1977 Events
Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald Ford as the 39th President of the United States.
Star Wars opens in cinemas and subsequently becomes the then-highest grossing film of all time
American Roy Sullivan is struck by lightning for the 7th time. (Sullivan was a U.S. park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. He was hit by lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. On September 28, 1983, Sullivan died at age 71, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, reportedly distraught over an unrequited love)
David Bowie releases his album Heroes.
Steve Biko suffers a massive head injury in police custody in South Africa, and dies.
Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
Hamida Djandoubi's is the last guillotine execution in France
British Airways introduces a regular supersonic Concorde service between London and New York City.
Bing Crosby dies of heart attack (October 14th).
Elvis Presley is found dead at his home Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee (August 16th)
T. Rex frontman Mark Bolan is killed in an car accident (September 16th)
1977 is the beginning of what has become known as the "punk explosion". 1977 saw the release of several pivotal albums in the development of punk music including the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Jam's In the City, Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, the debut by the Clash, The Clash, The Damned's Damned, Damned, Damned, Wire's Pink Flag, the Dead Boys' Young, Loud and Snotty, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, and Television's Marquee Moon. The year also saw the release of debut albums by bands often associated with, if not defined as, punk, such as Talking Heads' Talking Heads: 77, Suicide's Suicide, and Motörhead's Motörhead.
Sam Dawson