Online Encyclopedia

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
September 14 – The two small sons of singer Roy Orbison, Roy DeWayne Orbison age 10, and Anthony King Orbison age 6, die in a house fite in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
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 and 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 1968 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
Carpenters' musical career begins
Warren Zevon's musical career begins
Deep Purple/Roundabout's musical career begins
Nazareth's musical career begins

Albums released

Folsom Prison Blues - Bobby Bare
The Beatles (The White Album) - The Beatles
Child is Father to the Man - Blood, Sweat & Tears
Wheels of Fire - Cream
Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
This Was - Jethro Tull
The Birds, The Bees and The Monkees - The Monkees
HEAD (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - The Monkees
A Saucerful of Secrets - Pink Floyd
Bookends - Simon and Garfunkel
The Graduate Original Soundtrack - Simon and Garfunkel (incidental music by Dave Grusin)
Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield
God Bless Tiny Tim - Tiny Tim
White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground
Magic Bus: The Who On Tour - The Who

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
"Valleri" - The Monkees
"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
"Where Will You Be?" - Sue Nicholls

Published popular music

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" w.m. Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman
"Classical Gas" m. Mason Williams
"Dear World" w.m. Jerry Herman from the musical Dear World
"Eli's Coming" w.m. Laura Nyro
"The Fool On The Hill" w.m. John Lennon & Paul McCartney
"For The Good Times" w.m. Kris Kristofferson
"Galveston" w.m. Jim Webb
Heffalumps and Woozles w.m. Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman from the film Winnie The Pooh and the Blustery Day
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" w. Hal David m. Burt Bacharach from the musical Promises, Promises
"Indian Lake" w.m. Tony Romeo
"Indian Reservation" w.m. John D. Loudermilk , first recorded by Don Fardon
"Little Green Apples" w.m. Bobby Russell
"MacArthur Park" w.m. Jim Webb
"Mister Bojangles" w.m. Jerry Jeff Walker
"The Night They Raided Minsky's" w. Lee Adams m. Charles Strouse from the film The Night They Raided Minsky's
"A Perfect Gentleman" w. Lee Adams m. Charles Strouse Introduced by Jason Robards and Norman Wisdom in the film The Night They Raided Minsky's
"Promises, Promises" w. Hal David m. Burt Bacharach from the musical Promises, Promises
"Save The Country" w.m. Laura Nyro
"Stand By Your Man" w.m. Billy Sherrill & Tammy Wynette
"Stoned Soul Picnic" w.m. Laura Nyro
"Sweet Blindness" w.m. Laura Nyro
"Take Ten Terrific Girls' w. Lee Adams m. Charles Strouse from the film The Night They Raided Minsky's
Ten Feet off the Ground w.m. Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman from the film The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
"This Guy's In Love With You" w. Hal David m. Burt Bacharach
"Wichita Lineman" w.m. Jim Webb
"The Windmills Of Your Mind" w. Alan Bergman & Marilyn Bergman m. Michel LeGrand from the film The Thomas Crown Affair
"The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" w.m. Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman from the film Winnie The Pooh and the Blustery Day
"You Rat, You" w. Lee Adams m. Charles Strouse from the film The Night They Raided Minsky's

Classical music

Luciano Berio - O King
Mario Davidovsky - Music for Solo Violin
Ladislav Kupkovic - Souvenir (one of his few recorded works)
John Tavener - The Whale (cantata)

Opera

Musical theater

Cabaret (Kander and Ebb) - London production
Canterbury Tales London production
Dames at Sea Off-Broadway production opened at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre on December 20 and transferred to the Theatre de Lys on April 22, 1969 for a total run of 575 performances.
The Dancing Years (Ivor Novello) - London revival
George M! Broadway production
Golden Boy London production
Hair - Broadway and London productions
House Of Flowers off-Broadway revival
Lady, Be Good! London revival
Man Of La Mancha London production
Promises, Promises Broadway production