See also:
1972 in music,
other events of 1973,
1974 in music and the
list of 'years in music'.
- January 9 - Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to tour the Orient.
- January 14 - Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii television special is seen around the world by more than 1 billion viewers
- January 14 - Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested for drug possession in California.
- January 18 - The Rolling Stones benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims raises over $350,000. (Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the total in May). On December 22, 1972, an earthquake destroyed Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
- January 30 - Kiss performs their first concert, at the Coventary Club in Queens.
- February 14 - David Bowie collapses from exhaustion after a performance at New York's Madison Square Garden
- March 1 - The New York Joffrey Ballet[?]'s Deuce Coupe Ballet opens. The ballet is set entirely around music by The Beach Boys.
- March 5 - Jimi Hendrix's personal manager, Michael Jeffrey, is killed in a plane crash. Jeffrey was travelling from Majorca to England. All passengers on board the plane were killed.
- March 6 - The New York Office of the US Immigration Department cancels John Lennon's visa extension, after it having been granted five days earlier.
- March 7 - The director of talent acquistion at Columbia Records, John Hammond[?] suffers a non-fatal heart attack following a performance by one of his most recent finds, Bruce Springsteen.
- March 8 - Paul McCartney is fined $240 after pleading guilty to charges of growing marijuana outside his Scottish farm.
- March 24 - Lou Reed is bitten by a fan during a concert in Buffalo, New York.
- April 3 - Capitol Records releases two greatest hits collections, The Beatles /1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, commonly referred to as the Red and Blue albums.
- April 16 - Paul McCartney's first television special, James Paul McCartney airs. The special includes performances by McCartney and Wings.
- Opening of CBGB's[?]
- May 9 - Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 raised by the Rolling Stones' January 18th benefit concert for the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.
- May 25 - Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells[?], the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
- film The Sting revives interest in the ragtime music of Scott Joplin
- Television forms
- Journey forms
- KISS forms
- AC/DC forms
- U.F.O. signs a contract with Chrysalis Records
- The Ronettes break up, and Ronnie Bennett[?] begins a solo career
- The London Symphony Orchestra becomes the first British Orchestra to be invited to take part in the Salzburg Festival[?].
For a more complete list of hits by month, see here (http://home.earthlink.net/~yellowbrickroad/1973.htm).