June 24, 1969 Written and produced by Sonny Bono, the romantic drama Chastity casts Cher, in her first solo film role, as a hippie runaway who tries to overcome her troubled past. The movie bombs and turns Cher off from acting in films for the next decade.More
June 20, 1969 After working as a music teacher for most of her 20s, Roberta Flack releases her debut album, First Take, at age 32. It doesn't get much attention at first but goes to #1 three years later when the song "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" becomes a surprise hit thanks to its use in the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty For Me.
June 16, 1969 Experimental avant-garde/free-jazz artist Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, releases Trout Mask Replica, a polyrhythmic, polytonal collection of noise that is either an unlistenable mess or a work of genius.More
June 13, 1969 At a press conference in London, Mick Taylor is introduced as the new guitarist of The Rolling Stones, replacing founding member Brian Jones.
June 11, 1969 Glen Campbell stars opposite John Wayne in the movie True Grit. His role of Texas Ranger La Boeuf is played by Matt Damon in the 2010 remake.
June 7, 1969 The Johnny Cash Show makes its debut on ABC, with Bob Dylan duetting with Cash on "Girl From the North Country" and Joni Mitchell performing "Both Sides Now." The show runs until 1971, a total of 58 episodes.
June 7, 1969 Blind Faith, a supergroup featuring Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton, play their first show: a free concert at Hyde Park in London.More
June 1, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono record "Give Peace A Chance" to close out their "bed-in" in Montreal.More
May 29, 1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash release their self-titled debut album, lighting a path for '70s bands like America and the Eagles with rich harmonies and mysterious lyrics.More
May 23, 1969 The Who release their album Tommy, a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy who plays a mean pinball.More
May 20, 1969 Chicago singer Peter Cetera is attacked at a Dodgers-Cubs game at Dodger Stadium. Explaining the incident, Cetera says: "Four marines didn't like a long-haired rock 'n' roller in a baseball park, and of course I was a Cubs fan, and I was in Dodger Stadium, and that didn't do so well. I got in a fight and got a broken jaw in three places, and I was in intensive care for a couple of days. With my jaw wired together, I actually went on the road, and I was actually singing through my clenched jaw, which, to this day, is still the way I sing."
May 17, 1969 At a shipyard in South Bristol, Maine, Pete Seeger launches the Clearwater, a sloop he sails to push for clean water initiatives, specifically in his beloved Hudson River. Don McLean is one of the original crew members.
May 16, 1969 During The Who's set at the Fillmore East in New York, a plainclothes policeman rushes the stage to tell the audience that a fire has broken out, but guitarist Pete Townshend, figuring him for a rabid fan, kicks him off. Literally. The guitarist is arrested onstage and later charged $30.
May 6, 1969 Jamaican ska trombonist Don Drummond (The Skatalites) dies at age 37 at Bellevue Asylum in Kingston, Jamaica, where he was institutionalized after murdering his girlfriend in 1965. The official cause of death is "natural causes," but plenty of theories arise suggesting he was murdered either by gangsters or a music-hating government.
May 1, 1969 Neil Young releases his second solo album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which features favorites "Cowgirl in the Sand," "Cinnamon Girl," and "Down by the River."
April 28, 1969 The self-titled, debut album by Chicago Transit Authority is released. For their next album, the group shortens their name to Chicago.More
April 26, 1969 Walter Carlos's album Switched-On Bach, notable for being the first successful album to remix classical music compositions on the newly-invented Moog synthesizer, reaches #10 on the Billboard Albums chart. The popularity of the album is the commercial breakthrough for Moog synthesizers, which go on to be part of the soundtrack in the films Tron, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange. This in part brings synthesized music to mainstream popularity, paving the way for disco (especially the 'hi-NRG' style) in the '70s.
April 26, 1969 "Oh Happy Day" by The Edwin Hawkins Singers enters the Hot 100 at #72, becoming the first pure gospel song to make that chart. More
April 21, 1969 Mick Jagger sends a letter to Andy Warhol, who has agreed to design the artwork for the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. Jagger writes: "In my short sweet experience, the more complicated the format of the album... the more f--ked up the reproduction and agonising delays." Warhol eventually delivers a design with a working zipper, which becomes one of the most memorable album covers ever made, but is very difficult to mass produce.
April 16, 1969 Elektra Records drop the MC5 from their roster after the group takes out an ad in an underground newspaper castigating the department store chain Hudson's for not stocking their debut album, Kick Out The Jams. Hudson's didn't want it on their shelves because of a line in the title track: "Kick out the jams, motherf--ker!"More
April 10, 1969 Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's steamy duet "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus" hits #1 in the UK, where it's banned by the BBC.More
April 9, 1969 Bob Dylan stuns fans and critics alike by releasing Nashville Skyline, a country album sung in an entirely different voice from the one Dylan has been using.
April 4, 1969 CBS cancels the highly rated but controversial Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Artists to appear on the show include The Who, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane.
April 1, 1969 After playing on hits for the likes of Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, four session musicians start Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where they record The Staple Singers, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones.More
March 31, 1969 Led Zeppelin's first album is released in the UK. The self-titled LP contains many hard rock classics, including "Dazed And Confused," "Good Times, Bad Times" and "Communication Breakdown."
March 23, 1969 Countering the counter-culture, about 30,000 people attend the "Rally For Decency" in Miami after Jim Morrison was charged with indecent exposure in the city. Celebrities at the event included Kate Smith, Jackie Gleason, The Lettermen and Anita Bryant.
March 22, 1969 Two days after their wedding in Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their "Bed-in," inviting members of the media into their Amsterdam hotel room where they are promoting peace with songs, signs and dialogue. These events are outlined in the song "The Ballad of John and Yoko."
March 15, 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono get caught "standing in the dock at Southampton, trying to get to Holland or France" as passport problems stall their wedding. They get married five days later in Gibraltar, and use their adventure in the lyrics to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko."
March 9, 1969 Wiggen sisters Dorothy, Helen, Betty, and Rachel record Philosophy of the World as The Shaggs. Numerous music critics and historians consider it the worst album ever recorded, but years later both Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain call it one of their favorites ever made.More
March 8, 1969 "Happy Birthday" becomes the first song to be performed in outer space when the astronauts on Apollo IX sing it to celebrate the birthday of the director of NASA space operations, Christopher Kraft.
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