News Highlights of 1972

• *The Coca-Cola Bottling Company recalls 3 million cans of Coke because some of the aluminum lids are found to be contaminated.
• *The Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan.
• *Germany pays $5 million to hijackers of a jumbo jet for the release of passengers held hostage.
• *President Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit China.
• *The Pioneer 10 spacecraft takes a 21-month journey to Jupiter, beaming back to earth detailed photos of the planet and its moons.
• *President Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to visit Moscow. He spends one week there in talks with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
• *Alabama Governer George Wallace, a controversial presidential candidate because of his white supremacist sympathies, is shot by a sniper and paralyzed from the waist down but plans to continue his quest for the White House.
• *Five burgulars are charged with breaking into the Washington, D.C., office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex.
• *President Nixon orders the biggest ever bombing raid on North Vietnam.
• *South Dakota Senator George McGovern chooses Sargent Shriver as his vice-presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket.
• *Arabs massacre 11 Israeli atheletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. The Olympic flag flies at half mast.
• *American swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics.
• *President Nixon and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko sign a strategic arms limitation treaty.
• *Richard Nixon wins a second term in the White House.

Music Highlights of 1972

• *The 1950s musical Grease opens on Broadway, setting the tone for a nostalgia craze that will sweep the nation.
• *In keeping with this, New York radio station WCBS-FM is the first to adapt a "solid gold" format of playing "oldies", a formula that remains especially popular.
• *When John Lennon's U.S. immigration visa expires, he begins a long battle to obtain permission to stay permanently in America.
• *A 22 year-old singer from Freehold, New Jersey, by the name of Bruce Springsteen signs with Columbia Records.
• *The musical Hair ends its Broadway run after 1742 performances.
• *Neil Diamond signs a multimillion-dollar deal to record for Columbia Records, thereby leaving the Uni label.
• *Chuck Berry, who first hit the charts in 1955 with "Maybelline", finally lands his first and only national number one hit with "My-Ding-A-Ling".
• *James Taylor and Carly Simon get married in New York.
• *"Glitter rock" gains notoriety because of groups like the New York Dolls and New York Clubs like Max's Kansas City.
• *Genesis arrives in America and makes its concert debut.

Top Albums of 1972

• *America - America
• *American Pie - Don McLean
• *Catch Bull At Four - Cat Stevens
• *Chicago V - Chicago
• *The Concert for Bangladesh - George Harrison & Friends
• *Exile on Main St. - The Rolling Stones
• *Harvest - Neil Young
• *Honky Chateau - Elton John
• *Music - Carole King
• *Superfly - Soundtrack

Popular Movies of 1972

• *Cabaret
• *The Candidate
• *Deliverance
• *The Godfather
• *The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
• *The Mad Bomber
• *One Is A Lonely Number
• *The Poseidon Adventure
• *The Concert for Bangladesh
• *Elvis On Tour
• *Superfly
• *Imagine

Popular Television Shows of 1972

• *All In The Family
• *Bridget Loves Bernie
• *Gunsmoke
• *Hawaii Five-O
• *Ironside
• *The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• *Maude
• *NBC Sunday Mystery Movie
• *Sanford & Son
• *The Wonderful World of Disney

1972 - Top 25 Songs of the Year

Chart Position      Song Title      Artist/Group

• 1 American Pie - Don McLean
• 2 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
• 3 Alone Again Naturally - Gilbert O'Sullivan
• 4 Without You - Nilsson
• 5 I Gotcha - Joe Tex
• 6 Let's Stay Together - Al Green
• 7 Candy Man, The - Sammy Davis Jr.
• 8 I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
• 9 A Horse With No Name - America
• 10 Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
• 11 Brandy - Looking Glass
• 12 Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me - Mac Davis
• 13 Lean On Me - Bill Withers
• 14 Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues, The
• 15 I Am Woman - Helen Reddy
• 16 I'll Take You There - Staple Singers, The
• 17 Clair - Gilbert O'Sullivan
• 18 Heart of Gold - Neil Young
• 19 Oh Girl - Chi-Lites, the
• 20 Scorpio - Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band
• 21 Betcha By Golly Wow - Stylistics, The
• 22 I Don't Want To Be Right - Luther Ingram
• 23 The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Robert John
• 24 Too Late Too Turn Back Now - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
• 25 Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast - Wayne Newton

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