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1970 in music
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List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1970.
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Specific locations
Specific genres
Events
- January 3 – Ex-Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett releases his first solo album The Madcap Laughs.
- January 4 – The Who drummer Keith Moon fatally runs over his chauffeur with his Bentley trying to escape a mob outside a pub. The death is later ruled an accident.
- January 7 – Max Yasgur, owner of the Bethel, New York farm where the 1969 Woodstock Festival was held, is sued for $35,000 in property damages by neighboring farmers.
- January 9 – Led Zeppelin performs at The Royal Albert Hall. John Bonham plays a fifteen-minute rendition of "Moby Dick".
- January 14 – Diana Ross and the Supremes perform for the last time together at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
- January 16 – John Lennon's London art gallery exhibit of lithographs, Bag One, is shut down by Scotland Yard for displaying "erotic lithographs".
- January 24 – James "Shep" Sheppard, of The Heartbeats and Shep and the Limelites, is found murdered in his car on the Long Island Expressway.
- January 26 – Simon & Garfunkel release their final album together, Bridge Over Troubled Water. The title track and album stay #1 on the Billboard charts for six weeks and go on to win a record six Grammys at the 13th Grammy Awards, including "Record of the Year", "Song of the Year", and "Album of the Year." In Britain it tops the album chart at regular intervals over the next two years, and becomes the best-selling album in Britain during the 1970s.
- January 27 – Miles Davis makes the final recordings for his experimental album Circle in the Round, featuring sitar and tabla.
- January 28 – The newly formed Band of Gypsies breaks up when guitarist Jimi Hendrix walks out after playing just two songs, telling the audience "I'm sorry we just can't get it together".
- February 11 – The film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, is premiered in New York City. The film's soundtrack album, including Badfinger's "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney), is released on Apple Records.
- February 13 – English band Black Sabbath release their self titled debut album in the U.K., credited as the first major album in the heavy metal genre.[1]
- February 14 – The Who records Live At Leeds in Yorkshire, England. The Grateful Dead plays an equally historic concert on the same date at the Fillmore East, New York City.
- February 17 – Joni Mitchell announces that she is retiring from live performances, following her show at London's Royal Albert Hall. She would be back performing concerts within a year.
- February 23 – Ringo Starr appears on the television show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
- February 27 – Jefferson Airplane is fined $1,000 for using profanity during a concert in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- February 28 – Elvis Presley performed at the Houston Astrodome. The King of Rock and Roll broke previous attendance records with a crowd of 36,299 - which was 10,000 more than the previous record.
- February 28 – Led Zeppelin perform in Copenhagen under the pseudonym The Nobs, to avoid a threatened lawsuit by Count Eva von Zeppelin, descendant of airship designer Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
- March 4 – Janis Joplin is fined $200 for using obscene language during a concert performance in Tampa, Florida.
- March 6 – Cult leader and suspected murderer Charles Manson releases an album titled Lie: The Love and Terror Cult to help finance his defense.
- March 7 – Mountain, one of the many bands credited as having influence in the development of heavy metal music, releases Climbing!, their debut album.
- March 11 – The 12th Annual Grammy Awards are presented in Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York and Atlanta. Blood, Sweat & Tears' self-titled album wins Album of the Year, The 5th Dimension's "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" wins Record of the Year and Joe South's "Games People Play" wins Song of the Year. Crosby, Stills & Nash win Best New Artist.
- March 15 – West German pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka features 5½ hours' daily live performances of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen (to September 13).
- March 19 – David Bowie marries model Angela Barnett.
- March 21 – In Amsterdam, Dana wins the 15th annual Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with the song All Kinds of Everything. She is elected to the European Parliament some 29 years later.
- March 25 – José José gives a masterful performance of the song "El Triste" at the "Latin Song Festival II", predecessor of the OTI Festival.
- March 26 – Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) pleads guilty to "taking immoral liberties" with a 14-year-old girl in Washington, D.C., on August 31, 1969.
- April 2 – The London Magistrate's Court hears arguments on John Lennon's indecency summons for his exhibition of erotic lithographs during his art exhibit on January 16.
- April 3 – Minneapolis nightclub the Depot opens, eventually renamed to First Avenue.
- April 10 – Paul McCartney publicly announces that he has left The Beatles in a press release, written in mock-interview style, that is included in promotional copies of his first solo album and headlined in the Daily Mirror newspaper in the United Kingdom.
- April 14 – Michael Nesmith announces he has left The Monkees.
- April 17 – Johnny Cash performs at the White House at the invitation of President Richard M. Nixon.
- April 20 – Paul McCartney's first solo album, McCartney, is released.
- April 24 – Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane is invited to a tea party at the White House by Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Slick arrives at the party with Abbie Hoffman, who is on trial for conspiring to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The pair planned to spike Nixon's tea cup with a heavy dose of LSD. Slick is recognized (although Hoffman is not) and told to leave because she is on the FBI list.
- May 4 – Charles Wuorinen, 32, becomes the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- May 8 – The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released.
- May 16
- Randy Bachman leaves the Guess Who to start up Brave Belt.
- The Who release Live at Leeds which is their first live album. Since its initial reception, Live at Leeds has been cited by several music critics as the best live rock recording of all time.
- May 20 – The Beatles' film Let It Be premières in London and Liverpool. None of the four band members are present at either screening.
- May 23–24 – Grateful Dead make their first British appearance at Hollywood Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, on a bill also featuring Black Sabbath, Free, and José Feliciano. Everyone is completely upstaged by the previously unknown Mungo Jerry, whose debut single "In the Summertime" becomes the best-selling hit of the year.
- June – Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe receives the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
- June 3 – The Kinks singer Ray Davies makes a 6000-mile round trip from New York to London and back- interrupting the band's American tour- to re-record one word on their latest single "Lola". In order to get any airplay in Great Britain he has to change the word "Coca-Cola" to a more subtle "cherry cola".
- June 7 – The Who play two shows of Tommy, at the New York Metropolitan Opera House.
- June 13
- "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last U.S. Number 1 song, though it is never[as of?] released as a single in Britain.[2]
- The Stooges play at the Cincinnati Pop Festival, Midsummer Rock.
- July 4 – The music countdown show American Top 40 debuts.
- July 17 – The Guess Who perform at the White House for President Nixon and his guest the Prince of Wales (now Charles III). At Pat Nixon's request, they do not play their breakthrough hit "American Woman" due to the song's supposed anti-American lyrics.
- July 26 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix plays at his hometown of Seattle at Sicks Stadium where, under the influence of drugs, he starts verbally abusing members of the audience.
- August – Release in the United States of the album Songs of the Humpback Whale produced by Roger Payne, publicly demonstrating whale vocalization for the first time. It becomes an unexpected bestseller and influential in public support for whale conservation.[3][4][5][6]
- August 3 – Janis Joplin makes her final TV appearance, on the Dick Cavett Show.
- August 26–30 – The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England. Some 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include The Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull.
- August 30 – The Rolling Stones open their European tour in Malmö, Sweden.
- September 6 – During his final European tour, guitarist Jimi Hendrix is greeted by booing and jeering by German fans as a result of his late appearance on stage and incoherent stage performance. Bassist Billy Cox quits the tour and returns to the United States.
- September 17 – Jimi Hendrix makes his last appearance, with Eric Burdon & War jamming at Ronnie Scotts Club in London. Hendrix, aged 27, dies the following day from a barbiturate overdose at his London hotel.
- October 4 – Janis Joplin is found dead in her bedroom in the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood. She died from a heroin overdose, at the age of 27.
- October 10 – Newly independent Fiji adopts God Bless Fiji as its national anthem.
- October 30 – Jim Morrison of The Doors, found guilty of indecent exposure and profanity because of his behavior during a March 1, 1969, concert, is sentenced to eight months of hard labor and a $500 fine.[7]
- November 9 – The blues rock studio double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, the only album by Derek and the Dominos, is released, initially in the United States, the first presentation of the classic title track, "Layla", by English guitarist Eric Clapton and American drummer Jim Gordon.
- November 12 – After Yehudi Menuhin accepts honorary citizenship from Switzerland, he receives a letter from the United States State Department telling him that both he and his son will lose their US citizenship as a result.[8]
- November 20 – The Kinks singer Ray Davies flies to a London studio to re-record one word in a new Kinks single for the second time in 1970. This time, he has to change a line in "Apeman"- "The air pollution is a-foggin' up my eyes" which sounds too much like "a-fuckin'".
- November 23 – The Electric Factory concert venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania' closes its doors.
- December 8 – John Lennon conducts a lengthy and intensely candid interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine. He discusses his new solo album and the influence of primal therapy on its creation, as well as his personal traumas dating back to childhood. He also makes many revelations about his time in The Beatles, including his account of the group's breakup.
- December 12 – The Doors play their final concert with singer Jim Morrison at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the concert The Doors decide that they will not play live anymore due to Morrison's unpredictable live persona.
- December 31 – Paul McCartney files a lawsuit against the other members of The Beatles to dissolve their partnership, formally ending the band after 10 years.[9][10]
Bands formed
Bands disbanded
- The Beatles break up permanently.
- The Nice disband.
- Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band split, with reunions in 1972, 1988, and 2006.
- Simon & Garfunkel – both members of the duo go on to solo careers, although they have reunited and performed together numerous times since breaking up.
- The Turtles (reform in 1983)
- Dave Clark 5 Many members would leave and new members formed 'Dave Clark & Friends' which lasted until 1973.
- See also Musical groups disestablished in 1970
Albums released
In 1970, 4,000 albums and 5,700 singles were released in the US.[11]
January
February
| Day | Album | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweet Baby James | James Taylor | - |
| The Delfonics | The Delfonics | - | |
| 9 | Burnt Weeny Sandwich | The Mothers of Invention | - |
| Morrison Hotel | The Doors | - | |
| Zabriskie Point | Various Artists | Soundtrack | |
| 13 | Black Sabbath | Black Sabbath | UK; released June 1970 in US |
| 24 | Funkadelic | Funkadelic | - |
| 26 | Hey Jude | The Beatles | Compilation; aka The Beatles Again |
| 27 | Shazam | The Move | - |
| - | The American Revolution | David Peel and The Lower East Side Band | - |
| Dragonfly (Strawbs album) | Strawbs | - | |
| Atomic Roooster | Atomic Rooster | - | |
| The Great Songs of Roy Orbison | Roy Orbison | Compilation | |
| Knef | Hildegard Knef | - | |
| The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other | Van der Graaf Generator | - | |
| Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends | Screaming Lord Sutch | - | |
| My Prescription | Bobby Womack | - | |
| Nilsson Sings Newman | Harry Nilsson | Randy Newman compositions | |
| Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy | Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | - | |
| Robin's Reign | Robin Gibb |