March 1974

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday
  1
Judge Sirica hands down grand jury indictments against seven former Richard Nixon aides involved in the Watergate break-in. On Mar. 26, the same grand jury gives the House Judiciary Committee a secret report regarding possible impeachment of Nixon for his role in the cover-up.
 2
Stevie Wonder wins five Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles. The singer takes the honors for Album of the Year (Innervisions), Best Pop Vocal Performance ("You Are the Sunshine of My Life"), Best R&B Song ("Superstition"), Best R&B Vocal Performance ("Superstition"), and Best Engineered Recording (Innervisions). Says Wonder on his five trips to the podium that night: "I would like to thank you all for making this the sunshine of my life tonight." Roberta Flack wins three for "Killing Me Softly With His Song."
3
Thirteen of 29 professional baseball salary disputes are settled in favor of the players, including the Oakland A's star Reggie Jackson.
 4
 5
Gregg Allman's first solo album, Laid Back, attains gold status, and sets off rumors that the Allman Brothers are breaking up. Guitarist Dickey Betts will release his own solo album later in the year.
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
 11
 12
John Lennon is involved in an altercation with a photographer outside the Troubador club in Los Angeles. Lennon and Harry Nilsson had been heckling comedian Tommy Smothers, and were ejected from the club. Lennon later apologizes.
 13
 14
The Hawaii state legislature is streaked by hairstylist Gary Rogers, who declares himself "Streaker of the House" and is arrested for "open lewdness."
 15
Still under investigation by House and Senate committes, a federal grand jury and a special independent prosecutor, President Nixon announces that he will not resign and will continue to resist demands for White House information about alleged scandals and cover-ups.
 16
The Grand Ole Opry moves from the old Ryman Auditorium to the new $28-million Opryland complex, where it resumes regular broadcast and telecasts. Special guest President Nixon performs three songs on the piano and then shuffles offstage to the tune of "Hail to the Chief."
17
 18
Seven of nine Arab states participating in the U.S. oil embargo agree to end all of the petroleum export restrictions imposed after the Yom Kippur War. No immediate effect on preces appears, however, as petroleum companies continue to rake in the profits.
 19
The Jefferson Airplane begin their first tour under the name Jefferson Starship. Included in the lineup is Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, drummer Johnny Barbata, David Freiberg, Peter Kaukonen, Papa John Creach and Craig Chaquico. By next year, the band will coax Marty Balin into returning and set the stage for their 1975 comeback.
 20
 21
 22
CIA estimates of 11,000 Chileans dying as a direct result of the previous fall's military coup are reported.
 23
24
 25
 26
David Essex, "England's David Cassidy," enjoys his one and only successful U.S. single, "Rock On" (from the U.S. album of the same name), which turns gold on this date. Essex's overseas popularity mostly stems from his film roles, which include playing Jesus in "Godspell," and the lead roles in "That'll Be the Day" and "Stardust." Comparisons are made to the late James Dean, of which Essex says, "I really loved James Dean, but being David Essex is enough for me right now."

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells turns gold. Part of the work by the British teenage prodigy is used as the score for the film The Exorcist.

Heavyweight champion George Foreman defeats Ken Norton in Caracas, Venezuela.
 27
 28
The Raspberries have split in two. Rolling Stone reports that the rhythm section of Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley have left and have formed a band called Dynamite. Original members Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson, meanwhile, plan to continue, and have added drummer Mike McBride and bassist Scott McCarl.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup dies at the age of sixty-nine from a stroke. Crudup, born in Mississippi, was the composer of "That's All Right (Mama)," which Elvis Presley heard on a jukebox and cut in 1954 as his first record for Sun, eight years after Crudup's own recording of the song. Unfortunately, Crudup was victimized by shady deals through his career and died in poverty. "Credit is all I ever got," he once said.

"Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede turns gold. The group's novel version of the B.J. Thomas 1968 hit is best remembered for its "ooga-chugga, ooga-chugga" background chant. It hits Number One in April.
 29
 30
31
Three Miami Dolphins: Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield, sign lucrative contracts with the newly created World Football League. Various NFL teams go to court in attempts to prevent their players from defecting, but a U.S. District Court decision on May 14 prohibits further NFL injunctions.
  


  Previous Month  |  Next Month  






 Main Page | Music Chronicle Intro | 1974 Almanac | Top 100 Seventies Singles | Search The RockSite/The Web