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1960 - 1969
1960
• Launched by Chubby Checker, 'The Twist' dance-craze takes over.
• John Coltrane forms his own quartet and becomes the voice of jazz's New Wave movement.
• Eddie Cochran, author of Rock-a-Billy hits 'C'mon Everybody'
and 'Summertime Blues', dies in a car crash aged 21.
• Top Selling Single: Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown
• Top Selling Album: South Pacific Soundtrack
1961
• Berry Gordy founds Motown with a completely Black creative team and roster, committed to reaching white audiences and the Pop charts.
• Patsy Cline releases 'I Fall to Pieces' and 'Crazy'.
The success of the songs help her cross over from country to pop.
• On the west coast of the US, three brothers, one cousin and a school friend, form a band calling themselves the Beach Boys.
• Top Selling Single: Del Shannon - Runaway
• Top Selling Album: George Mitchell Minstrels - Black
And White Minstrel Show
1962
• The Tornados' 'Telstar', an instrumental smash, becomes the first British record to top the American singles chart.
• The Beatles, comprised John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney fail audition with Decca but soon release their first single 'Love Me Do', through Parlophone.
• Top Selling Single: Acker Bilk - Stranger On The Shore
• Top Selling Album: George Mitchell Minstrels - On Stage With The George Mitchell Minstrels
1963
• A wave of Beatlemania hits the UK and takes Britain by storm.
• The Rolling Stones emerge as the anti-Beatles, with a more aggressive, blues-derived style.
• Phil Spector's Wall of Sound produces such gems as The Crystals with 'Then He Kissed Me' and The Ronettes with 'Da Do Ron Ron'.
• In the US, 'Surf Music' rules the airwaves.
• Top Selling Single: Beatles - From Me To You
• Top Selling Album: Beatles - Please Please Me
1964
• The Beatles' triumphant arrival in New York City on February 7, 1964, launches the British Invasion.
• Folk musician Bob Dylan becomes increasingly popular
during this time of social protest.
• Psychedelic counterculture bands such as The Grateful Dead
and Jefferson Airplane also enjoy great success in the US.
• Back in the UK, Jimmy Saville presents the first broadcast of
'Top of the Pops'. The show opens with 'I Wanna be your Man' by the Rolling
Stones, at number 13.
• Pirate Radio station Radio Caroline begins transmitting from a ship
in the North Sea.
• Lulu, Sandie Shaw and Cilla Black debut
successfully in the charts.
• Soulman Sam Cooke is shot dead.
• Top Selling Single: Jim Reeves - I Love You Because
• Top Selling Album: West Side Story Soundtrack
1965
• Violent fights between gang rivals Mods and Rockers once again takeover
Clacton on Sea and hit the headlines.
• New Jersey's Simon and Garfunkel arrive on the US pop scene with 'The Sound of Silence', an album that also spends two years in the UK charts.
• Beatles appointed MBE.
• The Who, The Moody Blues, Righteous Brothers, The Walker Brothers, The Yardbirds (featuring Eric Clapton) and Van Morrison's Them break onto the scene.
• Britains answer to the US Folk/Pop scene is headed by Donovan.
• Top Selling Single: Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You
• Top Selling Album: Beatles - Beatles For Sale
1966
• Surf Rockin' Beach Boys have five albums in the UK charts. Pet Sounds, widely regarded as their masterpiece, reaches number 2. Brian Wilson's muse? LSD.
• It's official, 'The Beatles are bigger than Jesus Christ', as John Lennon's statement gets twisted by the US press, causing a wave of 'Beatles bashing' in the southern states.
• It's official... again, 'London is swinging' claims Time magazine somewhat belatedly, as the final edition of 'Ready Steady Go' is broadcast back in the UK.
• Top Selling Single: Jim Reeves - Distant Drums
• Top Selling Album: Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
1967
• The first Radio One broadcast from the BBC opens with 'Flowers in the Rain' by Move - introduced by Tony Blackburn.
• The Beatles release their break-through concept album, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
• Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones found guilty of possessing drugs.
• Sandie Shaw wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the British entry 'Puppet on a String'.
• Ex-mod David Jones changes name to David Bowie and releases self-titled debut album. He will go on to influence many young acts for the
next 35 years.
• Top Selling Single: Engelbert Humperdinck - Release Me
• Top Selling Album: Sound Of Music Soundtrack
1968
• The Rolling Stones release their 8th hit album 'Beggar's Banquet'.
• The Fab Four go East to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India.
• The Beatles' Apple label signs 'Opportunity Knocks' winner Mary Hopkin who goes on to spend the most time at number one with 'Those Were The Days'.
• As Flower Power begins to fade, Cream, Genesis,
Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull and Tyrannosaurus
Rex help move things in a more 'progressive' direction.
• Top Selling Single: Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
• Top Selling Album: Sound Of Music Soundtrack
1969
• Woodstock attracts more than half a million people who gather for four days of rain, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Performers include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson Airplane and Sly and the Family Stone.
• Lulu's 'Boom Bang A Bang' does it for Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest.
• The UK's answer to Woodstock is the Isle of Wight Festival, with more than 60 bands performing.
• Desmond Dekker reaches number one with 'The Israelites' bringing the sunny West Indian sound to the cold British winters.
• A Rolling Stones fan is killed by members of Hell's Angels at a US concert.
• Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones found dead in a swimming pool after leaving the band. The Stones play a tribute concert in Hyde Park in his honour.
• Top Selling Single: Frank Sinatra - My Way
• Top Selling Album: Seekers - Best Of The Seekers
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