Thousands of musicians play 'Taps' simultaneously at 3 pm on Memorial Day

At 3 pm on Memorial Day, Americans are asked to pause for one minute of silence

President Bill Clinton first called for the National Moment of Remembrance in 1999, and Congress made it law in 2000. The time was chosen because most Americans are in the middle of holiday activities.

The devastation of the American Civil War led to the establishment of Memorial Day

Tracing its origins to the post-Civil War era, Memorial Day began as local tributes to those who lost their lives in the war. Originally taking place annually on May 30, it was moved to the final Monday in May in 1971.

'The Star-Spangled Banner' became associated with sports at the 1918 World Series thanks to an impromptu rendition during the 7th inning stretch.

One of the earliest Memorial Day ceremonies was held by newly freed Black Americans in South Carolina

On May 1, 1865, roughly 10,000 people, mostly freed slaves, paraded around a Charleston racetrack where Union prisoners had been buried, predating the first national commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery by three years.

Watch Springsteen open a somber 9/11 tribute

“America: A Tribute to Heroes” was a fundraising telethon on Sept. 21, 2001, and simulcast across the four major networks. Springsteen opened the program with “My City of Ruins,” a song originally written about Asbury Park that took on new significance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Memorial Day weekend is one of the biggest travel weekends of the year in the United States

In 2026, AAA estimated over 45 million Americans planned to travel over the long weekend, with approximately 87% of those trips made by car.

Queen Elizabeth II ordered the US national anthem played at Buckingham Palace in the days after 9/11.

Every Oktoberfest starts with a tap

Crowds rush excitedly toward the tents to count down to the ceremonial first tap, with the mayor declaring “O’zapft is!” This short documentary walks you through the tradition at the 2019 festival. Don’t miss the impressive shots of servers carrying dozens of beer steins at once to their thirsty patrons. Prost!

Tinnitus is the most common compensated claim for US veterans

Since 2003, tinnitus has been the top-ranked compensated claim among US veterans. In 2024 alone, there were more than 3.2 million awards for tinnitus. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Americans celebrated the end of the Revolutionary War with nationwide toasts

In 1783, citizens celebrated the signing of the Preliminary Articles of Peace with nationwide parties. Across the new country, many made 13 toasts to the 13 states. They also drank to George Washington. One poet in Boston wrote, “Health to his honor I’d freely drink, Had I a glass of wine; And whosoever with me shall think, May mix their toast with mine.”

The US national anthem borrows its melody from 'The Anacreon Song,' a bawdy British tavern song that was popular in the 19th century.

Americans showed an unprecedented surge of patriotism after 9/11

In the weeks following 9/11, 79% of US adults reported displaying the American flag, and a year later, 62% said they "often felt patriotic" due to the attacks.

Earth Day has become the largest civic event in the world

What began in 1970 with 20 million Americans now involves more than 1 billion participants across over 190 countries each year. Earth Day now encompasses rallies, cleanups, and climate actions worldwide.

Printers changed the national anthem's name from 'Defence of Fort M'Henry' to 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'

The National Mall hosts one of the country's largest July Fourth fireworks shows

Each Independence Day, the National Mall hosts a massive fireworks display coordinated by the National Park Service, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to the nation's capital.

Turning trash into music

In a town built on a landfill, a music teacher and young musicians created an orchestra using instruments made entirely from trash. From oil cans to bottle caps, they turned waste into music.

The Indianapolis 500 has been tied to Memorial Day weekend since the very first race in 1911

Organizers chose Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) because local farmers had finished haying and the holiday drew big crowds. The race has run around Memorial Day ever since, with the only exceptions being a few weather delays, the two World Wars, and the 2020 pandemic.

Musicians are 57% more likely to have tinnitus compared to the general public

Musicians have four times the risk of developing hearing loss, and their risk of developing tinnitus is increased by more than half.

The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains 26 overseas military cemeteries in 16 countries

The cemeteries honor more than 218,000 American war dead, with the majority of sites located in France and Belgium, where some of the heaviest fighting of both World Wars took place.

Watch New York City's Tribute in Light to the victims of 9/11

Tribute in Light is a commemorative public art installation first presented six months after 9/11 and then every year thereafter, from dusk to dawn, on the night of September 11. It has become an iconic symbol that both honors those killed and...

See a list of the 30 best performances of the national anthem.

Colonists protested the Stamp Act by staging satirical "funerals for liberty," complete with real coffins and mourners.

Boston police told renowned conductor Igor Stravinsky that he had 'tampered' with 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at a performance in 1944.

A NYC church near ground zero became a 24/7 relief center for more than eight months without closing after the attacks, providing meals, beds, and other support to relief workers.

Watch a pyromusical display to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”

The same principles behind fireworks also power the types of pyrotechnic displays in some live events. Here, you can see an application of the technology in a pyromusical set to rock band AC/DC’s iconic song, “Thunderstruck.”

Alcohol often accompanies memorial ceremonies around the world

“Pouring one out” for the dead is something that exists across the globe, in various cultures and forms. From the Irish wake to the Korean Sangnye, alcohol is frequently used as a way to honor the deceased and comfort the living.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located in Arlington National Cemetery

Dedicated on Armistice Day in 1921, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier serves as a symbolic memorial for unidentified fallen service members. It has been guarded continuously since 1937 at Arlington National Cemetery.

In the early 1900s, Fourth of July celebrations were so dangerous that a reform movement emerged to make them safer.

How the cicada entered popular music

For significant swaths of the country, cicadas are a calming summer soundtrack. In the past few decades, though, the insects' distinct sound have also entered the music world, providing drone and ambience for a range of musicians.

An electric pipe organ in Germany is playing a song for 639 years

Created by composer John Cage, the Halberstadt organ first began playing the piece in September 2001, and has since made only nine chord changes. The device within a medieval church utilizes compressed air to play continuous tones. The next chord change is scheduled for August 2026.

The states in America that drink the most beer

Americans, in 2020, drank on average almost twenty-six gallons of beer per adult aged twenty-one or over, over the course of the pandemic.

130,000 working musicians once went on strike

The early days of the record industry looked much different than they do now. There were few national record labels and there were organized musicians who viewed themselves more as day laborers rather than artists. That allowed for an organized strike by the American Federation of Musicians.

The most popular drum sound of the 1980s was discovered by accident

You know it when you hear it: the distinct snare drum of songs like Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" or Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." It's called "gated reverb," and it's something most people associate, for better or worse, with the sound of the '80s. This Vox explainer breaks down how it was discovered by accident, thanks to a microphone typically used for communication that picked up additional sounds.

D-Day, history's largest amphibious invasion, turned the war's tide

On D‑Day, over 156,000 American, British, and Canadian troops assaulted five heavily defended beaches along a 50‑mile stretch of northern France. Supported by nearly 3 million men, 1,200 warships, and 13,000 aircraft, the successful landings paved the way for the liberation of Western Europe and decisively shifted momentum against Nazi Germany.

Professional and amateur athletes have used the anthem as an opportunity to protest

Colin Kaepernick’s protests during NFL games weren’t the first instances of athletes using the pregame tradition to make a political statement. This history walks through several similar instances, highlighting several lesser-known instances.

The massive gathering that rang in the first Earth Day

Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 and helped inspire a significant nationwide environmental movement. In Philadelphia, the holiday was rung in with a gathering in the city’s Fairmount Park featuring musicians, speakers, and over 10,000 attendees. This video from CBS offers remarkable footage from the day and explains why Philadelphians were especially drawn to the environmental cause.

Every city has a song: Music writers identify one tune that represents their hometown, from Chicago to Buenos Aires

Staffers from SPIN magazine wade into the contentious waters of official anthems, making the case for their chosen track, from Chicago's "Tonight, Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins to the Bobby Bare rendition of "The Streets of Baltimore."

Colombia’s biodiversity performs the national anthem

Scientists and composers in Colombia trekked more than 600 miles collecting audio from the country's vast assortment of creatures. Using parabolic microphones, recorders, cameras and field gear, they recorded the sounds of birds, whales, landscapes, and more to eventually recreate their Colombia’s national anthem using its biodiversity as an orchestra. Follow the fascinating journey and listen to the “natural anthem” in the article.

One musician went to bed one night as a street sweeper and woke up a national celebrity

24-year-old Macario Martínez was making roughly $10 a day and working 8-hour shifts as a street sweeper in Mexico. The aspiring musician and composer went viral after posting a love song of his on TikTok. He has since quit his day job and has millions of listens on Spotify.

The first Super Bowl halftime show featured marching bands and two men on jetpacks

At Super Bowl I, the halftime show featured college marching bands, a rifle drill team, and two performers flying jetpacks, in an era before music stars and spectacle defined the break.

A 2020 poll found that 60% of Americans want 'The Star-Spangled Banner' to remain the national anthem.

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Riveting artwork from the battlefields during World War I

During World War I, the United States government commissioned eight artists to accompany American Expeditionary Forces to Europe to sketch and document what they saw. Drawing tanks, soldiers, shattered villages, and even German prisoners of war, the artists preserved much of the war as a matter of historical record and to rally support back home.

Country music can be traced back to Colonial America

The genre begins with the folk music of the Colonial settlers, blending the area’s regional sounds, including gospel, African spirituals, and Anglo-Saxon, Scottish, and Celtic ballads.

Double rainbow appears in New York City on 9/11 anniversary

On the evening of the 9/11 anniversary in 2023, a double rainbow appeared after a thunderstorm across Manhattan, providing inspiration 22 years after the terrorist attacks there. Peruse several amateur images taken of the phenomenon which were shared on social media, including shots from up high in condos overlooking Central Park and from across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt turned the National Mall into a public memorial in 1987

First displayed on the National Mall, the AIDS Memorial Quilt comprised thousands of handmade panels honoring individuals who had died of AIDS. Its placement on the Mall was intended to force public recognition of the human cost of AIDS amid widespread government inaction.

Celebrations for America's 150th birthday in 1926 were a poorly organized mess that nearly bankrupted the host city of Philadelphia.

See what it was like to live in the United States during World War II

In America, life was transformed by total war: sixteen million service members left civilian life, while massive industrial production demanded labor. Women, minorities, and teens filled factories, fueling boomtown growth and breaking social barriers. Simultaneously, rationing, recycling drives, Victory Gardens, ration stamps, blackout drills, and war bond campaigns permeated daily routines.

Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was once the honorary king of the Zulu krewe

The historically Black krewe invited Armstrong to lead their parade in 1949. The invitation fulfilled a lifelong dream for the musician, who grew up in New Orleans. "After that," he told Time magazine in advance of the parade, "I'll be ready to die."

The Grateful Dead pioneered a massive 3-story, 75-ton, 600-speaker sound system that revolutionized live audio in the early 1970s.

Learn how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade comes together each year

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is essentially a huge theatrical production spanning several long blocks in New York City rather than a stage. Naturally, organizing it is a complicated process. This podcast episode explains how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade comes together each year.