April 1978

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  1
Paul Simon and Peter Frampton go to Philadelphia to see the Philadelphia Fury -- the North American Soccer League team of which they and Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman own parts -- open its season against the Washington Diplomats.

Blondie's "Denis," a remake of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 hit "Denise," tops the New Musical Express British pop chart.
2
Soap operas invade prime time as Dallas introduces J.R. Ewing and his oil-rich family on the show's CBS debut.
 3
Blues guitar giant B.B. King, joins famed defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey for a rap session and concert for inmates of Norfolk Prison in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of their ongoing duties as co-chairmen of FAIRR (Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation). Portions of the Norfolk concert are shot by ABC-TV for inclusion on a subsequent episode of Good Morning America.
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 17
Carl Sagan wins the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for The Dragons of Eden.
 18
 19
Arista Records releases the Patti Smith Group's single "Because the Night," coauthored by Smith and Bruce Springsteen. The song will become Smith's only charting single, reaching #13 later this year, and will also be covered by Springsteen in concerts.

Over forty rock & roll performers petition President Carter to end America's commitment to nuclear power. Some of the performers -- including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Carly Simon, the Doobie Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and others -- will later get together for antinuclear benefit concerts that will be recorded for the No Nukes album.

Outside of New York City punk-rock club CBGB, Dead Boys drummer Johnny Blitz is nearly killed when he is stabbed during a streetfight. A week-long benefit will be held for Blitz at CBGB shortly, featuring many of New York's top punk performers, including the Ramones, Blondie, (with special guest Robert Fripp, one-time leader of King Crimson) and others.

In a Washington, D.C., news conference, a former Cambodian information minister reveals that as a result of the tyrannical rule of the Khmer Rouge, more than two million of his countrymen have been murdered or have died from starvation or disease and that the deaths are continuing.
 20
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Ex-Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny dies at age thirty-seven from a cerebral hemorrhage suffered in a fall down a flight of stairs in her London home.
 22
Bob Marley and the Wailers perform at the One Love Peace Concert at the National Arena outside Kingston, Jamaica, making their first public appearance in their homeland since the attempt on Marley's life in December 1976. The concert was organized by youth leaders of Jamaica's feuding political parties in an effort to end the violence of the past five years. Also appearing at the concert are Culture, Dennis Brown, Big Youth, Jacob Miller, Trinity and Peter Tosh, who lights up a spliff onstage and lectures the government wisdom of legalizing marijuana. But the climax of the event comes at the end of Marley's performance, when he calls Prime Minister Michael Manley and Opposition leader Edward Seaga onstage and raises their clasped hands in a gesture of friendship and unity.
23
Ex-Sex Pistol bassist Sid Vicious films his rendition of Paul Anka's pop standard "My Way" for the Sex Pistols' film The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle.
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London's 100 Club, birthplace of punk rock, closes its doors to punk music following a performance by the band Alternative TV, which features Mark Perry, editor of the now-defunct punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue.
 26
Ringo Starr's TV special, Ringo, a musical update of The Prince and the Pauper, airs on American TV. George Harrison narrates. It garners very low ratings, finishing fifty-third out of sixty-five shows.
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FM, a film about the battle between progressives and regressives at a radio station, premieres in Los Angeles. It stars comedian Martin Mull, Eileen Brenan and Cleavon Little, with appearances by Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, REO Speedwagon and Tom Petty. The soundtrack also features Steely Dan, Neil Young, the Eagles, Billy Joel, Warren Zevon, Steve Miller and B.B. King. More people buy the soundtrack than see the film, and Steely Dan's title track "FM (No Static at All)" becomes a #22 hit in July.
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The Clash, the Tom Robinson Band and X-Ray Spex perform at a Rock Against Racism rally in London.
  


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