•
January 13 –
Stephen Foster Memorial Day is observed for the first time in the United States (on the 103rd anniversary of the composer's death). •
January 14 – The
Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields with spoken words from
Timothy Leary,
Allen Ginsberg,
Gary Snyder and others. Live music is provided by
Jefferson Airplane, the
Grateful Dead,
Big Brother and the Holding Company and
Quicksilver Messenger Service. Speeches from
Jerry Rubin and others are also given at the event. •
January 15 –
The Rolling Stones appear on
The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. At
Sullivan's request, the band change the lyrics of "
Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Let's spend some time together". •
January 16 –
The Monkees begin work on
Headquarters, the first album to give them complete artistic and technical control over their material. •
January 17 – The
Daily Mail newspaper in Britain reports 4,000 potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire; and Guinness heir
Tara Browne is killed in a car wreck. These articles inspire lyrics for
the Beatles song "
A Day in the Life". •
January 22 –
Simon & Garfunkel give a live concert at
Philharmonic Hall in
New York City. Some of this concert is released on October 4, 1997, on their box set
Old Friends, but most is not released until July 2002. •
January 29 –
Mantra-Rock Dance, the "ultimate high" of the hippie era, is organised at
The Avalon ballroom in San Francisco, featuring
Janis Joplin, the
Grateful Dead,
Big Brother and the Holding Company,
Moby Grape, beat poet
Allen Ginsberg and
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in support of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness. •
January 30 –
The Beatles shoot a
promotional film for their forthcoming single "
Strawberry Fields Forever" at
Knole Park in
Sevenoaks. •
February 3 – UK
record producer Joe Meek murders his landlady and then commits suicide by shooting himself in the head at
Holloway,
North London. •
February 6 –
Michael Nesmith and
Micky Dolenz of the Monkees fly into London. Dolenz sees
Till Death Us Do Part on
British TV and uses the term "Randy
Scouse Git" from the programme for the title of the Monkees' next single release "
Randy Scouse Git", not realising it is an offensive term. British censors force the title to be changed to "Alternate Title" in the UK. •
February 7 – Micky Dolenz meets
Paul McCartney at his home in
St John's Wood, London, and they pose together for the press. His impressions of the visit feature in the lyrics of "Randy Scouse Git". •
February 10 –
Abbey Road Studio 2 session with
Michael Nesmith and other friends in attendance as
the Beatles record "
A Day in the Life" with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra performing an "orgasm of noise" featured twice in the song. •
February 12 – British police raid 'Redlands', the Sussex home of
Keith Richards in the early hours of the morning following a tip-off about a party from the
News of the World; although no arrests are made at the time, Richards,
Mick Jagger and art dealer
Robert Fraser are subsequently charged with possession of drugs. •
February 16 – "Aretha Franklin Day" is declared in
Detroit, Michigan. •
February 24 – The
Bee Gees sign a management contract with
Robert Stigwood. •
March 2 – The
9th Annual Grammy Awards are held in
Los Angeles, hosted by
Kirk Douglas.
Frank Sinatra wins the most awards with five, including
Album of the Year for
A Man and His Music and
Record of the Year for "
Strangers in the Night".
The Beatles win
Song of the Year for "
Michelle". •
March 3 –
Eric Burdon & the Animals refuse to perform a show in
Ottawa,
Ontario, unless they are paid in advance. The audience of 3000 riots, causing $5000 in damages to the auditorium. •
March 11 – A taped appearance by
the Beatles on
American Bandstand includes their new
music video for the songs "
Penny Lane" and "
Strawberry Fields Forever". •
March 19 — Foundation of the
Salzburg Easter Festival. •
March 25 –
The Who perform their first concert in the United States, in
New York City. •
March 27 –
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney are awarded the
Ivor Novello award for "
Michelle", the most performed song in Britain in 1966. •
March 30 –
The Beatles pose with a photographic
collage and wax figures from
Madame Tussaud's famous museum for the cover artwork of ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' album at Chelsea Manor Studios in
London. •
March 31 – Kicking off a tour with
the Walker Brothers,
Cat Stevens and
Engelbert Humperdinck at the
London Astoria,
Jimi Hendrix sets fire to his guitar on stage for the first time. He is taken to hospital suffering burns to his hands but the guitar-burning act will become a trademark of Hendrix's performances. •
April 8 – The 12th
Eurovision Song Contest is held in the
Hofburg Imperial Palace,
Vienna,
Austria. The
United Kingdom wins the contest for the first time with the
Bill Martin/
Phil Coulter song "
Puppet on a String", sung by
Sandie Shaw barefoot. •
May 1 •
Paul McCartney reveals that all four members of
the Beatles have "
dropped acid". •
Elvis Presley marries
Priscilla Beaulieu at the
Aladdin, Las Vegas. •
May 2 – In the United States,
Capitol Records pulls the plug on
the Beach Boys' mysterious
Smile project.
Brian Wilson, who has taken more than a year to compose and produce the album, cannot bring himself to finish it. •
May 12 •
Pink Floyd stage the first ever rock concert with
quadraphonic sound at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London ("
Games for May"). • The debut album of
the Jimi Hendrix Experience,
Are You Experienced, is released in the
UK, where it was recorded. •
May 15 –
Paul McCartney meets American photographer
Linda Eastman at the "Bag O' Nails" club in London. •
May 19 – Linda Eastman photographs
the Beatles at the London press party for ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' held at the Chapel Street home of
Brian Epstein. Media present are perplexed by the band's fashion statements and the music itself. •
May 26 – ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles is rush released in the UK as mono and stereo LPs ahead of the scheduled June 1 release date. "The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper'' album was released." •
May 30 –
BBC Light Programme radio in the UK broadcasts an edition of ''Where It's At'' featuring
the Beatles interviews and
John Lennon's comedy intro to "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The BBC refuse to air "
A Day in the Life" for alleged "drug references" in the lyrics. •
June 1 – Greece's fascist junta issues "Army decree No 13", which bans playing or listening to the music of
Mikis Theodorakis. •
June 4 –
Jimi Hendrix Experience,
Cream,
Denny Laine and his Electric String Band,
Procol Harum and
The Chiffons perform a two-hour "Sunday Special" at the
Saville Theatre in London. •
June 10–11 – The KFRC
Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival at
Mount Tamalpais in
Marin County, California features
Canned Heat,
the Byrds,
the Seeds,
Blues Magoos,
Jefferson Airplane,
the Doors,
Country Joe and the Fish and others on the bill for a charity concert attended by 20,000-40,000; considered America's first
pop festival, but eclipsed in stature by the Monterey Pop Festival the following week. •
June 15 – English cellist
Jacqueline du Pré marries Jewish conductor
Daniel Barenboim at the
Western Wall in Jerusalem. •
June 16 –
Barbra Streisand performs a live concert "
A Happening in Central Park" in
New York's
Central Park. •
June 16–18 – The
Monterey Pop Festival, one of the world's first outdoor rock music festivals, is held in Monterey, California. Stars include the Who, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Burdon & the Animals, the Byrds,
The Association, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and The Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and
Ravi Shankar. Otis and the MG's take the stage at 1:00 am after Jefferson Airplane and bring down the house; 55,000 are estimated to be in attendance. •
June 25 –
The Beatles debut "
All You Need Is Love" to close the
Our World television special from London, the first worldwide television broadcast, seen live by an audience of over 400 million in 25 countries. Backing singers include
Eric Clapton, members of
the Rolling Stones and
the Who. •
June 28 •
The Supremes perform for the first time as Diana Ross & the Supremes at the
Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
Florence Ballard is fired from the group on July 1, and on-hand stand-in
Cindy Birdsong permanently takes Ballard's place in the group. •
The Monkees fly into London at the start of their concerts at the Empire Pool, Wembley. •
June 29 –
Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards are sentenced to jail in England for drug possession. They later appeal successfully against the sentences. • June–July – Shortly after the end of the
Six-Day War, conductor Leonard Bernstein leads the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on a tour to the Sinai desert, the site of fighting only days before. •
July 1 –
William Rees-Mogg, editor of
The Times (London), uses the phrase "
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" in his editorial criticizing the prison sentences given to Mick Jagger and Keith Richard two days earlier. •
July 2 –
Jeff Beck and
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers perform a two-hour "Sunday Special" at the
Saville Theatre in London. •
July 3 –
The Beatles host a party at
the Speakeasy Club for
the Monkees on the completion of their concerts in London. •
July 5 – First of the
Schaefer Music Festivals, held in
Central Park, New York City. The lineup consists of
Len Chandler,
the Young Rascals and
the Jimi Hendrix Experience. •
July 18 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience is thrown off a tour of
the Monkees after complaints from the conservative
Daughters of the American Revolution. (Hendrix's manager
Chas Chandler later admits it was a publicity stunt.) •
July 29 –
Motown Records releases "
Reflections," the first single by the group's new billing, "
Diana Ross &
the Supremes" and after firing founding member
Florence Ballard; Ballard, nevertheless, sings on the record and appears on the vinyl's cover alongside group members Ross and
Wilson because the song was recorded before her dismissal. •
August 4 –
Pink Floyd release their debut album,
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It peaks at number 6 on the
UK Albums Chart and is the only one made under the leadership of founder
Syd Barrett. •
August 14 – The
Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 becomes law in the United Kingdom, and most
offshore radio stations (including
Wonderful Radio London) have already closed down. Only
Radio Caroline North & South on 259 will continue, as Radio Caroline International. •
August 21 –
Mikis Theodorakis is arrested by the Greek military authorities and jailed for five months. •
August 23 –
Brian Epstein's last visit to a Beatles' recording session, at the Chappell Recording Studios on Maddox Street, London. The last new Beatles song he lives to hear is "Your Mother Should Know". Epstein dies of an overdose of Carbitral, a form of barbiturate or sleeping pill, in his locked bedroom, on August 27. •
August 27 –
The Beatles, in Bangor,
Wales, with the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since August 25, are informed of the death of their manager
Brian Epstein, and return to London at once. •
August 31 –
Paul McCartney calls a band meeting to discuss his TV movie idea about a psychedelic bus ride. •
September 7 –
Eric Burdon marries Angie King. •
September 16 – Too ill to conduct, after undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, Sir
Malcolm Sargent makes a valedictory appearance at the
Last Night of the Proms. •
September 17 – In the United States: •
The Doors appear on
The Ed Sullivan Show and perform "Light My Fire". Despite having agreed to Sullivan's request that the line "Girl we couldn't get much higher" be changed for the show,
Jim Morrison performs it the way it was written and the Doors are banned from the show. •
The Who destroy their instruments during a performance on
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Keith Moon's exploding drum kit injures
Pete Townshend. •
September 29 –
Tangerine Dream is founded by
Edgar Froese in
West Berlin. •
September 30 – The
BBC in the UK introduces a pop music channel,
Radio 1, and changes the
Light Programme into the more MOR-orientated
Radio 2, also renaming the
Third Programme, which covers classical music and culture, into
Radio 3 (and transforming the
Home Service into the speech-oriented
Radio 4). Radio 1's split from Radio 2 is heralded by "
Theme One", specially composed by
George Martin; Radio 1's programmes then launch with a jingle recorded by
PAMS, the voice of DJ
Tony Blackburn and his signature tune, an extract from "Beefeaters" by
Johnny Dankworth. The first full single played is
the Move's "
Flowers in the Rain". The first song played on Radio 2 is
Julie Andrews with the title song from "
The Sound of Music". •
October 11 –
Harold Wilson,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, wins a libel action against rock band the Move in the English
High Court after being depicted in a compromising position on a promotional postcard for their record "Flowers in the Rain"; in settlement, royalties from the song will be donated to charity. •
October 14 –
Tammi Terrell faints and collapses into duet partner
Marvin Gaye's arms onstage during a performance at the
Hampton University homecoming in
Virginia. She is later diagnosed with a
brain tumor, and will die from brain cancer in 1970 at the age of 24. •
October 18 – The first issue of
Rolling Stone magazine rolls off the press at about 5:30pm, with a cover dated November 9 and featuring a photo of
John Lennon in the film
How I Won the War. The original inspiration for the magazine was
Bomp! magazine based in California. •
October 27 – Sir
Malcolm Sargent's memorial service in
Westminster Abbey is attended by 3,000 people including
Princess Marina of Kent,
Bridget D'Oyly Carte,
Pierre Boulez,
Larry Adler,
Douglas Fairbanks Junior,
Léon Goossens, Sir
Arthur Bliss, and representatives of the London orchestras and of the Promenaders.
Colin Davis and the BBC Chorus and Symphony Orchestra perform the music. •
November 22 •
Oricon is founded in Japan by Sōkō Koike and begins publishing a singles chart. •
Otis Redding records "
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" at
Stax Records' studio in
Memphis, Tennessee. •
George Harrison begins recording tracks for
Wonderwall Music, his first solo album, in London; he continues the recording in Mumbai. •
December 5 –
The Beatles open the
Apple Boutique in
London. Party guests include
Eric Clapton and movie director
Richard Lester. •
December 7 – Otis Redding records
overdubs to "
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". •
December 8 –
Otis Redding and his backup band,
Bar-Kays, play at a popular nightclub, Leo's Casino in Cleveland, Ohio. This is to be Redding's last performance. Two days later he and four of the six Bar-Kays are among the six people who die when a
Beechcraft Model 18 plane in which they are traveling crashes in
Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin, one of the worst air tragedies in entertainment history, and the worst since "
The Day the Music Died" when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a crash in 1959. •
December 9 – During a performance at the
New Haven Arena in
New Haven, Connecticut,
Jim Morrison of
the Doors becomes the first singer to be arrested on stage, having previously been sprayed with a can of
mace. He is charged with inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. The charges are dropped several weeks later due to a lack of evidence. •
December 15 –
The Who release their third studio album,
The Who Sell Out. It is a concept album, formatted as a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with faux commercials and public service announcements. •
December 26 – First telecast of
the Beatles'
Magical Mystery Tour (filmed mostly during September) on
BBC1 in the UK. Shown in black and white, it upsets McCartney because it ruins the intended psychedelic color effects. • date unknown •
Pickwick Records releases an LP collection of ten 1950s A- and B-sides of singles by
Simon & Garfunkel, recorded under their pseudonym
Tom & Jerry, and tries to pass it off as current material by the duo. Simon and Garfunkel file a legal challenge, and the record is swiftly withdrawn from the market. •
Toots & the Maytals releases "
54-46 That's My Number", one of the first
reggae songs. • The
Savonlinna Opera Festival is re-launched in
Savonlinna,
Finland, after a gap of fifty years. • The first LP recording of traditional
Estonian music,
Eesti rahvalaule ja pillilugusid, is released. • The
International Society of Bassists is founded by
Gary Karr. •
Ali Akbar Khan founds a school of music in California. ==Musical groups formed==