On this day in 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono arrived in Canada for the next stage of their peace campaign

The previous day, the pair had arranged for giant billboards to be unveiled simultaneously in 12 cities around the world, all reading “War Is Over! If You Want It. Merry Christmas from John and Yoko.” Toronto alone featured over 30 roadside billboards. Thousands of posters and handbills were also distributed and placed around the cities. 

The following day, the pair were whisked to the home of Ronnie Hawkins, where they prepared for the next stage of the campaign, fielding calls and meetings and planning media appointments and press conferences. Ritchie Yorke was able to join the pair and assist in the planning.

In the following days, John and Yoko met with human rights activist Dick Gregory, as well as a radio show with Marshall McLuhan. Finally, the pair travelled to Montreal with a group including their assistant Anthony Fawcett, Ronnie and Wanda Hawkins, security man Heavy Andrews, John Brower and Ritchie and Chris Yorke in order to meet with Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau. Both Lennon and Trudeau expressed their satisfaction with the meeting and the discussions of peace. 

John and Yoko’s peace campaign showed the world what is possible in using our means to advocate for a better future, especially with demonstrating the power of musicians and their music to affect social change.

On this day in 1973, The Who were jailed after a wild after-party

Following a standard performance at Montreal’s Forum as part of their Quadrophenia tour, the band were invited to attend an after-party held by various RCA executives the Bonaventure Hotel.

The party began with Keith Moon smashing a bottle of ketchup against the wall before kicking a painting out of its housing and using it to frame the ketchup splatter. Pete Townshend recalls cutting his hand with a knife and adding it to the “art”.  The next few hours led to complete destruction throughout the hotel, with sofas being thrown from balconies to the street, a television set dropped into the swimming pool as well as a marble table being used to smash through one of the walls. 

Eventually, police were called to the scene and the band were arrested alongside 14 members of their touring party. Singer Roger Daltrey was the only band member to escape arrest. The following day, the group’s local promoter went to the police station with almost $6000 in cash and everyone was released. The event reportedly spurred on the band to perform an energetic and defiant show the following night.

On this day in 1969 John Lennon returned his MBE to the Queen

 All four members of The Beatles received the honour of becoming Members of the British Empire, supposedly for the millions of pounds brought into the British economy, though some suggested it was a PR move by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The news was greeted with anger by some who thought that it trivialised the honour as many had received the MBE for military service, leading Lennon to comment “They got them for killing people. We got ours for entertaining. I’d say we deserve ours more.”

Lennon took his medal to his Aunt Mimi’s home in Bournemouth, where she hung it over her mantelpiece, where it stayed until 1969. Lennon was reportedly uneasy about receiving the award in the first place, and by 1969 he was even more against being endorsed by the establishment, especially given their involvement in various conflicts around the globe.

So he made the decision to travel to his Aunts home and collect the award and then sent it back to Buckingham Palace, alongside a letter reading “Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon of Bag.” The medal remained in the vault of the Chancery Department of the Royal Household, where it was discovered again in 2009.

On this day in 1993, Nirvana recorded their renowned MTV Unplugged concert in New York

After a lengthy negotiation period, Kurt Cobain finally agreed to the performance while on tour with the Meat Puppets. Drummer Dave Grohl later said that the band wanted to do something different from the typical Unplugged sets where bands would play them like rock shows but with acoustic guitars. 

The band achieved this by planning a very different kind of show, replacing their usual raucous performances with an intimate sit-down performance with acoustic versions of some of their songs, as well as covers of David Bowie, Lead Belly and the Meat Puppets. The show also differentiated from other Unplugged sets by being recorded in a single take. Cobain also requested that the set be decorated with candles, stargazer lilies and a crystal chandelier to resemble a funeral.

These ideas helped make the set one of the most popular and memorable Unplugged shows. The album released alongside the performance received the highest first week sales of any Nirvana album, and a vast majority of critics praised the recording. 

On this day in 1961, Bob Dylan played his first major concert

Up until this point Dylan had been performing small shows in clubs and some small guest spots on multi-artist lineups. In September, he began a two week engagement, opening for a better-known band called the Greenbriar Boys. Despite being the opening act, New York Times critic Robert Shelton focused entirely on Dylan in his opening night review. Immediately, more attention was drawn to Dylan and he signed to Columbia Records within a few days.

Five weeks later, Dylan was given his first major slot at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a 200 seat room that was part of the larger Carnegie Hall complex. It has been reported that only 53 people attended, tiny compared to the massive shows Dylan would become accustomed too but still enough to make the inexperienced performer nervous.

Dylan performed 22 songs at the Chapter Hall concert. Many of these songs have been slowly circulating amongst collectors with some appearing as late as 2008. Eight of the songs are still unreleased and searched for by Dylan fans.

On this day in 1956, Elvis Presley became the first rock artist to replace himself at the #1 position in the charts

Presley’s double sided smash “Don’t Be Cruel”/“Hound Dog” had held the top spot for 11 weeks. “Love Me Tender” had appeared in mid-September and debuted at the number 2 spot before quickly overtaking the previous hit. 

The song put new words to a new musical adaptation of a Civil War song named “Aura Lee” from 1861 by George R. Poulton and W.W. Fosdick. The lyrics were adapted and modernised by Ken  Darby and was given to Presley to record. Presley received co-songwriting credit as per an agreement in his publishing deal where writers gave Presley credit to record the song. Despote this Ken Darby later said of Presley’s role in the songs creation, “He adjusted the music and the lyrics to his own particular presentation. Elvis has the most terrific ear of anyone I have ever met. He does not read music, but he does not need to. All I had to do was play the song for him once, and he made it his own!”

On the same day, Presley returned to the Ed Sullivan Show for a second time where he was presented with a Gold record for “Love Me Tender” by Sullivan. 

On this day in 1965, The Beatles recorded Nowhere Man

The Beatles began their studio session by re-recording the song Norwegian Wood. Lennon later said that he had been trying to work on a song for 5 hours that morning and struggled to find ideas. Eventually he gave up and went to rest, but as soon as he lay down the words and music for Nowhere Man came to him.

The song was one of the first Beatles songs to not be about romance and it marked a beginning to Lennon’s more philosophical music. Paul McCartney later said of the song “That was John after a night out, with dawn coming up. I think at that point, he was a bit…wondering where he was going, and to be truthful so was I. I was starting to worry about him.” 

The song was featured in the film Yellow Submarine with the band singing it about a character they met in the “Nowhere Land” named Jeremy Hillary Boob. A ukulele version of the song by Tiny Tim appeared as George Harrison’s contribution to a 1968 Beatle’s Christmas record. The Nowhere Man cover was a highlight of the record to critics and the public alike.

On this day in 1972, Michael Jackson receives his first solo US number one with Ben

The song was originally written for Donny Osmond, but he was on tour at the time and so the song was offered to Jackson. 

The song was written for a horror film of the same name about a boy and his pet rat. The songs themes and lyrics mirrored this story. Ben was performed by Lee Montgomery in the film whereas the Jackson version was played over the credits. Regardless, it was Jackson’s version that caught the public’s attention and it quickly raced to the top of the US and Australian charts and to number 7 on the UK singles charts.

Ben also earned Jackson the title of the third youngest person to have a song make the number one spot, beaten only by Stevie Wonder with Fingertips and Osmond with Go Away Little Girl. It received good critical reception and went on to become one Jackson’s most re-released songs throughout his career.

On this day in 1975, a New York Judge reverses John Lennon’s deportation order

Rumoured to be due to Richard Nixon and his governments fear of Lennon’s opinions and influence over young voters, a deportation order was subsequently handed to Lennon, using his 1968 conviction for marijuana possession as the grounds for the deportation.

Lawyer Leon Wildes came to Lennon’s defence, fighting alongside him for around four years to reverse the decision. Wildes claims Lennon “understood what was being done to him was wrong. It was an abuse of the law and he was willing to stand up and try to show it.” 

Things changed when Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal in 1974. His replacement, Gerald Ford showed little interest in continuing with the deportation and the following year on October 7th, Judge Irving Kaufman reversed the deportation order. Judge Kaufman left little doubt on the original intention of the deportation when he declared that “the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds.” He went on to add that “Lennon’s four year battle to remain in our country is testimony to his faith in this American dream.”

The following year, Lennon was finally awarded his hard-earned green card, allowing him to legally live and work in the U.S.

On this day in 1988, John Lennon posthumously received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

A crowd of over 1500 arrived for the ceremony, held just north of the Capitol Records Tower on Vine Street. In the days before the unveiling the star was defaced with graffiti, necessitating a team of security to keep watch before the ceremony. The remaining three Beatles did not attend the ceremony, though they later received their own stars, alongside one dedicated to the band. It took a number of years for these stars to eventuate however, with Paul McCartney being the last to receive his star in 2012. Yoko Ono was on hand for the unveiling, stating the star would hopefully “go on for many centuries to come, for people to come and touch John’s spirit.” and that she was pleased to be receiving the honour amongst such a large crowd despite the current controversies surrounding her and Lennon after the publishing of a biography that painted the pair in a negative light.