Timeline of trends in music (1960-1969)
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1960 in music
- Music of Brazil
- Carimbó begins modernizing and using electric instruments
- Music of Cambodia
- Princess Norodom Buppha Devi helps lead a revival of classical Khmer dance forms like apsara.
- Music of Cameroon
- Eboa Lotin begins recording; he is one of the most influential early makossa performers
- Music of Congo-Kinshasha
- African Jazz releases "Independence Cha-Cha-Cha", a celebration of the Congo's newfound independence from Belgium; the song is a pan-African hit that becomes an anthem across the continent
- Music of Ghana
- Separate musicians guilds are set up for dance highlife and guitar highlife performers
- Music of Iceland
- The first peak of rock and roll's popularity, with native bands like Lúdó, Disco and City dominating live Icelandic music, though few record companies will sign pure rock bands
- Music of Mali
- Music of Peru
- Music of the Solomon Islands
- Solomon Islanders begin using sandals instead of coconut husks in the percussion-based bamboo band music, which begins its spread to other countries, especially Papua New Guinea
- Music of South Africa
- The Jazz Epistles, featuring Dollar Brand, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa, play at the Cold Castle National Jazz Festival to great acclaim
- Music of Spain
- Music of Sri Lanka
- Music of Switzerland
- Chris Lange helps to establish a viable blues scene in Zürich
- Music of Thailand
- Western rock becomes popular, and native bands start playing their own variety called wong shadow
- Music of the United States
- Soul music develops out of gospel with recordings like "Cathy's Clown" (The Everly Brothers) and "Chain Gang" (Sam Cooke)
- Elvis Presley's His Hand in Mine is released; this is often considered the start of contemporary gospel music
- The twist is the most popular dance craze of the era
- The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" invents a new form of harmonic, multi-part singing that becomes standard in girl groups of the decade
1961 in music
- Music of Australia
- Johnny O'Keefe has his last hit as rock and roll recedes in favor of mainstream pop bands with clean images
- Music of Barbados
- The Belair Jazz Club is opened in Bridgetown, helping to keep the island's jazz scene alive
- Music of Canada
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation opens a station in Iqaluit, Northwest Territories to focus on Inuit music
- Music of Cuba
- The term salsa music is first used to describe Tito Puente and similar artists, who had been performing in the style for some twenty-five years
- Music of the Dominican Republic
- Johnny Ventura adds salsa and rock and roll to make a faster form of merengue
- Music of Guinea
- Bembeya Jazz, one of the most popular bands in Guinea's history, forms; Congolese rumba also becomes extremely popular, largely due to Joseph Kabasele
- Music of Haiti
- Webert Sicot begins a solo musical career, going on to be a pioneer in the development of cadence rampa, while minijazz begins growing in popularity
- Music of Jamaica
- Music of Malawi
- South African kwela and other imported genres have become more popular than the guitar and banjo duos that have long dominated the Malawian dance scene
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The popularity of merseybeat outside of Liverpool begins with bands like Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, the Fourmost, Cilla Black, the Searchers, the Merseybeats, and the Mojos.
- Alexis Korner forms Blues Incorporated, a band that is pivotal in the development of British blues as well as a training ground for some of the most popular performers of the British Invasion
- Music of the United States
- Patsy Cline's (and the Nashville sound in country music) popularity peaks with country singles like "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces"
- The Supremes sign to Motown; they (and Motown) will become the dominant force in R&B and soul for the rest of the decade
- Dick Dale's "Let's Go Tripping" is a local hit in southern California; it is one of the pivotal recordings in the early development of surf rock
- Mexican immigrants in the Los Angeles area have established a thriving mariachi scene
1962 in music
- International trends
- European popularity of American blues continues to grow with the first American Folk-Blues Festival
- Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar and American jazz musician Bud Shank collaborate on Improvisations and Theme From Pather Panchali, marking the beginning of Indian fusions with American jazz
- The Tornadoes' "Telstar" is the first single from a British band to hit international charts, and is sometimes considered the beginning of the British Invasion
- Music of Algeria
- Music of Argentina
- Mercedes Sosa leads an indigenous music movement in Buenos Aires which will soon lead to the development of Chilean nueva canción
- Music of Cameroon
- Jean Bikoko's "A ye pon djon ni me" is the biggest hit of assiko music
- Music of Jamaica
- Rural poor Jamaicans begin to move into the cities; they will eventually become known as rude boys, and will shift ska into rocksteady
- Music of South Africa
- A development programme for Bantu Radio is implemented to foster separate development for the bantustans
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones begin recording
- Robert Wyatt forms The Wilde Flowers, the beginning of the Canterbury Sound
- Music of the United States
- Dick Dale and others popularize surf rock; The Beach Boys' Surfin' is especially notable
- Phil Spector invents the Wall of Sound production technique
- Reverend James Cleveland and the Angelic Choir of Nutley release Peace Be Still, which introduced choir-based gospel to mainstream America
- The Dillards begin their bluegrass career and will help to bring a sophisticated Appalachian sound to mainstream America
- Girl groups like The Shirelles ("Soldier Boy") and The Crystals ("There's No Other (Like My Baby)") dominate the charts, alongside other pop vocalists like Chubby Checker ("The Twist"), The Four Seasons ("Big Girls Don't Cry") and Roy Orbison ("Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)")
- The Clancy Brothers perform at Carnegie Hall, signalling newfound acceptance for Irish-American music
1963 in music
- International trends
- Davy Graham and Sandy Bull make influential recordings that fused Indian music with rock, jazz and other American genres
- Black Star Musical Club puts the small town of Tanga, Zanzibar on the musical map and brings a modernized version of taarab across Africa and elsewhere
- Music of Argentina
- Los Shakers, a Uruguayan band, bring Beatlesque rock and roll to Argentina
- Music of the Bahamas
- The beginning of modern junkanoo in the Bahamas with artists like The Valley Boys, The Saxons and The Vikings cementing the sound
- Music of Finland
- In Finland, letka (a kind of dance music) becomes popular with the success of Rauno Lehtinen
- Music of Nigeria
- Music of South Africa
- The Cold Castle National Jazz Festival results in the release of Jazz The African Sound, a pioneering album of African jazz
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Beat boom and Beatlemania hits the UK
- Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" becomes a major hit among the mod subculture
- Music of the United States
- Mongo Santamaria's "Watermelon Man" and Ray Barretto's "El Watusi" are the first major hits which combine Latin and African American music
- The Bakersfield sound in country music begins its mainstream success with Merle Haggard's "Sing a Sad Song"
- Girl groups (The Crystals ("Then He Kissed Me"), The Ronettes ("Be My Baby"), The Chiffons ("He's So Fine") and Lesley Gore ("It's My Party", "Judy's Turn to Cry")) reach their peak of popularity and innovation
- Surf rock bands like (The Surfaris ("Wipe Out"), Jan & Dean ("Surf City"), The Trashmen ("Surfin' Bird") and The Chantays ("Pipeline")) stretch the boundaries of surf music
- Kyu Sakamoto became the first Asian to top the US Charts with the song sung entirely in Japanese, "Sukiyaki".
- The Kingsmen's hour-long performance of a single song repeatedly, "Louie, Louie", is perhaps the beginning of garage rock
- Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" is the first major hard bop hit
- Music of Trinidad & Tobago
- Lord Shorty's "Clock and Dagger" is widely considered the beginning of soca
1964 in music
- International trends
- The Beatles (A Hard Day's Night, ...Introducing the Beatles, Meet the Beatles) continue to dominate the charts, along with The Beach Boys ("I Get Around"), The Zombies ("She's Not There"), The Kinks ("You Really Got Me") and The Animals (The Animals, "The House of the Rising Sun"). Their chart success heralds the arrival of the British Invasion in the United States, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and other countries
- Chris Blackwell's Island Records in the United Kingdom releases Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", which helps to bring ska and the Jamaican music scene to international audiences
- Music of Algeria
- Belkacem Bouteldja's mainstream fame begins, leading the wave of rai performers that soon dominate Algeria
- Music of Australia
- Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs have their first hit, thus beginning the second wave of Australian rock
- Music of Brazil
- A new brand of politically aware bossa nova emerges from Brazil; musicians like Geraldo Vandré respond to the reality of the time with populist songwriting
- Music of Canada
- Television program All Around The Circle is aired in Newfoundland and Labrador, helping to preserve traditional music
- Music of the Czech Republic
- Pete Seeger, an American folk singer, tours in the Czech Republic, revitalizing the folk music scene there
- Music of Estonia
- Music of Jamaica
- In Jamaica, the popularity of ska is unchallenged; native artists like Toots & the Maytals, The Wailers, Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker are extremely popular
- Music of Kenya
- Southern African performers like Jean Bosco Mwenda, Edouard Masengo, Peter Tsotsi, and Nashil Pichen help define a burgeoning Kenyan pop music scene, influenced strongly by kwela and cavacha
- The Starlight Club opens in Nairobi; though American soul music dominates the scene for a few years, Congolese immigrants, many playing at the Starlight, are soon the most popular musicians in Kenya
- Music of Mali
- Afro-Jazz de Ségou merges with another dance band to become Alliance while adding popular Cuban musical influences to native and European dance forms
- Music of New Zealand
- The Aotearoa Traditional Maori Performing Arts Festival is formed to promote traditional Maori music and culture
- Music of Nigeria
- Ebenezey Obey forms the International Brothers, soon to become one of the two biggest bands in the country
- Music of Puerto Rico
- Mon Rivera has the last major hit for plena music's classical era
- Music of Tanzania
- State-run patronage systems begin to dominate the Tanzanian music scene with the formation of the Nuta Jazz Band
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" is considered the first hard rock recording
- The Yardbirds use guitars to make feedback and fuzz
- Music of the United States
- Blue-eyed soul artists like the Righteous Brothers, Mitch Ryder and the Rascals are popular
- Jesse Colin Young's The Soul of a City Boy fuses Appalachian folk and country music with jazz
- Ray Repp begins recording; this is usually considered the beginning of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM)
- Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" introduces a new form of hard-edged soul
- Tony Scott, a jazz musician, records Music for Zen Meditation, commonly considered the first example of New Age music
- Holland-Dozier-Holland produce the first major hits for The Supremes and The Four Tops, completing the development of the Motown Sound
- Dewey Balfa, Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinesse LeJeune give a performance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival that was a major reason behind a roots revival of interest in traditional Cajun music in the mid 1960
1965 in music
- International trends
- The Beatles endure the heights of Beatlemania while the British Invasion peaks
- Many of the bands that are later important in psychedelia begin performing, including Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds; Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", often considered the first psychedelic recording, is released
- Colin M. Turnbull publishes a study of the Pygmy people of central Africa, bringing them to worldwide attention; some of his recordings of their music are commercially released
- Recordings by Robbie Basho ("Seal of the Blue Lotus"), The Byrds ("Eight Miles High") and The Kinks ("Till the End of the Day"), along with George Harrison's sitar on "Norwegian Wood", are the beginning of major mainstream success for rock influenced by Indian music
- Calypso jazz, a fusion of jazz and calypso, arises in the Caribbean, centered around Barbados and Trinidad
- Motown's artists and music become internationally successful.
- Music of Angola
- Orquestra os Jovens do Prenda forms, soon becoming the first Angolan musicians to gain an international audience
- Music of Antigua and Barbuda
- Two rival calypsonians dominate the Antiguan scene, Zemaki and Lord Canary. Their conflict was perpetuated as the King Short Shirt and Swallow rivalry during the 1970s and 1980s.
- Music of Bolivia
- Los Jairas, who fuse native Aymara and Quechua rhythms with Western forms, emerge from La Paz
- Music of Brazil
- Música popular brasileira (MPB) develops in Brazil with Chico Buarque, Edu Lobo and Elis Regina developing a distinctively Brazilian sound in popular music
- Music of Bulgaria
- The Bulgarian Ministry of Culture founds the Koprivshtitsa music festival to support Bulgarian traditional music
- Music of Canada
- Chad Allan & the Expressions (later and better known as The Guess Who) have a hit with "Shakin' All Over"; this is the beginning of Canadian pop music
- Music of Chile
- Angel and Isabel Parra open an influential nightclub in Santiago which will soon provide the impetus for the development of nueva canción
- Music of Guinea
- Bembeya Jazz travels to Cuba, where the popular singer Abelardo Barroso is so moved by their performance that he cries; Cuban influences are brought back to Guinea, where they leave a lasting influence on the popular music scene
- Music of Iceland
- Hljómar, a native Merseybeat band, begins dominating Icelandic music with Icelandic language songs directly inspired by The Beatles; the band's first single, "Bláu augun fl'n/Fyrsti kossinn", is released this year
- Music of Indonesia
- Jaipongan, a complex form of pop-dance music, appears in Sunda, using only native instruments; this is partially led by artists like Gugum Gumbira, reacting to new laws banning rock and other forms of imported music
- Music of Ireland
- Seán Ó Riada and The Chieftains help lead a roots revival of Irish folk music; Riada also introduces the bodhrán to the scene
- Music of Spain
- Concha Velasco "La Chicha Ye-Yé" is the first major hit for the Ye-Yé scene in Spain; Rosalia's "Flamenco" introduces a more distinctively Spanish sound in Ye-Yé
- Music of Sri Lanka
- Groups like Las Bambas and Los Muchachos mix native baila with calypso music, resulting in what is called calypso-style baila
- Music of Turkey
- Musicians like Ahmet Sezgin, Abdullah Yüce and Hafiz Burhan Sesiyilmaz incorporate Turkish regional and folk styles into Arabesk music
- Music of the United Kingdom
- Mod reaches the height of its popularity in Britain with bands like The Who (The Who Sings My Generation) and The Small Faces
- Reg Hall and Bob Davenports release English Country Music, which sets the stage for the ensuing English folk revival
- John Mayall's Bluesbreakers invent blues-rock
- Music of the United States
- Garage bands begin to appear across the United States, especially in cities like Seattle and Detroit
- James Brown begins adding more complex percussion to soul music, beginning the evolution of funk
- The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" is the beginning of blue-eyed soul
- Charanga bands lose their American following
- Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" is an innovative soul recording, on which the instrumental backing has fully replaced the choir of gospel.
- The Temptations' hit "My Girl", one of the most influential and well-reguarded soul music recordings of the 1960s, becomes a #1 hit.
- Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is one of the first successful singles to be longer than three minutes in duration; the accompanying album, Highway 61 Revisited, is also arguably the first successful fusion of rock and folk, alongside this year's cover of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds
- Country Joe McDonald releases the first "rag babies"
- The Warlocks (who eventually become the Grateful Dead) play at San Francisco-area acid tests, laying the roots for their jam band style
- Clifton Chenier popularizes zydeco
1966 in music
- International trends
- Early psychedelia from The Who (A Quick One) and The Moody Blues (The Magnificient Moodies) is popular, along with bands that begin to merge these more progressive sounds with pop, like The Beatles (Revolver), Shadows of Knight (Gloria), The Troggs (Wild Thing), The Mamas & the Papas (If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears) and, most influentially, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, including "Good Vibrations", one of the innovative songs of the era
- King Sunny Ade begins performing; he will eventually become one of the most popular African performers
- Pete Seeger's "Guantanamera" popularizes Cuban guajira internationally
- San Francisco becomes the mecca for hippies and psychedelic rock, where bands like Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane launch the "Summer of Love"
- Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention release Freak Out! the first rock double album
- Long jams are found on several popular singles, including Bob Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", The Seeds' "Up in Her Room", Rolling Stones' "Going Home" and The Fugs' "Virgin Forest"; the last is an innovative mixture of collage techniques with rock and early world music
- Holy Modal Rounders are the most well-known exponents of a new style called acid-folk
- Music of Barbados
- Led by The Merrymen, native calypso bands become more popular in Barbados
- Music of Colombia
- Working with Los Caroleros de Majagual, Caliya introduces the bass guitar to vallenato
- Music of the Czech Republic
- The Porta Festival of folk singer-songwriters occurs for the first time
- Music of Greece
- Dhionysis Savvopoulos becomes a star as part of the vanguard of new Greek singer-songwriters
- Music of Ireland
- Johnny Moynihan introduces the bouzouki, a Greek instrument, to Irish traditional music
- Music of Jamaica
- Rocksteady, the earliest form of reggae, emerges as a genre with the success of performers like Alton Ellis. The hit single "Get Ready - Rock Steady" is arguably the first rocksteady recording; its stylistic uniqueness is due to the bassist not showing up for the recording session, necessitating the keyboardist to play the bass part
- Music of Kenya
- Benga music begins to become popular; Shirati Jazz is the most innovative early band
- Music of the Lesser Antilles
- Mini-jazz artists like Les Leopards, Les Gentlemen and Les Vikings de Guadeloupe become popular
- Music of New Zealand
- The New Zealand Folklore Society is founded, led by Frank Fyfe, an influential musician in the roots revival of the period
- Music of Nigeria
- King Sunny Ade begins performing and recording with limited success; his innovations, however, bring new, more pop-oriented elements to juju
- Music of Russia
- Vyacheslav Shchurov begins organizing concerts at the Composers' Hall in Moscow, bringing together folk singers from across the country
- Pojuschie Gitary forms, becoming the first major Russian rock band
- Music of Togo
- Bella Bellow represents her country at the Dakar Arts Festival, beginning a career that will make her perhaps the most beloved musician in Togo's modern history
- Music of the United Kingdom
- British blues musicians like Cream (Fresh Cream) and The Yardbirds (Roger the Engineer) help invent a distinct British sound
- Music of the United States
- Pop-oriented R&B and soul groups like The Supremes (I Hear a Symphony, Supremes A' Go-Go) and the Lovin' Spoonful (Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful) are extremely popular
- Tommy McLain's "Sweet Dreams" reaches the Top Ten, making it the biggest hit for swamp pop's era of mainstream acceptance
- Jefferson Airplane's Takes Off and 13th Floor Elevators' Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators are the first albums marketed as "psychedelic"
- Joe Cuba's Sextet's "Bang Bang" is the biggest hit for boogaloo music
- The closing of the Palladium Ballroom in New York City is the end of popularity for big band mambo
- Music of Zimbabwe
1967 in music
- International trends
- The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, arguably the pinnacle of psychedelic music -- other psychedelic bands like The Doors (The Doors), The Who (The Who Sell Out) and Jefferson Airplane (Surrealistic Pillow) also release pivotal albums; the whole scene is aided by the blockbuster Monterey Pop Festival
- Hits like Joe Cuba's "Bang! Bang!" marks the peak of boogaloo music, which is a fusion of soul and mambo
- Red Crayola's Parable of Arable Land is an influential avant-garde psychedelic and progressive rock album
- Frank Zappa's Absolutely Free is the first rock opera
- Neil Diamond's "Red, Red Wine" is the first pop-reggae hit
- Morton Subotnick's improvisedSilver Apples of the Moon is the first piece commissioned for the synthesizer
- Music of Argentina
- Bands like Los Gatos ("La Balsa") unveil a new sound that is the beginning of Argentinean rock
- Music of Brazil
- Caetano Veloso (Domingo, Caetano Veloso) and Gilberto Gil (Louvação) help invent tropicalismo in Brazil
- Music of Canada
- Radio-Canada releases The Centennial Collection of Canadian Folk Songs, which focuses on Quebecois music and helps launch a revitalization of the genre
- Music of Colombia
- Native bands like Genesis fuse native cumbia and other genres with rock and roll
- Music of Denmark
- Steppeulvene's Hip marks the emergence of a distinctive Danish beat scene, as the lyrics are in Danish and reflect a merger of American and Danish folk music with rock
- Music of Egypt
- Singers like Aida al-Shah and Layla Nasmy emerge as the stars of light song, and the first popular musicians in Egypt outside of the classical Arab singer tradition
- Music of Estonia
- Eesti Rahvalaule ja Pillilugusid is the first LP of Estonian folk songs to be released
- Music of Finland
- A revival in Finnish folk music begins; it will remain popular for most of the next decade
- Music of France
- Pierre Henry composes Messe Pour Le Temp Present, the first rock mass
- Music of Ghana
- Nana Ampadu & His African Brothers International Band release a passionate plea for democracy, "Ebi Tie Ye", which helped to establish the long-running band as one of highlife's most popular groups
- Music of Italy
- Francesco Guccini begins his recording career; he will become the premier Italian folk singer and the first to blend it with rock and roll
- Music of Jamaica
- Ruddy Redwood becomes popular with instrumental versions of reggae hits
- Music of Kenya
- Joseph Kamaru's "Celina" is the first major hit for Kĩkũyũ pop; Daniel Kamau also begins recording in the same style, though not with as much commercial success -- he will incorporate Kĩkũyũ styles into benga, which is only beginning to gain mainstream success across Kenya
- Music of New Zealand
- Rona Bailey and Herbert Roth publish a pioneering collection of folksongs called Shanties by the Way
- Music of Sweden
- Parson Band creates a minimalist form of jam-based rock
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Nice's and The Moody Blues' first albums, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack and Days of Future Passed are released; this is the beginning of prog rock, and it occurs alongside Pink Floyd's debut with "Interstellar Overdrive", the beginning of space rock, a futuristic form of proto-prog
- Incredible String Band's 5000 Spirits adds midieval and Middle-Eastern musical influences to their brand of folk-rock
- Music of the United States
- DJ Kool Herc moves to New York City, part of a wave of Jamaican immigrants that bring dub to the US; in the Bronx, it will evolve into hip hop
- Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe release El Malo on Fania Records, which launches the label and the developing genre of salsa music
- Early punk artists like The Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat) and Iggy Pop begin their careers
- Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight & the Pips have two major hit records ("Respect" for Franklin, "I Heard It Through the Grapvine" for Knight and the Pips), which popularize a strong gospel-based sound for female soul singers, eclipsing the more pop-based sound of groups like The Supremes.
1968 in music
- International trends
- Hard-edged psychedelia is popular - artists like Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf sell well
- The Band's Music From Big Pink establishes a country--folk- rock fusion
- Osibisa, a band composed of three Ghanaians living in London, form; they will go on to briefly popularize Afro-rock in the UK, becoming perhaps the first major African musical celebrities in Europe
- Music of Argentina
- Music of Finland
- The International Folk Music Festival is founded in Kaustinen and helps inspire a revival of Finnish folk
- Music of Georgia
- Anzor Erkomaishvili founds the Rustavi Choir, the most famous of the Georgian professional choirs
- Music of Jamaica
- King Tubby invents dub music in Jamaica by removing the vocals from albums and playing the percussion breaks for a dance-crazy audience
- rocksteady music reaches the peak of its popularity with two notable releases by Toots & the Maytals: "5446-That's My Number" and "Do the Reggay"
- Music of Switzerland
- Les Sauterelles' "Heavenly Club" marks the peak of the rock and roll craze in Switzerland; the trend soon dies out, and it evolves into psychedelia-based rock and the Indian-influenced soul of raga rock
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Canterbury Scene, a type of psychedelic music based out of Canterbury in Kent, emerges as a underground phenomenon led by The Soft Machine (Volume One) and Caravan (Caravan)
- The Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow is the first British rock opera, and perhaps the first concept album
- Van Morrison's Astral Weeks establishes a new form of jazz-rock in the singer-songwriter tradition
- Two of the greatest groups of the British roots revival debut, Fairport Convention and Pentangle
- The Isle of Wight Festival is one of the biggest music festivals in British history
- Music of the United States
- Edward Hawkins Singers have a major international hit with "Oh Happy Day", and Reverend James Cleveland founds the annual Gospel Music Workshop of America
- Hair debuts on Broadway; it is the first rock musical
- Blue Cheer begins recording, and become legends of the American proto-heavy metal scene
- Redbone is the first Native American band to fuse rock music with native musical traditions,
- Seiichi Tanaka's San Francisco Taiko Dojo is the first modern taiko group in North America
- Gram Parsons and the International Submarine Band make some of the first recordings of modern country rock, while Creedence Clearwater Revival invents a similar fusion of rock, country and Louisiana blues
- A group of drag queen performing artists called The Cockettes debut in San Francisco, beginning the glam rock style
- Sly & the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music" revolutionizes soul music, leading to the development of psychedelic soul.
1969 in music
- International trends
- folk-oriented psychedelia dominates music with releases from The Doors (The Soft Parade), The Beatles (Abbey Road), The Fifth Dimension (The Age of Aquarius), Youngbloods (Elephant Mountain) and Crosby, Stills & Nash (Déjà Vu) selling extremely well and the blockbuster Woodstock music festival held in Bethel, New York
- Lillian Roxon writes the first rock encyclopedia and thus begins the modern era of music criticism
- King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King and Frank Zappa's Uncle Meat begin the golden age of progressive rock
- Neil Young creates a new style of dissonant guitar-playing as part of the popular harmonic folk-rock of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
- Music of Argentina
- Four well-attended and influential Argentinean rock concerts are held: the June Sunday concerts, Festival Nacional de Música Beat, Festival Pinap and Festival de Música Joven
- Music of Barbados
- Spouge music begins its period of greatest popularity
- Music of Brazil
- Music of Congo-Kinshasha
- American funk singer James Brown visits the Congo and leaves a lasting influence on the Congolese music scene, especially the popular soukous craze
- Music of Estonia
- Leigarid is formed to entertain tourists with colorful pageants of Estonian folk music
- Music of Germany
- Can creates an avant-garde fusion of jazz and progressive rock
- Music of Haiti
- Tabou Combo releases their debut, Haiti, which begins to launch compas music towards international success
- Music of Iceland
- Many of the previously-popular Beatles-influenced bands break up, and psychedelic groups like Trúbrot and Náttúra dominate Icelandic music
- Music of Jamaica
- Roots reggae becomes the dominant sound in Jamaica, with Bob Marley & the Wailers (Soul Shakedown) leading the way towards a new, distinctively Jamaican fusion of folk, R&B, rock and ska
- Music of Japan
- Za Ondekoza is founded by Tagayasu Den; the group begins a youth-led roots revival of taiko drumming
- Music of the Netherlands
- A roots revival is popular throughout the country, emphasizing regional sounds and dialects
- Music of Nigeria
- Early fuji stars emerge, including Haruna Ishola and Ayinla Omowura
- Fela Kuti moves to the United States and becomes associated with the Black Panthers, soon bringing his black nationalist thought back to Nigeria in his lyrics
- Music of Spain
- El Camarón de la Isla releases Con la Colaboracion Especial de Paco de Lucia, which set the stage for the development of nuevo flamenco
- Music of Turkey
- Orhan Gencebay's debut, "Bir Teselli Ver", launches his career and begins his innovative fusions of rock and roll with classical Arabesk music
- Music of the United Kingdom
- The Who releases Tommy, the first rock opera
- Led Zeppelin's first album, Led Zeppelin, is released; it is an enormously influential psychedelic blues-rock album
- Dafydd Iwan, Huw Jones and Brian Morgan Montgomery form the Sain record label, which becomes instrumental in the Welsh folk revival
- Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief is considered the beginning of English folk-rock
- Music of the United States
- Larry Norman's Upon This Rock is commonly considered the first Christian rock album
- Miles Davis' Bitches Brew is the first fusion of soul, funk and jazz
- The release of The Stooges' eponymous debut album is arguably the earliest trace of punk rock; along with MC 5's Kick Out The Jams, a hard-edged Detroit-based sound arises
- Larry Graham, bassist with Sly & the Family Stone, revolutionizes funk bass lines with his work on the album Stand! and the #1 single "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", considered the first hit single to feature funk music in its mature form.