Events
Perhaps the most famous musical events of 1969 are two legendary concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hell's Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event. In retrospect, many commentators have concluded that the violence signalled the failure of the so-called "hippies", who espoused an ethos of free love and peace. Even more famous than the Altamont concert is Woodstock, which consisted of dozens of the most famous performers in the world at the time, playing together in an atmosphere of peace with nature and love, with many thousands of concertgoers; it is still one of the largest concerts in the history of the world.
Soul Shakedown was the debut album by Bob Marley & the Wailers, who would go on to become one of the most popular groups around the world. The album achieved very little popularity outside of the group's native country, Jamaica, but began establishing themselves as superstars there. Musically, Soul Shakedown is more ska than reggae, the style of music the Wailers would eventually make world-famous; the pioneering style of the music helped move ska and rocksteady towards reggae.
David Bowie's debut single, "Space Oddity", became a huge hit this year, partially due to the remarkable coincidence that it was released in the same year as American astronauts first landed on the moon. The song, the story of an astronaut named Major Tom who goes into space and is entranced by the beauty of seeing Earth from such a great distance and consequently lets himself float off into space, never again to return, was chosen by the BBC as the theme song for the television coverage of the moon landing. The remainder of the album, Man of Words/Man of Music, was too avant-garde for mainstream acceptance, though it established a devoted fanbase for Bowie, who would go on to become one of the most popular musicians in the world.
King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King is a pioneering album in the development of prog rock. The album drew upon influences like Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and The Nice to form an original sound melding rock and roll with classical influences in long, avant-garde pieces of music. Similar albums by The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and The Nice, as well as Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd were also released this year, expanding the range of prog rock and developing it into a full-fledged genre.
Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is widely considered the first successful full-fledged fusion of rock and roll and jazz, as well as being one of the most famous and well-remembered albums by Davis.
The Stooges' eponymous debut, The Stooges, was also released this year to little critical or popular acceptance. The album, however, went on to become one of the most important recordings in the early development of punk rock.
Johnny Cash's At San Quentin included his only Top Ten pop hit, "A Boy Named Sue". The album was a sequel to last year's At Folsolm Prison. Also in country music, Merle Haggard's Same Train, Different Time, a tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was enormously popular and influenced the development of the Bakersfield sound into outlaw country within a few years.
Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso released enormously popular albums in Brazil, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, respectively. The pair's fusion of bossa nova, samba and other native Brazilian folk influences, melded with politically and socially aware lyrics, kickstarted what came to be known as Tropicalia.
- January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix causes complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.
- January 18 - Pete Best wins his defamation lawsuit against the Beatles. Best had originally sought $8 million, but ended up being awarded much less.
- January 30 - The Beatles perform for the last time in public, on the roof of Apple Studios at 3 Saville Row, in London. The performance, which was filmed for the Let It Be movie, is stopped early by police after neighbors complain about the noise.
- February 3 - John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr hire Allen Klein as the Beatles' new business manager, against the wishes of Paul McCartney.
- February 4 - Paul McCartney hires the law firm of Eastman & Eastman, Linda Eastman's father's law firm, as general legal counsel for Apple.
- February 7 - George Harrison is admitted to London's University College Hospital with an infected back molar that has infected his tonsils.
- February 8 - George Harrison's tonsils are removed at London's University College Hospital.
- February 15 - Vickie Jones is arrested for impersonating Aretha Franklin in a concert performance. Jones' impersonation was so convincing that nobody in the audience asked for a refund.
- February 17 - Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan record together in Nashville, Tennessee. Only one song, "Girl from the North Country", would be released from these sessions.
- February 18 - Lulu and Bee Gee Maurice Gibb are married in England
- March 1 - During a performance at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium, Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested for exposing himself during the show. Morrison is officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness.
- March 9 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is canceled by CBS
- March 12 - The 11th Grammy Awards are presented
- March 12 - Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman
- March 12 - George Harrison and his wife Patti are arrested in England on charges of cannabis possession after authorities found 120 joints in their home
- March 20 - John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
- March 25-31 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono host a "bed-in" for peace in their room at the Amsterdam Hilton.
- April 1 - The Beach Boys file a lawsuit against their record label, Capitol Records, for $2,041,446.64 in royalties and producer's fees for Brian Wilson. The band also announces it's starting its own label, Brothers Records.
- April 20 - The L.A. Free Festival in Venice, California ends early following a riot of audience members, 117 of which were arrested.
- April 22 - The first complete performance of The Who's rock opera Tommy during a performance in Dolton, England
- April 22 - John Lennon officially changes his name from John Winston Lennon to John Ono Lennon.
- April - The Beatles' make a $5.1 million counter offer to the Northern Songs stockholders in an attempt to keep Associated TV from controlling the band's music.
- May 3 - Jimi Hendrix is arrested by Canadian Mounties at Toronto's International Airport for possession of narcotics. Hendrix is released on $10,000 bail.
- May 6 - In London, representatives of Warner Brothers-Seven Arts discuss the purchase of fifteen percent of The Beatles' Northern Songs.
- May 10 - The Turtles perform at the White House. Mark Volman falls off the stage 5 times.
- June 2 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono host a "bed-in" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. The couple records the song "Give Peace a Chance" live in the room with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary and a several others.
- June 29 - Bass player Noel Redding formally announces to the media that he has quit the Jimi Hendrix Experience, although he effectively ceased to be with Hendrix during most of the recording of Electric Ladyland.
- August 9 - Sharon Tate & the LaBiancas are found murdered by Charles Manson & "family"
- August 15-17 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, near Woodstock, New York. Performers included Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane and Sly & the Family Stone.
- November 1 - After seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley's song "Suspicious Minds," hits No. 1 on the Billboard Music charts (this was the last time any song by Presley hit no. 1 while he was still alive).
- November 8 - Simon and Garfunkel, on tour for the first time with a band, give live concert in Carbondale, Illinois, presumably at Southern Illinois University. The concert is not released until 1999 as part of a recording compiled by Head Records, called Village Vanguard.
- November 11 - Simon and Garfunkel give live concert at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The recording is later released in the 1990s as Back To College on Yellow Dog Records and A Time Of Innocence on Bell Bottom Records.
- November 30 - Simon and Garfunkel air TV special Songs Of America, ostensibly an hour-long show that is anti-war and anti-poverty featuring live footage from their 1969 tour.
- November - Simon and Garfunkel give live concert in Ames, Iowa, presumably at Iowa State University, where they record track "Bye, Bye Love" for their upcoming album, Bridge Over Troubled Water.
- Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash perform together on The Johnny Cash Show.
- A Rolling Stones fan is killed at the group's Altamont, California, concert by members of the Hell's Angels.
- Diana Ross leaves the Supremes for a solo career
- Cream breaks up, and Blind Faith is formed
- David Bowie's musical career begins with the single "Space Oddity", the unofficial anthem for the moon landing in August of this year
- Brian Eno's musical career begins as a member of Cardew's Scratch Orchestra
- Black Sabbath forms in Birmingham, England
- Jim Croce's musical career begins
- Roberta Flack's musical career begins
- Mott the Hoople's musical career begins
- King Crimson's musical career begins
- Bonnie Raitt's musical career begins
- Judas Priest forms in Birmingham, England
- John Denver's musical career begins
- Alice Cooper's musical career begins
- The Jackson 5's musical career begins
- Rod Stewart's leaves Faces for a solo career
- The Doobie Brothers form
