1969 was 50 years ago...

I saw Led Zeppelin live in a small venue the night of the moon landing. It was quite an evening.

 

The 4 Seasons* ‎– The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette



One of my odd favorites from Wonderful 69.

 

Honky Tonk Women"

 

Brian Jones took glam to a new level.

 

Me too.

 

Ya think!

 

Excellent observation Dr. Spock.

 

My memory is only of singles:

- All The Beatles' ones
- Stones - Honky Tonk Women
- The Who - Pinball Wizard
- Creedence - Proud Mary
- Bowie Space Oddity
- Frank Sinatra - My Way
...
and lots of Motown:
- Marvin Gaye - Too Busy Thinking About My Baby Abraham, Martin & John
- The Tempatations - I Can't Get Next To You, Cloud 9
- Stevie Wonder - My Cherie Amour
- The Jackson - I Want You Back
- The Isley Brothers - Behind A Painted Smile
...

 

1969. The year I got my first record player (birthday present). The year I bought my first single (Amen Corner - If Paradise). The year I bought my first album (Motown Chartbusters Vol 3 - the one with the silver cover). Oh happy days.

 

Corrected..

 

Yesterday, I thought of another reason why 1969 is important and why 2019 is equally important.

 

I was in kindergarten. I really liked hot wheels.

 

I have always had this memory of walking home from school on the NW side of Chicago in May of 69. It was a beautiful warm late spring day, and Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was playing through the transistor radio pressed up against my ear. I was in 7th grade.

 

I was 2, so don't remember anything..........but a great year for music and the Mets. They're honoring the 1969 team at the end of June, and I'm going to the game.

 

Jealous me too!!!

 

No, I first heard about that in 66-67.

 

Wow, I've been bringing up some charts from '69 this morning. It's amazing to look at what was on the hot 100 singles chart & 200 album chart this week in '69 - Glen Campbell had 3 (at least) albums in the top 100 album chart. So much great music! I wasn't around in '69, but I'm incredibly glad that great music is still available today! Going to go home this evening and toss on Blood Sweat and Tears, one of my all-time favorite LPs. It was battling Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman for 1st place 50 years ago today...

 

"Loads of Sex"----raises an issue. I was in my midteens and I recall a whole lot of less concern for STDs back then. The clap/drip were fixable back then, correct? I also recall STD [stereo turntable devices] required you to manually intervene, ie flip the record/s.

 

My parents had that 5th Dimension album, so I also remember hearing it frequently along with a lot of other 60's stuff (i.e. Creedence, The Band, etc.). Seems apropos to post this, as it and myself both debuted almost to the day in November 1969:

 

Never heard of it before - but great stuff.

 

1969 was a big year for me. I graduated from high school, started at the university, and started dating the woman I married five years later. Also a great year for music.

Favorite songs:
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – The Band
Get Back – The Beatles
Come Together – The Beatles
Badge – Cream
Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills and Nash
Lay Lady Lay – Bob Dylan
I Want You Back – The Jackson 5
Volunteers – Jefferson Airplane
The Thrill is Gone – B.B. King
Kick out the Jams [Live] – MC5
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Honky Tonk Women – The Rolling Stones
Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones
You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel
Pinball Wizard – The Who
Cinnamon Girl – Neil Young with Crazy Horse
Cowgirl in the Sand – Neil Young with Crazy Horse
In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) – Zager and Evans
Time of the Season – The Zombies

Favorite Albums:
The Band
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Live at San Quentin – Johnny Cash
Crosby, Stills and Nash
Nashville Skyline – Bob Dylan
Kick Out the Jams – MC5
Let it Bleed – The Rolling Stones
Stand! – Sly and the Family Stone
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere – Neil Young with Crazy Horse

 

Metamucil

 

The yearbooks for much of the 1970s for high-schoolers (and youngers, too) show a totally post-Hippiefied nation, at least fashion-wise. Long hair everywhere.

And there were just tons of 60s TV shows rifely rerunning throughout the 1970s, by my viewing, on the three network channels - maybe just my local stations (we didn’t have cable until 1982!). I guess the backlog was too good and already in the can, and the new programming too little.

I Dream Of Jeannie, Gilligan, Beatles cartoons, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Big Valley, Daniel Boone, 50s-era Mickey Mouse Club (Cubby, Spin and Marty, etc.), Bugs and Daffy, Jetsons, Flintstones, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Buffy and Jodie, Beverly Hillbillies, Twilight Zone, Bewitched, Star Trek, Hogan, Dick Van Dyke, Batman, Monkees, Addams Family, My Three Sons, Mayberry, Gomer, Lucy, Rudolf, the Grinch, Charlie Brown, Scooby Where Are You?… And more... That stuff did not go away quietly! I enjoyed most of it. Older family members were watching the ongoing sagas of Days Of Our Lives, One Life To Live, General Hospital, The Guiding Light, As The World Turns, The Edge Of Night.

But the talk shows and variety shows and specials, of course, never re-ran. Or maybe they did quite late at night, I don't know. That was past my bedtime.

 

I think that all of those styles mixed in somewhat too, probably still marked along black/white lines. There was a very high level of musicianship reached in a general sense by 1968-1969 - even among the 'unfamous'. In many cases, Rock bands sprung up or evolved as the result of acid trips who suddenly discovered their true musical calling in the form of psychedelic and post-psyche outfits. That might have been enough to sustain them for another year or two before they found other lines of work or scattered. A lot of that stuff has only recently been made available again to be heard on yootoob, and much of it is great. But the high level of musicianship was such, c. 1968-1069, that in many ways the only way you could distinguish yourself from all the other great walk-in musicians, nationally or internationally, by having a 'hit', getting signed to a major, or offering something so distinct and charismatic that it would/could get you by to thrive without that 'hit'.