Pick a Day

Music History Events: Sports

September 20, 1997 At Camden Yards in Baltimore, John Denver dances on the dugout as his song "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" plays during the seventh inning stretch, a tradition at Orioles games since 1975. He dies in a plane crash just three weeks later.

January 26, 1997 ZZ Top, James Brown and The Blues Brothers perform at the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in New Orleans.

June 1, 1996 Baddiel and Skinner and The Lightning Seeds' "Three Lions," the official song of the England Football team, hits #1 on the UK singles chart.

January 28, 1996 Diana Ross performs at the Superbowl XXX halftime show in Tempe, Arizona.

October 24, 1995 Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders goes back to Ohio to sing the national anthem before Game 3 of the World Series in Cleveland. The Indians pull this one out, but lose the series to the Atlanta Braves.

January 28, 1990 Aaron Neville performs the US national anthem at Superbowl XXIV in New Orleans, Louisiana. Halftime entertainment is a salute to the city, with local marching bands performing along with Pete Fountain, Irma Thomas and Doug Kershaw.

January 29, 1989 Billy Joel sings the US national anthem at Superbowl XXIII in Miami.

January 25, 1987 Neil Diamond sings the US national anthem at Superbowl XXI in Pasadena, California. Halftime entertainment is Disney's "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary."

March 31, 1985 The first WrestleMania goes down at Madison Square Garden, with Liberace as timekeeper and Cyndi Lauper managing the wrestler Wendi Richter, who wins the Women's Championship with Lauper's help.

July 23, 1984 MTV broadcasts the WWF Women's Championship match live from Madison Square Garden, where Wendi Richter, managed by Cyndi Lauper, takes the title. Part of the "Rock And Wrestling Connection," it's the most-watched program in the history of MTV. Lauper returns to manage Richter the following year at the first WrestleMania.

December 12, 1981 At a Journey concert in San Francisco, lead singer Steve Perry brings up members of the 49ers football team who are in the audience and introduces them as "the next Super Bowl champions." His prediction comes true: the 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.

April 1, 1978 The Philadelphia Fury soccer team (owned by Paul Simon, Peter Frampton, James Taylor and others) makes its debut (it lasts three seasons).

July 10, 1977 Queen release their "We Are The Champions"/"We Will Rock You" single in the UK, providing stadium anthems for sporting events the world over.

April 5, 1974 The Guess Who host a celebrity tennis tournament in Toronto to benefit Ballet of Canada.

March 29, 2022 Eric Church cancels an upcoming concert in San Antonio so he can watch his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels take on Duke in the Final Four.

February 13, 2022 Dr. Dre anchors the first hip-hop-heavy Super Bowl halftime show, performing with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.

May 21, 2021 J. Cole suits up to play for the Patriots Basketball Club of the Rwandan African league. He scores three points in his debut.

September 10, 2020 Alicia Keys performs "Lift Every Voice And Sing" at the NFL season opener between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. The league has ordered the song, considered the "Black national anthem," played before every game in Week 1. The NFL cracked down on players who refused to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" after Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the song in 2016, a stance that is out of touch with the Black Lives Matter movement.

September 30, 2019 Green Day and the National Hockey League announce a partnership deal that includes the band playing halftime of the 2020 All-Star Game, and their song "Fire, Ready, Aim" as the opening theme to the Wednesday Night Hockey broadcasts.

January 8, 2018 The college football national championship game stages a halftime show for the first time, with Kendrick Lamar taking the stage. Georgia is up 13-0 at the break, but Alabama comes back to win 26-23.

April 8, 2016 The Baltimore Orioles play the Woody Guthrie song "This Land Is Your Land" during the seventh inning stretch in their game against the Rays, starting a tradition of playing the song at every Friday home game. It's part of their "Community Heroes" program to honor local citizens and an effort to diversify their musical selections to reflect progressive ideals. On Saturday nights they play "America The Beautiful," and on Sundays it's "God Bless America."

November 28, 2015 After defeating heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko in a unanimous decision, Tyson Fury gets a turn on the mic and sings the Aerosmith hit "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" to his wife, who has joined him in the ring.

September 4, 2014 All is well in Seattle as the Super Bowl champion Seahawks play the first game of the season, with local band Soundgarden performing during the pregame.

May 3, 2013 The reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants host "Metallica Night" at the ballpark, with Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield playing the national anthem on electric guitars and Lars Ulrich throwing out the first pitch.More

February 6, 2011 Christina Aguilera messes up a line of the US national anthem when she performs it at the Super Bowl. Instead of "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming," Aguilera sings: "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming." Aguilera later said of the mistake: "I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through."

May 10, 2010 In tribute to the recently deceased Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, Jose Feliciano performs the US national anthem before the Tigers/Yankees game at Tiger Stadium. In 1968, Harwell had Feliciano sing the anthem before a Tigers World Series game, and the 23-year-old blind Puerto Rican singer responded by playing the first non-traditional rendition of the song at a major sporting event. He and Harwell took a lot of heat, but in later years, it became common for singers to put their own spin on the song.

August 9, 2003 Daron Malakian of System Of A Down plays in the annual Hollywood Stars Night celebrity baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Vexed by his teammates, he writes "Old School Hollywood," which appears on their next album, Mezmerize. One actor gets a specific mention: "Tony Danza cuts in line."

March 13, 2002 Danny Bonaduce of The Partridge Family wins his bout against Barry Williams (Greg from The Brady Bunch) on the Fox TV special Celebrity Boxing. In another bout, Todd Bridges from Diff'rent Strokes whoops up on Vanilla Ice.

January 5, 2002 With the Pittsburgh Steelers down 24-7 in a playoff game against the Cleveland Browns, they play "Renegade" by Styx, which fires up the crowd and impels them to a comeback win. The song becomes a regular feature at Steelers home games, played in the second half when the team needs a boost.

January 30, 2000 Backed by drummers, bagpipers, and sign language interpreters, Faith Hill sings the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV, which the Rams win over the Titans. Like Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl performance, it goes over so well that it's released as a single, charting at #118.