[ The World ]
is a Ghetto
The World Is A Ghetto
b/ War (1968)
((( LISTEN )))
— Romare Bearden (1964)
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from New York University in 1935.
He began his artistic career creating scenes of the American South.
After his experience in the US Army during World War II on the European front, his art expressed what he felt was a lack of humanity in the World.
He returned to Paris in 1950 and studied art history and philosophy at the Sorbonne.
Bearden’s early work focused on unity and cooperation within the African-American community.
After a period during the 1950s when he painted more abstractly, this theme reemerged in his collage works of the 1960s.
The New York Times described Bearden as “the nation’s foremost collagist” in his 1988 obituary.
Bearden became a founding member of the Harlem-based art group known as The Spiral, formed to discuss the responsibility of the African-American artist in the civil rights movement.
Bearden was the author or coauthor of several books. He also was a songwriter, known as co-writer of the jazz classic “Sea Breeze”, which was recorded by Billy Eckstine, a former high school classmate at Peabody High School, and Dizzy Gillespie. He had long supported young, emerging artists, and he and his wife established the Bearden Foundation to continue this work, as well as to support young scholars. In 1987, Bearden was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Slipping Into Darkness
b/ War (1968)
((( LISTEN )))
1968
Apollo 8
EASY RIDER — 1969
Easy Rider (intro)
Easy Rider (trailer)
PLATOON (1986)
Platoon (trailer)
Electric Ladyland
Woodstock
Woodstock (trailer)
1969
Ball of Confusion
The Temptations (Motown)
((play))
— .!
— NASA
Violence, Division, and Hope.
America’s Future Was In Question.
Apollo 11
“One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind”
— Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the Moon.
A short documentary, including the launch, the landing, and the celebration of Apollo 11, and Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to leave a footprint on the moon.
July 21, 1969 — The Day Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and answered one of Earth’s oldest mysteries. Since the first man looked up and saw stars twinkling in the sky, all mankind has imagined how it would feel … The Day Neil Armstrong touched another heavenly body, the body with our complete and timeless attention. THE MOON.
What A Day — The Day Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, legendary (CBS) newsman, Charles Kuralt sent members of his team of journalists around the United States, to document everyday American life, on that most extraordinary day. After the report was written, edited, and produced, it was stored on a shelf for the next 25 years. Its airing in 1994, was the opening of a time capsule, Kuralt’s intention was to let the photography and reporting mature (without manipulation) and stand as a most accurate document of time.
— .!
— NASA
MASH (1970)
Mash (Film) Trailer >>>
SOUL TRAIN (1971)
Wattstax (1972)
APOLLO THEATER
“Harlem Nocturne” b/ DUKE ELLINGTON
White Stand Up @ Apollo DC Benny
Bill Bailey (1955) Original Moon Walk
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
THE COTTON CLUB
The Cotton Club (1984) trailer / info
The Cotton Club (History) 1920
JAMES BROWN @ THE APOLLO [’62/’68]
MILES DAVIS
BITCHES BREW — “The Birth of Fusion”
MOTOWN
TEMPTATIONS
PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE
THE WORLD IS A GHETTO
WAR
1969 (The Movie)
Born To Be Wild — Easy Rider (Stepenwolf)
“TO THE MOON ALICE”
ALICE’S RESTAURANT
WOODSTOCK
JIMI HENDRIX “Purple Haze” / “Star Spangled Banner”
Apollo 11
July 21, 1969
One Small Step For Man (Neil Armstrong)
One Giant Leap For Mankind.
— .!
— NASA
Robert Rauschenberg — An influential ’60s Pop Artist who often used news clippings and photographs in his large, collage-style prints.
Robert Rauschenberg was an influential ’60s Pop Artist who often used news clippings and photographs in his collage-style prints.
BILLBOARD TOP 100 [1969]
01 “Aquarius, Let The Sun Shine” — The 5th Dimension
02 “Sugar, Sugar” — The Archies
03 “I Can’t Get Next To You” — The Temptations
04 “Honky Tonk Women” — The Rolling Stones
05 “Everyday People” — Sly & The Family Stone
06 “Dizzy” — Tommy Roe (vs.Wade)
07 “Hot Fun In The Summertime” — Sly & The Family Stone
08 “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” — Tom Jones
09 “Build Me Up Buttercup” — The Foundations
10 “Crimson and Clover” — Tommy James & The Shondells (Prince)
11 “One” — Three Dog Night
12 “Crystal Blue Persuassion” — Tommy James & The Shondells (Morcheeba)
13 “Hair” — The Cowsills
14 “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby”— Marvin Gaye
15 “Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet” Henry Mancini
16 “Get Together” — The Youngbloods
Three Days
…….of Peace
&Music
— NASA
Woodstock Music Festival
Within a month of Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon, the legendary Woodstock Music Festival (“Three Days Of Peace And Music”) was lived on a farm in Upstate New York (August 15-17).
17 “Grazing in the Grass” The Friends of Distinction
18 “Suspicious Minds” Elvis Presley
19 “Proud Mary” Creedence Clearwater Revival
20 “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” Jr. Walker & The All Stars
21 “It’s Your Thing” The Isley Brothers
22 “Sweet Caroline” Neil Diamond
23 “Jean” Oliver
24 “Bad Moon Rising” Creedence Clearwater Revival
25 “Get Back” The Beatles with Billy Preston
26 “In the Year 2525” Zager & Evans
27 “Spinning Wheel” Blood, Sweat & Tears
28 “Baby, I Love You” Andy Kim
29 “Going in Circles” The Friends of Distinction
30 “Hurt So Bad” The Lettermen
31 “Green River” Creedence Clearwater Revival
32 “My Cherie Amour” Stevie Wonder
33 “Easy to Be Hard” Three Dog Night
34 “Baby It’s You” Smith
35 “In the Ghetto” Elvis Presley
36 “A Boy Named Sue” Johnny Cash
37 “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” The Miracles
38 “Only the Strong Survive” Jerry Butler
39 “Time of the Season” The Zombies
40 “Wedding Bell Blues” The 5th Dimension
41 “Little Woman” Bobby Sherman
42 “Love (Can Make You Happy)” Mercy
43 “Good Morning Starshine” Oliver
44 “These Eyes” The Guess Who
45 “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” Blood, Sweat & Tears
46 “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” Jackie DeShannon
47 “Do Your Thing” The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
48 “I’d Wait a Million Years” The Grass Roots
49 “Touch Me” The Doors
50 “More Today Than Yesterday” Spiral Starecase
51 “I’ve Gotta Be Me” Sammy Davis Jr.
52 “Lay Lady Lay” Bob Dylan
53 “Atlantis” Donovan
54 “Traces” Classics IV
55 “It’s Getting Better” “Mama” Cass Elliot
56 “This Magic Moment” Jay and the Americans
57 “Runaway Child, Running Wild” The Temptations
58 “Hawaii Five-O” The Ventures
59 “Galveston” Glen Campbell
60 “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” Lou Christie
61 “Gitarzan” Ray Stevens
62 “Can I Change My Mind” Tyrone Davis
63 “Time Is Tight” Booker T & the M.G.’s
64 “This Girl’s in Love With You” Dionne Warwick
65 “Color Him Father” The Winstons
66 “Black Pearl” Checkmates, Ltd.
67 “Indian Giver” 1910 Fruitgum Company
68 “Mother Popcorn” James Brown
69 “Twenty-Five Miles” Edwin Starr
70 “Things I’d Like to Say” New Colony Six
71 “When I Die” Motherlode
72 “That’s the Way Love Is” Marvin Gaye
73 “Everybody’s Talkin'” Harry Nilsson
74 “The Worst That Could Happen” Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge
75 “The Chokin’ Kind” Joe Simon
76 “Smile a Little Smile for Me” The Flying Machine
77 “Polk Salad Annie” Tony Joe White
78 “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
79 “Games People Play” Joe South
80 “You Showed Me” The Turtles
81 “Tracy” The Cuff Links
82 “Oh, What a Night” The Dells
83 “Something” The Beatles
84 “This Girl Is a Woman Now” Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
85 “Come Together” The Beatles
86 “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” Bob Seger System
87 “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” The Supremes & The Temptations
88 “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” Marvin Gaye
THE BIG CHILL
89 “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'” Crazy Elephant
90 “Hang ‘Em High” Booker T & the M.G.’s
91 “Your Good Thing (Is About to End)” Lou Rawls
92 “Baby, I’m for Real” The Originals
93 “Oh Happy Day” Edwin Hawkins Singers
94 “Love Me Tonight” Tom Jones
95 “Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon” Paul Revere & the Raiders
96 “Laughing” The Guess Who
97 “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)” David Ruffin
98 “Soul Deep” The Box Tops
99 “Hooked on a Feeling” B.J. Thomas
100 “Sweet Cream Ladies” The Box Tops
“Let Me” Paul Revere & the Raiders
The Dark Side
At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event.
In retrospect, the violence at Altamont marked the end of the “hippie” movement that had always espoused an ethos of peace and free love.
Musical Moments
The 1967 musical Hair generated the same-named 1968 album, whose cuts include “Aquarius“ and “Let The Sunshine In“, “Hair“, “Good Morning Starshine“, “Easy to Be Hard“ (covered, chronologically and respectively, by The 5th Dimension at #1, The Cowsills at #2, Oliver at #3, Three Dog Night at number 4, on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969), and others, and a London Cast album released in April 1969.
The Isle of Wight Festival saw the return of Bob Dylan to live music after his motorbike accident in 1966.
US and UK pop music remained popular worldwide, with few European acts making the charts outside their home countries; exceptions included Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg, Shocking Blue, Georges Moustaki and Christian Anders.
EASY RIDER (1969)
Easy Rider (intro)
Easy Rider (trailer)
PLATOON (1986)
Platoon (trailer)
WOODSTOCK
Woodstock (trailer)
Fly Me To The Moon
b/ Allan Harris
((play))
— Studio
Tom Wolfe’s book (movie) “The Right Stuff” is one of the best told stories about America’s Space Program. Specifically, the Mercury Program, and the Original 7 astronauts who were chosen to explore outer space.
Listen to Your Mother
“Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman”
Carole King
Environmental Concern
Chuck Leavell
Georgia Tree Farmer
Jimmy Carter
The Allman Brothers
Dan Akroyd as Jimmy Carter (SNL)
Chuck Leavell w/ Rolling Stones / Eric Clapton
Sea Level
“Country Fool”
“Georgia On My Mind”
“Nature Boy”
Man And His Environment
“Please Mr. Nixon”
b/ Clarence Gatemouth Brown (1969)
((play))
In this vintage (1978) Saturday Night Live clip, Dan Akroyd (as president Jimmy Carter) makes an Allman Brothers reference in his effort to calm a caller who’s on a “bad” acid trip.
1969 — MUSICAL MOMENTS
January 4 — Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is accused of arrogance by British television producers after playing an impromptu version of “Sunshine of Your Love” past his allotted time slot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.
January 12 — Led Zeppelin‘s eponymous debut album released.
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 the Apple building at 3 Savile Row, 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 — Eric Burdon & The Animals disband.
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 Records.
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 Maurice Gibb are married in the UK.
February 24 — Johnny Cash performs “A Boy Named Sue” at California’s San Quentin State Prison
March 1 — During a performance at Miami’s Dinner Key Auditorium, Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested for allegedly exposing himself during the show. Morrison is officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness.
March 7 — The Who release “Pinball Wizard” as a single with a B-Side of “Dogs (Part Two).”
March 12 — The 11th Grammy Awards are presented.
Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman in London.
George Harrison and his wife Pattie are arrested in the UK on charges of hashish possession.
March 15 — Judy Garland marries Mickey Deans in London.
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, turning their honeymoon into an antiwar event. Lennon also learns from a morning newspaper that publisher Dick James has sold his shares of Northern Songs to Lew Grade‘s Associated Television (ATV).
March 26 — Lotti Golden records her debut LP Motor-Cycle (Atlantic SD 8223) at Atlantic Studios in New York City, featured in Newsweek (July 1969).
March 29 — At the 14th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at the Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain, the final result is a four-way tie for first place between Spain (“Vivo cantando“ – Salomé); United Kingdom (“Boom Bang-a-Bang“ – Lulu); Netherlands (“De Troubadour“ – Lenny Kuhr) and France (“Un jour, un enfant“ – Frida Boccara). As there was no tie-break rule in force up to this time, the four entries involved, who each scored 18 points, are declared ex-aequo winners.
April 1 — The Beach Boys file a lawsuit against their record label, Capitol Records, for $2,041,446.64 in unpaid royalties and producer’s fees for Brian Wilson. Capitol retaliates by deleting most of its Beach Boys catalog, severely limiting the band’s income.
April 8 — Opening for Ten Years After at the Fillmore East in New York City, Family perform their first U.S. concert, and the show is an unmitigated disaster. Vocalist Roger Chapman, on his 27th birthday, throws a microphone stand into the audience, unintentionally in the direction of Fillmore East impresario Bill Graham.
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, Devon, UK
A Garland for Dr. K., a celebratory collection in honour of the 80th birthday of Alfred Kalmus, consisting of eleven compositions by David Bedford, Harrison Birtwistle, Richard Rodney Bennett, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Cristóbal Halffter, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Henri Pousseur, Bernard Rands, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Hugh Wood is performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre, London, on a programme that also featured the word premieres of Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies and Linoi II by Birtwistle.
John Lennon officially changes his name from John Winston Lennon to John WinstoOno-Lennon.
April 24 – 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.
April 28 — Chicago releases its debut album, The Chicago Transit Authority.
May 3 — Sly & the Family Stone release their breakthrough album, Stand!, which became one of the top-selling albums of the decade and made the band one of the most popular acts in rock and soul music.
Jimi Hendrix is arrested by Canadian Mounties at Toronto’s International Airport for possession of narcotics (heroin). 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. Singer Mark Volman falls off the stage five times.
May 16 — HPSCHD, an event conceived by John Cage and Lejaren Hiller as a highly immersive multimedia experience, received its premiere performance before an audience of 6000 at the Assembly Hall of the Urbana Campus, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
May 23 — The Who release their rock opera Tommy.
June 2 — John Lennon and Yoko Ono host a “Bed-In” at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The couple records the song “Give Peace a Chance” live in their suite with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and several others.
June 7 — Blind Faith play a free show In Hyde Park
June 12-25 — First Annual Rock & Roll Revival fifth estate Performers include among others MC5, Johnny Winter, Chuck Berry, Dr. John, Sun Ra, David Peel, The Stooges, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
June 13 – Mick Taylor joins the Rolling Stones.
June 28 – The Stonewall riots erupt in New York City, marking the launch of the gay liberation movement.
June 29 – Bass player Noel Redding announces to the media that he has quit the Jimi Hendrix Experience, having effectively done so during the recording of Electric Ladyland.
July 1 – Cornelius Cardew‘s Scratch Orchestra holds its first meeting. Brian Eno begins his musical career as a member.
July 3 – Brian Jones is found dead in the swimming pool at his home in Sussex, England, almost a month after leaving The Rolling Stones.
July 5 – The Rolling Stones proceed with a free concert in Hyde Park, London, as a tribute to Brian Jones; it is also the band’s first concert with guitarist Mick Taylor. Estimates of the audience range from 250,000 to 400,000.
July 31 – Elvis Presley returns to live performances in Las Vegas. The engagement ends on August 28.
August 9 – Members of would-be folk singer Charles Manson‘s “family” murder film star Sharon Tate and others, in Tate’s home.
August 15-17 — The Woodstock Music and Art Festival is held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York, near Woodstock, New York. Performers include Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, The Band, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Country Joe and the Fish, Ten Years After, and Sly & the Family Stone.
August 21-24 —The Jazz Bilzen Festival is held in Bilzen, Belgium. Performers include Deep Purple, Shocking Blue, The Moody Blues, Soft Machine, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Move and Blossom Toes.
August 30-31 – The Isle of Wight Festival is held in Wootton Bridge. Performers include among others The Band, Blodwyn Pig, Edgar Broughton Band, Joe Cocker, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Bob Dylan, Family, The Who, Free, Mighty Baby, The Moody Blues, The Nice, The Pretty Things, Third Ear Band.
September 11 – Janis Joplin releases I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! her first solo album since leaving the group, Big Brother and the Holding Company.
September 13 – John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band perform at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival 12-hour music festival, backed by Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White. Other performers on the bill include Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and up-and-comers Chicago. It is Lennon’s first-ever public rock performance without one or more of The Beatles since meeting Paul McCartney in 1957. He decides before returning to the UK to leave The Beatles permanently. During the show, a chicken is somehow in a feather pillow that Alice Cooper normally uses as a stage routine during his band’s performance. Cooper, thinking that all birds fly, throws the chicken into the audience and fans tear the chicken and throw it back on stage. The event would be known as “The Chicken Incident” and contributed to Cooper’s reputation as a shock-rock stage performer.
WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE b/ ALICE COOPER
September 24 – Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform the Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in the first elaborate collaboration between a rock band and an orchestra.
October 14 – The final single by Diana Ross & The Supremes, “Someday We’ll Be Together“, is released. The single becomes the final number 1 hit of 1969 (and of the 1960s). After a farewell concert in January 1970, Diana Ross leaves the Supremes for a solo career.
October 18 – Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Live at the Fillmore East, NY.
October 22 – Led Zeppelin’s second album is released with the song “Whole Lotta Love“.November – Simon & Garfunkel give live concert at Iowa State University, where they record the track “Bye, Bye Love” for their upcoming album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
November 1 – After seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley hits No. 1 on the Billboard chart with “Suspicious Minds”.
November 7 – The Rolling Stones open their US tour in Fort Collins, Colorado.
November 8 – Simon & 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 & 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 15 — 500,000 people march in Washington, D.C. for peace, which becomes the largest anti-war rally in U.S. history. In attendance: Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, Mitch Miller, touring cast of Hair
Musik für die Beethovenhalle in Bonn, a multi-auditorium retrospective concert of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, with the world premiere of his Fresco presented in four different foyer spaces continuously over a span of four-and-a-half hours.
November 29 – Billboard magazine changes its policy of charting the A and B sides of 45 singles on its pop chart. The former policy charted the two sides separately, but the new policy considers both sides as one chart entry. The Beatles are the first beneficiary of the new policy as their current 45 single featuring “Come Together” on one side, and “Something” on the other, accrue enough combined points to make the single a #1 pop hit. Similarly, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and “Down On The Corner” accrue enough combined points to reach number 3 three weeks later.
November 30 – Simon & 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.
December 6 — The Jackson 5 release their debut album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5. Altamont Free ConcertZubin Mehta marries Nancy Kovack
Bands formed
Bands disbanded
- The Jeff Beck Group (reassembled with different line-up in 1971)
- Eric Burdon and the Animals (original Animals reform in 1975)
- See also Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1969
Into the ’70s
— dave.
Charlie Sexton and Earl Slick lead “Space Oddity” and “Lazarus” / Celebrating David Bowie Tour (2019).
1969 — David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity” became a huge hit in this year, being released at the time that 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 eccentric 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 progressive rock. The album drew upon influences like Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and The Nice to form a sound melding rock and roll with classical influences in long 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.
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, as did Kick Out The Jams by Detroit protopunkers MC5.
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 Folsom 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.
Creedence Clearwater Revival cement their success from the previous year. Having had a single US number 11 hit in 1968 with “Suzie Q“, they release not only their second, but also their third and fourth proper studio album in 1969, as well as drawing a total of four top 3 hits from these three albums. Starting with Bayou Country, including the US number 2 hit “Proud Mary“, and continuing with Green River and finally Willy and the Poor Boys, which, during the year, transformed them from an up-and-coming underground act to bona fide rockstars. During 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival had number 2 hits in the US with “Proud Mary”, “Green River” and “Bad Moon Rising“, and also have a number 3 hit with “Down on the Corner“/”Fortunate Son“.
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. Both musicians moved to London after a period of imprisonment for anti-government activities in Brazil.
Family released their second album, Family Entertainment, in their native Britain. It is their first top 10 album in the United Kingdom, hitting number six. “The Weaver’s Answer“, which opens the record, becomes their most popular song in their concert performances. By the end of the year, however, they lose and replace two members, and their first attempt to break through commercially in the United States backfires miserably.
Elvis Presley returned to live performances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas; breaking all attendance records in his 57-concert run. He also enjoyed great success with his songs “In the Ghetto” and “Suspicious Minds“.
The Wendy Carlos album Switched-On Bach was one of the first classical albums to sell 500,000 copies, and helped bring classical music into the popular sphere, as did Mason Williams‘ “Classical Gas“, played on classical guitar, in addition to being accompanied by one of the first successful music videos.[4] The composition won three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Composition, Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental, and Best Instrumental Arrangement.[5] In the meantime, German trumpeter Manfred Schoof‘s free jazz album, European Echoes, a recording of his half-hour free improvisation broadcast on German radio in June 1969, featured internatio
New York City Ballet celebrates their 25th anniversary with performances at the David H. Koch Theater Lincoln Center.
“The World Is A Ghetto” b/ Allan Harris and Doug Wimbish
(The Bridge)
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