August 28, 1968 At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, overzealous police in riot gear brutally beat protestors who are demonstrating against the Vietnam War. The Doors, Graham Nash and Chicago all write songs about it.More
July 22, 1968 In between Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash, Stephen Stills releases the album Super Session, a collaboration with Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper.
July 1, 1968 The Band release Music from Big Pink, their debut studio album.More
May 7, 1968 Eagle-Eye Cherry (yes, that's his real name) is born in Skane, Sweden. Known for his hit "Save Tonight," he's the son of trumpet player Don Cherry and half-brother of Neneh Cherry.
May 7, 1968 On a plane ride returning home from his last gig with the band Bluesology, keyboard player Reginald Dwight looks for a stage name he can use for his burgeoning solo career. In the cabin, he comes across the band's horn player Elton Dean and lead singer Long John Baldry, and asks them if he can appropriate their names to concoct a new one for himself. They agree, and Elton John is born.
May 4, 1968 Twiggy, one of the first English "supermodels," catches an 18-year-old Welsh singer named Mary Hopkin on the BBC-TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. She calls her friend Paul McCartney, who eventually signs Hopkin to Apple and has her record "Those Were The Days" as her first single.
April 6, 1968 The Graduate soundtrack hits #1 in America thanks to Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson," which tops the Hot 100 less than two months later.More
April 5, 1968 With tensions high the night after Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, James Brown goes ahead with his concert at the Boston Garden, agreeing to televise the show to help keep calm in the city.More
April 4, 1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is killed after being shot on a Memphis motel balcony. King's life inspires a number of songs, including U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)."More
February 12, 1968 John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas welcome daughter Chynna, their only child. She forms Wilson Phillips with Brian Wilson's daughters Carnie and Wendy.
February 4, 1968 US Attorney General John Mitchell receives a secret memo from Senator Strom Thurmond, in which Thurmond suggests deporting John Lennon due to his antiwar stance.
February 2, 1968 After cycling through a number of band names (including Bag 'O Nails and Navy Blue), Ian Anderson's group plays the Marquee Club in London as Jethro Tull, a name that sticks. Their agent suggested the name; Jethro Tull is the inventor of the seed drill.
January 28, 1968 Sarah McLachlan is born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She breaks through in 1997 with her fourth album, Surfacing, which includes the hits "Adia" and "Angel." That year, she launches the Lilith Fair with a full roster of female singer-songwriters.More
January 20, 1968 Roughly three months after the death of Woody Guthrie, a tribute concert is put on in the folk hero's name by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, The Band, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, and Richie Havens at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
January 1, 1968 The Berkeley, California, swamp-rockers The Golliwogs change their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival.
December 27, 1967 After establishing his career as a poet and writer, Leonard Cohen releases his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, on Columbia Records. The album doesn't sell particularly well at first, peaking at #83 on the Billboard charts, but Cohen's powerful voice and lyrics in oft-covered tracks like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne" become highly influential.
November 9, 1967 The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published, with a photo of John Lennon on the cover and items about David Crosby, The Who and Country Joe McDonald (of Country Joe & the Fish).More
September 20, 1967 Identical twins Matthew and Gunnar Nelson (of Nelson) are born to teen idol Ricky Nelson and actress Kristin Harmon in Santa Monica, California.
September 3, 1967 A young Swedish singer named Anni-Frid Lyngstad wins a talent-show contest on the TV program Hyland's Corner with her group the Anni-Frid Four. She would later become famous as one of the two female lead singers of ABBA.
September 1, 1967 A young guitarist named Boz Scaggs joins The Steve Miller Band, the blues band led by his childhood friend, Steve Miller.
August 16, 1967 After playing a midnight show at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Louis Armstrong heads to United Recording Studios, where he records "What a Wonderful World" in a session that ends around 6 a.m.
August 12, 1967 Fleetwood Mac make their stage debut at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, England, alongside such acts as Donovan, Cream, The Small Faces, and Chicken Shack, featuring a young Christine Perfect (later known as Christine McVie).
August 9, 1967 At England's National Jazz and Blues Festival in Sunberry, Jerry Lee Lewis is kicked off the stage after the overenthusiastic crowd responds to his set with a near-riot.
July 24, 1967 In response to their friend John Hopkins being sentenced to nine months in jail for marijuana possession, The Beatles take out full-page ad in The Times of London calling for legalization of the drug. "The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice," it reads.
July 17, 1967 Jimi Hendrix plays his eighth and final show as the opening act for The Monkees, which understandably does not go well as Monkees fans want nothing to do with Hendrix.
July 16, 1967 Arlo Guthrie debuts "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival. The song runs 18 minutes long and tells a true (but greatly exaggerated) story about how he was arrested one Thanksgiving morning for illegal dumping. The ticket later made him ineligible for the draft, keeping him out of the Vietnam War. Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, Janis Ian, and Tom Paxton also play the festival this day.
June 16, 1967 The first Monterey International Pop festival begins at the County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. It's the first of many big Rock festivals, with The Who, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Animals among those performing. Many consider it the beginning of the "Summer of Love."More
June 7, 1967 Guitarist Dave Navarro, who does time in Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and several other bands, is born in Santa Monica, California.
May 29, 1967 Noel Gallagher is born in Burnage, Manchester, England. He and his younger brother Liam form Oasis.
May 20, 1967 After his wife dies in a car accident, 23-year-old Manuel Fernandez (electric organist of Los Bravos) commits suicide.
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