Super Seventies RockSite's Seventies Daily Music Chronicle

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March 1972

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Carrying a peace-offering plaque adorned with figures of a man and a woman, Pioneer 10 is launched on its multiyear mission and becomes the first man-made object to fly past Mars. In Dec. 1973 it reaches Jupiter, sending back the dfirst-ever close-up images of the planet. Ten years later, still braodcasting signals back to Earth, Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to exit the solar system.

Superjockey Bill Shoemaker marks his 555th trip to the winner's circle, a new horse-racing record.

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Paul Gadd, a.k.a. Gary Glitter, has the first of his three Number One U.K. hits, "Rock and Roll -- Part 2." A previously unsuccessful pop singer, Glitter found a successful formula that he would milk through the mid-Seventies: football-chant- like vocals, distorted guitar chords and predominant, primitive percussion. "Rock and Roll -- Part 2" makes #7 in the U.S. later in the year.

Harry Nilsson recieves a gold record for Nilsson Schmilsson, the best-selling album of his career. The LP contains three hits: "Without You," "Jump into the Fire" and "Coconut."

West Germany discloses that 398 East Germans have escaped to the West in the preceding year.

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It's a good week for Badfinger, who receive a gold record for "Day after Day" one day after Harry Nilsson gets a gold disc for his cover of their song "Without You."
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John Lennon's visa extension is canceled by the New York Office of the Immigration Department, five days after it was granted.

Jack Nicholson becomes professional golf's leading money-winner with the Doral Eastern Open title, bringing his career earnings to $1,427,200.

A Gallup Poll reveals that 69% of Americans oppose busing as a means of integrating schools.

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In the New Hampshire primary, President Nixon soundly defeats his sole challenger for the Repulbican nomination. Congressman Paul McCloskey, 68% to 20%. McCloskey bows out of the race three days later, leaving Nixon to run uncontested. On the Democratic side, Edmund Muskie leads the pack with 46.4%, trailed by second-runner George McGovern with 37%.
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In what will become a trend for the rest of the Seventies, pop artists unite to perform for a presidential candidate: Carole King, James Taylor and Barbra Streisand, among others, play a benefit show for Democratic hopeful George McGovern at L.A.'s Forum

Allen Klein, already accused of laundering money from UNICEF, which was to receive the royalties from Bangla Desh's sales, turns over just one-tenth the money due the organization, $1.2 million.
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The group America, army brats who grew up in England, record for their eponymously titled debut album. Two weeks later the 45 "A Horse with No Name" also goes gold. The group evokes memories of Neil Young, especially on "Horse," and in fact replaces Young at Number One on both the single and the LP charts in April.

After months of bombing of North Vietnamese targets and a seesaw series of battles along the DMZ, 5,000 South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia, with U.S. air support, in search of Command forces. Within three weeks, the North Vietnamese will in turn launch the largest counterassault since the 1968 Tet offensive.

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Dionne Warwick reaches the Top 100 with "If We Only Had Love" (#84). It was her first chart single since leaving Scepter Records, where she had 38 hits. She would go on to have 17 more Top 100 outings through 1987, including the #1's "Then Came You" and "That's What Friends Are For."
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Singer/songwriter Carole King is the big Grammy winner, collecting four major awards, including Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female (Tapestry) and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend").

Country music star and convicted burglar Merle Haggard is granted a full pardon by California Gov. Ronald Reagan 12 years after the "Okie From Muskogee" was released from San Quentin Penitentiary while serving three years.

George Wallace pulls ahead of other Democratic hopefuls, winning the Florida primary with 42% of the vote.

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Singer Robert Johnson scores with a remake of the Tokens' Number One hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." John's version goes Top Fifteen and earns him a gold record.

Radio station KHJ is raided by L.A. police after calls from listeners who feared there'd been a revolution at the station: from 6:00 to 7:30 in the morning. DJ
Robert W. Morgan had played Donny Osmond's "Puppy Love" over and over. The police, no doubt confused, left without making any arrests.

Francis Ford Coppola's screen adaptation of Mario Puzo's best-selling epic, The Godfather -- filmed with the caveat that the word "Mafia" never be mentioned -- is released, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan and Marlon Brando.

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The Irish group Horslips turn pro on -- appropriately enough -- St. Patrick's Day. They will attract a large following in Great Britain, but will never really crack the U.S. market.
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Ringo Starr begins work on his documentary on Marc Bolan, Born to Boogie, by filming T. Rex's concert at Wembley, England.

"Heart of Gold," from Neil Young's latest album Harvest, tops the charts. Until today, Young's singles ("Cinnamon Girl," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart") had had little chart impact, but with "Heart of Gold," which was recorded in Nashville with background vocals from pals James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, the Canadian-born singer/songwriter has his first chart-topper. "This song put me in the middle of the road," Young later says. "Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there."

The Top Five
1. "Heart of Gold" - Neil Young
2. "A Horse With No Name" - America
3. "Lion Sleeps Tonight" - Robert John
4. "Without You" - Nilsson
5. "Everything I Own" - Bread

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Ringo Starr releases the second of his seven Top Ten singles, "Back Off, Boogaloo," produced by George Harrison.
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Adding fuel to the ITT fire, columnist Jack Anderson releases company memoranda stating that the U.S. ambassador to Chile assured ITT representatives the U.S. would attempt to block election of Chilean president Salvador Allende. The Senate initiates an investigation into the influence of international corporations on U.S. foreign policy.
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Joe Tex gets a gold record for "I Gotcha," his biggest single success (#2). It's his first hit in four years.

The women's rights gathers steam as the Senate ratifies the Equal Rights Amendment, starting a seven-year period during which the ERA must be approved by the legislatures of at least 38 states to become a constitutional amendment.

The United States Supreme Court rules in Eisenstadt v. Baird, an important case that establishes the right of unmarried people to possess contraception in the same basis as married couples.

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Twelve years after it was first a #2 hit for teen idol Paul Anka. "Puppy Love," by Donny Osmond, makes #3 and goes gold. The song also inspires numerous wisecracks about young Osmond.
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The Top Five
1. "A Horse With No Name" - America
2. "Heart of Gold" - Neil Young
3. "Lion Sleeps Tonight" - Robert John
4. "Puppy Love" - Donny Osmond
5. "Mother and Child Reunion" - Paul Simon


The long-running ABC sitcom Bewitched ends after eight seasons.
26
Mott the Hoople prematurely decide to pack it in after four albums. But David Bowie comes to their rescue, bearing a song called "All the Young Dudes." Hoople record it, Bowie produces it; "Dudes" becomes a U.K. smash, goes Top Forty in the U.S. and revives their career. Their album of the same name, released in America in November 1972, peaks at #89 in its 19 weeks on the chart.
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Elvis Presley records what will be his last major hit, "Burning Love," which reaches #2 in October. The song was originally recorded by blues singer Arthur Alexander.

Terry Knight, self-envisioned Svengali of Grand Funk Railroad, is fired by the group, instigating a series of multimillion dollar lawsuits between ex-manager and group. At a press conference in New York, Knight says, "I don't know if they're acting of their own free will." They are. A settlement eventually will be reached, but the legal hassles impede GFR's momentum for most of 1972.

Believing $30 million of soon to be accused Watergate conspirator Pres. Richard Nixon's hush money is stowed away in an Orange Co., Calif. bank in a safety deposit box assigned to Nixon aide Charles Colson, a gang of close-knit thieves from Youngstown, Oh. pull off the biggest bank heist of all time by drilling a hole in the bank's roof. Although they find much cash from other depositors in the burgulary, all they find in Colson's box is his collection of baseball cards. The burgulary prompts the biggest manhunt in FBI history, with more than 125 agents assigned to the case who eventually track all five thieves down, and is dramatized in the 2019 movie Finding Steve McQueen.

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