1969 - Easy Rider
" The Marijuana problem is a cultural civil war in which the traditional moral, ethical, and religeous conservative conforming way of thinking clashes with the new dynamic global expanded planetary awareness."
The Marijuana Review, June-August 1969
The Pop Year:
- John Lennon marries Yoko Ono
- Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman
- Brian Jones drowns in his swimming pool.
- Rolling Stones play free concert in Hyde park
- Mick Taylor becomes new Rolling Stone.
- John Lennon sends back his MBE
- Atlantic achieves 23 gold records in one year.
- Jim Morrison arrested in Miami for exposing himself during a Doors concert.
- Blind Faith supergroup is formed.
- Fairport Convention in M1 crash. Drummer Martin Lamble and designer Jeannie Franklin killed.
- NME starts publishing top 20 albums.
- Noel Redding leaves Jimi Hendrix.
- Neil Young joins supergroup Crosby Stills and Nash, (and start a fashion for calling group names after all the members.)
- Christine Perfect leaves Chicken Shack.
- Woodstock Festival is attended by 400,000 people.
- First Isle Of Wight festival, with Dylan and The Band, Hendrix, and The Who.
- Disaster at Rolling Stones concert at Altamont. Hell's Angels run riot and kill a member of the audience.
- Beatles make their last appearence together on the roof of Apple building.
- Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash collaberate at CBS studios in Nashville.
- John and Yoko go to bed for peace in Amsterdam and Toronto.
- The Beach Boys sue Capitol Records, claiming $2,000,000 in unpaid royalties.
- Spencer Davis Group split up.
- 'Paul McCartney is dead' rumours are rife . Many clues in pictures and lyrics are said to support claim.
- John Lennon refused visa to USA on grounds of a previous drug conviction.
Singles:
top
- Marmalade - Obladi Oblada
- Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Precher Man
- Stevie Wonder - For Once In My Life; I Don't Know Why; My Cherie Amour; Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday
- Edwin Starr - S.O.S
- The Move - Blackberry Way; Curly
- Canned Heat - Goin' Up The Country
- Martha and The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street
- Amen Corner - Half As Nice; Hello Suzie
- Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely
- Nina Simone - To Love Somebody
- The Supremes and The Temptations - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
- Sam and Dave - Soul Sister, Brown Sugar
- Glenn Campbell - Witchita Lineman
- The Tymes - People
- Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine; Too Busy Thinking About My Baby
- Dean Martin - Gentle On My Mind
- The Hollies - I'm Sorry Suzanne; He Aint Heavy He's My Brother
- Joe South - Games People Play
- Desmond Dekker - The Israelites
- The Beatles - Get Back; The Ballad Of John and Yoko; Something
- Noel Harrison - The Windmills Of Your Mind
- Lulu - Boom Bang - a - Bang
- The Beach Boys - I Can Hear Music; Breakaway
- The Who - Pinball Wizard
- The Temptations - Get Ready
- Bob and Earl - Harlem Shuffle
- Mary Hopkin - Goodbye
- Cream - Badge
- Fleetwood Mac - Man Of The World; Oh Well
- The Isley Brothers - Behind A Painted Smile
- Clodagh Rodgers - Come Back And Shake Me
- Frank Sinatra - My Way
- Herman's Hermits - My Sentimental Friend
- Simon and Garfunkel - The Boxer
- Tommy Roe - Dizzy
- Fifth Dimension - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In
- Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day
- Booker T and The MG's - Time Is Tight
- Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher
- Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - Tracks Of My Tears
- Jethro Tull - Living In the Past
- Elvis Presley - Living In The Ghetto; Suspicious Minds
- Thunderclap Newman - Something In The Air
- Creedence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary; Bad Moon Rising
- The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
- Billy Preston - That's The Way God Planned It
- Plastic Ono Band - Give Peace A Chance; Cold Turkey
- Zager and Evans - In The Year 2525
- Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus
- Humble Pie - Natural Born Boogie
- Bobbie Gentry - I'll Never Fall In Love Again
- Bob Dylan - Lay Lady Lay
- The Archies - Sugar Sugar
- Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue
- David Bowie - Space Oddity
- Lou Christie - I'm Gonna Make You Mine
- Nillson - Everybody's Talking
- The Upsetters - Return Of Django
- The Tremeloes - Number One
- Jimmy Cliff - Wonderful World Beautiful People
- Joe Cocker - Delta Lady
- Junior Walker - What Does It Take
- Kenny Rogers - Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
- Blue Mink - Melting Pot
Albums:
top
- Cream - Goodbye Cream; Best Of Cream
- The Moody Blues - On The Threshhold Of A Dream; To Our Children's Children's Children
- Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
- Jethro Tull - Stand Up
- Blind Faith - Blind Faith
- The Beatles - Abbey Road
- The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed; Through The Past Darkly
- Jeff Beck - Cosa Nostra Beck-ola
- Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out
- The Bonzo Dog Band - The Doughnut In Grannies Greenhouse; Tadpoles
- Jack Bruce - Songs For A Tailor
- Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
- Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Transit Authority
- The Commodores - Live
- Crosby Stills and Nash - Crosby Stills and Nash
- Desmond Dekker - This Is Desmond Dekker
- Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking; Liege & Lief
- Family - Family Entertainment
- Fleetwood Mac - Then Play On; The Pious Bird Of Ill Omen
- Humble Pie - As Safe As Yesterday Is
- Jefferson Airplane - Bless It's Pointed Little Head
- King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
- Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
- Nice - Nice
- Pentangle - Basket Of Light
- Pink Floyd - More; Ummagumma
- Procul Harem - A Salty Dog
- Clodagh Rogers - Clodagh Rogers
- The Temptations - Cloud Nine
- Peter Sarstedt - Peter Sarstedt
- Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour
- Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room
- The Who - Opera Tommy
- Ten Years After - Ssssh ; Stonedhenge
- The Beach Boys - 20/20
- Scott Walker - Scott 3
- The Hollies - The Hollies Sing Dylan
- Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn
- Tom Jones - This Is Tom Jones
- Frank Sinatra - My Way
- Elvis Presley - Flaming Star; From Presley in Memphis
- Oliver! - Soundtrack
- Johnny Cash - Live In San Quentin
- 2001, A Space Odyssey - Soundtrack
- Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers
In the news:
top
- Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong become the first men to walk on the moon
- British Troops sent to Northern Ireland as season of riots begin in Londonderry
- Border Clashes between China and the USSR
- America withdraws 25000 troops from Vietnam. Total US dead stands at 35,630
- Charles Manson and followers carry out the Sharon Tate murder
- Police fight with anti - racist demonstrators in London
- Student Jan Palach dies by setting fire to himself in protest against Soviet occupation in Prague
- More student protests. LSE is closed down after sit in, New York campus closes after student rioting
- Anti - war protest in New York
- Student Leader Daniel Cohn - Bendit deported from France
- Yasser Arafat becomes leader of the PLO
- Kray Twins are jailed for life.
- James Earl Ray jailed for 99 years
- De Gaulle resigns. George Pompidou elected new leader
- Mary Jo Kopechne drowns at Chappaquiddick in Senator Edward Kennedy's car
- Jimi Hendrix arrested in Toronto for possessing heroin
- Spain closes borde with Gibralter
- Ho Chi Minh dies
- First clour TV transmission in Britain
- Homelessness makes the headlines as squatters occupy 144 Piccadilly, led by 'Hippie John'. Police finally evict 250. (Interesting note: In Bristol at least, if hippies were disliked by the general public, they were baited even more after this. Many Bristolians with long hair at the time will remember being chased around the town by Skinheads shouting...'Squatters!'
- Rupert Murdoch buys 'The Sun'
- Anti Apartheid protesters hound the UK tour by the South African Springboks.
- Segregation is outlawed in the American South by US Supreme Court
T.V:
Top Ten
- The Complete and Utter History Of Britain
- Curry and Chips
- The Dave Allen Show
- Doctor iIn The House
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)
- Paul Temple
- The Stones In The Park
- Take Three Girls
- Saturday Night Theatre
- The Liver Birds
top
- Miss World 1969
- Royal Variety
- In Loving Memory
- Coronation Street
- Benny Hill Show
- Max
- The Dustbinmen
- Mr Digby Darling
- The Power Game
- Till Death Us Do Part
Films:
- Midnight Cowboy
- Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
- The Wild Bunch
- Easy Rider
- Alice's Restaurant
- The Bed Sitting Room
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Zabriskie Point
- Don't Look Back
- Women In Love
Books:
- Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth
- The Godfather - Mario Puzo
- Travels With My Aunt - Graham Greene
- Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
- The Making Of A Counter Culture - Marcuse
Ubik - Philip K Dick