December 1976

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  1
The Sex Pistols, who have just released their first single, "Anarchy in the U.K.," appear on British TV's Today program as a last-minute replacement for Queen. Interviewer Bill Grundy, taunting the about their "nasty" reputation, provokes bassist Glen Matlock to say "fuck" on the air. In the resulting nationwide uproar, the Sex Pistols will be banned from apparing in all but five cities on the itinerary of their first U.K. tour. By January, no club or concert hall in Great Britain will book the group.
 2
Rolling Stone reports on controversy surrounding a song on the debut album of the rock band Starz titled "Pull the Plug," the lyrics of which evoke a scenario suspiciously reminiscent of the Karen Ann Quinlan right-to-die case.
 3
A forty-foot-long inflatable pig being photographed for the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals breaks loose from its guide wires and takes off from Battersea Power Station outside of London. It heads east and eventually attains a height of 18,000 feet before landing in Kent.

Seven gunmen spray bullets into Bob Marley's house in Kingston, Jamaica, where he and the Wailers are rehearsing for an upcoming "Smile Jamaica" festival. The shots strike Marley, his wife, Rita, a friend, and Wailer manager Don Taylor, who, standing in front of Marley, bears the brunt of the attack (none are severely hurt). The would-be assassins get away and, despite great apprehension, Marley and company go through with their performance two nights later.
 4
Tommy Bolin overdoses on heroin, cocaine and other substances at the Newport Hotel in Miami. The guitarist, formerly with the James Gang and also Ritchie Blackmore's replacement in Deep Purple, has been working with is own band for the previous year. At his funeral two days later, one-time girlfriend Karen Ulibarri places on his finger the ring Deep Purple's manager gave him. It had been worn by Jimi Hendrix the day he died.
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A three-record set of live performances from the U.S. Wings tour, Wings Over America, accurately summarizing Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career with its thirty-song selection, is released. As expected, the compilation, which includes "Magneto and Titanium Man," "My Love," "Silly Love Songs" and "Maybe I'm Amazed," reaches Number One.
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Ex-Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower's fifth solo album, Long Misty Days, goes gold. His third solo LP, For Earth Below, had gone gold earlier in the year.

Three days after its release, Wings over America, the live album by Paul McCartney and Wings, goes gold.

Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots' novelty record "Disco Duck (Part 1)" becomes the fourth platinum single in pop history.
 14
The eponymous debut album by New York sophisto-disco- fusion group Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band goes gold.
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Rev. Al Green holds the first Sunday service at his Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis; more than 1,000 people attend.
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Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis, whose 1974 murder convictions has spawned public outcry and protest, are again found guilty of a triple homicide.
 22
Bob Seger begins his overdue breakthrough to stardom, as his Live Bullet album goes gold. Next year, with the release of Night Moves, Seger will consolidate this success with three hit singles off the album (the title tune, "Mainstreet" and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets"). Live Bullet features in-concert versions of such earlier Seger classics as "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," "Beautiful Loser," "Travelin' Man," "Katmandu," "Nutbush City Limits" and "Get Out of Denver."

James Taylor's Greatest Hits album goes gold shortly after its release. Among the hits it contains are "You've Got a Friend," "Fire and Rain," Taylor's version of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)," "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," "Country Road" and "Mexico."
 23
Joni Mitchell's album Hejira goes gold not long after its release. This proves that Mitchell still has her legions of devoted fans, even though most critics have by now grown weary of Mitchell's recent spate of abstract, experimental works.

Isaac Hayes, Stax artist, songwriter and genius behind "The Theme from Shaft," files for bankruptcy with debts of $6 million and 14 lawsuits pending against him.
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The Eagles' sixth album, Hotel California -- their first with ex-James Gang guitarist Joe Walsh -- goes platinum. It features the title song, a Number One hit single for the California country-rock band in May 1977.
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Blues guitarist giant Freddie King (no relation to those other blues guitar giants, Albert and B.B. King) dies of hepatitis at age forty-two in Dallas, Texas. King's fleet-fingered guitar work on such songs as "Hideaway" was highly influential on Eric Clapton, among many others, and King recorded two albums, Burglar and Freddie King (1934-1976), with British sessionmen.
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Swedish pop group Abba, the world's most successful singing group this decade, garner a U.S. gold record award for their Greatest Hits album. Though people in general still tend to think that Abba are vastly more popular in Europe than in America (and, in truth, they are), the band has already had several Top Forty hits in the U.S. Among those hits included in this album are "Waterloo," "SOS," "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," and "Honey Honey."

Rolling Stone reports on the release of All This and World War II, a 20th Century-Fox movie coupling war footage and Beatles songs (sample pairings: Pearl Harbor being bombed to "Sun King," Hitler seen in his alpine retreat Berchtesgaden to "Fool on the Hill"). The film is a commercial and critical flop.
 31
Most popular music, books and film - 1976: Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" (pop single); Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life (pop album); Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" (R&B single); Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson's "Good Hearted Woman" (C&W single); Leon Uris's Trinity (fiction); Sylvia Porter's Sylvia Porter's Money Book (nonfiction); Rocky (film).
  


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