March 12 – Record producerJimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.
May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep".
June 14– A small wildfire starts in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. It joins other fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000km2) of Yellowstone burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.