July 1972

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  1
After 1,729 performances, "Hair," Broadway's romanticized portrayal of the counterculture, closes. Not only did the play enjoy a four-year run, but it spawned a trio of soundtrack hits: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," a Number One hit for the Fifth Dimension; "Hair," a #2 hit for the Cowsills, and "Good Morning Starshine," a #3 hit for Oliver -- all in 1969.
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Mississippi delta bluesman Fred McDowell dies.
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The weeklong Democratic National Convention opens in Miami, and at its climax Senator Edward Kennedy introduces Senator George McGovern and Missouri senator Thomas Eagleton as presidential and vice-presidential nominees for the Democratic party in 1972.
 8
An estimated 200,000 youths pack the the Pocono International Raceway in upstate New York for what will be the largest rock festival since Woodstock. The festival is called Concert 10, and promises ten hours of music for an eleven dollar admission fee. But a third of the crowd leaves after a downpour. Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Humble Pie, the Faces, the J. Geils Band and others perform, but twelve of the advertised acts fail to appear, and the two-day festival is generally considered -- like the weather -- a washout.
9
Traveling aboard their double-decker London bus (with psychedelic interior), Paul McCartney and Wings open a twenty-six-stop European tour with a date in France. The tour is McCartney's first since the Beatles retired from the stage in 1966, but the thirty-year-old bassist is in fine form. Afterward, however, he says of his still new group: "We have to get worked in before doing any big shows in Britain or America."
 10
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The long-awaited battle of the chess titans takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland, with Bobby Fischer -- in his usual cantakerous style -- delaying and finally conceding the initial game to his Soviet opponent Boris Spassky because of the presence of TV cameras. The 24-game contest will last through the rest of the summer until Fischer reigns triumphant in Game 21 and becomes the first American World Chess Master.
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16
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles give their "farewell" concert in Washington, D.C., after a six-month long swan-song tour. But in reality, Robinson is only quitting as a member of the group. He intends to continue as a solo artist, producer, composer and vice-president for the Motown label. Smokey and the Miracles (Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White and Pete Moore) released their first song back in 1959. Robinson tells reporters that most of all he'll miss "the fellows. Just being with them, man. We've had a gas of a time."
 17
A bomb placed under a ramp at the Montreal Forum blows out the cones of theirty speakers stored inside one of the Rolling Stones' equipment trucks. Montreal radio stations later receive no less than fifty calls fom would-be bombers claiming responsibility, but it's never determined just who planted the dynamite, or why. Comments Mick Jagger: "Why didn't that cat leave a note?" The show goes on as scheduled.
 18
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Five members of the Rolling Stones entourage, including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, are arrested in Warwick, Rhode Island, on charges of assault and obstructing police after an altercation involving a newspaper photographer. All plead guilty and are released, but the delay forces the Stones to go on stage four hours late in Boston.
 20
Rolling Stone reports Hallmark Cards' purchase of the right to reprint lyrics by songwriters Richard Carpenter, Cat Stevens, Paul Williams, Roger Williams, Roger Nichols and Mason Williams on cards, books, buttons, stationery and other merchandise.
 21
Rod Stewart releases Never a Dull Moment, which just misses repeating the Number One status of 1971's Every Picture Tells a Story. The album goes to #2 and includes two Top Forty hits: "You Wear It Well" and Rod's version of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel."
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"Walking in the Rain with the One I Love" becomes a gold smash for Love Unlimited, a soul trio that includes Glodean James, the wife of producer Barry White. White has a cameo role in the song, which he delivers in his patented basso-profundo whisper rap. The song peaks at #14.
 25
Democratic U.S. vice-president hopeful Thomas Eagleton reveals that on three occasions during the Sixties he had received psychiatric treatment, including electroshock therapy, for depression and fatigue. Though George McGovern initially stands behind his running mate "1,000%," Eagleton will bow to party pressure and withdraw from the race one week later. Former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver Jr. will replace him, but to many voters, McGovern's campaign has been irrevocably damaged.

The Associate Press reveals a 37-year U.S. government study of syphilis that denied treatment of 400 black men at the Tuskegee Institute.
 26
Reflecting a more optimistic approach to the self-help trend, the paperback rights to I'm OK - You're OK -- the best-selling primer on self-analysis by Dr. Thomas Harris -- are picked up by Avon Books for $1 million.
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"Screaming" Lord Sutch is arrested after a London publicity stunt in which he leaps from a bus on Downing Street to alert the prime minister of his upcoming concert. With Sutch are for nude women, and so he is hauled into court on charges of "insulting behavior." Charges are later dismissed.
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Chicago receive a gold record for their first Number One album, Chicago V, titled numerically like its four predecessors. The LP features the standard Chicago mix of horn-embellished rock and cocktail-lounge jazz, and contains one of their finest singles, the beatific "Saturday in the Park," a #3 hit by September.
  


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