Calendar Search Results: y o u t u b e r
November 19, 1968 Onstage with The Supremes at the Royal Command Variety Performance in London, Diana Ross interrupts the show with a plea for greater interracial understanding. She receives a two-minute ovation from the audience, which includes members of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II herself stands after Ross' moving performance of West Side Story's "Somewhere."
November 12, 1968 Neil Young releases his self-titled debut solo album, featuring one of his most enduring songs, "The Loner." More
November 11, 1968 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release the album Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins with a cover photo of the pair naked. Many record stores stock it in a brown paper wrapper.More
November 10, 1968 Neil Young performs "Sugar Mountain" at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The recording of the song is used as the B-side for "The Loner" and is later included on the Decade compilation.
November 6, 1968 The Monkees movie Head is released. The studio that commissioned the film expected something light and funny, but got a trippy commentary on the manipulation of The Monkees, complete with a scene where the group jumps to their death off a bridge. The film bombs when it is released, but later becomes a cult classic.
November 2, 1968 Jose Feliciano's unique rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner," which he performed on acoustic guitar before Game 5 of the World Series on October 7, enters the Hot 100 at #89, making it the first version of the US National Anthem to chart (it peaks at #50). Many singers start adding their own flavor to the song; the next version to chart is Whitney Houston's Super Bowl performance in 1991, which hits #20.
October 7, 1968 Long before the US National Anthem becomes a performance piece, the Puerto Rican singer Jose Feliciano makes waves when he does a slow, jazzy version of the song before Game 5 of the World Series between the Tigers and Cardinals. Among those joining the uproar are Tigers starting pitcher Mickey Lolich, who complains that the overly long rendition screwed up his pregame routine.More
October 2, 1968 Motown sues their most prolific songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, for their refusal to write more songs until their royalty rate is increased. The trio are eventually released from the label and go on to start their own Invictus and Hot Wax labels.
September 28, 1968 Questioning the band's commitment, Janis Joplin announces (through her manager, Albert Grossman) that she will be leaving Big Brother & the Holding Company. Her new group, The Kozmic Blues Band, doesn't last long, and she eventually records as a solo artist.
September 25, 1968 No more whistling "Dixie" for University of Miami students as the school becomes the first university to ban the controversial Confederate anthem from being played at public events.More
September 25, 1968 Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days," produced by Paul McCartney and released on The Beatles' Apple Records, goes to #1 in the UK, knocking off "Hey Jude." It stays for six weeks before being bumped by Joe Cocker's cover of the Beatles song "With A Little Help From My Friends."
September 21, 1968 David Jolicoeur aka Trugoy the Dove (of De La Soul) is born in Brooklyn, New York.
September 20, 1968 Ben Shepherd (bass player for Soundgarden) is born Hunter Benedict Shepherd in Okinawa, Japan, but would be raised in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
September 18, 1968 The Beatles pause their Abbey Road Studios recording sessions for "Birthday" so that they can run back to Paul McCartney's house and watch the British-television premiere of the 1956 American film The Girl Can't Help It, featuring Little Richard and Fats Domino. Suitably inspired, they return to the studio after the viewing and complete the song that night.
September 14, 1968 Rolling Stone reports that The Who's Pete Townshend is working on a "rock opera" about a boy who is deaf, dumb, and blind. This ends up being their album Tommy.
September 7, 1968 The Doors' third album, Waiting For The Sun, hits #1 in America thanks partly to the popularity of the hit "Hello, I Love You." They decided to include the song on the album after scrapping plans to put a Jim Morrison poetry piece called "Celebration Of The Lizard" on the entire first side.
September 4, 1968 The Beatles play to a live audience for the first time in two years when they record promotional films for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" at Twickenham Studios in front of an audience of about 100. It goes so well, they decide to make a documentary, which becomes Let It Be.
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
August 26, 1968 In America, The Beatles release the Paul McCartney-penned "Hey Jude" with John Lennon's "Revolution" on the B-side. It hits #1 a month later and stays for nine weeks, longer than any other song in 1968.
August 22, 1968 In the middle of recording "Back In The U.S.S.R.," Beatles drummer Ringo Starr gets frustrated, leaves the session, and takes a vacation to Sardinia. Paul McCartney takes his place on drums to complete the track. When Ringo returns, he's welcomed back with flowers on his drum kit.
August 12, 1968 The New Yardbirds, later to be known as Led Zeppelin, begin their first rehearsal beneath a record store at 22 Gerrard Street in Westminster, London, performing a cover of the old Johnny Burnette & the Rock and Roll Trio number "Train Kept A-Rollin'."
July 30, 1968 The Beatles' Apple Boutique, a psychedelic clothing store located at 94 Baker Street in London, closes after seven months of bad business practices and rampant theft. With the group and its intimates having had the pick of the remaining inventory the night before, Apple Boutique employees are instructed to simply let people in off the street to take whatever merchandise they like. The store was closed that evening for good.
July 29, 1968 Refusing to play in front of the country's segregated audiences, Gram Parsons leaves The Byrds on the eve of a South African tour.
July 23, 1968 The up-and-coming UK band The Iveys sign to the Beatles' label Apple Records, which rechristens them Badfinger. They become the first signing to generate hits for the label, but their story does not end well as Apple falls apart and Badfinger ends up in a legal hell that drives two members to suicide.
July 23, 1968 The Jackson 5 audition for Motown Records, with 9-year-old Michael singing lead and doing some sweet dance moves on James Brown's "I Got The Feelin'." The label signs them three days later.More
July 20, 1968 Paul McCartney's fiancee, Jane Asher, goes on the BBC TV show Dee Time and announces that she and Paul have broken off their engagement.
July 17, 1968 The Beatles' fourth film, the animated fantasy Yellow Submarine, premieres in London. Although the four band members in the picture are voiced by professional actors, the band itself makes a cameo in the finale, leading movie audiences through the song "All Together Now."
July 12, 1968 Micky Dolenz of The Monkees marries the model Samantha Juste, who is the "disc girl" on the BBC show Top Of The Pops. Dolenz, who met her on the show, wrote some of The Monkees song "Randy Scouse Git" about her. They divorce in 1975.
July 9, 1968 David Ruffin is fired from The Temptations after missing a show. The lead singer on their hits "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg," Ruffin clashes with his bandmates and with Motown head Berry Gordy before he is fired.
July 1, 1968 The Band release Music from Big Pink, their debut studio album.More
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