Shizuoka prefecture, then called Fujimi-mura, (but now in the Shimizu ward of the city of Shizuoka) in Japan, Asia. It was widely believed that she was adopted at the age of three by an American couple. On the assumption that they took her with th em when they returned to to The USA, the song Akai Kutsu (Red Shoes) will be written about her by the poet Ujo Noguchi and the composer Nagayo Motōri. The song will become hugely popular in Japan but, in fact, Kimi Iwasaki never left Japan, because she died of tuberculosis at the age of nine, which she had contracted before her adoptive parents returned home.
Ray Kroc is born in Oak Park, Illinois, USA. After joining the local burger firm, McDonald's, Kroc will transform it into a nationwide franchise, eventually making it the most successful fast food corporation in the world. He will be included in Time 100 : The Most Important People Of The Century. His career will inspire the 2004 single Boom - Like That by Mark Knopfler.
At 4:10 AM, the quiet coal mining town of Frank, Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada, population 600, is abruptly awaken by sound and rumbling beyond belief. 110 million tonnes of rock came crashing down the side of Turtle Mountain, burying a portion of the town and killing over 90 people. The incident will be immortalised in the 2017 song Turtle Mountain by Over The Moon.
Private William McBride of the Inniskilling Fusiliers is killed during the First World War in the trenches near Authuille, France, Europe. His death will inspire folk songwriter Eric Bogle to write the song No Man's Land aka The Green Fields Of France which has been recorded by, among others, The Fureys, The Dropkick Murphys and Joss Stone And Jeff Beck.
Walter Boyd [aka Huddie Ledbetter, Lead Belly] is tried by a grand jury in Bowie County, Texas, USA, for the murder by shooting of Will Stafford. He will be found guilty and will spend seven years in jail. In later years, Lead Belly will become a celebrated folk-blues musician. His life will inspire the 2012 song Leadbelly by London, UK, blues band 24 Pesos.
Max Pohlig and Ernst Gottschalk, of Hannover, Germany, Europe, file a patent application on an improved "spring-action hopping stilt". Once approved, the hopping stilt will eventually be re-named the Pogo Stick, in recognition of the first two initials of the inventors' surnames. The invention will provide inspiration for the soundtrack song Hop On Your Pogo Stick in the 1943 Disney short Victory Vehicles, and also for the instrumental Pogo Stick by The Larks on Stacy Records in October 1963, and also for the 2005 musical animation Pogo Sticks by Animusic.
The Turkish city of Constantinople is re-named Istanbul. This politically-motivated
change will inspire the song Istanbul
[Not Constantinople] which has been recorded by many artists
including The
Four Lads, Bing Crosby And Ella Fitzgerald and They Might be
Giants.
Paul Clayton Worthington is born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. He will become prominent as folksinger and folklorist Paul Clayton during the 1950s and 1960s. It is said that Clayton inspired both the Bob Dylan song It's All Over Now Baby Blue and the Joni Mitchell song Blue.
The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. Of the 97 people on board, 35 are killed and there is also one death among the ground crew. Lead Belly will be inspired to write his song The Hindenburg Disaster in 1937, and the cover of Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album will feature an image of the Hindenburg disaster. Other songs about the disaster include Hindenburg by The Williamson Playboys and The Hindenburg Disaster by The Two Man Gentlemen Band.
Bob Wills And The Texas Playboys record the fiddle tune Ida Red for Vocalion Records in Dallas, Texas, USA. In 1955, Chuck Berry will be inspired to base his first hit, Maybellene, on this version of Ida Red.
The USS Reuben James is torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat near Iceland, Europe, with the loss of almost 100 crew members. The incident will inspire Woody Guthrie to write the song The Sinking of the Reuben James which will be released in 1942, and will be covered by The Weavers, Johnny Horton, The Kingston Trio, Country Joe McDonald and many others.
Lord Invader performs his composition Rum And Coca Cola for the first time in front of a paying audience in the Victory Calypso Tent [an informal music venue set up for the carnival season] in Port of Spain, Trindidad, West Indies. Six months later, visiting US radio comedian Morey Amsterdam will hear the song, take it back to the USA, sanitise its saucy lyric and copyright it in his own name. Rum And Coca Cola will be a huge hit for The Andrews Sisters but Lord Invader will have to go to court to win his royalties.
The Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], one of the principal intelligence-gathering agencies of the United States federal
government, is founded with its headquarters just outside Washington DC, USA. The clandestine and divisive political operations of the CIA will inspire the 1965 satirical protest song CIA Man by The Fugs.
Rollie Free achieves the US national motorcycle speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA, riding the first British-made Vincent Black Lightning. In 1991, inspired by the bike's mystique, Richard Thompson will compose the song 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.
Read More
Founded by Kemmons Wilson, the first Holiday Inn is opened as as "Holiday Inn Hotel Courts" at 4925 Summer Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. By 1956 there will be 23 Holiday Inns, and by 2016, there will be 1,145 all over the world. The chain will inspire the 1971 song Holiday Inn by Elton John.
A new John Wayne movie, The Searchers, opens at The State Theatre, Lubbock, Texas, USA, for three weeks. While it is there, it is seen by local musicians Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison who are so taken by Wayne's catch-phrase, 'That'll Be The Day', that they write a song of that title when they return home. The title of the same movie will later also inspire the name of a popular Liverpool band of the 1960s.
The
Berlin Wall is erected overnight, closing off the Western part
of Berlin, Germany, Europe, from the Eastern part. This action will
inspire the song West Of The Wall, by Toni Fisher which will reach No1 in the Australian Top Twenty singles chart in 1962.
The movie Breakfast At Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn, is released to cinemas in the USA. The film will inspire the 1995 hit song Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something.
When The Beatles play at Candie Gardens, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK, Europe, they meet up with John Lennon's old friend, the author and beat poet Royston Ellis. An encounter with a young woman during this visit will inspire The Beatles' song Polythene Pam. According to Lennon himself, "That was me, remembering a little event with a woman in Jersey, and a man who was England's answer to Allen Ginsberg ... I met him when we were on tour and he took me back to his apartment and I had a girl and he had one he wanted me to meet. He said she dressed up in polythene, which she did. She didn't wear jack boots and kilts, I just sort of elaborated. Perverted sex in a polythene bag. Just looking for something to write about."Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin alleged to have killed US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, is shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Classic ska band The Skatalites will record a bouncy instrumental called Lee Harvey Oswald, but Ruby will inspire several more songs including Bicentennial [1976] by Loudon Wainwright III, Jack Ruby [1989] by Camper Van Beethoven, Jack Ruby [1993] by Paul Metsa, and Jack Ruby [1998] by Deep Purple.
Hi-Heel
Sneakers by Tommy Tucker enters the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA where it will peak at No11 during an eight-week stay on the chart. Noel Gallagher of Oasis will be so 'inspired' by this song that his song Get Off Your High Horse Lady [2008] will use an identical melody and similar
lyric structure.
Controversial American radio deejay and music business entrepreneur Alan Freed dies aged 43, penniless, in hospital in Palm Springs, California, USA, from uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism. Freed's career was ended after his involvement in the payola scandal of the early 1960s. He is mentioned in The Ramones' song Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? as one of the band's idols in rock'n'roll. Freed also crops up in Ballrooms Of Mars by Marc Bolan, They Used To Call It Dope by Public Enemy, Payola Blues by Neil Young, Done Too Soon by Neil Diamond, The Ballad of Dick Clark by Skip Battin, and The King Of Rock n' Roll by Cashman And West on their 1973 ABC album Moondog Serenade.
Intelsat 1, aka Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, into a geosynchronous orbit around the Earth. Record producer Joe Meek will compose a celebratory instrumental entitled Early Bird for The Tornados, hoping to repeat their earlier success with Telstar. Instead, it will peak at a disappointing No49 in the Melody Maker charts.
See My Friend by The Kinks enters the UK singles chart where it will peak at No10. It is considered by some experts to heave been the first Western rock song to integrate Indian raga sounds. It will also directly inspire The Who's song The Good's Gone, recorded later in the year.
Read More
The movie Doctor Zhivago debuts in cinemas in the USA. The film's storyline will inspire John Hartford to write Gentle On My Mind for which he will win four Grammy Awards in 1968. Hartford himself will win the award for Best Folk Performance and Best Country and Western Song (Songwriter).
Elusive Butterfly by folk-rock singer-songwriter Bob Lind enters the Billboard Singles Chart in the USA, where it will peak at No5. UK 90s band Pulp will be inspired by Lind's career to write the song Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down) on their 2001 album We Love Life.
The New York Times runs a headline including the phrase 'God Is dead', which will inspire Bernie Taupin's lyrics for the song Levon, co-written with Elton John.
Mayf Nutter with The Hugh Garrett Singers releases a new single, Hey There Johnny, on Straight Records in the USA. The song is about the life and career of Johnny Cash.
Stevie Wonder marries Syreeta Wright in Burnette Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan, USA. The couple hold a gala reception for 300 guests (including Berry Gordy) in the Mauna Loa Restaurant, before flying off to Bermuda for their honeymoon. The marriage will last just eighteen months, but Wonder will be inspired by their relationship to write the 1972 song You Are The Sunshine Of My Life about Syreeta.
At the height of The Watergate Scandal, beleaguered United States President Richard Nixon tells the Associated Press, "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook". The final phrase of Nixon's monstrous lie will provide the inspiration for numerous sample-based dance music tracks by DJ Gurr, The Tricky Dicks, Glaciers Dubstep and others. Nixon's duplicity has also been the subject of numerous songs including You Haven't Done Nothin' by Stevie Wonder, Tricky Dicky by Country Joe McDonald, Postcards From Richard Nixon by Elton John, and The Love of Richard Nixon by The Manic Street Preachers.
After fifteen years of conflict, The Vietnam War ends with the fall of Saigon. The war, and specific aspects of it, inspired numerous songs including The Ballad Of Penny Evans by Steve Goodman, about the experience and feelings of a war widow. Other songs about The Vietnam War include Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die by Country Joe And The Fish.
Serial killer Wayne Williams is found guilty of the murder of two adult men. Williams is also believed to have been the perpetrator of an additional 23 of the 29 child murders known as The Atlanta Child Murders, although a subsequent controversy will hold that Williams did not commit all of the crimes. The songs Annie Christian by Prince and Wrong Man by Deep Purple will be inspired by Williams' story.
Eight soldiers on ceremonial duty are killed in two IRA bomb blasts in central London, England, UK. The first blast, in Hyde Park, kills two soldiers of the Household Cavalry, plus seven horses. 23 other people are injured. The second explosion, less than two hours later, kills six soldiers and injures a further 24 people during a concert by the band of the Royal Green Jackets on a bandstand in Regent's Park. The Pink Floyd song The Gunner's Dream will be written as a comment on these atrocities.
A powerful hurricane, known as The Great Storm Of 1987, strikes England, France and The Channel Islands, causing 22 deaths and considerable damage. The event will inspire the 1993 song Before The Hurricane by Martin Newell.
Read More
The novel Underworld by Don Delillo is published by Scribner. Passages from the book, pertaining to Delillo's character Ismael Munoz, will inspire Conor Oberst while he is writing the 2007 Bright Eyes song Four Winds.
Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embark on a random killing spree, shooting dead twelve students and one teacher at Columbine High School, Columbine, Colorado, USA. The pair then commit suicide. The incident will become known as The Columbine High School Massacre. The 2005 song Cassie by Flyleaf is a response to the Columbine tragedy. Cassie Bernall was a student at Columbine High School who died in the massacre. Youth Of A Nation by P.O.D. is also a response to Columbine and a list of contemporary cultural references to Columbine can be found by clicking here.
A US Predator Drone mistakenly attacks a wedding party in Kakarak, Khandahar, Afghanistan, killing at least fifty civilians and wounding hundreds more. This tragic slaughter of innocents, and other similar military robot attacks, will inspire The Airborne Toxic Event to write their song Welcome To Your Wedding Day.
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys release a new single, Empire State Of Mind, on Roc Nation Records in the USA. The song is an anthem for New York City, and will become a major international hit single. It will also inspire Katy Perry to write California Gurls, her 2010 song about the delights of California. Empire State Of Mind will also inspire several parodies, including a Welsh variation on the theme entitled Newport State Of Mind by Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright.
1234 |
2013 |