Music History

Pink Floyd performed at the Le Blboquet club in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, where they played “Let There Be More Light” live as part of the four-hour television special “Surprise Partie”. The program, which also featured The Who, Joe Cocker, The Troggs, Fleetwood Mac, Small Faces, PP Arnold, The Equals and others, was broadcast in color by ORTF2 on December 31.

The television documentary The Doors Are Open about The Doors was broadcast in the UK, produced for Granada TV and featuring footage of their performance at London's Roundhouse.

Elvis Presley's television special was rebroadcast on NBC-TV. The song “Blue Christmas” was cut and replaced with “Tiger Man”.

Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. The episode, now often referred to as “The Woodstock Show”, featured artists and audience members who had come directly from the Woodstock festival the previous weekend. Crosby, Stills and Nash gave first-hand accounts of the festival. Joni Mitchell, who had skipped Woodstock to secure her appearance on the show, performed her song “Woodstock”, which she had written about the festival.

According to available sources, The Youngbloods did not appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson because of conflicts before the broadcast. Johnny Carson claimed that the band had complained about the set, lighting, sound and the entire show, while guitarist and pianist Lowell Levinger said the band had not been treated like guests. Another source says the group left because of poor sound quality. The band had originally planned to perform two songs, a new song and “Get Together,” but after the show ran long, the new song was dropped and The Youngbloods left.

The half-hour Saturday morning animated series “The Beatles” aired its final episode. The series premiered on September 25, 1965.

Bobby Darin appeared on the ABC musical program This Is Tom Jones. During this period, he also used the name “Bob Darin” as part of his change in image and musical direction. On the program, he performed his original folk-rock song “Distractions” and then joined Tom Jones for a medley of “A Worried Man,” “Aquarius,” and “Let the Sunshine In.”

British comedy group Monty Python premiered the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBC1, featuring the theme tune “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa.

The Who appeared on the television program The Ed Sullivan Show.

BBC's "Top of the Pops" refused for the first time in the show's history to air the No. 1 song in Britain, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's provocative French-language "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus." Fontana had dropped the record despite its chart success, after which Major Minor bought the rights and saw it reach No. 1, making it the first French-language song to top the UK chart. Despite limited US radio support, it reached No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Following the success of their summer replacement show, Sonny & Cher launched their fall television variety show on CBS.

The final episode of This Is Tom Jones was broadcast on ABC-TV.

The weekly television program Soul Train, focused on contemporary R&B performers, premiered nationally in the United States. The show was created and hosted by Don Cornelius. The first national broadcast featured Gladys Knight and the Pips, former Temptations member Eddie Kendricks, and the group Honey Cone. The program later ran for an astonishing 35 years.

Pat Boone hosted an episode of The Academy from the NBC television thriller Night Gallery.

Gladys Knight was a contestant on the television show The Dating Game.

NBC television first broadcast the music variety programme The Midnight Special, originally intended as a one-off special. The first host was John Denver, with DJ Wolfman Jack serving as the announcer. The first programme featured War performing their million-selling US song “Slippin’ Into Darkness”. The following year, the programme became a regular series.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy Telethon Show in the US in support of muscular dystrophy research. From the Americana Hotel in New York, Lennon performed “Imagine” with Elephant's Memory, followed by Yoko Ono performing her new song “Now or Never.” The program concluded with a reggae version of “Give Peace a Chance,” with Jerry Lewis playing trumpet.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on Jerry Lewis' Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.

The Who were forced to re-record the song "5:15" for their appearance on Top Of The Pops because of union regulations. At the end of the performance, they expressed their frustration with a destructive display: Pete Townshend smashed the equipment and made a two-finger gesture at the producer, while Keith Moon threw wigs from the prop department into the audience. When the program was broadcast the following evening, these problematic sections had been cut.

BBC broadcast the 500th episode of Top of the Pops. Performers included Slade, Gary Glitter, and The Osmonds. The Who broke the show's rules against miming during their appearance, and Pete Townshend smashed a guitar on stage, which led to the group being banned from appearing on the program.

The final episode of The Partridge Family was broadcast on ABC. A total of 96 episodes were produced.

Rush appeared on the TV show "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert."

Two musical guests appeared on the premiere of NBC's Saturday Night, later renamed Saturday Night Live. Janis Ian performed "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter," while Billy Preston played "Nothing from Nothing" and "Fancy Lady." The show was hosted by George Carlin.

Donna Summer performed her erotic disco song “Love To Love You Baby” on American Bandstand. Although the song reached No. 2 in the US, Donna later admitted that she was not entirely sure about some of the lyrics and improvised parts of the song during the recording.

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello premiered their four-week summer variety series “Easy Does It” on CBS. The programme drew on nostalgia for their iconic Beach Party film era of the 1960s and featured notable guests each week, including Andy Griffith, Liz Torres, Phyllis Diller and Anson Williams from Happy Days.

Sex Pistols made their television debut on the Manchester program Granada TV's So It Goes.

During Jerry Lewis's annual telethon supporting muscular dystrophy research, Frank Sinatra surprised the audience by bringing Dean Martin into the studio. Martin had been Jerry Lewis's former comedy partner, and the two had not spoken for two decades following the breakup of their duo in 1956.

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis appeared together for the first time in 20 years on Lewis's television program, the Labor Day Telethon, supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Frank Sinatra surprised Jerry Lewis by bringing Martin into the studio.

Joe Cocker appeared on Saturday Night Live performing “Feelin' Alright.” During the performance, Jon Belushi joined him and delivered his famous exaggerated imitation of Cocker's distinctive singing style. Cocker took the joke in good humor and later joked that Belushi portrayed Joe Cocker better than he did himself.

The Paul Simon Special was broadcast on NBC-TV. Art Garfunkel appeared as a guest and sang “Old Friends” with Paul Simon.

The Rolling Stones were both hosts and musical guests on the premiere episode of Season 4 of Saturday Night Live on NBC, where they performed “Beast of Burden.” A month later, the song reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Johnny Cash performed the duet “Jackson” with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. He also “insulted” Rowlf the Dog with his song “Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog.”

Soft Cell performed their hit “Tainted Love” on the British television program Top Of The Pops. Marc Almond wore distinctive makeup and jewelry; the appearance created a striking visual style that influenced electronic music and helped pave the way for Culture Club.

The techno-pop duo Soft Cell, consisting of Marc Almond and David Ball, appeared on Top of the Pops with their UK No. 1 hit “Tainted Love”. In the US, the song later reached No. 8 and spent 43 weeks on the chart.

During the premiere episode of the new season of Saturday Night Live, Rod Stewart invited Tina Turner as a special guest to perform his 1978 hit “Hot Legs” together. Stewart also used the nationally televised appearance to promote Turner's solo potential at a time when her career was rebuilding following her divorce.

The children's series "Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends" began its run on BBC television, with former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr as its original narrator.

Rick Nelson and Fats Domino filmed the PBS television special “Rockin' With Rick And Fats”, recorded live at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Nelson first performed with his longtime backing group The Jordanaires and sang several of his hits, while in the second part Fats Domino performed several of his classic songs. The finale was their joint duet “I'm Walkin'”, which both singers had taken to No. 4 on the U.S. chart in 1957. For Nelson, it was his final television appearance before his death in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, at the age of 45.

Elton John, David Lee Roth, and Cher appeared on the premiere broadcast of The Late Show with Joan Rivers.

Elton John, David Lee Roth and Cher appeared on the opening night of Joan Rivers's "The Late Show". Rivers joined Elton in singing "The Bitch Is Back". Her decision to launch the program without informing Johnny Carson, whom she regularly guest-hosted on "The Tonight Show", permanently ended their friendship.

Kenny G appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", where instead of the agreed cover song he performed his own composition "Songbird". The performance helped lead to the song's release as a hit and contributed to the expansion of the smooth jazz genre.

Michael Jackson's "Bad" music video was broadcast for the first time on CBS-TV.

MTV launched "Club MTV", its contemporary and considerably more provocative version of "American Bandstand".

American Bandstand aired its final episode on ABC-TV after 30 years on the air. However, the show was not permanently canceled and continued in syndication.

The television documentary Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul was broadcast on PBS.

Keith Richards appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, where he performed his first solo song, “Take It So Hard.”

Don Henley performed his solo hit “The Heart of the Matter” at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The television drama series “The Heights”, about a group of young people from a working-class background trying to form a rock band, premiered on FOX. The short-lived series gave rise to the song “How Do You Talk To An Angel”, which reached No. 1 on the chart.

During her appearance on Saturday Night Live, Sinéad O'Connor sang Bob Marley's “War” a cappella, changing part of the lyrics to refer to child abuse. At the end of the performance, she unexpectedly pulled out a photograph of Pope John Paul II, tore it into pieces and said “Fight the real enemy.” It was an unannounced protest against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. During rehearsal, she had held a photograph of a child and kept her actual intentions secret from the production team. The studio fell completely silent after her gesture and the broadcast went to commercial. The incident generated thousands of complaints, NBC did not invite O'Connor back to the program, and in some later reruns the footage was replaced with the rehearsal recording. The claim that NBC received a $2.5 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission over the incident is not supported by verified sources.

At the premiere of The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, Billy Joel became the first musical guest. The show was broadcast from the newly renovated Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. Joel performed with Paul Shaffer and the newly named CBS Orchestra, playing “No Man's Land”.