1968 in music

Events

• January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.
• January 6 - Gibson patents its "Flying V" electric guitar design
• January 21 - Simon and Garfunkel release album The Graduate Original Soundtrack
• January - The Beatles launch Apple Corps, Ltd., a disastrously mismanaged entertainment company that included a recording studio, a record label, and clothing store
• February 1 - Priscilla Presley gives birth to Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
• February 1 - Universal Studios offers the Doors $500,000 to star in a feature film. The film is never made.
• February 10 - The Beatles shut down "Beatles U.S.A.", their fan club and business office in the United States. The band also fires their US press agents and withdraw from Brian Epstein's NEMS Enterprises. The band then turns all business affairs over to the newly formed record company, Apple
• February 12 - Jimi Hendrix is given an honorary high school diploma from Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. Hendrix is also given the key to the city.
• February 16 - The Beatles, Mike Love, Mia Farrow, Donovan and others travel to India to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh
• February 18 - David Gilmour joins Pink Floyd, replacing founder Syd Barrett, who checked himself into a psychiatric hospital
• February 21 - McGraw-Hill, Inc. outbids eight other publishers and pays $150,000 for the U.S. rights to Hunter Davies' authorized biography of the Beatles
• February 28 - Frankie Lymon dies.
• March 8 - Bill Graham opens the Fillmore East in an abandoned movie theater in New York City.
• March 25 - The 58th and final episode of The Monkees airs on television.
• March 30 - The Yardbirds record their live album Live Yardbirds at the Anderson Theater
• April 3 - Simon and Garfunkel release the critically acclaimed album Bookends.
• April 4 - James Brown appears on national television, in an attempt to calm feelings of anger in the United States following the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
• April 6 - The Beatles' new record company, and management and publishing firm, Apple Corps Ltd., opens offices in London
• April 29 - The rock musical Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theater
• May 4 - Mary Hopkin performs on the British TV show Opportunity Knocks. Hopkin catches the attention of model Twiggy, who recommends her to Beatle Paul McCartney. McCartney would soon sign Hopkin to Apple Records.
• May 5 - Buffalo Springfield performs together for the last time in Long Beach, California
• August 23 - Simon and Garfunkel give live concert at the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California. Recording is later released on CD in 1994 by Australian company Vigotone Records as Voices Of Intelligent Dissent
• August - Blind Faith is formed, which includes Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker from Cream and Steve Winwood from Traffic.
• Summer - Simon and Garfunkel, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and John Sebastian give live concert at Shea Stadium in New York City as campaign benefit for Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy
• October - The "Paul Is Dead" Beatles rumours begin
• November 8 - John Lennon and his wife Cynthia divorce.
• November 15 - 500,000 people march in Washington DC for peace, which becomes the largest anti-war rally in U.S. history. In attendance: Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul, & Mary, John Denver, Mitch Miller, touring cast of Hair
• December 1 - Jimi Hendrix's manager Chas Chandler quits over differences with Hendrix during the recording of Electric Ladyland
• New Jersey Police confiscate 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins album at Newark Airport, saying that the cover, which features a nude photo of the two artists, is "pornographic." In Chicago, Illinois, police officers shut down a record shop for displaying the album cover.
• Elvis Presley's 68 Comeback Special airs on NBC.
• Led Zeppelin is formed after the breakup of The Yardbirds
• The Band's musical career begins
• James Taylor's musical career begins
• Joni Mitchell's musical career begins
• The Carpenters' musical career begins
• Warren Zevon's musical career begins

Albums released

• The Beatles (The White Album) - The Beatles
• This Was - Jethro Tull
• Wheels of Fire - Cream
• Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
• Bookends - Simon and Garfunkel
• The Graduate Original Soundtrack - Simon and Garfunkel (incidental music by Dave Grusin)
• God Bless Tiny Tim - Tiny Tim
• Magic Bus: The Who On Tour - The Who
• A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd
• The Fastest Guitar Alive - Roy Orbison
• Folsom Prison Blues - Bobby Bare
• Child is Father to the Man - Blood, Sweat and Tears
• "Dusty in Memphis" - Dusty Springfield

Top hits on record

• "All Along The Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
• "Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf
• "Dance To The Music" - Sly & The Family Stone
• "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" - The Yardbirds
• "Hello, I Love You" - The Doors
• "Hey Jude"/"Revolution" - The Beatles
• "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" - Iron Butterfly
• "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" - John Fred & his Playboy Band
• "Jumpin' Jack Flash" - Rolling Stones
• "Lady Madonna" - The Beatles
• "Mony Mony" - Tommy James & the Shondells
• "Mrs. Robinson" - Simon and Garfunkel
• "Old Friends/Bookends" - Simon and Garfunkel
• "(Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay" - Otis Redding
• "Sunshine Of Your Love" - Cream
• "This Guy's in Love With You" - Herb Alpert

Published popular music

• "Eli's Coming" w.m. Laura Nyro
• "Save The Country" w.m. Laura Nyro
• "Stoned Soul Picnic" w.m. Laura Nyro
• "Sweet Blindness" w.m. Laura Nyro

Musical theater

• Cabaret     London production
• Canterbury Tales     London production
• Dames At Sea     Broadway production
• The Dancing Years     London revival
• George M!     Broadway production
• Golden Boy     London production
• Hair     Broadway production
• Hair     London production
• House Of Flowers     off-Broadway revival
• Lady, Be Good!     London revival
• Man Of La Mancha     London production
• Promises, Promises     Broadway production

Musical films

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Finian's Rainbow
• Funny Girl
• The Jungle Book     animated feature film
• The Night They Raided Minsky's
• Oliver!
• "The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band"
• Star!
• Yellow Submarine     animated feature film

Births

• January 11 - Tom Dumont, No Doubt
• January 14 - L.L. Cool J.
• January 27 - Mike Patton, Faith No More
• January 28 - Sarah McLachlan
• February 1 - Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley
• February 5 - Chris Barron, Spin Doctors
• February 7 - Sully Enra, Godsmack
• February 12 - Chynna Phillips, Wilson Phillips, daughter of John & Michelle Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas
• March 8 - Shawn Mullins
• March 11 - Lisa Loeb
• March 23 - Damon Albarn, Blur
• March 26 - James Iha, Smashing Pumpkins
• March 30 - Celine Dion
• April 3 - Sebastian Bach, Skid Row
• April 29 - Carnie Wilson, Wilson Phillips, daughter of Brian Wilson
• May 1 - D'Arcy Wretzky, The Samshing Pumpkins
• May 28 - Kylie Minogue
• June 12 - Bobby Sheehan, Blues Traveler
• August 10 - Michael Bivins, New Edition, Bell Biv Devoe
• August 11 - Charlie Sexton
• September 10 - Big Daddy Kane
• September 12 - Larry LaLonde, Primus
• October 1 - Kevin Griffin, Better Than Ezra
• October 7 - Toni Braxton
• October 7 - Thom E. Yorke, Radiohead
• October 17 - Ziggy Marley
• November 21 - Alex James, Blur
• November 28 - Dawn Robinson, En Vogue
• November 29 - Martin Carr, Boo Radleys
• December 2 - Nate Mendel, Foo Fighters
• December 9 - Brian Bell, Weezer
• December 29 - Glen Phillips, Toad The Wet Sprocket

Deaths

• February 28 - Frankie Lymon

Awards

Grammy Awards

• Grammy Awards of 1968

Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision Song Contest 1968

Referenced By