Music Milestones in 1969

Some of the music highlights (and lowlights) of 1969

The Woodstock Music & Arts Fair—held August 15-17, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York—promised three days of peace and music and delivered on that promise with a rock festival that became a legendary icon of the 1960s almost before the final notes faded.

On January 30, 1969, The Beatles gave their last public performance on the roof of Apple Studios, at 3 Saville Row in London. The lunchtime performance, which was filmed for the Let It Be movie, lasted just 42 minutes. Police stopped the rooftop concert early, after neighbors complained about the noise.

Rolling Stone magazine called the free concert at California's Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969, "perhaps rock and roll's all-time worst day." The Rolling Stones organized and headlined the show, which also featured Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Grateful Dead (who decided not to perform due to the escalating violence). Altamont is best remembered because of Meredith Hunter, an 18-year-old black man who was stabbed and kicked to death by members of the biker gang Hell's Angels, whom the Stones had hired to provide security.

After an eight-year hiatus, Elvis Presley started performing live again in August 1969, kicking off a series of 57 concerts at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Elvis broke all Vegas attendance records and in November his song, "Suspicious Minds," hit #1 on the Billboard chart. It was Elvis's first #1 hit in seven years, and the last one he would have during his lifetime.

Rumors that Paul McCartney had died in a car accident as early as 1966, and had been replaced by a musically gifted lookalike, kicked into high gear in the latter half of 1969. A review of the Beatles' new Abbey Road album in the University of Michigan student newspaper in mid-October ran through the list of various "clues" that supposedly hinted at Paul's untimely death—including the new one of a barefoot Paul on the Abbey Road album cover—which brought the rumor to the attention of the mainstream media. Within a week, the London Times, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times had all published versions of the story.

The Jackson 5, with 10-year-old lead singer Michael Jackson, made their professional debut in August 1969, opening for Diana Ross at the L.A. Forum. The Jackson brothers released their first single, I Want You Back, in October and their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, in December. The Jackson 5 was the first group in music history to have their first four singles hit number one on the pop charts. Less than a year after their debut, their ballad I'll Be There, had become the best-selling single in Motown history.

The Who gave the first public performances of the rock opera Tommy, which tells the metaphorical story of a "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who is a "pinball wizard" plagued by psychological traumas that manifest as physical disabilities. Many critics praised Tommy as a masterpiece for its experimentation with new musical forms. Several songs from the album became hit singles, and the rock opera appears on most lists of best rock albums. In 1998, Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.